The Main Departments In a Hotel Or Resort
As an outsider when you look at a hotel, the operation appears to be pretty simple, selling rooms and food and beverage services, etc. But the hotel is a highly complex operation where several departments function, coordinate, and interact for smooth day-to-day operations.
Departments that make a hotel function smoothly and efficiently are many, each with its specific role to play. Some of the most important departments include the front desk or reception, housekeeping, maintenance, food and beverage, and accounting.
The front desk is the face of the hotel and responsible for customer service, reservations, and check-ins. HousekeepingA department of the rooms division; responsible for cleaning the hotel's guest rooms and public area... ensures that the hotel is clean and comfortable for guests, while maintenance takes care of any repairs or issues that may arise.
Food and beverage is responsible for providing guests with dining options, whether it’s a restaurant or room service. Accounting handles all financial aspects of the hotel, from budgeting to payroll. All these departments work together to create a positive experience for guests and ensure the smooth running of the hotel.
To run the Hotel as a functional unit, there are several departments in the hotel that work and coordinate together and the major departments of the hotel are:
1. Front Office DepartmentFront Office is the most important department in the hotel; making direct contact with guests. The m...
3. Food and Beverage Service Department
4. Kitchen or Food Production Department
5. Engineering and Maintenance Department
6. Accounts and Credits Department
7. SecuritySecurity is the prevention of theft; fire; and other emergency situations in the workplace. Department
8. Human Resources (HR) Department
9. Sales and Marketing Department
11. Information Technology (IT)
1. Front Office Department:
This department performs various functions like reservation, reception, registration, room assignment, and settlement of bills of a resident guest, and the front office department is considered the nerve center of a hotel.
The front-office staff welcomes the guests, carries their luggage, helps them register, gives them their room keys and mail, answers questions about the activities in the hotel and surrounding area, and finally checks them out. The only direct contact most guests have with hotel employees, other than in the restaurants, is with members of the front-office staff.
2. Housekeeping Department:
The housekeeping department is responsible for the cleanliness, maintenance, and aesthetic upkeep of rooms, public areas, back areas, and surroundings in a hotel and for the immaculate care and upkeep of all guest rooms and public spaces at all times.
The staff members who excel in the Housekeeping Departments have an eye for detail and a commitment to the training, development, and motivation of a diverse group of talented employees. It is the service and cleanliness that make an impact on our guests and determine whether they will return and also recommend the hotel to others.
3. Food and Beverage Service Department:
This department looks after the service of food and drinks to guests. The Food is made in the Kitchen and the Drinks are prepared in the Bar for the Customers (Guests) at the Food & Beverage premises. Some examples of food and beverage outlets are Restaurants, Bars, Hotels, Airlines, Cruise ShipsPassenger ships designed for vacationers. Today's cruise ships feature a variety of activities and e..., Trains, Companies, Schools, Colleges, Hospitals, Prisons, Takeaway etc
4. Kitchen or Food Production Department:
All the food and beverages that are served to the hotel guests are prepared in the kitchen. Culinary preparation, as an art and science in the modern kitchen, requires more than just a knowledge of the food being prepared and the methods of preparation.
It is through a knowledge of basic skills, terminology, and rules of the kitchen that a final goal, preparation, and service of quality is achieved in the hotel kitchen.
5. Engineering and Maintenance Department:
The engineering department is responsible for repairing and maintaining the plant and machinery, water treatment and distribution, boilers and water heating, sewage treatment, external and common area lighting, fountains and water features, etc. Also, It looks after the maintenance of all the equipment, furniture, and fixtures installed in a hotel.
6. Accounts and Credits Department:
This department maintains all the financial transactions. Accounting departments typically handle a variety of important tasks. Such tasks often include invoicing customers, accounts receivable monitoring and collections, account reconciliations, payables processing, consolidation of multiple entities under common ownership, budgeting, periodic financial reporting as well as financial analysis.
Also common are setting up adequate internal controls for all business processes (to prevent theft/misappropriation of assets), handling external audits, and dealing with banks to obtain financing. Taxes are sometimes handled by accounting departments in-house, but this work is often contracted to outside tax accountants.
7. Security Department:
The security department of a hotel is responsible for the overall security of the hotel building, in-house guests, visitors, day users, and employees of the hotel, and also their belongings.
8. H R department:
The Human Resources department is responsible for the acquisition, utilization, training, and development of the human resources of the hotel.
The role of the HR department also has to do with the administration of an impartial and internal justice system that will promote transparency and openness in organizational communication. The Human resources department also serves as a progressive voice in a common system and strives to ensure competitiveness in the conditions of staff service.
9. Sales and Marketing Department:
The major role of the sales and marketingA system of interrelated activities formulated to plan; price; promote and make available the servic... department is to bring in business and also to increase the sales of the hotel’s products and services is the major task of the department.
10. Purchase Department:
The purchase department is responsible for procuring the inventories of all the departments of a hotel.
11. Information Technology (IT) / Systems
The Information Technology department is responsible for the day-to-day support of all IT systems, business systems, office systems, computer networks, and telephony systems throughout the hotel/resort.
Additionally responsible for Information Technology issues, products, and services at the property. Provides user training and support of all property/site systems, network enhancements, hardware and software support, etc.
