- Dependability Is Also A Fundamental Principle Of A Well The Temporary Staff As Far In The Background As We Possibly Mana 1 (114.07 KiB) Viewed 55 times
- Dependability Is Also A Fundamental Principle Of A Well The Temporary Staff As Far In The Background As We Possibly Mana 2 (90.53 KiB) Viewed 55 times
Dependability is also a fundamental principle of a well the temporary staff as far in the background as we possibly managed hotel. We must always keep our promises. For can and make sure that our skilled, well-trained staff are the example, rooms must be ready on time and accounts must ones who usually interact with the custome. So, for example, be ready for presentation when a guest departs the guests a waiter who would normally take orders, service the food, expect a dependable service and anything less than full and take away the dirty plates would in peak times restrict his dependability is a legitimate cause for dissatisfaction. It is on or her activities to taking orders and serving the food. The less the grand occasions, however, when dependability is par- skilled part of the job, taking away the plates , could be left to ticularly important in the hotel. When staging a banquet, temporary staff: for example, everything has to be on time. Drinks, food, As far as cost is concerned, around 60 per cent of the entertainment have to be available exactly as planned hotel's total operating expenses go on food and beverages, Any deviation from the plan will very soon be noticed so one obvious way of keeping costs down is by making by customers. It is largely a matter of planning the details sure that food is not wasted. Energy costs, at 6 per cent of and anticipating what could go wrong. Once we've done the total operating costs, are also a potential source of saving planning we can anticipate possible problems and plan how However, although cost savings are welcome, the hotel is to cope with them, or better still prevent them from occur- very careful never to compromise the quality of its service ring in the first place. in order to cut costs. It is impeccable customer service which Flexibility means a number of things to the hotel. First gives us our competitive advantage, not price. Good service of all it means that they should be able to meet a guest's means that our guests return again and again. At times, requests. We never like to say NO! For example, if a guest around half our guests are people who have been before. The asks for some Camembert cheese and we don't have it in more guests we have, the higher is our utilization of rooms stock, we will make sure that someone goes to the super and restaurants, and this is what really keeps cost per guest market and tries to get it. If, in spite of our best efforts, we down and profitability reasonable. So in the end we've come can't get any we will negotiate an alternative solution with full cirde its the quality of our service which keeps Our vol- the guest. This has an important side-effect-it greatly helps umes high and our costs fow.' us to maintain the motivation of our staff We are constantly being asked to do the seemingly impossible - yet we do it, and
QUESTIONS Our staff think it's great. We all like to be part of an organi- zation which is capable of achieving the very difficult, if not 1 Describe how you think the hotel's management will: the impossible.' Flexibility in the hotel also means the abil (a) make sure that the way it manages the hotel is ity to cope with the seasonal fluctuations in demand. They appropriate to the way it competes for business achieve this partly by using temporary part-time staff. In (b) implement any change in strategy: the back-office parts of the hotel this isn't a major problem. (c) develop its operation so that it drives the long-term In the laundry, for example, it is relatively easy to put on strategy of the hotel. an extra shift in busy periods by increasing staffing levels. 2 The case study describes how quality, speed, 5 However, this is more of a problem in the parts of the hotel dependability, flexibility and cost impact on the that have direct contact with the customer. "New temporary hotel's external customers. Explain how each of staff can't be expected to have the same customer contact these performance objectives might have internal skills as our more regular staff. Our solution to this is to keep benefits.
There are many luxurious hotels in the South-East Asia region but few can compare with the Penang Mutiara, a 440-room top-of-the-market hotel which nestles in the lush greenery of Malaysia Indian Ocean Coast. Owned by Pernas-OUE of Malaysia and managed by Singapore Mandarin International Hotels, the hotels General Manager is under no illusions about the importance ofrun- ning an effective operation. Managing a hotel of this size is an immensely complicated task," he says. Our customers have every right to be demanding, They expect fest-class service and that's what we have to give them if we have any problems with managing this operation, the customer sees them immediately and that the biggest incentive for us to take operations performance seriously . Our qual- ity of service just has to be impeccable. This means dealing with the basics. For example, our staff must be courteous at all times and yet also friendly to wards our guests. And of course they must have the knowledge to be able to answer quests'
questions The building and equipment - in fact all the hard- ware of the operation - Must support the luxury atmosphere which we have created in the hotel. Stylish design Speed, in terms of fast response to customers requests is and top-dass materialis not only create the night impression but, something else that is important. A guest just should not be kept if we choose them carefully , are also durable so the hotel still waiting If a guest has a request, he or she has that request now looks good over the years. Most of all, though quality is about so it needs to be sorted out now. This is not always easy but we do anticipating our guests' needs, thinking ahead so you can iden- Our best. For eample, if every guest in the hotel tonight decided tify what will delight or irritate a guest! to call room service and request a meal instead of going to the res The hotel tries to anticipate guests' needs in a number of fauraris, our room service department would obviously be grossly ways. For example, if guests have been to the hotel before, overloaded and customers would have to wait an unacceptably staff avoid having to repeat the information they gave on the long time before the meals were brought up to their rooms. We previous visit. Reception staff simply check to see if guests cope with this by keeping a dose watch on how demand for room have stayed before, retrieve the information and take them service is building up. If we think it's going to get above the level straight to their room without irritating delays. Quality of ser- whate response time to customers would become unacceptably vice also means helping guests sort out their own problems. long, we will call in staff from other restaurants in the hotel. Of If the airline loses a guests luggage en route to the hotel, for course, to do this we have to make sure that our staff are mut- example, he or she will arrive at the hotel understandably skilled. In fact we have a policy of making sure that restaurante irritated. The fact that it is not us who have irritated them is not staff can always do more than one job. Ies this kind of flexibity really the issue. It is our job to make them feel better? which allows us to maintain fast response to the customer!