| ASSESSMENT BRIEF | |
| Subject Code and Name | MRD403: Management of Rooms Division |
| Assessment | Reflective Portfolio |
| Individual/Group | Individual |
| Length | 3,000 words |
| Learning Outcomes | This assessment addresses the following subject learning outcomes:
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Context:
The major assessment for this unit is a Reflective Portfolio. A portfolio is an organised collection of student work designed to represent students' efforts and academic achievements over a period of time, in this case over a period of one term. The main purpose of this portfolio is for you to reflect upon what you have achieved and learnt throughout the term in this unit. Reflecting on your experiences will in turn give you the ability to implement the skills developed during your time.
Whereas traditional academic projects expect students to be objective and impersonal, a Reflective Portfolio asks students to highlight their own personal perspectives, opinions and feelings. It provides an honest summary of the work undertaken and the skill sets that were developed.
Instructions:
Throughout this term, you will learn about the different elements of Rooms Management in both theory and practical application. Students are required to complete a 3,000-word Reflective Portfolio based upon each week / topic presented in this unit.
The Reflective Portfolio is a mean to review what you have learnt on a weekly basis, how concepts have related to your past experiences, how concepts could be applied to enhance your performance as a hotel leader, challenges and areas of confusion and other thoughts / opinions relating to your weekly learning experience. It is also recommended that the unit learning outcomes are reflected upon for each entry.
Format/Structure:
To complete this task, you will need to complete nine (9) journal entries. There is no specific requirement for you to follow a specific structure in the format of your journal, however a suggested format is provided below.
Applied Learning reflection should not be included in this document; this portfolio is to be primarily about the lecture topics. Your previous work history relating to hotels is encouraged to be added to complement your reflection of learning.
Assessment Criteria:
Your submission will be graded against the following criteria:
MANAGEMENT OF HOTEL ROOMS
Introduction
The following reflective portfolio is based on the different elements of Rooms Management in both theory and practical application. I have gathered the practical experience during my internship in Novotel Sunshine Coast Resort. The present assessment mainly has taken into account supervisory functions in room division in hospitality organization along with accessing business of hotel through applying management theories. Apart from this, I have focused on performing a close evaluation of cost control principle and critically reflecting on areas of security and safety measures.
Week 1
| Heading:Organizational Structure and Communication |
| Topic Sentence: Internal Communication is important to Maintain Effective Organizational Structure During the internship I have been encountered with the role of front office manager. I have been assigned as a helping hand in the front desk for sometimes. In this regard, I have related the role of the front office manager with that of weekly learning. The role of the front office manager is concerned with the maintenance of professional and friendly service for guests. In this regard, I have realized the fact maintenance of professional relations with the guests and ensure their satisfaction with good behavior is important. For my future career development it is important to ensure the professional attitude. However, I would like to mention that keeping the anger is difficult from my end and I may overreact if the consumers misbehave sometimes. Thus, I need to control this efficiently. Organizational structure plays an important role here to make the rules and follow the implications. During the internship I have realized that the works in a hotel is connected through proper communication between the departments. Lack of communication can disrupt the workflow and may result in the consumer dissatisfaction. Intra and inter communication are important for the room division and allocation of room as per the demand of the consumers. |
| Idea Development: The learning of this week can be related to the motivation and satisfaction theories. Employee and consumers both are important assets of the hotel. Thus, satisfactions of both consumers are important (Karanges et al., 2015). Organizational structure plays an important role here to check on the demand of the employees and act as per that. Leading the employees in important through inter and intra communication so that the consumer needs can be managed effectively. Efficient communication in terms of positive leadership helps in the process to allocate proper room to the consumers. Encouragement through communication can motivate the employees and it can ensure the excellent consumer service (Ali et al., 2016). |
Week 2
| Heading:Role and purpose of the reservations department |
| Topic Sentence: Direct and indirect channels are helping the purpose of reservation department The internship period has helped me a lot to understand the process of reservation of rooms. During the work with the room allocation team I have understood that the legal terms are involved in the booking and cancellation of the rooms. Certain problems related to room cancellation and payment method disruptions are prevalent from the end of agent. Thus I have learnt the fact that proper control over the direct and indirect channels of room booking such as OTAs, CRS, GDS, and Metasearch Engines. In this regard, it is essential to consider that the reservation individual must have the knowledge of utilizing the channels. Improper update can create problem for the consumers. I have realized that or group booking, communication withing the department is vital. I have also learnt about the Blockchain and Passkey technology for the up-selling purpose. However, I need extensive service experience to understand the technical faults in transactions that can be occurred. |
| Idea Development: OTA (Online Travel Agency) and GDS (Global Distribution System) are two common terms in the hotel business. These are associated with helping the consumer with booking. In this regard, the consumer satisfaction and experience theory is involved (Malouf et al., 2016). Implementation of these direct and indirect channels in terms of block and passkey technology is helping the reservation department. The literature findings have supported the expectancy- value concept in this regard. It is ensuring the consumer experience in terms of securing the money, easy transaction, and allocation of concerned room. On the other hand, it has been found that the legal aspects consideration and proper terms and conditions for reservation and payment are important for successful consumer experience. |
Week 3
| Heading:Functions of reception and consumer service |
| Topic Sentence: Reception is responsible for room allocations, check arrival reports and checking the room rates During my internship I have gathered knowledge regarding the function of the reception. The role of the reception is concerned with providing the essential information for the clients. The duties of the reception is concerned with the checking the guests, taking the reservation and issue the keys. Improper introduction of the hotel terms can create trouble for the consumers. Thus, I have considered that I need to enhance my capabilities in hotel terminologies. Another important factor is coined with the room rates management. The receptionist needs the clear idea regarding the factors. During my internship I have been assigned in the helping desk and I have realized that competition, occupancy and demand rate along with the location and type of hotel room matters the most for room price generation. Maintenance of the guest accounting is important. The departure time and the vacant time of the rooms need are essential to be kept in record. I have to learn the management of ledger for future implications and update the room status for further service. |
| Idea Development: Considering the literature concern it has been found that the leadership role related to transformational aspect is essential in this regard. It is beneficial for the management of situation. The occupancy rate and visitor demand is unpredictable in nature (Richard et al., 2018). Thus, it is hard for the reception to manage the situation. Positive leadership guidance can ensure the management of receptionist behavior and room related queries and allocation management. On the other hand, room allocation and the arrival report management is ensuring better consumer satisfaction generation. It is in turn contributing towards the hotel business. I have realized the fact from the literature findings and practical experience during internship that room allocation is important for the reputation of the concerned hotel (Wang et al., 2016). The management needs to apply proper leadership vision to deal with the room allocation process from the end of reception. The reason is that reception is responsible for managing the ledgers of guests and the first interaction with the hotel starts from reception desk. |
Week 4
| Heading:Personalized experience and associated Hotel People |
| Topic Sentence: All the employees are contributing to personalized experience of consumers The working experience of 6 months as an intern in the hotel has helped me to gather much experience on the process and facilities of the hotel. The associated persons are involved in ensuring the satisfaction of the consumers. Function of Concierge is concerned with helping the consumers with guidance on nightlife, spa services and booking and transportation. I have realized that these are essential to make the consumers special in the hotel. The learning from the week has ensured the fact that elite Concierge is important for the hotel chain for premium experience. They have been termed as Clefs d’Or to ensure the experience of the consumers. Moreover, valet, doorman and bellboy are also important for quick response generation for the consumers. I believe that the rating of the hotels improve based on these facilities and performances. I think for my future professional development my strong point is concerned with the guest experience journey development and ensuring the personalized experience for the consumers. |
| Idea Development: Employee loyalty is the major literature concern which is involved in this context. The outcome of the weekly learning and the literature findings have ensured the fact that employee loyalty is connected with the consumer experience generation (Min et al., 2015). The services from the end of Concierge, Valet, doorman and bellboy are related with the generation of consumer satisfaction. The theory is related with the consumer satisfaction in the hospitality industry. The theoretical findings have indicated that the people are concerned regarding four aspects expectations, perceived performance, disconfirmation, and satisfaction. Based on this the hotel industry is generating the experience map for the premium consumers through various employee engagement (Baek et al., 2019). The level of expectations represents pre-consumption expectation and it is essential to amend this pre expectation of the consumers. |
Week 5
| Heading:Importance of housekeeping department |
| Topic Sentence: Housekeeping department is the Heart of the hotel I have gathered the concept during the internship that housekeeping is vital and considered as the heart of the hotel. I have realized cleanliness reflects the image of the hotel and proper behavior towards the consumers and maintenance of their privacy are important for the quality of the services. I have been assigned under executive housekeepers who have informed me about the procedures and policies of the cleaning activities. Inventory management and outsoaring practice is essential. I have gathered the knowledge that the generation of the inventory is concerned with the prevention of losses and theft activities. In future, I would like to play in the role of executive housekeeping as the role is challenging. Outsourcing practice in terms of laundry and order management is vital during busy hours. Furthermore, workplace health and safety is important in the hotels. Safeties of the employees are important which can ensure the satisfaction of the internal consumer’s concept. |
| Idea Development: External and internal consumers both are important for the hotel industry. Satisfaction of the internal consumers ensures the management of the external consumers. Consumer satisfaction plays an important role in the development of the image of the hotel. In this regard, it has been found that the proper management of the workload from the end of housekeeping is beneficial for the proper guest satisfaction (Aliet al., 2016). Consumer satisfaction is related with the quality service and products. For the hotel business, I have realized from literature development that service quality ensure the consumer behavior and perception generation for the concerned hotel (Batinić, 2015). On the other hand, workplace safety and health maintenance is vital for the employees (DevrimYilmaz, 2017). Housekeeping in-charges are needed to be provided with safety concern so that effective service can be generated from their end. |
Week 6
| Heading:Professional Communication and Conflict Management |
| Topic Sentence: Conflict management in the organization can be overcome with professional communication. Since the beginning day of my internship I have realized that communication is very important in the context of hotel. The managerial instruction towards us was regarding convey of message to the subsequent staffs so that no mistakes can be occurred. The management related messages has been conveyed to use based on face-to-face meetings, e-mail and notice. I have realized that certain barriers are prevalent in the hotel industry. I need to be careful regarding barriers such as emotional language, personal perspectives, speaker distractions and external distractions in the hotel industry. The reason is I have already faced difficulties due to these. This week learning has generated the concept regarding positive communication which helps in reflecting the confidence and empathy from the end of both listener and speaker. Open-mindedness is important for the interdependent communication as it helps in the process to manage the conflicts. In addition, I have considered the fact that performance of the employees can be managed through positive communication maintenance in hotel. |
| Idea Development: Considering the literature outcome it has been found that the concept of the week is centered towards the organizational communication. Organizational communication is important and it is vital for the hospitality industry (Berezan et al., 2016). The reason is that consumer demand is varying in nature and it is always changing. Thus convey of the consumer message is important to provide the necessary service to the clients. In this regard, social learning theory and Cognitive Dissonance Theory are important for the successful practice of the communication in the hotel industry; Through this theoretical concept application conflicts among the employees can be resolved (Gounaris et al., 2016). I think roper communication is important for training development that can help the employees to improve their performance. |
Week 7
| Heading:Night auditor job process |
| Topic Sentence: Night Audit Report is important for keeping record of the Hotel The outcome of the week has reflected that the role of night auditor in the hotel is important for the reconciling and closing of the hotel financial activities. During the internship I have realized the fact that the night audit shift starts after most of the staffs left for the day. Accounting skill is vital in this regard for proper management of the tasks. I have considered the fact that I can face difficulties with the night audit job as my accounting skills are not good. I have to improve a lot for the post. Apart from this, night audit report is vital to keep the record for next day performance. The audit report is consisting of updates on reservation discrepancies, posts charges and generates folios, updates housekeeping status and closes cash counters. I have realized that these are essential for the record maintenance of over booking. However, I am not much concerned about this job to get involved with. |
| Idea Development: Literature findings have revealed that the role of nigh auditor is to keep the audit report up to date based on the entire days performances. Generations of cash counter closing, reservation discrepancies and charging of the posts are helping the functions of the night auditor. In this regard, it has been found that the qualification of the night auditor is important for the post to handle the tasks (Rahat&Kabir, 2018). Here, literature outcome has indicated that the training and guidance from the end of management plays an important role to generate the skills of night audit. Organizational efficiency concept is valid in this regard that ensures the role of the night audit to control the tasks related to accounting. Based on the different types and size of the hotels front desk, customer service and maintenance duties are being included in the night auditor role. |
Week 8
| Heading:Safety and Security of the Consumers and Staffs |
| Topic Sentence: Personal and property security are essential for employees and guest Since the very first day I have been subjected to the emergency drilling practice in the hotel. Two days in a week has been arranged for the safety training. This week studies have included the role of risk management in the hotel industry. In this regard, I have found that safety and security are the primary concern for the employees and guests. Fire safety training has been provided frequently and we have been provided with all emergency preparation. It is important for the hotel to ensure the safety culture in the organizational practice. Other crimes such as terrorism related issues are also present in the hotel. In this regard, during the internship I have realized that I have to work on my quick response during the emergency and keep my nerve so that no mistakes can be occurred. |
| Idea Development: Literature findings in this regard has indicated the fact that safety and security in the organization are vital so that that the guest and employees feels secure in the organization. Risk Management is important to restrict the risks of the people (Clifton, 2019). Thus, security for building, in-house guests, visitors, day users, and employees are essential for the hotel. Furthermore, it is linked with the need analysis and motivation of the employees. Motivations of the employees are vital for the organization to ensure quality performance from the end of employees (Peter, 2018). In this regard, I have found that that Maslow Hierarchy needs are important to ensure all the needs of the guests and employees. |
Week 9
| Heading:Cost controlling in Hospitality Industry |
| Topic Sentence: Cost control and Enterprise bargaining agreements are important for hospitality industry I have been exposed to the fact that the employees of the hotel must be aware of the fact that budget, revenue, profit, gross profit and other terminologies. These are associated with ensuring the revenue generation for the organization. Controlling the budget is important for the organization. I have been exposed to certain situations that have helped me to gather the information related to cost controlling aspects. Enterprise bargaining agreements are important for organization to control the labor cost. Implementations of the technologies are being practiced in the organization which is restricting the employee involvement and have controlled the cost. In addition, our organization has initiated the part-time based jobs to avoid the burden of appraisal and incentives for the permanent post employees. I have realized the fact that I need to be more cautious about the areas where the costs can be more. Restrictions of costs and maintenance of quality is important in the products and services of the organization. Maintenance of hospitality with quality can ensure thehospitality industry award generation. |
| Idea Development: Based on the outcome of the week it has been found that the controlling of the cost is important in the organization. Thus proper monitoring is essential from the end of managers. Efficient leaders of the organization have the capability to monitor budget, revenue, profit gross profit and other terminology so that the anomalies can be understood (Unegbu&Audu, 2015). Control on the quality of the product and the management of the cost are vital. In addition, I have gathered the experience from the literature outcome that agreement with the labor is important. Technological implementations have restricted the labor cost (Sturman et al., 2017). Monitoring and scheduling are important to control the service costs. |
Conclusion
From the overall discussion and specifically the personal reflection related achievements, this can be stated that the task of room division requires effective managerial efficiency with regard to proper application of business performance tools and theoretical concepts of management. It is my personal experience that ability of applying critical context of insights is beneficial for management operations in hotels.Thus, I must say that all the weekly learning contexts have been of great significance for my knowledge development on associated areas.
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Words: 890