Hospitality management

The essentials

Hospitality means the friendly reception and care of guests. The hospitality industry includes hotels, resorts, guest houses, hospitals, hostels, cruise ships, airlines and restaurants. A hotel is run through several departments that work together to give guests a safe, clean and comfortable stay.

Key points

• Front office: the "face" of the hotel; handles reservations, registration (check-in), room allotment, guest information, mail, billing and check-out.
• Housekeeping: cleanliness and upkeep of guest rooms and public areas, linen and laundry, interior decoration and flower arrangement, lost and found, pest control.
• Food and beverage service: restaurants, coffee shop, bar, room service and banquets.
• Food production (kitchen): preparation of food for all outlets.
• Support departments: maintenance (engineering), security, accounts, human resources, sales and marketing.
• Room types: single, double, twin (two separate beds), suite (bedroom with a separate sitting room).
• Meal plans: European Plan (room only); Continental Plan (room with breakfast); Modified American Plan (room, breakfast and one major meal); American Plan (room and all meals).
• Occupancy rate (%) = (rooms occupied ÷ rooms available) × 100.
• Qualities of hospitality staff: courtesy, good grooming, communication skills, honesty, punctuality.

Exam tips

Practise the occupancy formula and match tasks with departments.

Common mistakes

Assigning lost-and-found or room cleaning to the front office; these belong to housekeeping.