Study Notes: The Hospitality Industry
Hey everyone! Welcome to your study notes for the Hospitality Industry. Think about your last family holiday or even just a meal at a nice restaurant. That amazing experience was thanks to the hospitality industry! In this chapter, we'll explore what this industry is all about, from giant hotels to your favourite local cafe. It's a huge and exciting part of tourism, and understanding it is key to your THS success. Let's get started!
1. The Nature of the Hospitality Industry
1.1 What Makes the Hospitality Industry Special? (Characteristics)
The hospitality "product" isn't a phone you can put in your pocket. It's an experience, and that makes it unique. Don't worry, these concepts are easy to remember with a simple trick!
Think of the word "PINT" to remember the main characteristics:
Perishability: This means a service can't be saved for later. If a hotel room isn't sold for a night, that revenue is lost forever. You can't put "last night's empty room" on a shelf and sell it today. Example: An empty seat on a flight or an empty table at a restaurant for a lunch service is a lost sales opportunity.
Intangibility: You can't touch or hold a hospitality service before you buy it. You're buying a promise of a good experience, like a comfortable sleep or a delicious meal. This is why reviews and brand reputation are so important!
Nature of Service (Inseparability): The production and consumption of the service happen at the same time and place, and the customer is part of the process. Example: A haircut is created and "consumed" by you at the same time. Similarly, you are present in the hotel or restaurant while you are receiving the service. The staff and the customer interact directly.
Time-bound (and Place-bound): The service is only available for a specific duration and at a specific location. You have to go to the hotel to use the room, and you only have it for the nights you booked.
1.2 Hospitality and Tourism: The Perfect Partnership
Think of tourism and hospitality as best friends who need each other.
Tourism is about travelling to and staying in places outside your usual environment.
Hospitality provides the services for those travellers! It offers accommodation (a place to sleep), food and beverage (things to eat and drink), and other services that make a trip comfortable and enjoyable.
Without hotels and restaurants (hospitality), where would tourists stay and eat? Without tourists (tourism), many hospitality businesses would have no customers. They work hand-in-hand.
1.3 Careers in Hospitality: It's a People Business!
Working in hospitality is all about people. Career natures include:
People-oriented: You need to enjoy interacting with and helping people from all over the world.
Shift work: Hotels and many restaurants are open 24/7, 365 days a year. This means employees work in shifts, including nights, weekends, and public holidays.
Demanding but rewarding: The work can be fast-paced and challenging, but making a guest's day and creating memorable experiences is very fulfilling.
Key Takeaways for Section 1
The hospitality industry provides experiences, not physical goods. Remember the PINT characteristics (Perishability, Intangibility, Nature of Service, Time-bound). It's a vital part of the tourism industry, and careers are focused on serving people, often involving shift work.
2. The Accommodation Sector - Your Home Away From Home
2.1 Types of Accommodation
Accommodation is more than just hotels! It refers to any place that provides lodging for travellers.
Classification of Accommodation:
Hotels: These are the most common type. They can be classified in many ways:
By Service Level: Luxury (e.g., The Peninsula Hong Kong), Mid-range (e.g., Holiday Inn), Budget (e.g., Ibis).
By Location: City centre hotels, airport hotels, resorts (usually in scenic areas).
By Size: From small boutique hotels with a few dozen rooms to mega-hotels with thousands.
Other Establishments: This includes guesthouses, hostels, bed & breakfasts (B&Bs), and serviced apartments.
2.2 The Hotel's Product: Rooms and Rates
Types of Rooms:
Single: A room for one person, with one single bed.
Double: A room with one large bed (like a double or queen bed) for one or two people.
Twin: A room with two separate single beds for two people.
Suite: A larger unit that usually includes a bedroom and a separate living/sitting area.
Types of Room Rates:
The price of a room isn't always the same! Different rates exist:
Rack Rate: The official, standard price of a room without any discounts. It's like the sticker price on a car.
Corporate Rate: A discounted rate for businesses that use the hotel frequently.
Group Rate: A special rate offered to a large group booking multiple rooms, like a tour group or a wedding party.
2.3 Who Stays in a Hotel? (Types of Guests)
Hotels welcome all kinds of people. Here are some key guest types:
Leisure Travellers: People on holiday, travelling for fun and relaxation.
Corporate Business Travellers: People travelling for work, like meetings or conferences.
FITs (Free Independent Travellers): Individuals or small groups who plan their own trips and are not part of a tour group.
GITs (Group Inclusive Tours): Tourists who travel together on a pre-packaged tour.
Domestic Tourists: Residents of the country travelling within their own country (e.g., a "staycation" in Hong Kong).
Conference Participants: People attending a specific conference or event held at the hotel.
VIPs (Very Important Persons): High-profile guests like celebrities, CEOs, or government officials who require special attention and security.
Incognito: A type of VIP who wishes to stay without anyone knowing they are there. Privacy is their top priority.
2.4 The Guest's Journey: The Guest Cycle
The guest cycle describes the journey a guest takes with a hotel. It has four clear phases. Think of it like the four stages of meeting a new friend!
Pre-Arrival: This is before the guest even steps foot in the hotel. It includes making a reservation. The hotel takes the guest's details and guarantees a room for them.
Arrival: The guest arrives! Key services here are registration (filling out the guest card) and being assigned a room and key. This is the hotel's chance to make a great first impression.
Occupancy: The guest is staying in the hotel. During this phase, the hotel provides all its services: housekeeping, room service, concierge, etc. The main goal is to ensure the guest has a safe and pleasant stay. All charges (e.g., from the restaurant) are posted to the guest's account.
Departure: Time to say goodbye! The guest checks out. The front desk prepares the final bill, settles the payment, and the guest returns the key. Hopefully, they leave happy and will come back again!
2.5 How are Hotels Owned and Managed?
Who actually owns and runs a hotel? There are three main models.
Three Main Models:
Independently Owned and Operated: One person or company owns and manages the hotel. They have full control but also take on all the risk. Think of it like a local, family-owned restaurant.
Management Contract: The owner of the hotel building hires a separate hotel company (like Marriott or Hyatt) to manage it for them. The owner keeps the profits (and losses) but pays the management company a fee. This is like hiring a professional CEO to run your business for you.
Franchising: An independent hotel owner pays a fee to a large hotel chain (like Holiday Inn or McDonald's) to use its brand name, logo, and reservation system. The owner must run the hotel according to the chain's strict standards. This gives a small hotel the power of a big, famous brand.
Pros and Cons of Management Contracts & Franchising:
For Management Contracts:
Advantages: The owner gets professional management expertise and access to the management company's systems without having to run the hotel day-to-day.
Disadvantages: The owner has less control over decisions and must pay management fees, even if the hotel isn't very profitable.
For Franchising:
Advantages: The franchisee gets instant brand recognition, access to a global reservation system, and proven operational methods.
Disadvantages: The franchisee must pay high fees, follow strict rules, and has limited creative freedom.
2.6 Behind the Scenes: Hotel Departments
The Big Picture: Key Departments
A hotel is like a small city with many different departments working together:
Rooms Division: Manages everything related to the guest rooms, including Front Office and Housekeeping.
Food & Beverage (F&B) Division: Manages all the restaurants, bars, and room service.
Sales & Marketing: Sells hotel rooms and services to groups and individuals.
Human Resources: Hires, trains, and manages the hotel staff.
Accounting: Manages all the hotel's finances.
The Leaders: Key Executives
General Manager (GM): The "boss" of the hotel. Responsible for the overall success and profitability of the entire property.
Resident Manager: The second-in-command. Often responsible for the day-to-day operations, especially the Rooms Division.
2.7 Focus on the Rooms Division
This division is the heart of the hotel's main business: selling rooms.
The Front Office: The Hotel's Nerve Centre
Functions: The Front Office is the first and last point of contact for guests. It handles reservations, registration, check-out, guest requests, and information.
Key Positions & Duties:
Front Office Manager: Manages the entire front office operation.
Reservations Clerk: Takes bookings for rooms.
Receptionist: Checks guests in and out.
Concierge: The guest's personal helper. Books tours, makes restaurant reservations, and arranges transportation.
Telephone Operator: Handles all incoming and outgoing calls.
Executive Floor Manager: Manages the exclusive "club" or "executive" floors for VIP guests.
Main Duties of the Front Desk:
Registration procedures: Welcoming the guest, confirming booking details, taking payment details, and issuing a room key.
Check-out procedures: Confirming charges, processing payment, and wishing the guest a safe journey.
Handling Overbooking: This is when a hotel sells more rooms than it has available. The front desk must handle this difficult situation by "walking" the guest – arranging and paying for a room for them in a nearby, comparable hotel.
Relationship with Other Departments: The Front Office must communicate constantly. Example: It tells Housekeeping which guests have checked out so the rooms can be cleaned. It gets information from the F&B department about a guest's restaurant charges.
Housekeeping: Keeping it Clean and Comfy
Functions: To ensure all areas of the hotel – guest rooms and public areas (like the lobby) – are clean, well-maintained, and comfortable.
Key Positions & Duties:
Executive Housekeeper: Manages the entire housekeeping department.
Floor Supervisor: Checks the work of room attendants on a specific floor to ensure standards are met.
Room Attendant: The person who cleans the guest rooms each day.
Public Area Supervisor: Manages the cleaning of the lobby, hallways, and other public spaces.
Tasks and Supplies: Housekeeping's tasks include cleaning rooms and public areas. They are also responsible for stocking in-room supplies like soap, shampoo, towels, and coffee (these are called amenities).
Decoding Room Status: HK Lingo! Housekeeping and Front Office use codes to communicate the status of a room:
OC: Occupied Clean (A guest is in the room, and it has been serviced today)
OD: Occupied Dirty (A guest is in the room, but it has not been serviced yet)
VC / VR: Vacant Clean / Vacant Ready (The room is empty, clean, and ready for a new guest to check in)
VD: Vacant Dirty (The previous guest has checked out, but the room is still dirty)
OOO: Out-of-Order (The room cannot be sold because it needs maintenance, e.g., broken air-con)
DND: Do Not Disturb (The guest has put the sign on the door and does not want to be disturbed)
NNS: No Need Services (The guest has indicated that they do not require housekeeping service today)
Safety First: Security Procedures: Housekeeping plays a key role in hotel security. They must follow procedures for:
Handling guests' valuables and keys: Never leaving master keys unattended.
Reporting suspicious persons or activities.
Handling lost and found items: All found items must be logged and stored securely.
Key Takeaways for Section 2
The Accommodation Sector covers everything from classifying hotels to managing daily operations. The Guest Cycle (Pre-Arrival, Arrival, Occupancy, Departure) is the guest's journey. Hotels can be run independently, under a management contract, or as a franchise. The Rooms Division, with its two key parts – Front Office and Housekeeping – is crucial for a hotel's success.
3. The Food & Beverage (F&B) Sector - More Than Just a Meal
3.1 The F&B Department in a Hotel
This department is responsible for all the food and drink services in a hotel.
Organisation: It's usually split into "front-of-house" (staff who interact with guests, like waiters) and "back-of-house" (kitchen staff, like chefs).
Key Positions & Duties:
Food and Beverage Manager: In charge of the entire F&B division.
Restaurant Manager: Manages a specific restaurant within the hotel.
Station Waiter: Serves the guests in their assigned section of the restaurant.
Sous Chef: The second-in-command in the kitchen, right under the head chef.
Station Chef (e.g., Pastry Chef): A specialist in charge of one part of the kitchen.
Assistant Cook: Helps the chefs with food preparation.
Relationship with Other Departments: F&B works closely with the Front Office to charge meals to guest rooms and with Sales & Marketing to promote events like weddings.
3.2 Types of F&B Services
Classification by Market Segment:
F&B services cater to different types of customers (markets):
Hotel Market: Restaurants and bars inside hotels.
Leisure Market: Restaurants, theme parks, cinemas that people visit for fun.
Business and Industrial Market: Staff canteens in offices and factories.
Student Market: School cafeterias.
Retail Market: Cafes inside department stores.
Transportation Market: Food served on airplanes, trains, and cruise ships.
Health Care Market: Food for patients in hospitals.
Modes of Operation:
Ownership: Can be "independent ownership" (a single family-run restaurant) or "chain ownership" (part of a large group like Café de Coral).
Focus: Can be "profit making focused" (most restaurants) or "non-profit making focused" (like a charity kitchen or hospital cafeteria).
Common Examples of F&B Services:
Fine Dining Restaurants: High-end, expensive, with elaborate service and high-quality food.
Casual Dining Restaurants: Moderately priced, relaxed atmosphere. Most family restaurants fall into this category.
Fast Food Restaurants: Quick service, low prices, standardized menu. Think McDonald's or KFC.
Bars: Primarily serve alcoholic beverages.
3.3 All About the Menu
Types of Menus:
À la carte: Each food item is listed and priced separately. You choose exactly what you want.
Table d'hôte: Offers a set meal with several courses (e.g., appetizer, main course, dessert) for a fixed price. There are limited choices for each course.
Carte du jour: Means "card of the day." It's the menu of daily specials.
Cycle Menu: A menu that is repeated over a specific period, e.g., a 4-week cycle. Often used in hospitals and schools.
Children's Menu: Simple dishes in smaller portions for kids.
Banqueting Menu: A fixed menu for a large group event like a wedding banquet.
Menu Objectives, Planning, Pricing, and Design:
Objectives: A menu is a marketing tool! Its objectives are to make a profit, create a good image for the restaurant, and help with marketing.
Planning Considerations: When planning a menu, you must consider four factors: customer-related (what do they want?), food-related (what ingredients are available?), operation-related (can our kitchen staff actually cook this?), and marketing-related (how does this fit our brand?).
Menu Pricing: Two basic methods are the cost-based approach (calculating the food cost and adding a markup) and the subjective approach (pricing based on what the manager feels customers are willing to pay).
Menu Card Design: The physical menu should have attractive colour and print, good food descriptions, and overall attractiveness to entice customers.
3.4 Creating the Dining Experience
Restaurant Design and Layout: The layout of a restaurant must be efficient for both staff (to move around easily) and guests (to feel comfortable).
Ambience: This is the mood or feeling of a restaurant. It's created by combining elements like décor, staff uniforms, the five senses (what you see, hear, smell), table settings, and the overall theme.
Table Setting and Utensils: A Table d'hôte setting will have all the necessary cutlery for the set courses already on the table. An À la carte setting is simpler, and cutlery is brought with the specific dish ordered.
3.5 In the Kitchen
The design of a kitchen is vital for smooth operations. Factors include the basic design and layout (to ensure a good workflow), the type of kitchen equipment needed, and, very importantly, fire safety measures.
3.6 Food Safety: The #1 Priority
Know the Dangers: Types of Food Contamination
Contamination is when something harmful gets into food. There are three types:
Biological Contamination: From living things. This is the most common cause of food poisoning. Examples: Bacteria (like Salmonella in raw chicken), viruses, parasites.
Chemical Contamination: From chemical substances. Examples: Cleaning detergents, pesticides on vegetables, food additives.
Physical Contamination: From foreign objects falling into food. Examples: A strand of hair, a piece of glass, a small stone.
Did you know? The "Five Keys to Food Safety"
The World Health Organization (WHO) created these five simple rules to prevent foodborne illness. They are essential for any F&B operation!
Choose: Choose safe raw materials. Don't use food that is past its expiry date.
Clean: Keep hands, surfaces, and equipment clean.
Separate: Separate raw and cooked food to prevent cross-contamination. (Cross-contamination is when germs from raw food, like raw meat juices, get onto cooked or ready-to-eat food).
Cook: Cook food thoroughly to the correct temperature to kill harmful bacteria.
Safe Temperature: Keep food at safe temperatures. Keep hot food hot (above 60°C) and cold food cold (below 5°C).
Putting it into Practice: Food Handling
F&B staff must apply the Five Keys at every stage of food handling, from receiving ingredients to serving the final dish. This includes good storage procedures (e.g., storing raw meat on the bottom shelf of the fridge below cooked foods) and strict personal hygiene standards (e.g., washing hands frequently, wearing clean uniforms).
Key Takeaways for Section 3
The F&B sector is diverse, serving many different market segments. The menu is a critical tool for success. The dining experience is shaped by the restaurant's ambience. Most importantly, food safety is non-negotiable. Remember the three types of contamination (Biological, Chemical, Physical) and master the Five Keys to Food Safety (Choose, Clean, Separate, Cook, Safe Temperature).