by Waseem Akram

Created on: June 22, 2009

Various hotel Departments

Each department in the hotel has a role to play in delivering quality services and products to its guests. And to provide these products and services, the hotel has been broken down into various sections and each department has a set of specific tasks to undertake in order to please the guests. Below mentioned is the list of various departments in a hotel:

Food and Beverage (F&B) - Employs the most number of people out of the entire hotel, provides food and beverage to guests in the hotel. Also is included in Cafes, restaurants, clubs, bar, poolside bar lounge, Banquets (meetings, events and private functions) and finally Room Service.

The kitchen - their role is preparing food for the guest. It is considered as back of the house department. All preparation, cooking, baking and putting in the finishing touches are all done in this department and then transferred to the relevant department.

Stewarding Department - handles the cleanliness of the cutleries and utensils. Handle washing, polishing and cleaning of the cutleries and utensils.

Front Office - One of the basic needs - shelter & security. It is associated with hotel rooms, housekeeping and concierge. Back office roles are reservation clerk & telephone operator. Front office roles are guest relations, cashier and night auditor. They handle guest check-in and check-out, guest account and guest enquires.

Concierge - they handle or manage guest enquires, valet parking, and guest luggage. Handle in-coming & out going mails for guests.

Housekeeping - Responsible for maintaining cleaning standards of the guest rooms and public areas. Responsible for staff uniforms and laundry services

Maintenance & Engineering - Manage day to day maintenance issues that arise. No direct contact with guest, fix anything that is broken or faulty (e.g. - television, chairs, bulbs, etc)

Financial Control - Management of revenue received and expenses incurred by the hotel. Have no direct contact with guest, conduct random check on various department expenses. They may sub-departments handling the purchase of food or items used by the various departments.

Sales & Marketing - Handle advertisement and promotions for various departments in the hotel. Create and design brochures, menus, wine list and so on. Responsible for increasing sales through attracting new and repeat business and responsible for room and banquet sales.

Human Resources - to recruit new staff, providing training staff. To reward staff and conduct performance appraisal. To organize induction program, handle staff welfare benefits.

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