Determine The Areas and Functions of Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises
Determine The Areas and Functions of Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises
Determine The Areas and Functions of Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises
Course Description: This course consists of competencies that are required to operate and
manage tourism and hospitality enterprises. It includes guest reception, room accommodation,
restaurant, banquet and event, leisure and recreation, travel and tours, and back of the house
operations.
At the end of the course delivery, students would be able to:
Learning Outcomes:
1. Determine the areas and functions of Tourism and Hospitality enterprises
2. Engage coordination linkages to all enterprise departments and industry partners
3. Operate and Manage Tourism and Hospitality enterprises
4. Lead and Manage a development team
5. Manage and Control Operational Costs
6. Manage and resolve conflicts
I. Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:
1. Determine the areas and functions of Tourism and Hospitality enterprises;
2. Oversee the functionality of the areas; and
3. Evaluate the effectivity of the functions.
III. Content
Areas of Tourism and Hospitality enterprises (guest reception, room accommodation, restaurant,
banquet and event, leisure and recreation, travel and tours, and back of the house operations)
Obtaining the information you need is a matter of applying yourself to the sources identified in the
previous Section.
In practice, this can mean:
Subscribing to, and reading, industry magazines, newsletters, updates
Picking and reading through the local and city newspapers – especially those sections that
carry articles/features on hospitality, tourism, and events
Getting on Internet e-mail lists and receiving newsletters and updates from the vast number
of relevant industry government agencies, suppliers and/or support services
Joining your local union or industry association to receive regular material – and taking an
active interest in the issues that are foremost in their minds
Reading books on the industry sector that you are working in – you should aim to read widely
and include biographies of industry people, management texts, practical hands-on reference
material and general literature on diverse industry topics
Getting out and having a look around to see what’s happening, what people are doing, what
the competition is doing, and what people are doing and saying.
And consider writing down what you find out from all of these sources.
You will forget most of what you manage to find if you do not store it somewhere – perhaps start
a scrap book: maybe even buy a small filing cabinet.
The hospitality industry can be divided into two general categories – commercial and non-
commercial.
Commercial establishments operate for profit.
These include hotels, motels, convention centres, take-away premises, and restaurants: licensed
clubs seek to operate at a profit but their profits must be ploughed back into the club for the benefit
of the members and so are regarded as ‘not for profit’ even though they seek to trade at a profit.
Non-commercial establishments do not seek to make a profit, some even acting in a charitable
capacity or in response to community need: these can include some hospitals and canteens that
operate in some workplaces and are subsidised by the company or some other funding source.
These non-profit businesses do not aim to trade at a loss (indeed they will still operate within strict
budgetary controls) but their focus is more on providing a service than showing a return on
investment. They will still watch their income and expenditure but their on-going viability does not
rely on showing a profit.
The hospitality industry is often called the Tourism and Hospitality Industry and comprises:
Restaurants and cafes
Hotels
Clubs
Meetings and events – MICE
Tours operators
Tours guides.
Most operators are small-medium enterprises (SMEs).
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment where the
predominant activity is the production and service of
food for consumption on the premises.
Many/most restaurants are licensed to sell liquor but
there is no legal requirement that a restaurant sell
liquor: where alcohol is sold, an appropriate liquor
license must be held.
Restaurants may be based on:
A national cuisine – French, Mexican, German,
Italian, Japanese or the local cuisine
A style and/or speed of service – which can
include simple plated service, through the more
formal silver service, to dishes prepared/cooked
at the table (called ‘gueridon service’)
A unique feature – such as a view of a natural landscape, their proximity to a certain
area/landmark or other facilities (such as cinemas, theatres, sporting complexes, transport)
A nominated activity – such as a tramcar restaurant, a theatre restaurant or a variety of
entertainment combined with dining.
Each department within a hospitality establishment plays its own unique role in the overall running
of the business, and in many instances this role will be integrated with other departments in order
to provide a ‘seamless service’ to customers/guests.
Some establishments rely on a large number of departments to function successfully – this is
particularly so in larger clubs or hotels, where some departments deal with specific guest services
and other departments/staff support the service-delivery departments and/or the general running
and maintenance of the business.
There are also some hospitality establishments (such as wine bars and restaurants) with only one
or two departments.
The following are examples of departments you may find within a hospitality establishment.
Listed for each department are details and key tasks for each however, in practice, tasks may
vary between properties and alter as demand and staff availability dictate. Most employers prefer
their staff to be multi-skilled so they can be used in more than one area as need/business demand
dictates.
Many venues use an ‘organisational chart’ to portray the departments, staff levels/positions and
reporting, responsibility, communication and authority lines.
Housekeeping
Housekeeping (also referred to as ‘Rooms
Division’) tasks include:
Servicing the accommodation rooms,
hallways, offices, public areas, toilets and
whatever else is deemed appropriate –
including cleaning guest rooms and other
areas, and replenishing in-room guest and
other supplies as required
Managing the laundry requirements and
dry-cleaning for guests – taking, processing and returning laundry and dry cleaning items for
guests and processing house items (sheets, pillow cases, towels, uniforms)
Performing linen room functions – repairing house and guest items
Human Resources
HR Tasks include:
Identifying future staff requirements – for all venue areas and departments (back-of-house
and front-of-house)
Recruiting staff – internally and through external sources to fill identified need
Selecting staff – including activities relating to interviewing, short-listing and reference
checking
Providing induction and orientation for new staff – to welcome them and introduce them to
their new workplace
Training of staff – to enable achievement of venue standards and meet any legally imposed
compliance requirements
Maintaining all staff records – to assist with promotion, payment, discipline and training
Staff counselling – to assist staff attain workplace goals and standards
Career planning – for individual staff to facilitate their growth in the business including
promotion and cross- and multi-skilling
Fulfilling employment requirements – keeping up-to-date with legal employment and
associated IR obligations.
Leisure
Activities related to the Leisure department can
include:
Developing recreation and leisure activities – to
meet identified customer need, and/or to attract
customers
Coordinating sporting activities – at resorts and
clubs
Conducting fitness training – for in-house guests
Providing health and therapy services – such as
spa, beauty and welfare services
Coordinating games and other fun activities for children and adults – at resorts and on cruise
ships
Specialist qualifications may be required to perform some roles in this area.
Maintenance
Maintenance tasks may include:
Managing plumbing, electrical and carpentry needs – including undertaking repairs to faulty
items and the delivery of preventative maintenance
Maintaining upkeep of the venue – by painting, decorating and refurbishment
Maintaining gardens and outside areas – lawn mowing, watering, weeding, new plantings
Providing general maintenance around the venue – including preventative maintenance and
responding to maintenance requests
Specialist certification may be required to perform some roles in this area.
Security
Security tasks include:
Guarding and transporting money – within the venue (for
example, from bars to the office) and externally (from the
venue to the bank)
Providing security for guests – as a general service and in
response to specific needs
Handling troublesome guests – such as asking them to
modify their behaviour/language, and/or asking them to
leave the premises
Securing buildings and grounds – by undertaking regular
patrols of the premises
Specialist licensing may be required to perform some
duties in this area.
Tour operators
Tour operators liaise with other businesses (such as hotels, tourist attractions, hire car
companies) to develop ‘packages’ which they sell to the public.
The elements of a tour are called ‘inclusions’.
A tour can take a number of hours, half-a-day, a full-day, multiple days, weeks, sometimes even
months, depending on the tour itinerary.
Hotels and other accommodation venues usually sell rooms at lower rates to tour operators
because tour operators commonly buy in volume, and generally represent a recurring source of
revenue.
Hospitality businesses could not function without purchasing services and products from other
businesses outside the industry: these are known as ‘support services’ and or ‘suppliers’.
These businesses may include:
Food suppliers – supplying dry goods, meat, poultry, vegetables, dairy, bakeries
Beverage suppliers – supplying beer, wine and spirit wholesalers and soft drink suppliers such
as dairy products, juices and waters
Linen suppliers – providing bedding supplies, towels and tablecloths
Laundry companies – laundering bedding items, towels, tablecloths and napkins
The word’ sector’ as it is applied to the industry can be subject to liberal interpretation and can
refer to:
Individual types of businesses – restaurants, hotels, clubs
Generic services provided – meetings, events, tour operators and guides.
We will use this approach to briefly identify some of the different business types operating within
the broad definition of the hospitality industry.
Exercise 1
Directions: Provide the functions and scope of work on the following Tourism and Hospitality
areas. 5 points each.
a. Guest Reception
b. Room Accommodation
c. Restaurant
d. Banquet and Events
e. Leisure and Recreation
f. Travel and Tours
g. Finance
h. Sales and Marketing
i. Human Resource
j. Engineering
k. Safety and Security
V. Reflection:
1. How important is the functionality level of the areas in Tourism and Hospitality enterprises?
2. What are the qualities necessary of a worker to meet the standard of the task performed?
VII. References
1. http://tourism.gov.ph/ (Philippine Tourism, Business Investment, Tourism Strategy,
Tourism Marketing and Tourism Statistics)
2. ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professional (MRA-TP) Toolbox
3. Industry Operations Manual
Prepared by: