A. Decide whether each of the following statements is true or false. 4 страница

7. How do the chains expand by means of management contracts?

8. How do the chains grow through joint ventures?

9. How do the chains expand by means of franchising?

10. In what areas has the expansion of the chains resulted in an increase in hotel and hotel-related jobs?

11. What is the function of inspectors and troubleshooters who work for the chains?

12. How do additional staff members in the corporate headquarters create an increase in promotional power for the entire chain?

13. What advantage do the chains have in increased sales potential for conventions?

14. What advantage do the chains have in the planning and design of hotel structures?

15. How is the design of a hotel related to its profitability?

16. How can maintenance costs be reduced through effective interior design?

17. What are some of the other ways in which chain management increases efficiency?

18. What is one way in which there is an exchange of information between the corporate headquarters of a chain and its individual units?

19. What is a second way of exchanging information between the chain headquarters and the individual hotels?

Review

A. Indicate whether each of the following statements is true or false.

1. The airlines are not allowed to own hotels, so they have very little influence on the accommo­dations industry.

2. Television advertising is so expensive that it is usually beyond the financial means of individu­ally owned and operated hotels.

3. In chain-operated hotels, the manager can follow whatever procedures he thinks are best.

4. A guest staying at one hotel in a chain can usually make a reservation at another in only a few minutes.

5. Chain-operated hotels do not accept reservations by telephone.

6. A hotel that is part of a referral system normally undergoes inspection to ensure that it meets the standards of the group.

7. Some chain-operated hotels are built as a result of direct investment by the parent corporation.

8. Management contracts help to cut down on the corporation's risk when it is expanding into a country where there is a possibility of a political upheaval.

9. In a joint venture, only the local investors put up the necessary capital.

10. In a franchise system, the owners of the indi­vidual units have a license to do business under the corporate name, but they must meet the standards of the parent corporation.

11. There has been no increase in hotel and hotel-related jobs as a result of the growth of the chains.

12. A chain headquarters has no advertising and publicity staff, since it is better for each indi­vidual hotel to promote itself.

13. Some sponsoring groups for conventions like the possibility of moving from one hotel to another in a chain so that each annual meeting can be held in a different place.

14. There is no acceptance for the idea that conven­tions combine business and pleasure.

15. The hotel chains are equipped to give expert advice and help in the location, planning, design, and interior decoration of new hotels.

16. The design of the physical plant of a hotel does not have any relationship to its profitable opera­tion.

17. Centralization, standardization, and size offer advantages to chain operations in such areas as purchasing, accounting, and personnel manage­ment.

18. Employees of a chain can move only from the individual hotels to the corporate headquarters.

B. Summarize the advantages that are offered by the chain operation of a hotel. Mention any advantages you can think of that are not given in the text.

C. The reading concentrates on the advantages of hotel-chain operations. Many people, however, including some experienced travel­ers, do not like to stay in them if there is another choice. Discuss why you think some people may have a negative attitude toward the chain hotels.

UNIT EIGHT

CAREERS IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY

Special Terms

Commercial School: A school that specializes in commercial or business subjects. Many are privately owned and offer night classes, but they do not give academic degrees.

Professional Training: Training usually considered to be at the university level, given to doctors, lawyers, accountants, and, today, many hotelmen and business administrators.

Apprentice: A beginner who works under a trained and experienced person for a period of time. Many chefs work as apprentices for several years before they qualify as full-fledged chefs.

Skilled Work: Work that requires special aptitude and training. Carpenters and electricians are considered skilled workers.

Semi-skilled Work: Work that requires a small amount of training. Waiters and chambermaids are considered semi-skilled work­ers.

Unskilled Works: Work that requires neither training nor special aptitude. Kitchen helpers, dishwashers, and day laborers are considered unskilled workers.

Tip: A money payment in addition to wages or salaries for a personal service; it is also called a gratuity.

Wages/Salaries: Payment for work. Wages are figured on an hourly or daily basis. Salaries are figured on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.

Occupancy Rate: The percentage of rooms or beds occupied in a hotel during a given period.

Vocabulary Practice

1. What are commercial schools?

2. What is professional training?

3. What is an apprentice?

4. What is skilled work?

5. What is semi-skilled work?

6. What is unskilled work?

7. What is a tip? What else is it called?

8. Define wages and salaries. How do they differ from each other?

9. What is the occupancy rate of a hotel?

Careers in the Hotel Industry

A hotel is a complex operation. It includes places for people to sleep and eat and shop; there are often recreational facilities and areas for public gatherings. In fact, a hotel often can be considered as a small city within its own walls and grounds. Because of its complex­ity, it is not possible to speak of a single career in the hotel industry; there is instead a wide variety of different careers.

The top people in the hotel industry are managers. The majority of them hold management positions in individual hotels, but some work in the executive offices of the hotel chains. We have already seen that the principal function of management is to coordinate all the different activities that take place in a hotel. The managerial personnel must therefore have a broad range of experience in the various departments of a hotel.

Today, several universities offer courses in hotel management. The trend in recent years has been to select management trainees from the graduates of these courses. As trainees, they are placed in a number of different departments to gain working experience in each part of the hotel operation. As their practical knowledge increases, they move up the ladder of promotion to front-desk positions, and then on to assistant manager, night manager, and finally general manager. On the way, however, they may have worked as food and beverage purchasing agents, cashiers, inspectors in the housekeeping department, and many other positions that contribute to their overall knowledge. If they are employed by a chain, they may be shifted not only from department to department but also from hotel to hotel during the course of their careers.

In addition to universities, commercial schools also give courses in various phases of hotel work. Some of these schools offer work experience along with their classes. Others give night classes that are available to students who already hold daytime jobs.

Some hotel management people have worked their way to the top without formal education in the field. They have combined on-the-job experience with the special talents and personal qualities that are necessary for a successful hotel career. It should be noted that one necessary personal characteristic in hotel management, and indeed throughout the hotel world, is the desire to serve and please the guests. The hotel business is often called the hospitality industry because of the importance of genuine warmth in dealing with the guests.

A number of people with hotel experience become owner-managers of small hotels or motels. The problems of running smaller establishments—that is, those with fewer than a hundred rooms—can be simplified by placing many aspects of the work on a concession or a contract basis. Maintenance, engineering, and food and beverage service, for example, can all be handled in this way. Both technical and financial help in setting up a small unit is available from the referral systems and from the chains that operate on a franchise or joint-venture basis.

In addition to assistance from the chains, there are a number of consulting firms that specialize in various areas of hotel-related work. A consultant is called in on a temporary basis for a fee to give advice or to perform a special job. Consultants are available in such fields as hotel design and planning, the development of recreational facilities, accounting, and overall management and operational problems.

The executive staff of a hotel includes many people with special skills, experience, or professional training. The promotion staff, for example, must know not only the hotel field, but also advertising and public-relations techniques. The head housekeeper runs a complex organization with many employees, not just a single household; she must be, in other words, considerably more than a housewife. She needs to know the intricacies of purchasing on a large scale, as well as how to make beds and clean carpets properly. The members of the engineering and maintenance staffs need education and experience in their specialties, and in a large hotel, as we have seen, these may be very diverse.

The chefs and cooks, even though they are out of sight of the public, are important to the success of a hotel. We have noted that the food and beverage department in some hotels brings in more income than room rentals. Good cooking is a skill that requires natural aptitude; indeed, many people consider cooking an art. Many of the best cooks in the world come from Europe, particularly from France and Switzerland. In those countries, people who wish to become chefs often begin to work as apprentices at an early age. They are trained by an experienced chef in all aspects of kitchen work, cooking, and restaurant management. Just as with hotel housekeeping, restaurant cooking is a much more complex operation than cooking for just one household. A head chef must be an expert not only in cooking itself, but also in planning, purchasing, and supervising other kitchen personnel.

No one can become a chef without practical experience. Some chefs, as we mentioned above, work a long apprenticeship, followed by years of work experience; others are trained in special restaurant schools. In the latter case, they usually have already demonstrated an aptitude for cooking and are ready to learn more about food and beverage management. The normal route of advancement in the kitchen is from cook to specialty chef to head chef to executive chef.

It should be emphasized, however, that anyone who qualifies as head chef has very special talents.

Most of the remaining workers in the hotel world can be classified as skilled, semi-skilled, or unskilled. The carpenters and upholsterers in maintenance, the plumbers and electricians in engi­neering, and the gardeners in the grounds department arc among the workers usually classified as skilled. They all require special aptitudes combined with special training. Semi-skilled workers include waiters and chambermaids, who must have training for their particular duties. Examples of unskilled workers are the helpers and dishwashers in the kitchen or the laborers who perform such chores as loading or unloading shipments of supplies and equipment.

The largest number of hotel employees fall into the semi-skilled and unskilled categories. Every hotel must fill many of these jobs, and this fact has been one of the attractions in creating a tourist industry in newly developing countries. Even semi-skilled and unskilled employees, however, need training in the procedures of the particular hotel for which they work. The customs of the guests, and therefore the kind of service they expect, may be completely different from those of the area where the hotel is located.

Another phenomenon of the hotel industry is that it creates employment for a number of people who cannot be considered typical hotel personnel. This is especially true for resort hotels with recrea­tional facilities. Cocktail lounges and nightclubs, for example, employ entertainers and musicians. Outdoor recreational facilities make use of the skills of people with a background in sports, such as golf, tennis, skiing, and swimming.

A majority of employees in a hotel have some degree of contact with the guests, ranging from "frequent" on the front desk to "occasional" for chambermaids and housemen. Contact with the public means that hotel employees should have a genuine desire to please and serve the public, as we have emphasized. Many resort areas have suffered a sharp loss of business because of stories carried back home by visitors about a negative attitude on the part of employees in hotels where they have stayed. In this age of international travel, language ability is also a definite aid in hotel work. Most hotels in resort areas and large cities now serve guests from many countries. Any employee who meets and talks to the customers in such a hotel has an advantage if he or she can communicate in the guests' language or one of the international languages like English or French.

The economic benefits in hotel work can be very substantial. The top people in management, people like managers of large hotels, the staff in the chain headquarters, executive housekeepers, and food and beverage managers, receive good salaries. Owner-managers of small hotels can make a comfortable living, combined with economic independence. Because they are few and far between, really top chiefs are also very well paid. There is often sharp competition in hiring them. Experienced specialty chefs also receive good salaries in luxury restaurants.

Many hotel employees receive additional income from tips, or gratuities, as they are sometimes called. Bellmen, waiters and waitresses, bartenders, captains, doormen, and chambermaids custom­arily supplement their wages through tips. In some restaurants, the tips are pooled and then shared with the busboys and the kitchen help. In general, tips arc traditional for the employees mentioned above; in addition, guests usually tip an employee who performs some special service for them, such as picking up clothes or returning them from the laundry or valet service.

Besides pay from salaries, wages, and tips, some hotel employees also receive other benefits. The manager of a hotel, for instance, usually has a room or even a suite at his disposal; many managers live permanently in their hotels. Other members of the executive staff may also be provided with rooms. In resort hotels, especially when they are located at a distance from a population center, accommodations may have to be furnished for the entire staff. Except for the executive staff, most hotel employees wear uniforms while they are working, thus saving a considerable amount of money on clothing. For employees in the hotel-chain headquarters or on the promotional staffs of individual operations, there are often frequent opportunities for travel.

A large number of resort hotels operate on a seasonal basis; they open in the winter in the tropics or in ski areas, and in the summer in the mountains or at the beach. This may create a hardship for employees with family responsibilities, but for young people it presents an opportunity to follow the sun, so to speak. In many cases, the wages and tips accumulated during a good season can take care of living expenses during the off-season. Hotels also offer opportunities for part-time work; we have already mentioned banquet waiters, for example. And since hotels are open twenty-four hours a day, shift work is available for people who do not want to work the regular nine-to-five office hours.

The financial condition of a hotel is often discussed in terms of its occupancy rate; that is, the percentage of rooms or beds occupied during a given period. The higher the percentage over a longer period, the more successful the hotel is. The staff of the hotel can do a great deal to assure a high occupancy rate, not only through their efficiency in their jobs but also through their manner of serving the guests. The hotel business is a service industry, and one of the services that it sells is a pleasant atmosphere. The employees of a hotel create that atmosphere.

Discussion

1. Why isn't it possible to speak of only a single kind of career in hotel work?

2. Where do the top people in the hotel industry work?

3. Why must managerial personnel have a broad range of experience in the various departments in a hotel?

4. Where do most hotel management people get their education and experience? What kind of experience can they get within a hotel or a hotel chain?

5. Where, besides universities, is it possible to get an education in hotel work?

6. How do people work their way to the top of the hotel business without formal education in the field? What is one of the personal characteristics that they must have?

7. How can the operation of a small hotel be simplified?

8. Where can people who set up small hotels or motels often get technical and financial help?

9. What other assistance is available to the operators of small units?

10. Name some of the other members of the executive staff who need special experience, skills, or professional training.

11. Why are chefs and cooks an important factor in the success of a hotel?

12. What kind of background do many chefs have?

13. What must a head chief be expert in?

14. What is the normal route for advancement in the kitchen?

15. How can most of the remaining jobs in the hotel world be classified? Give examples.

16. What has been one of the attractions of creating a tourist industry in newly developing countries? What kind of training do even semi-skilled and unskilled personnel need?

17. What are some nontypical jobs that are created by the hotel industry?

18. How can a lack of desire to serve and please the guests in a hotel create a negative reaction?

19. Why is language ability a definite help in hotel work?

20. What are the economic benefits for the top people in hotel work?

21. Name some of the people in a hotel who regularly receive tips. What other kinds of services can also result in tips?

22. What are some of the benefits, in addition to wages, salaries, and tips, that are received by hotel employees?

23. What are the opportunities for seasonal, part-time, and shift employment in the hotel industry?

24. How is the financial condition of a hotel often discussed?

25. How can the staff of a hotel do a great deal to assure a high occupancy rate?

Review

A. Indicate whether each of the following statements is true or false.

1. All careers in the hotel industry follow the same general pattern.

2. Managerial personnel need to have experience in many different aspects of hotel operations.

3. Hotel management people have to get all their knowledge on the job because there are no universities or schools that give an education in the hotel field.

4. Warmth in dealing with people is not an impor­tant personal characteristic for people who choose careers in the accommodations industry.

5. By means of contracts and concessions, the operation of small hotels or motels can be considerably simplified.

6. There are many consultants and consulting firms that specialize in hotel work or hotel-relaled activities.

7. Housekeeping in a hotel is essentially no different from the same job in a private home.

8. Anybody can learn to be a good cook by attending a few classes in cooking.

9. A head chief needs to know nothing except how to cook.

10.Waiters and chambermaids are usually classified as skilled workers, upholsterers and electricians as semi-skilled, and gardeners and plumbers as unskilled.

11. Hotels create so few jobs that newly developing countries have shown no interest in creating a tourist industry.

12. Hotels create jobs for people such as entertainers and athletes who are not traditionally considered to be hotel personnel.

13. A majority of hotel employees have no contact with the guests.

14. Resort areas always have a lot of business, regardless of the way in which the employees deal with the visitors.

15. Language ability is generally an advantage in hotel work.

16. People such as hotel managers, department heads, and chefs usually receive good salaries.

17. Today, tips are no longer customary, so hotel employees have no way to supplement their wages.

18. Hotels never make rooms available to their employees.

19. The seasonal, part-time, and shift work offered by hotels has a strong appeal for many people.

20. The number of rooms or beds rented over a period is an important indication of a hotel's financial success.

21.The employees of a hotel are a major factor in creating a pleasant atmosphere for the guests.

B. Discuss the kind of hotel career that interests you. Explain the reasons for your interest in that particular kind of work.

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