All regulations concerning the operations of hotel companies can be found in Chapter 5 of the ACT of August 29, 1997 (which entered into force on July 1, 1998). According to this act, a hotel is not just a place to sleep; it has specific assets, technical equipment, and a building adapted to its functions; people providing hotel services work here. Hotel service – short-term, generally accessible renting of houses, apartments, rooms, accommodation places, as well as places for setting up tents or caravans, and the provision of accommodation services, etc. Basic hotel service – accommodation, bed making, room cleaning, maintaining hygiene in hotel facilities (this does not include gastronomy).
Hotel guest – a person who uses hotel services (purchases an accommodation service). Hotel – a facility with at least 10 rooms, including a majority of places in single or double rooms, providing a wide range of services related to customer stays. Hotel system – a set of hotel facilities managed or supervised by a headquarters that has developed individual characteristics regarding function standards, scope of services provided, organization, and other external features. Logistic hotel chain – a group of hotels using the same name and brand, having specific utility features: uniform location conditions, the same organizational structure, operational documentation, standard of equipment for accommodation and catering parts, a uniform computer system in all facilities, a central reservation system, a uniform system. There are over 1000 hotel chains in the world, of which 55% are hotel systems. They can operate their own hotels, leased, franchised, or just manage the hotel. Basic division of hotel employees: front desk staff (reception, administration, luggage room, porters), housekeeping staff (dealing with residential units), technical staff (supplies, gardener, laundry staff, workshops, electrical – this group is more extensive in hotels outside the city), recreation department staff, administrative staff. Hotel logistics manager – the proper functioning of a hotel depends on the competence and activity of the manager. Essentially, their work is to manage the chain of activities that must be performed for the hotel to work properly, and the achievement of success is determined by the weakest link in this chain. At individual positions, everyone will act as the manager does. The logistics manager is interested in the use of resources: personnel, assets, marketing tools. The hotel manager must be interested in using various techniques in a systematic way. The manager’s success is determined by the results they have achieved.
We can distinguish three areas in which a logistics manager must operate: assets (their value), labor force, customers. These are the core elements, the foundation on which the manager develops their professional experience. These components must always fit together, they must overlap, interlock. The more they interlock, the greater the chance that the result will be a success. The greatest success is when these three areas overlap as much as possible:
• interaction employees – customer – management of services for the customer
• interaction assets – employees – maximization of productivity
• interaction assets – customers – maximization of revenue (profits).
• interaction assets – employees – maximization of productivity
• interaction assets – customers – maximization of revenue (profits).
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka”, No. 1/2006.