How Managers Make Staffing Decisions (Hotel Management)

1. Staffing must be adjusted to reflect a hotel's needs and guest movements.
2. Managers must consider more than occupancy when planning staffing levels.

Scheduling employees to the shifts of a hotel is the job of the property's local management team. This task can be challenging, as there are many factors to consider.?

The number of employees will depend on the level of service, how busy the hotel will be, the number of arriving and departing guests, and the availability and competency of the staff. In limited-service hotels, supervisors and managers are often expected to carry out tasks that line-level employees would be responsible for in full-service properties.?

Managers must consider not only the projected occupancy for a given day, but also the length of stay and type of guest.

Let's consider the Rooms Division of a 200-room, upper-upscale, full-service hotel. This hotel could have guests in all 200 rooms and not seem very busy if most rooms are occupied by a large group that checked in the previous day and is staying for multiple nights. On the other hand, the hotel may have a very busy day with 60% occupancy if the hotel was full last night, most guests are departing today, and 120 room check-ins are due this evening.?

? Front Office?

Front Desk Clerks

Hotels operate around the clock, so the front desk needs to be covered at all times. Typically, there are four shifts: morning (7 am – 4 pm), evening (3 pm – 12 am), overnight (11 pm – 8 am), and mid shift (11 am – 8 pm, or during the busiest times for morning and evening shifts).?

Each shift will have a 30-minute overlap, giving front desk clerks enough time to do their end-of-shift paperwork, reconcile their cash in hand, put together their cash and credit card “drop” (an envelope with money and a credit card accounting that gets dropped into the hotel safe for the night auditor to reconcile), and communicate any important information to the next shift.?

Managers look at the number of arrivals and departures to get a picture of how busy the front desk will be.?If the hotel expects 60 or fewer departures, one desk clerk on the morning shift is likely sufficient. If that increased to 60–120 departures, two desk clerks might be more appropriate, and so on.?Keeping in mind the number of check-out counters is important; you don’t want to have more desk clerks than terminals.?

The manager must look at the expected number of arrivals when scheduling the evening shift, keeping in mind that all arrivals will stop at the front desk, establish credit, and be checked in.?This process is often more time consuming than processing departures, so more staff is needed.?How many arrivals can one desk clerk handle? Perhaps one desk clerk could handle fewer than 30 arrivals, and additional desk clerks may be added as that number increases by increments of 30.?The property manager may have to step in and help out when it’s busy; there will be times when you need all hands on deck.

Bell Attendant / Bellman?

A similar approach is used in staffing bellmen. How many check-ins can one bellman process during a shift? Do we offer valet service, or will guests park their own cars? How far is the parking lot from the front of the hotel? (This will influence how long it takes for the bellman to park a car.) Do we have valets—whose only job it is to park cars—so that the bellmen can focus on assisting guests with their check-ins? How often do our guests use the services of the bellmen??

Knowing your customers and their particular characteristics helps when making staffing decisions. A business travellers may only have one small, wheeled carry-on bag and won’t use a bellman, while a leisure travellers on a longer trip will have more luggage and use a bellman. Staffing one bellman per 15 to 20 arrivals in a hotel is a reasonable decision, especially if the job includes parking cars.?

Reservations?

Staffing needs here will be impacted by whether reservations are taken at the hotel or at a Central Reservations Office. Most full-service hotels need someone dealing with reservations because oftentimes people want to speak to someone at the hotel about their reservation. Reservations that come through electronic distribution channels, like online travel agencies, need to be checked to ensure all the information correctly translates into the hotel's property management system.?Depending on the volume of reservations, there may need to be one or two reservation agents scheduled during the morning and evening shifts. Someone working a swing or mid shift might also be helpful.?

??Housekeeping

Housekeepers?

The number of housekeepers scheduled will, again, depend on the volume of business. Each hotel has a number of rooms or credits that housekeepers are expected to clean during an eight-hour shift. Typically, one credit equals one room, while a small suite may receive 1.5 credits and a larger suite 2 or more.?

Housekeepers today are typically expected to meet a standard of 16 rooms or credits per shift. In luxury hotels, the standard may be 12 rooms or credits per shift. It depends on how large the rooms are and how complicated the cleaning process is. It used to be customary for hotels to change the sheets in each room every day. Now, with the exception of luxury hotels, many hotels only change the sheets in a room if a guest requests it or if you stay for three days.?

Housekeepers will typically be assigned a significantly larger number of stayover rooms since they don't usually take as much time to clean. For instance, a housekeeper may be expected to clean a stayover room in 12 minutes, compared with 32 minutes for a check- out room.?

Housemen?

Housemen assist the housekeepers by bringing them clean linen and terry, removing trash, and replacing and cleaning glasses and coffee mugs.?They also take care of vacuuming the guestroom hallways, mopping the stairwells, and removing trash from the vending areas. Housemen are responsible for deep cleaning several check-out rooms each day, meaning that they move furniture, clean vents and do some of the deeper cleaning that the housekeepers cannot get to every day.?A hotel might schedule one houseman per 75 to 100 occupied rooms.?

Public Area and Front-of-House Attendants?

A public area attendant?may be scheduled for the morning shift and the evening shift in a typical hotel. In a very large hotel with extensive banquet and meeting facilities, additional public area attendants may be needed.?

Front-of-house restaurant employees?are also scheduled based on the expected volume of business and level of service. Restaurants will look at the hotel’s business activity (arrivals and departures) and they’ll consider any groups that might be in-house, any banquet functions they have, and any reservations from non-hotel guests.?

Back-of-house restaurant?positions will depend on the extent and complexity of the menu, the level of service, and the volume of business.?

Other Departments?

The same thing will hold true for other departments in the hotel, such as Banquets and Catering, Conference Services, and Bars and Lounges.?

It's a complicated process and varies by hotel.?

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