According to recent news about travel down under, in Australia and New Zealand, a hotel is managed by Room Division Manager, Food & Beverage Director, Sales & Marketing Manager, Human Resource Manager and Financial Manager are all supervised by Assistant Manager and General Manager. To be more exact, Room Division Manager is responsible for executive housekeeping (housekeeping, the public area, maintenance & repair as well as laundry), system management (hardware and software) and front office management (concierge, security, reservation, phone and Internet as well as the receptionist). Food & Beverage Director supervises Food and Beverage Manager (room service, bar and beverage, restaurants and coffee shops) and Executive Chef. Sales & Marketing Manager is responsible for sales and public relations. Human Resource Manager is mainly responsible for recruitment, welfare and safety, training and development as well as consultation. Financial manager is mostly responsible for procurement, accountant and night audit.
- Managing a very interesting international hotel:
Every floor of rooms is based on a specific cultural theme. The first floor is best characterized by Asia. The second floor is all about America. The third floor showcases Europe. The fourth floor displays everything African. The fifth floor’s theme is Oceania. The sixth floor is Singapore and Antarctica (these rooms are luxurious penthouses with seriously perfect views outside the windows).
More specifically, each room embraces a particular culture. In other words, every room is decorated according to the cultural theme (cultural artefacts and relevant information such as when the country attained independence). For example, the fourth floor has various rooms that feature South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, and so on.
The restaurants in this hotel offer a wide variety of food, which means a range of cuisine should be provided and the name of each item on the menu must be designed creatively. In order to attract more customers, sample menus are available as well. Descriptions on each menu are written professionally. Moreover, all guests have complimentary themed food in their rooms. For instance, the Indian themed room has complimentary Indian desserts for the guests.
Apart from standard customer services that are common in every hotel, The Passage also offers one-on-one housekeeping management service, i.e., a specific employee manages a particular room – this person is responsible for explaining the theme of the room and how the room works to the customer – this type of detailed and tailored guidance would be highly valued by customers.
- Human Resource Plan: Recruitment Overview
Because the average wage in Singapore is quite high, it seems that a much more practical approach is to hire employees from other Asian countries who are able to work in Singapore. More exactly, employees from Malaysia, Indonesia and China expect lower salaries; therefore, hiring employees from these countries could significantly lower the cost of this hotel. In addition, many employees from Malaysia, Indonesia and China speak the official languages of Singapore and their cultures are similar to the Singaporean culture. As a result, employees from these Asian countries can get used to this environment quickly.
- Training Programs
Professional development is paramount in this industry, especially in a hotel where luxury and high-quality services are expected at all times. Training should include skill-based training and behavioral training. That means employees are supposed to learn how to do things well and how to interact with other people effectively. Because the hotel has to respond to changing circumstances like the approach of a new high season when more seasonal staff members are hired and these individuals need basic training, the training budget must be allocated monthly. This is particularly important in this industry because the staff turnover rate in the housekeeping department is pretty high due to the demanding work and relatively low pay.
- Appraisals and Reward System
Not everybody has the same wants and needs; not every staff member is motivated by money only. Although monetary rewards are of vital importance, staff members also need to be motivated by other factors. To be more specific, all human beings have the need for a sense of belonging, love and companionship. Hence, company activities should be a key part of the reward system in this hotel. Furthermore, titles, recognition, promotion, status symbols and appraisals are also important signs of appreciation – this motivates employees as well.
- Employee Benefits
Performance-related payments are imperative in this hotel because employees’ esteem needs can be met via a sense of accomplishment and worth. Clearly, employee benefits should include performance-related payments and awards. This strategy helps the hotel to meet employees’ need for competence, achievement and self-respect.
“Interestingly, professional development can be a part of employee benefits, too, as motivated staff members would focus on realizing their full potential, increasing their skills & knowledge and becoming even more creative. This is a way to meet staff members’ self-actualization needs (Burton 2012). However, individuals only concentrate on self-actualization after other needs are already met. Therefore, it is clear that this hotel must build a solid foundation of its staff members’ workplace satisfaction in the first place.”
