Key Concepts in Hospitality Management

Hospitality industry has grown leaps and bounds in the last few years. The hospitality industry is made up of thousands of exciting organizations including hotels, restaurants, food service management, fast food, coffee shops and pubs, bars and nightclubs. It involves an array of job roles from waitressing to event coordination, and management positions too. It's an industry that offers a unique working environment, and as it is public facing it offers a sociable and dynamic working life. The transition from providing a mere hotel stay to providing a seamless experience with top most quality is obvious in the hotel sector. New trends keep on emerging as hotels try to enhance experience of their customers. In markets where year on year growth is expected to be exponential, tapping on these hot new trends will be the key to maximum revenues. Hospitality is the relationship between guest and host, or the act or practice of being hospitable. Specifically, this includes the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers, resorts, membership clubs, conventions, attractions, special events, and other services for travellers and tourists. The accommodation department focuses on buying and selling accommodation which is the facilitation of all aspects of reservation enquiries in a commercial hospitality environment, including rate information, room types, facilities, location, payment methods, and customer services. The front office of an accommodation establishment is seen as the hub of the hotel. This is often where a customer makes their first contact with the establishment. Think of the different ways this may happen. There are four different stages to the guest cycle: pre-arrival, arrival, occupancy and departure. The front office team are part of each of the four stages. This text will discuss what happens at each stage and the importance of each stage from both the guest's perspective and the perspective of the host accommodation.