Whether you start your hotel career in the front or back of the house depends on your likes and dislikes, your educational and training background, and your ability and skill in the various professions. But regardless of which side you choose to enter, the opportunities are equal. Only the paths along which you rise will be different.
Even if you start in the front and proceed up the ladder, you will find that knowledge of back of the house operations is most important. Somewhere along your advance in the hotel business, you will need to study, if not actually practice, back of the house duties and operations. Study courses in food operations, housekeeping, purchasing, and other back of the house departments. Try to work in the various departments, if possible. But round out your hotel experience and training with an all-around background in both front and back of the house operations.
SERVICE DEPARTMENT
The service departments of most hotels offer beginners in the hotel industry wonderful opportunities for starting their careers. In addition, they are an excellent means for advancement because service department jobs often are stepping stones to the top of the ladder.
A hotel's entire function is to provide service. However, certain duties that deal with personal service provided for guests entering or leaving the hotel are grouped together and performed by a separate department set up for that purpose. This department is called the service department sometimes known as the concierge. It includes bellhops, elevator operators, door attendants, and others.
The service department is headed by the superintendent of service. In some hotels, this job is called assistant manager in charge of service. In other hotels, the position is titled chief of service. Under the superintendent of service are such employees as bellhops, door attendants, elevator operators, porters, and checking room attendants. In some hotels, duties of baggage and washroom attendants and pages are supervised by the superintendent of service.
A recent trend has been the rise of the office of the concierge. A European custom for many years, this has immigrated to the United States and is fairly common in most major and luxury hotels. The concierge and superintendent of service positions may be the same in some instances, but mostly the concierge is a sole entity, similar in many ways to the old hospitality desk that once existed in most hotel lobbies. The concierge will arrange special requests, whatever they may be, and in hotels dealing with foreign visitors, will speak more than one language.
Superintendent of Service
The members of the service department provide guests with their first impressions of a hotel. The treatment given guests by the door attendant, the bell person who takes their bags and the elevator operator influences guests' opinions of the hotel. The responsibilities of the superintendent of service are therefore great, but the job also offers fringe benefits such as free meals and good opportunity for advancement.
The superintendent of service is responsible for hiring, instructing, disciplining, and discharging employees in the department. The efficiency of service employees will depend to a large extent upon the efficiency of this person's instruction methods, his or her own personal hotel experience and background, and the type of personnel he or she employs.
The superintendent must ensure that everyone in the department does a good job. Door attendants must be prompt in opening doors of automobiles, ready to help guests in and out of automobiles and cabs, and willing to carry baggage from curb to door where bellhops will pick it up.
Elevators must be operated safely and on the best possible schedule. The operators must be neat and clean, must call off the floors promptly, and must be polite in their dealings with guests. Self-service elevators must be watched and regulated.
It is the duty of package room attendants to ensure the safe delivery of packages to guests.
Bell persons must be alert and intelligent and must respond quickly to the wishes of guests. They must be well trained in hotel procedure, such as hanging clothes in closets, opening windows, checking bathroom supplies and facilities, and checking rooms for completion of proper maid service.
Most superintendents of service have risen to their posts after years of experience. A recent survey shows that the average time required to reach this office is about ten years. Occasionally, front office clerks are promoted to this position. You can also rise to this office from the job of bell captain, head baggage porter, or other jobs in the hotel. However, the office of superintendent of service is not a last stop. It is a stepping stone job, and many superintendents have advanced to higher positions in the same or other hotels.
Bell Captains
Found in most medium sized and all large hotels, the position of bell captain is the second ranking job in the service department. After superintendent of service, it is the job most sought after in this department. And in some of the larger hotels, people would prefer this post to that of superintendent because of its financial and other advantages.
Bell captains attain their posts only after years of experience. Most positions here are filled by promoting a bell person. Definitely a stepping stone position in the hotel organization, the position offers opportunities for operational experience.
It is the duty of the bell captain to keep time records of all bell persons, to instruct all new employees, to arrange the immediate dispatch of bell persons on guest calls, to rate the bell persons fairly so that all share evenly in the tips, and to assign bell persons efficiently so that all incoming guests are met and all guests' requests are complied with. The bell captain is also responsible for interviewing new job applicants, investigating and adjusting guests' complaints relating to the work of the department, and deciding whether unusual guest requests should be filled. An efficient bell captain can make the difference between good and bad service for the hotel guests.
The bell captain's staff includes bell persons and sometimes pages. Bell persons perform a multitude of tasks. They are charged with ushering incoming guests to their rooms and carrying their baggage. Guests will ask them for local and other information, which they must be prepared to furnish. Bell persons sometimes also help set up rooms and bring ice water, food, or other items requested by guests in hotels where these are not furnished by the hotel itself. Bell persons are occasionally called upon to perform special duties like delivering letters or packages with the special permission of the bell captain, picking up theater tickets, making travel arrangements, and many other personal service chores.
Bell persons must be born diplomats. They must be able to judge people and know how to make them feel comfortable and at home in their hotel room. As the first connecting link between the guest and the hotel, the impression they create is important.
Positions as bell persons are secured by making application to the personnel department or bell captain. Some hotels select their bell persons from the ranks of elevator operators or starters, while others employ bell persons who have had experience elsewhere. But the methods of employment differ and depend upon the policy of the hotel in question. Some hotels employ bell persons who have had no experience at all. In communities where courses in bell person training are given by schools, hotels, or hotel associations, local hotels may require their bell persons to attend the courses either before or during employment.
There are many opportunities for bell persons to advance. The next step is promotion to bell captain, then superintendent of service, and then up to the various managerial posts. Bell persons may sometimes move to other hotels where better opportunities exist.
Very good opportunities for entering the ranks of bell persons exist in resort hotels where virtually new crews are hired every season or where large turnovers are common. After gaining experience there, one can transfer to a commercial hotel. Many bell persons start as elevator operators or housekeepers and work their way up. The length of time it takes to advance depends upon the size of the hotel's staff and the rate of turnover.
Bell persons usually work eight hours a day, six days a week. In large hotels, the three-shift system is employed. At the start, therefore, you may find that the beginners are given the night shift, since hotels provide service twenty-four hours a day.
