The hotel business is the sphere of providing various services of tangible and intangible nature. It is closely related to the degree of development of business tourism and leisure in the country.
Actually, the tourism business cannot exist without hotel enterprises. Its development entails an increase in the share of fixed incomes and, as a result, leads to an expansion of the list of services provided, and most importantly, to an increase in the quality of service.
The main product of hotel activities
The hotel is intended for temporary residence of people, and the main product of its activity is the provision of accommodation services. For the hospitality industry, for the fact of the formation of a product (service) to occur, the presence and active participation of two parties is required: hotel staff and the client. The receiving party does not become the owner of the manufactured product, but is its consumer. Services are intangible goods, they are needed to meet the needs of customers that have arisen at the moment, that is, their delivery in time and space is fixed, but the product is not subject to storage or transportation. Demand for hotel services may vary from season to season. It is characterized by variability and inconstancy of quality. But customers cannot measure the service received. You will not see and hear her. There will be internal feelings and memories that customers can share with family or friends, and this affects the reputation and, as a result, the income of the hotel company.
Types of hotel services
There are basic and additional services at the hotel. They, in turn, can be free and paid. The main ones are invariably accommodation and meals of customers. The main element in the placement are hotel rooms. They come in different categories and functional purposes and serve for work and leisure clients. Tourists on vacation use hotel rooms mainly for sleeping. Therefore, the obligatory attributes in them are a bed, a bedside table or a night table, a chair or an armchair, a wardrobe, a waste basket. In business rooms, in addition to the above, there are appropriate furniture and appliances for work.
The category of rooms is determined by the components of the level of comfort. There are a lot of evaluation criteria - this is the condition and technical equipment of the room, amenities, catering facilities, the adjacent territory, access roads and more. There is no uniform classification by classes in the world, because in different countries the understanding of the level of comfort is different, and the rating systems are different. The generally accepted criteria are location, capacity, functionality, duration of operation and length of stay of customers, food, price level. Accommodation and catering services are perceived by customers of different categories as usual. But the additional and related services at the hotel distinguish it from other enterprises of a similar type and serve as an object of increased interest for tourists.
Registration and payment of basic services
Comfortable hotels provide round-the-clock and daily reception and registration of customers.
When concluding the contract, the list of services that are included in the payment for the room and additional services at the hotel, provided for a fee, must be specified. Hotel employees are not entitled to provide services for a separate fee not on the list or to replace some services with others without the consent of the client. And the guest has the right not to pay for such a service. The price for accommodation in the room, the procedure and form of payment is set by the contractor. A consumer cannot appeal against them without significant reasons. Payment is possible on a daily or hourly basis with an indication of the calculation time. Appropriately certified hotels develop a list of preferential categories of customers and the payment procedure for them. All listed information and additional services provided by hotels, as well as telephones of higher organizations, rules and laws, certificates, instructions, information about the work of enterprises located in the hotel and other important information should be conveniently placed to familiarize customers in the room where the contract is drawn up.
Services included in the payment
The payment for hotel accommodation above the third class usually includes:
- Room reservation services directly in the reservation department, by phone or via the Internet.
- Organization of various methods of payment for the number and proper billing.
- Very important obligations that the hotel company security service takes upon itself are to ensure the safety of residence and the safety of personal belongings in the room or luggage compartment, and for luxury hotels, the rooms must have a safe.
- Organization of an information service, receptionist, porter service.
- Organization of maid services, i.e. housekeeping.
- The room price includes the cost of toiletries in the bathroom, satellite TV.
- Catering from morning coffee to all-inclusive.
The higher the class of the hotel company, the longer this list and, naturally, the more expensive the accommodation service.
Additional free services
Perhaps the free provision of additional services at the hotel. Mandatory emergency call services or the use of a medical kit. Optional - this is the services of currency exchange, quick clearance upon check-in and check-out, the provision of equipment for special categories of customers, such as disabled people; concierge, room service of newspapers and magazines, telephone, Internet. These additional services in a first and second class hotel may not be available or may be provided for a fee.
Additional services for a fee
Tourist complexes and full-service hotels with a high and medium level of comfort provide a large list of services that are paid separately. The organization of additional services at the hotel is carried out to satisfy the most varied requests of its guests. In the hotel industry, this is called a service. This type of service is built on the principles of supply and demand. The technology of providing additional services in a hotel is such that the staff is not imposed on anyone, but they offer new services, and the client, in turn, chooses what he needs. A list of these services, with prices and opening hours of the enterprises that provide them, in high-comfort hotels is usually provided to clients upon check-in, it is in the room or at the reception on the floor. Hospitality industry enterprises must strive to ensure that the available additional services in hotels fully satisfy customer needs. In the hotel they should have a convenient location for tourists and optimal hours of work. The personnel of these enterprises should work with different services of the hotel or the tourist complex in a single desire to provide their services in the best quality.
Possible list of additional services
It is clear that the list and the additional services themselves in hotels of different classes are different, but the main ones are usually similar.
- First of all, it is the services of catering enterprises: buffets, cafes, restaurants, bars. For these enterprises, it is important that the client has the opportunity to have a snack at any time of the day. Services of grocery and industrial stores and souvenir shops.
- Equally important are the services of entertainment enterprises, discos, and nightclubs.
- Transport services include booking services for tickets for all types of transport, ordering a taxi and any vehicle, car rental.
- Household services. Here is a very large list of paid services. Firstly, everything related to the repair of clothing, shoes, equipment. Hire from a kettle to the latest electronics and an exercise bike. Storage of expensive items. Be sure to have a hairdresser or salon, often with a massage parlor, and much more.
- At the disposal of clients of tourist complexes are a bathhouse, a sauna, a health complex with a pool and a gym.
- Additional services are provided in hotels for tourists vacationing with the whole family. They often use the help of a nanny, an educator who can communicate in their native language for their children. Provides pet care and pet care to owners traveling with their pets.
Everything for combining leisure and business meetings
For tourist hotel complexes, a separate list is the services of excursion service enterprises. In this part, everything - from providing information about available trips to organizing it in full with a guide-translator. For business clients and business meetings, the hotels provide conference halls, business centers, and meeting rooms. And in the evening, they organize trips to the theater or concert hall.
Fancy Services
And there are rare and unusual services that are the hallmark of some hospitality businesses. Such hotels have their own customers. For example, lovers of sound sleep in complete silence may go to New York. The Benjamin Hotel and special night concierges take care of guests' sleep. The floors and steps in the corridors are covered with soundproof carpets, and after midnight the fly will not fly, you can sleep peacefully. And if you are a young couple and want something special in order to be remembered for a lifetime, to marry, you can contact the travel agency and you will be picked up a hotel on exotic islands and arrange a wedding according to the customs of the Aboriginal tribe. Only when you return home, do not forget to legalize your relationship or take the employee of the registration service with you to the islands. But specify, maybe he is a client of a quiet London hotel, where for his guests, as in the last century, before going to bed, the concierge heats the bed with his own body. The current trend is as follows: if earlier additional services in hotels and their number spoke of the stellar nature of the tourism business, now the high quality of these services makes the face of a first-class hospitality business.