Executive summary

The main topic of this report is to elucidate a critical observation about the accommodation
sector, especially a discussion about the contemporary challenges in the Covid-19 pandemic
context. In particular, this report aims to provide general information about different
departments within a hotel industry and analyze the management between them and the
technology trend in management. Furthermore, this report will follow the emerging issue of
loose management and related challenges that the hotel industry has to deal with to
overcome the crisis. Consequently, the researcher will provide suitable recommendations
for those management challenges so that the hotel business can maximize the efficiency of
the management process yet minimize loose management to optimize the total revenue,
which is analyzed in several research studies. However, there is a lack of appropriate
recommendations for hotel management. Thus, the report attempts to contribute to hotel
management by supplying suggestions for the crisis during the pandemic.

Table of Contents
Executive summary.......................................................................................................1

Introduction.......................................................................................................................3

I. What are the components of Hotel Accommodation? Management both the front
and back of house areas?...................................................................................................3

II. ONE Key trends in Hotel Accommodation Management.............................................4

III. ONE key Strategies to improve business performance.............................................4

IV. The different departments in the hotels and their relationship with the
accommodation sector:......................................................................................................5

V. ONE key Management issues and contemporary challenges in the global

accommodation sector based on the recent COVID-19 pandemic.......................................6

VI. Solutions or Recommendations for the management challenges identified.............6

VII. Conclusion..............................................................................................................7
 Introduction

The hospitality industry plays a vital role in the modern business landscape, and it
contributes to the evolution of nations’ economies. Along with tourism, the hotel business is
a potential market to invest in. However, the management process is complicated as it takes
a lot of time and effort to ensure a smooth operation and reach the hotel’s goals in the
competitive market. Thus, each hotel divides employees into particular departments to
manage them effectively to maximize productivity and minimize the available rooms to
reach an optimal outcome. Hence, this report attempts to generally introduce hotel
accommodation and management among two critical areas in the hotel, including the front
and back of house. The report then follows with the technology trend in management and
the key management strategies to enhance the overall performance and provide a detailed
introduction of the relationships of different departments with the accommodation sector.
Last but not least is the management issue that causes various challenges to hotel business
in the Covid-19 pandemic; thereby, this report aims to provide possible recommendations
for them to optimize their management.

I. What are the components of Hotel Accommodation? Management both the

front and back of house areas?

Along with the evolution of society, citizens expect convenient and high-quality products
and services to enjoy their life. Thus, hotels need to diversify their operations to meet the
needs of customers on time. Each hotel has two departments: front of house area and back
of house area, and there is a variety of staff in these two positions based on the operation
and the scale of the hotel. Front-of-house staff plays a vital role in the operation (Boon,
2015) as they are people who deal directly with customers, which means they are
considered the face and the backbone of the hotel. When customers arrive at the hotel,
front-of-house staff are the first they see as most of their first experience will be assisted by
those staff, from the check-in progress to carrying luggage or recommendations for places
to eat, where to visit, etc. On the contrary, though the back-of-house staff does not often
deal face to face with customers, they are still supposed to be a key driver in the hotel as
they are in charge of maintaining the operation well behind the scenes.

Each department has a distinct task and is subjected to various types of strain, but no
position is without its difficulties. Because of the meticulous nature of the job performed by
back-of-house and front-of-house workers, they rarely communicate with one another. The
information exchanged is limited, and it has the potential to lead to misconceptions that can
detract from the overall guest experience. As a result, only the two of them can ensure that
the hotel runs appropriately. They are inseparable when it comes to providing the most
fantastic service possible to customers. Customers are connected with and provided an
experience by front-of-house personnel, who serve as the hotel's face, and back-of-house
employees ensure that the operation runs smoothly behind the scenes. The purpose of a
successful management process is to maintain peace and stimulate communication
between employees to contribute to the achievement of the hotel's mission and go above
and beyond the guests' expectations.

II. ONE Key trends in Hotel Accommodation Management

According to Dana (2011), world events accelerate quicker than ever before, thanks to new
technology. According to Varol and Tarcan (2009), information technology (IT) is a strategic
tool that can improve the quality of services provided in the hotel industry. Leung (2019)
stated that smart hotels could be viewed from three different perspectives: from the
perspective of the consumer (hotel and room attributes), from the perspective of the
employee (raising work efficiency or reducing workload), and from the standpoint of the
manager (cost savings and increased revenue). Aside from that, innovative organizations are
knowledge-based, internet-based, and capable of automatically adapting to new
organizational plans and methodologies (Putnik & Cunha, 2005).

Technology plays a vital part in smart hotel management, especially in the context of Covid-
19, because of the growing requirement to address the expectations of online consumers
due to limited face-to-face contact and, most importantly, the convenience that comes with
it. As a result of technological advancements in back-office operations, hotel managers will
have to reconsider the topic of briefings between departments inside the organization. The
cloud-based unified communications (UC) solution that enables all team members, whether
they are working remotely or on-site, to meet and discuss issues without having to share
physical space is available for purchase (Spectrum Enterprise, n.d.). While in a meeting,
sharing files and displays helps participants stay closer together while capturing information
more efficiently. Furthermore, selective call forwarding ensures that no crucial calls are
missed, regardless of who is calling. UC solutions enhance and improve customer
satisfaction by enabling staff to respond quickly to clients expressing concern by SMS or
direct phone contact, among other methods. Personalization is one advantage of
technology; due to the severe covid-19 pandemic, face-to-face communication is no longer
as common as online communication to increase quality. For example, information acquired
from a cloud-based property management system (PMS), customer relationship
management system (CRM), and other applications are merged to collect and analyze
consumer demographics, preferences, and shopping behavior. Employees can gain access to
data for faster analysis and better predict customers' demands or desires in the future. This
significantly impacts hotel accommodations and leads to a more effective management
process and member cooperation.

III. ONE key Strategies to improve business performance

Various strategies can positively affect the performance of the hotel business, yet revenue
management is a considerable method. Revenue management is defined as the process of
utilizing information systems and pricing methods to properly distribute capacity to
customers at the correct time and place (Kimes & Wirtz, 2015). The key of this management
is to divide customers into separable segments so that businesses can conduct suitable
strategies for each segment, thereby making efficient decisions towards the hotel's success.
In other words, this management aims to achieve optimal revenue by maximizing the
amount of money they can make with the limited number of rooms. Particularly, the key is
to observe customers' demand as they can refuse to sell a room today to sell it for a higher
price tomorrow, or keep track of the current demands to adjust the price when the urging is
low, such as offering discounts to attract them.
One valuable method is to observe and manage the average daily rate or the KPI. The
average daily rate indicates the average price paid for rooms sold and is calculated as the
revenue per room divided by the number of rooms sold (Chattopadhyaya & Mitra, 2018). It
helps hotels understand their present operational performance and compare with their
competitors who have similar features to reach outstanding performance. Nevertheless,
ADR may not accurately reflect hotel performance since it excludes money derived from
other sources. Another vital tool is to calculate the Occupancy rate as it shows how much of
the available space is being used. A high occupancy rate in the hotel business implies that
the available space is being used effectively yet to maximize revenue rather than optimize
occupancy rate; this measure should be combined with other tools.
Last but not least, the revenue per available room is a valuable measure for hotel revenue
management since it considers both room revenue and occupancy rate when calculating the
average daily rate and its ability to fill those available rooms. Moreover, it gives a clear
picture of current performance and estimates how much a hotel may charge for its rooms.
Thus, with the combination of these measurements, hotels can observe and adjust their
strategies to reach their goals.

IV. The different departments in the hotels and their relationship with the
accommodation sector:

In general, each hotel contains four departments: the hotel front office, housekeeping, food
and beverage department, and kitchen department (Laksiri, 2019). Altogether, they take
part in taking care of customers during their stay. Front office staff like receptionists,
bellmen, telephone staff, etc. will deal with customers at their arrival. Front desk agents
usually have the most contact with customers as they help customers check-in and offer
assistance throughout their stay until they check out. Another type of staff is an attendant
who assists guests, books reservations, arranges schedules, or organizes transportation. In
addition, the bellman is the one to take responsibility for carrying luggage during their
arrival and departure.
Last but not least is the manager in charge of making sure the operation is smooth and
efficient yet communicating with customers. Furthermore, back-of-house staff, who include
housekeeping, food, and beverage department, kitchen department, are the ones that work
hard behind the scenes to offer customers the best experience. The kitchen department
includes staff who prepare meals for customers, and the housekeeping is the one to keep
rooms and halls clean. Additionally, the finance team is also essential as they are
responsible for keeping the financial state stable. Last but not least is the marketing
department; without marketing, hardly can the hotel gain attention and maintain the
awareness of customers. In brief, these departments are responsible for maximizing
customers' satisfaction when they stay at the hotel. Though their particular job is different
from each other, they all bend over backward to contribute to the hotel's triumph. The front
office is the most important as customers will get their first impression, which affects the
overall experience. Moreover, the other departments will determine customers' satisfaction
since they are the ones to keep customers' rooms clean and serve excellent meals to make
customers feel comfortable and relaxed. The marketing and finance team will enhance
customers' experience, thereby maximizing customers' experience and minimizing the
available rooms as the customer retention rate and referral marketing are optimized.

V. ONE key Management issues and contemporary challenges in the global

accommodation sector based on the recent COVID-19 pandemic

The global accommodation sector is getting affected heavily by the Covid-19 pandemic. The
hotel industry is limited by lockdown and the decrease in tourism. Thus, the pandemic has
posed an unprecedented challenge to the hotel industry due to community lockdowns and
social distancing, which has resulted in numerous hospitality businesses being forced to
close for a contemporary period. Indeed, this has reduced demand for businesses permitted
to remain open while also helping to level the COVID-19 curve (Gursoy & Chi, 2020). Hence,
the hotel’s staff must switch to work-from-home conditions, leading to loose management
when everything is transferred to online working. Thus, it is conducive to the fact that they
have to deal with various challenges in the management process to survive through the
pandemic. Indeed, despite the powerful evolution of the internet of things, numerous
people cannot catch up with that quick change, and they are too low-tech to use the online
tools when working from home skillfully.
Moreover, it is not very easy for staff to communicate with each other. It infects insufficient
absorption capability as all of the exchanged information is now through the screen, which
may lead to misunderstandings among them, which heavily affects the harmony at the
workplace. Furthermore, loose management when working online is inevitable. Staff may
experience procrastination and cannot finish the workload as effectively as when they work
at the hotel, decreasing productivity. On the contrary, managing the workload online may
cause iniquity. Some particular jobs will have much more pressure than the remaining, and
the unstable financial statement forces the hotel to lay off employees.
Additionally, it is notable that employees would not feel comfortable working in such
situations because of the substantial health and safety hazards (Japutra & Situmorang,
2021). As a result, it causes burnout and stress that possibly leads to a high rate of a sudden
drop in performance (Khan et al., 2020) and turnover. Therefore, the hotel has to spend
significant expenses on recruitment and training new employees, so work efficiency is not
guaranteed.

VI. Solutions or Recommendations for the management challenges identified.

As a result of not all employees understanding and applying the applications and software
utilized when working online, the technology employed will motivate and put employees at
risk. Choosing a new technology requires management to consider all available options and
the product's usability. It will help employees catch up and keep learning new things. A
variety of factors must be evaluated, including which employees regularly use the
technology, whether they are familiar with it, and whether the tool's functionality and
interface are straightforward and effective. Employees will instantly see the value of a
technology that is good, simple to grasp, and will dramatically improve their work once
implemented.

The most significant difficulty that workers are currently facing is a misunderstanding in
communication when working online. We should transmit more information and use
appropriate channels to avoid misunderstanding and amplification bias while
communicating. For example, instead of speaking on the phone, it is necessary and prudent
to utilize email to communicate potential delays in a project. Furthermore, management
must establish guidelines for online communication in the workplace; for example, when it
is essential to share specific information, contact via email, or when an urgent situation
must be completed immediately, contact via phone and email as needed. Furthermore, it is
critical and crucial to avoid sending sloppy emails. Sloppy emails waste time and money
deciphering them, leading to workplace misunderstandings and costly mistakes.

Time management is complex in normal circumstances, but working remotely can be even
more difficult without employees' constraints in the office. When working online, the most
fundamental and necessary thing is to remind employees to prepare correctly for work and
avoid delays that lead to severe workloads. Furthermore, management will set weekly
short-term targets to keep employees from feeling rushed and help smooth and closely link
the work. Furthermore, the manager should establish a link between the team members to
share the work equitably and help each other attain the manager's goals.

VII. Conclusion

In a nutshell, the management process in the hotel industry is complicated with a variety of
departments linked to the accommodation sector, and each employee is in charge of a
particular job, which can be divided into two types: front of house and back of house staff.
Thus, the key to successful management is to maintain harmony among them. Moreover,
hotel businesses should concentrate on the technology trend in the chronicle and the
revenue management to optimize the work efficiency and the total revenue to compete
with other competitors in this exorbitant industry. Furthermore, one of the most challenging
issues these days is the catastrophic effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, which puts the hotel
business in general and the hotel management under much pressure. Thus, some
recommendations for surviving against the pandemic include choosing a familiar technology
tool, encouraging mutual comprehension, and considering efficient time management. The
global hotel accommodation sector is struggling to overcome this terrible period. Australia’s
market is not an exception, yet applying suitable strategies to solve those challenges will
help them distinguish from competitors and enhance their performance.
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