Chapter One: The Housekeeping Department in Lodging Operations

Discussion of Chapter Content

This chapter explains the origins of lodging operations and describes the development of the lodging
industry in the United States. The industry encompasses several types of establishments whose goal is to
attract the different segments of the hospitality market.
Lodging establishments can be classified by size and type of service, ranging from the small,
humble bed-and-breakfast inn to the colossal megahotels and resorts offering luxurious accommodations
and services. These lodging properties can be independently owned, franchised, or run by management
companies. Students in hotel and restaurant management programs must be aware of the advantages and
disadvantages of working for small companies as well as for multi-unit corporations.
The structure of lodging operations is also explained in this chapter, together with a description of
the position of the housekeeping department in the organizational chart of large hotels. The chapter ends
with a discussion of the interaction necessary between housekeeping and the propertys operational and
support units.

Chapter Objectives
Discuss the history of the lodging industry.
Describe the classification of lodging establishments.
Define the management structure of lodging operations.
Explain the elements of the rooms division.
State the importance of the housekeeping department.
Discuss the interaction of the housekeeping department with other property units.

Chapter Outline
History and Structure of Lodging Operations
The Lodging Industry in America

Types of Lodging Establishments

Classification by Size
Classification by Type of Service
Importance of the Housekeeping Department
The Rooms Division
Interaction between Housekeeping and Other Departments
Communication with the Front Office
Communication with Maintenance
Communication with Human Resources
Communication with Food and Beverage
Communication with Sales and Marketing
Communication with the Accounting Office

Key Terms
A.M. guestroom check bed and breakfast casino cruise ship department head economy
property employee requisition executive committee executive housekeeper franchise
property front office hospitality industry hotel housekeeping department independentlyowned property inn institutional lodging luxury property maintenance checklist
management company mid-market property motel night clerks room report P.M.
guestroom check preventive maintenance regular maintenance resort revenue-generating
center rooms division rooms division director second request spa Statler Hotels
support center time-sharing condominiums work order form.
Discussion and Review Questions
1. What is the origin of the word inn? Is there a difference between the meaning of inn some
centuries ago and the meaning of inn today?
2. How would you define the word hotel? Is there a difference between hotels and inns in
todays market?
3. In which way were inns and taverns associated with the American Revolution?
4. Why is Ellsworth Statler considered the father of commercial hotels?
5. List the most common types of lodging properties in todays market.
6. How would you describe institutional lodging?
7. What is the difference between a franchised property and a property run by a management
company?
8. What are the three categories in which lodging properties are generally classified by type of
service?
9. Explain why the rooms division can be considered a revenue center rather than a support
center.
10. Indicate the purpose of the A.M. guestroom check report conducted by housekeeping.
11. Give two reasons why the communication between the housekeeping and the maintenance
departments must be efficiently kept.
12. As an executive housekeeper, what department would you contact to solve a problem arising
from unacceptable presorting of napery items?
Outside Resources and Projects
1. Visit as many different types of lodging properties as time allows. For example a local hotel,
a local motel, a bed and breakfast establishment, and so forth.
2. Ask students to visit a housekeeping department in a local lodging property of their choice
and submit a short written report describing the experience.
3. Ask students to investigate the management affiliation of a number of lodging properties in
town to find out whether they are chain-operated, individually operated, franchised, or
managed by a management company.

Minicases
1. As a student about to graduate from a hotel/restaurant management program, you receive
three job offers from three different companies recruiting at your university. The first
company offers you a position as assistant housekeeping manager paying $33,000 per year.
The company is a partnership that owns five Holiday Inn-franchised properties. The second
company is the Marriott Corporation that owns a large number of hotels and resorts around
the world. The position offered to you is that of housekeeping manager trainee at $31,500 per
year. The third company would like to hire you as assistant executive housekeeper and is
offering you a salary of $34,000 per year. This is a management company that runs 150
properties in 16 states.
a. Which job would you rather accept?
b. What are the reasons that you would argue in support of your decision?
2. As housekeeping supervisor in a resort, you are in the process of preparing the A.M.
guestroom check report when you discover that room 2004 is occupied while the night
clerks report that you received early in the morning indicated that the room was vacant.
a. What do you think could have happened for the discrepancy to exist?
b. What do you do from there?
3. It is 7:30 P.M., as supervisor of the housekeeping evening shift, you receive a computer
message from the engineering department indicating that the painting job in the out-of-order
2008 room has been completed. The hotel will be at 100% occupancy that evening.
a. What steps will you take after receiving the information from engineering?
4. Mary Lee is the executive housekeeper of a small resort on the Pacific coast where she has
worked for the last twelve years. The property has a new general manager who has been
promoted from the ranks into the position. It is time to start working on departmental budgets
for the next fiscal year but the resorts chief engineer has been taken ill and will not return for
the next month or so. Believing that he will not be able to compile the final comprehensive
budget on time, the general manager decides to ask Miss Lee to put together the engineering
department budget because of, as he puts it, Marys industry experience.
a. If you were the executive housekeeper of the resort, would you agree to compile the
budget?
b. Explain the reasons for your decision.

Case Study
The Makings of a Housekeeping Manager
Shanequa Palm was hired by a lodging company after three successful interviews during her
senior year in a hotel and restaurant management program. The need for supervisors in the
company was extreme and she was assigned to the position of assistant executive housekeeper
after two weeks of initial training. While in charge of the department on a Sunday morning, she
received a call from two laundry workers scheduled to work that day. One explained the she was
having car trouble and that it would take her two to three hours to get to work. The second said
that she couldnt find a babysitter to take care of her two children. The hotel was very busy that
morning with many check-outs and an early check-in of a tour group. The laundry room was in a
state of collapse with soiled linen piling up quickly in the sorting area. On the floors, section
housekeepers were running out of clean items to make up the guestrooms.
Shanequa understood that someone needed to start washing linen immediately. She asked
Rene, a public area attendant, to start the machine and take care of the washing. Rene refused,
arguing that he didnt know how to operate the washing machine and that it was not his job to
wash anything. In a panic, Shanequa begged a team supervisor to ask a section housekeeper to
help in the laundry room. She refused, explaining that the rooms in her section needed to be
cleaned and that it was not in a section housekeepers job description to wash linen.
At that point, the manager remembered the emphasis that most of her college professors
put on treating employees nicely. Specifically, she recalled that the main management premise
was to influence the activities of subordinates to willingly accomplish goals and that a manager
must be concerned about tasks and human relations. Her solution was to solve the problem by
abandoning the office and washing the linen herself. Three hours later, one of the laundry
workers arrived and took over the job.
On returning to the office, she was handed four written complaints from guests about
poor service. One of them stated that it had taken 45 minutes to get two extra clean towels in
room 707. Shanequa began to wonder if she had made the right decision by abandoning the
supervision of the department to wash the linen herself.
ASSIGNMENT
1. How would you judge Shanequa Palms management role in that specific situation?
2. How effective do you think her management approach will be in the long run?
3. How would you have dealt with this situation?

Chapter One Quiz Questions

True/False (Circle the correct answer. Questions that are partially false should be
marked False.)
1. T F
The origin of lodging operations in America can be traced to the turn of the
century (1890 to 1910).
2. T F
The word inn has its origins in France, some centuries ago.
3. T F
The first spas were operated in Europe. They were resorts located by mineral
springs.
4. T F
Both George Washington and John Adams were guests at the East Chester
Tavern.
5. T F
Ellsworth Statler was regarded as the founder of the first resorts west of the
Mississippi.
6. T F
The birth and growth of American motels took place in the 1920s.
7. T F
The end of the Cold War created new opportunities for business and leisure.
8. T F
As the globalization of the planet takes place, fewer numbers of people travel as
they rather stay in hotels and resorts built in their own countries.
9. T F
Bed and breakfast inns are usually small, privately owned establishments.
10. T F
Hotels and motels can be classified in the category of institutional lodging.
Multiple Choice
(Circle one answer that best describes the statement.)
1. Lodging properties can be
a. independently owned.
b. owned by a multi-unit chain.
c. franchised.
d. managed by a management company.
e. All of the above.
2. Chain properties (such as Marriott Hotels and Resorts) usually
a. display their own independent logo.
b. offer their own individualized service.
c. provide the same type of amenities.
d. offer similar service.
e. All but a and b.
3. What rating are luxury properties are usually awarded?
a. one diamond
b. two diamonds
c. three diamonds
d. four diamonds
e. five diamonds

4. The room divisions in lodging operations include

a. the engineering and the room service departments.
b. the engineering, the rooms service department, and sales and marketing.
c. sales and marketing, the front desk and the controllers office.
d. the housekeeping department and the front office department.
e. the food and beverage division and the controllers office.
5. Who does the executive housekeeper report to?
a. the rooms division director
b. the food and beverage director
c. the laundry room manager
d. the executive chef
e. the director of sales and marketing
6. The night clerks room report is
a. prepared by the housekeeping evening shift before midnight.
b. prepared by the housekeeping manager early in the morning.
c. prepared by the night auditor.
d. prepared by the propertys controller.
e. None of the above.
7. Who conducts the P.M. room check?
a. the housekeeping department
b. the front desk
c. the controllers office
d. the room service department
e. None of these.
8. Communication between the food and beverage department and the housekeeping department
include
a. communication regarding the pick-up of room service trays.
b. communication regarding the pre-sorting of napery in food and beverage outlets.
c. communication regarding cooks uniforms and kitchen rags.
d. a and b
e. a, b, and c
9. Communication between the housekeeping department and the front desk does not involve
a. the P.M. room report.
b. ordering guest folios.
c. having to put a guestroom out of order because of a clogged toilet.
d. filling out a work order to fix a chair in the hotel lobby.
e. providing a list with rooms ready to rent.
10. Communication between the housekeeping department and human resources includes
a. questions regarding employee requisitions.
b. questions regarding the orientation of housekeeping employees.
c. questions regarding checking references of housekeeping employees.
d. questions regarding the final hiring of employees.
e. All of the above.