WHAT IS A HOTEL?

 A hotel is an establishment that provides lodging paid on a short-term basis.

Facilities provided may range from a basic bed and storage of clothing, to luxury
features like en-suite bathrooms. Large hotels may provide additional guest
facilities such as swimming pool, business center, child care, conference facilities
and social function service.
 Hotels are important components of the tourism product. They contribute in the
overall tourism experience through the standards of facilities and services offered
by them. Hotel provides a service to their customers whose requirements depends
largely on the luxury and comfort they want and can afford.

HISTORY :
The word hotel is derived from the French hôtel (coming from hôte meaning
host), which referred to a French version of a townhouse or any other
building seeing frequent visitors, rather than a place offering
accommodation. In contemporary French usage, hôtel now has the same
meaning as the English term, and hôtel particular is used for the old
meaning. The French spelling, with the circumflex, was also used in English,
but is now rare. The circumflex replaces the 's' found in the earlier hostel
spelling, which over time took on a new, but closely related meaning.
Grammatically, hotels usually take the definite article – hence "The Astoria
Hotel" or simply "The Astoria" (Various, 2013).

HOTEL CLASSIFICATION:
VARIOUS ZONES IN A HOTEL
 PUBLIC AREAS
 SEMI-PUBLIC AREAS
 PRIVATE AREAS (BACK-OF-HOUSE)
 BACK OF HOUSE FACILITIES

RELATION SHIP BETWEEN THESE ZONES

PUBLIC AREAS
These areas usually need long-span construction and vary greatly from
one hotel to another. They are usually located at ground level for
convenience. Roof-top restaurants are only built to take advantage of
quite exceptional views – the costs of servicing them can be substantial.

ENTRANCE

TYPICAL SPACE PER ROOM IN A HOTEL

REQUIREMENTS
Main lobby including front 0.8-15m2
desk
Combined lobby lounge area 0.9-1.25

HOTEL ROOM COUNTER AREA FOR

LENGTH FRONT DESK
50 3M 5.55SQM

100 4.5M 9.55SQM

200 7.5M 18.55SQM

400 10.5M 30SQM

PUBLIC AREAS
These areas usually need long-span construction and vary greatly from one hotel to
another. They are usually located at ground level for convenience. Roof-top restaurants are
only built to take advantage of quite exceptional views – the costs of servicing them can be
substantial.

RECEPTION
The reception desk should be visible to the guest immediately on entry, and it should
be on the route to the lifts and stairs.

Relationship diagram for administration services

Sitting worktop

Computer workstation
CLOAK ROOM

Person with baggage

TOILET

DISABLED PEOPLE:- The eyes and arms are permanently at sitting rather
than standing level, and second, the wheelchair itself takes up to five times the
space needed by an ambulant person.
The width of a corridor should not be less than 900 mm for a self-propelled
wheelchair, or 1.8 m if two wheelchairs are likely to want to pass each other.
ADMINISTRATION AREA
Include the front office (located adjacent to reception
desk),executive,sales,accounting and catering offices, and personnel and
engineer's office. Group administration may be largely centralized.
AREA: high-grade, 1.6m2/room; mid grade,1.2m2/room; budget,
0.4m2/room

A) EMPLOYEE FACILITIES
Employees per room: Luxury, 1.5; high grade, 0.8-1.0: mid-grade, 0.5-
0.6; budget, 0.2-0.3.
Requirements: controlled entry with time recording; personnel offices,
lockers(one per employee); changing rooms, shoers and toilets with
separate facilities for men and women.
Staff canteen: to accommodate about one third of staff members in
shifts.
AREA: luxury 1.8m2/room

B) OFFICES
The manager’s office is generally adjacent to reception for reasons of
control. Other offices, accounting, records etc. can be else where as long
as communication to the reception is good. In a large hotel accounting is
computerized for speed and staff economy. Office sizes vary greatly. A
rough indication is 7.5 to 20 m2.
GUEST ROOM
Guest rooms are invariably designed to standard repetitive modules facilitating
system building and prefabrication, rapid construction, bulk purchasing and
efficient housekeeping and maintenance. Dimensions and gross factors are critical.
Public areas generally require larger spans and may extend into podium or atrium
spaces.

Internal room dimensions are dictated by the market requirements, standards of

hotel, number and sizes of beds and furniture. Twin beds (1000x2000mm) or one
double (1500x2000mm, for single or double occupancy) are most common,
with queen size (1650x2000mm), king size (2000x2000mm) or double used in
higher grade hotels.

Layout for single

bedroom.
BEDROOMS
Bedrooms are the core of the hotel industry. For flexibility most rooms have a
double bed or twin beds. Bedrooms normally have en-suite bedrooms.

BEDROOM CORRIDORS
Corridors in bedroom areas should be minimized. Widths vary from 1.3m wide for
2-star to 1.8m to 2.0m wide for 5-star. To avoid an institutional appearance
corridors should not appear too long. Fire regulations determine the positioning
of escape stairs.

AREAS
Corridor widths and bedroom sizes are greater in more expensive hotels.
2-star:- 20-22 m sq
3-star:- 25-27 m sq
4-star:- 30-34 m sq
5-star/exclusive 36m sq min

Service areas in m2 according to number of guest rooms

ORIENTATION
Take account of sunlight. Bedroom blocks with the long axis
nearer north-south than east-west are preferable. Position
bedrooms to minimize noise from traffic, machinery, kitchens and
the hotel’s public rooms.
FORM
The bedroom areas are formed from relatively small units divided by
separating walls, with many service ducts. On plan the block often forms
an elongated rectangle, which can be straight or curved, or bent around a
corner, or surrounding a rectangular or round courtyard.
BEDROOM PLANNING
Rooms must be designed and furnished to facilitate access, cleaning, making up and servicing.
The shape and to some extent the size will be goverened by the placing of the bathroom. There
are three common arrangements:-

BATHROOM ON EXTERNAL WALL:

This gives natural ventilation to the bathroom. The greatest
disadvantage is that the service duct can only be inspected by
passing through the bedroom. Also with bedrooms on both
sides of the corridor two separate drainage systems are necessary.
The amount of external walling is increased, the bedroom window
is often recessed and light to the bedroom may be lost.

BATHROOMS BETWEEN BEDROOMS:

The main disadvantage is the elongation of the corridor and the increased
external wall. If the bathrooms are adjacent one of them is
internal, so the ventilation problem is only half solved, and access to the
service duct is still through a bedroom.

INTERNAL BATHROOMS:
These necessitate a lobby, but it is generally used for the furnishings and so can be
subtracted from the bedroom area. It can help with sound
insulation from corridor noise. The bathrooms will require
artificial lighting and ventilation. But the external walling and
the corridors are minimized. This is the most common layout.

Twin-bedded room with

clothes storage and dressing
table. Size varies according to
site constraints and standard
of accommodation
 BACK OF HOUSE SERVICES IN A HOTEL

 The back of the hotel is where food is prepared and where

the guest’s service amenities were taken care of.

 The main function of back of the house are laundry, food,

housekeeping supplies, and other items must be received
out of sight of the hotel guests.
 Technical equipment may be sighted in back-of-house, on
higher technical floors., roof or ceiling mounted or/ and
external to the building.

 Requirements in a 5 star hotel- engineer’s office; security

office; computer rooms; meter and switch gear room;
electrical transformers; standby generators; telephone
exchange equipment rooms; public address system; water
storage, treatment and pumping equipment; boiler plant; air-
conditioning plant and coolers; swimming pool treatment
plant; stores.
LAUNDARY & HOUSEKEEPING

TRASH OR LINEN CHUTE

LINEN ROOM
The linen room is the heart of the housekeeping department. Freshly
laundered linen comes in to find its way to clean beds and bathrooms.
Besides that, you store your extra pillows, duvets and linen there, which
makes the linen room a very important link in your hotel.
THE LINEN ROOM
The linen room is the Centre stage for the supporting role that the Housekeeping
Department plays in the hotel. Most linen rooms are centralized and act as a storage
point and distribution centre for clean linen. Usually, a par stock is maintained on
each floor or at each unit to suffice immediate requirements. Although the term ‘linen’
originally referred to those fabrics made from the fiber derived from the stem of the
flax plant, linen in this context means all launderable articles and often includes
pillows, mattresses, shower curtains, fabric lampshades and upholstery thatare also
handled by the linen room.
THE ACTIVITIES OF THE LINEN ROOM-

COLLECTION AND TRANSPORTATION

SORTING AND COUNTING
PACKAGING
DISPATCH
DELIVERIES
CHECKING AND INSPECTION
STORAGE
DISTRIBUTION TO UNITS
MONOGRAMMING
REPAIRS AND ALTERATION
STOCK TAKING AND RECORDS
SECURITY
CIRCULATION
The general circulation layout should facilitate movement and, as far as
possible, provide for the separation of guests, staff and maintenance
personnel. This is not just to avoid disturbing the guests, but also to
enable efficient servicing. Separate the circulation of resident and non-
resident guests; for instance, by providing direct access to restaurants
and banqueting halls. This avoids congestion in the main reception area
and gives better control and supervision.
Circulation in public spaces should wherever possible be through areas
of other use such as lounges or shopping precincts, or have a special
use, such as lobbies.

More public and function

rooms
added, still single-storey.
These may be
appropriately
subdivided. Guest and
staff circulations should
not mix
FOOD AND BEVERAGES
FOOD SERVICE OPERATIONS:- All food service operations involve three
overlapping processes: production, service and customer areas. Each areas will
have specific requirements which will vary depending on the nature and the
scale of operation.

Large-scale production
Food service planning

RESTAURANT

DINING ROOM:- The dining room is usually open to non-residents. Most

larger hotels will have dining rooms on several levels, such as a breakfast room on the
first floor. The main dining room must be directly adjacent to the main kitchen.

Food service area in m

sq: according to
numbers of seats
 SEATING PLANS
For meals consumed on the premises, max numb of
customers are dictated by numb of seats, mealtimes
served and seat turnover. Customer densities (in m2
per diner) depend on the room dimensions, method of
service, table and chair sizes, seat groupings and
layout within the room.

Space allowances (Depends on rooms

dim, circulations and type of
furniture).

Square tables, square layout, local density

1.4 (in m 2 per diner)

Circular tables, diagonal layout, density

0.82

Recommended rectangular
table sizes relating to place
Square tables, diagonal layout, local numbers
density 0.92
 Restaurant critical dimensions

Bar stool spacing Medium-height bar

stool
Minimum space between tables to
allow for seating, access and
circulation

Minimum space
between tables to
Area required by an allow for seating,
individual diner access and
circulation
KITCHEN

Size and type:- Kitchen sizes depend on the number of meals served at peak
periods of the day: normally lunch, but in some cases dinner. A kitchen for a
residential or commercial restaurant serving a varied menu over a long period will be
larger than a school or factory kitchen serving a limited menu only at set times for
the same number of people. As an approximate guide the ratio of dining to kitchen
area will vary between:
• 3:1 where only one sitting
• 1:1 where two or three sittings per meal.
A ‘finishing kitchen’ for the cooking or heating up of ‘convenience foods’ will be
smaller than the equivalent conventional kitchen, in which all the preparation and
cooking processes are carried out.
The ratio of total kitchen area to area required for servery, stores
offices and staff facilities, will vary between:
• 2:1 for conventional kitchens
• 1.5:1 for finishing kitchens as finishing kitchens have less
preparation space.

STORAGE AREA:- Racks for storage of containers should approx to the

heights and widths of the containers to be stored allowing about 50 mm between
packages for easy access. The top shelf should not be higher than 1950 mm.
Shelves and open bins must be kept at least 200 mm above the floor to allow a
clear space for access and cleaning and to deter rodents. Shelves for frequently
used or heavy items should be between 700 and 1500 mm high.

Limits for maximum reach for men Convenient reach for heavy or
and women frequently used items

Minimum space between equipment for working and circulation

MEETING ROOM
RECREATIONAL AREA
VEHICULAR PARKING
FLOOR AREA PERCENTAGE OCCUPIED BY HVAC PLANT
ESCALATORS
They are required to provide continuous mass transport of people.

LIFTS

The upward and downward movement of people in newly erected multi-

storeyed buildings is principally achieved by lifts.
SMALL GOODS LIFTS