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Industry Visit for Hotel Management students

Professor Shalini Andrew has allotted time in the BHTM-103 Introduction to Front Office Management course for a field trip this semester. After the first few lectures, she wants to take her class to the hotel establishments in the vicinity of Sabarmati Ashram. The area is well known for its tourist attractions and is the headquarters of Mahatma Gandhi movement. She appoints a group of students to assist her in setting up tours. One of the students, Mrinalini, is a resident of the area and suggests they visit the TAJ Gateway Hotel Ummed in the downtown area. She would also like to see a hotel located at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. Shreeraj, another student, has worked at a limited-service property in his hometown. He understands another hotel in that chain is located on the outskirts of the city. Rajesh, who is applying for a job at a local hotel, wants to get information on all-suites hotels. Linda has heard of a new Spa and Resort hotel in town and wants to kn

Entrepreneurship

Today, Shahnaz Hussain is a strong brand in the herbal personal care products category in India as also in the world market. What made it a strong brand is a combination, of entrepreneurial spirit, commitment and belief in the product, continuous innovation, distribution strategy and word of mouth publicity. About 27 years back when Shahnaz Hussain started her business, she had picked the skills from some of the best in the beauty schools all over Europe lie Helena Rubinstein, Schwarzkopf, Lancome, Christine Varlmy etc. At the time when the cosmetic industry was dominated by chemical based products, she started developing products based on ayurveda and marketed them under her name which today has become a brand. Herbal based products were new to the market. Marketing an unknown brand and an unknown product category was the most daunting task she faced especially as the market was dominated by the well known global brands and the Retail Stores like Harrods and Selfridges in UK would not

Staff Turnover Problem

The Star Plaza , a California-based 5star hotel, has enjoyed a smooth growth curve over the past five years, primarily because of favourable customer response during the Industrial Developmental phase. The Star Plaza has had numerous Banqueting functions Indoor and Out door as well. Although the business is not declining but company is finding it increasingly difficult to keep its really good employees with them. Based on extensive turnover analysis conducted by Ned Jackson, the human resources planning manager. The Star Plaza's problem seems to be its inability to keep staff beyond the "critical" five year point. Apparently, the probability of turnover drops dramatically after five years of service. Ned's conclusion is that Star Plaza has been essentially serving as an industry college. Their staffing strategy has always been to hire the best and brightest hospitality graduates from the best hospitality schools in the United States. Ned believes that these graduates

Travel Through Ages-3

THE ORIGIN OF THE CONCEPT OF HOLIDAY The variety of holidays were included in the pay package; The Paid Annual Holidays The concept of annual paid holidays was introduced by UK during the inter-war years for improving human resource conditions in the world on ILO recommendations. By the year 1939, in UK alone, some 11 million people were covered by the Holidays with Pay Act (1938), The paid holiday has been seen as leisure and recreation means for employees. Relaxation and break from usual work improves interest and performance of the employee. Thousands of millions of employees have been benefited so far. Annual paid holidays are universally recognized and enforced. Today it is recognized that in Western Europe the fifth week, even from the standpoint of output may also be regarded as a productive investment. Public Holidays Public holidays were also coined for employees to enjoy & celebrate various festivals and cultural activities, One such holiday was coined “Saturnalia

Travel Through Ages-2

PLEASURE TRAVEL After the ending part of the early travel the Rome Empire reached the apex of the glory. Hence it is marked that the Roman people started the concept of the travel for pleasure. Because of • Good Road Communication. • Money and time. Roman people were Best Patron of art, learning and literature etc. We have the example of the silk route from Mediterranean sea to Pacific Ocean consist of 12,000 Km. It was connected by the older prosperous cities like Rome, Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India, China, like this. Some intellectuals of that period remained busy in creative activities due to their curiosity ness. They are as follows. a) Homer’s odyssey records the prosperousness of Greece. b) Herodotus visited Egypt, Phoenicia. c) Greek Philosophers like Thales, Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle visited Egypt. The pleasure travel period came to an end due to the fall of the Roman Empire in (400-500 A.D.) EMERGENCE OF SPAS AND SEASIDE RESORTS The center of medi

Travel Through Ages: Accounts of Famous Travelers

ACCOUNTS OF FAMOUS TRAVELLERS • Benjamin of Tudela visited many places of Europe, Persia etc. Benjamin of Tudela (Tudela, (Kingdom of Navarre), 1130 – 1173) was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 12th century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years. The Travels of Benjamin is an important work not only as a description of the Jewish communities, but also as a reliable source about the geography and ethnography of the Middle Ages. Benjamin set out on his journey from northeast Spain around 1165, in what may have begun as a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and traveled to France, Rome, Italy, Greece, Syria, Lebenon, Israel, Baghdad, Persia etc. In all he visited over 300 cities • Young Marco Polo visited entire Europe and Asia . Marco Polo (1254 – January 9, 1324) was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to intr

Travel Through Ages

AN ANCIENT PHENOMENON The travel is as old as human civilization. For one or other purposes human have been traveling and exploring this earth. Since the dawn of the civilization we have the evidence that, human beings were remaining busy for the search of food and shelter which is the basic feature of mankind. We have the historical evidence about the movement of people since the Neolithic Age that is 10,000 B.C. In the early phase of the travel we have following evidences of human being’s movement from place to place. In Neolithic age of 10,000 B.C. mankind started the settled life, agriculture, and so many activities for the betterment of comfortable life. In Egypt sailing vessels were built in 4000 B.C. Sumerians knew the use of wheel & money and used it in trade and commerce purpose. Shulgi of Babylonia constructed the rest houses for the travelers. TRAVELS FOR TRADING Thus the trade and commerce relations were developed from East to West. Westerners imported the spic

Architecture of India

Definition • The art and science of designing and erecting buildings. OR • A style in which a building is designed and built. INTRODUCTION: Indian temples have been a source of attraction, not only as a place of worship for the devout, but also as an architectural marvel for the curious tourist. Indian temples with its imposing towers, intricate carvings and awe inspiring size were in fact the result of a gradual evolution over time. In the Vedic period (1500 to 500 BC) there were actually no temples as such. They propitiated the Gods by performing yagyas using sacrificial altars. Details of how such altars may be constructed where meticulously mentioned in The SULVASUTRA (literally meaning ‘the rules of the cord’). These YAGYASHALAS later got transformed to temples. Earliest temples were made of timber and clay, and though they were later replaced by the more enduring granite, there are still temples in Kerala and Dakshina Karnataka made with timber and which has withstood the ra

5 S in Housekeeping

5S (methodology) 5S is the name of a workplace organization methodology that uses a list of five Japanese words which, transliterated and translated into English, start with the letter S. This list is a mnemonic for a methodology that is often incorrectly characterized as "standardized cleanup", however it is much more than cleanup. 5S is a philosophy and a way of organizing and managing the workspace and work flow with the intent to improve efficiency by eliminating waste, improving flow and reducing process unevenness. What is 5S? 5S is a method for organizing a workplace, especially a shared workplace (like a shop floor or an office space), and keeping it organized. It's sometimes referred to as a housekeeping methodology; however this characterization can be misleading, as workplace organization goes beyond housekeeping (see discussion of "Seiton" below). The key targets of 5S are improved workplace morale, safety and efficiency. The assertion of 5S is, by a

Ana Chavarria, front office manager Case Study

Ana Chavarria, front office manager, has been with The Times Hotel for several years. She recalls her first few months as a time of great stress. There was Milo Diaz, personnel manager, who was always calling her to post her schedules on time and authorize payroll forms. Thomas Brown, executive housekeeper, seemed a great friend off the premises of the hotel, but at work, he continually badgered the front desk clerks on guest check-in and checkout problems. Yoon-Whan Li, executive engineer, also had communication issues with Ana, such as the time when a desk clerk called Yoon-Whan at home to indicate that an elevator was stuck on the fourth floor when it was only manually stopped by a group of children. Eric Jones, food and beverage manager, continued to blame Ana’s desk clerks because hotel guests were not frequenting the dining room and lounge, asking her, “When will the desk clerks ever learn to talk about those free coupons for the dining room and lounge that they so stoically hand

EMERGING INDUSTRY PRACTICES IN HOSPITALITY OPERATIONS

ABSTRACT Hospitality business is in transition stage, shaping itself better, less expensive, more user and environment friendly and ethical in approach. It’s good for all of them who believe tourism and hospitality a sustainable product. The present study is on emerging trends in operational areas of hospitality and hotels particularly. The scope of the present study is limited to the information available in published media, and internet. The technology has been instrumental in bringing about those changes in hospitality functioning and the way we do business. New concepts with the help of technology like Allergy Free Rooms, CombiOven, non-ODS are finding place in hospitality. These products though expensive initially prove cheaper in long run and hazard free and environment friendly too. Of course, ethical business is in demand and that is sustainable. Similarly in eating and drinking patterns there is change some innovative works like REMY IceBOXX has evolved a new style of drinking