When Conrad Hilton(among others) was asked about the criteria he considered when opening a new, successful hotel, he replied that the three most important ones were:“Location, location, and location.” Considering that dining—and, unfortunately, for the most part—is merely an afterthought for many of these flagship establishments, it becomes clear that these primary criteria must be met, which ultimately benefits the entire establishment. Why does dining contribute to the hotel’s success at a later stage?
In this article, I’d like to share my own experiences (and those of the renowned expert Guillermo Pantoja), as well as ideas, hopes, and perspectives, with the readers of our blog.
Table of Contents
Supervision of the Food and Beverage Department in Hotels
In recent years, we—like many other hospitality professionals—have observed that cost accounting and cost management are the most important elements of hotel management, a point that instructors repeatedly emphasize to students in vocational training, continuing education programs, and training centers.
I don’t want to criticize this aspect, since I spend a large part of my time on it, but I must remind everyone interested in this field that a hotel’s success depends primarily on the management of tasks, supervision, and oversight on the front lines.
The quality we’ve been talking about for many years cannot be reduced to a manual on the desk that tells us how to do things; rather, it comes down to ensuring that these tasks are done well. If this is the case, the remaining subtasks will be completed within the specified framework. There’s little point in analyzing costs at the end of the month if unnecessary costs arise daily due to quality defects resulting from a lack of oversight. The customer experience should always come first.
The head of food and beverage at a hotel can’t be a desk jockey; instead, he must be a leader who does his job through what Americans call “managing by walking around.” This simply means being familiar with the day-to-day operations and every detail of the restaurant area in a hotel and experiencing every moment of each day firsthand.
The nature of this line of work requires personal interaction with both customers and subordinates and coworkers. It also requires motivation when overseeing and monitoring everything to ultimately ensure the satisfaction of everyone who is part of this large hotel family.
Making Customer Satisfaction a Priority
I am offering this feedback because I am tired of seeing professionals who barricade themselves behind their desks and hide behind mountains of paperwork. I don’t think that’s consistent with the origin and purpose of our work: the customer and their satisfaction.
The day-to-day tasks in a hotel’s food and beverage department can sometimes be very routine, and that is precisely why (and because we work in an industry with direct customer contact) it must be our responsibility to always ensure that service standards are met and that customer service is excellent, while always striving to exceed our guests’ expectations.
The planning and development of the assignments (Planned Qualityät) are recurring tasks that depend on our creativity and the mix of our clients. The supervision and monitoring of these tasks (Quality Deliveredät), on the other hand, account for 95% of our work. Our goal is and always will be customer satisfaction (quality achievedtt). Cost control is very important. However, it should not prevent us from focusing on other aspects.
Our customers’ experience should remain our raison d’être. This experience will be the driving force behind revenue in the food and beverage sector of every hotel or resort.
In our next article, we’ll discuss strategies for increasing revenue in the food and beverage sector of any hotel.
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