Nichaya Huangteerakul 5080168 Internship Batch 39
Recommendation and Suggestion Report Throughout the course of Internship I, students are required to train in the four functional areas of Salaya Pavilion Hotel & Training Center: Front Office, Housekeeping, Food Service, and Kitchen. As one of the 36 trainees during this summer, I have gained insight in the management and operations of an actual hotel business. I have experienced educational and supportive guidance from professional staff. Most importantly, I have observed many positive and negative points during this period of three months that I would like to address. First of all, I would like to begin with the evaluation of each of the four departments that we have worked in. The first department that I worked in is Housekeeping. There are several things that could be improved. For example, girls’ uniform can be slightly uncomfortable from time to time. When we have to bend down to clean the toilets, the piece of cloth hanging from our skirt would always get wet. This could be annoying and inconvenient. Also, there should be more supply of staff uniform in housekeeping storage. At least three sets of uniform for each staff should be in supply so it will be easier for the housekeeping staff to wash, dry, and iron. Too much pressure and burden are put upon them. In addition, some of the facilities in the hotel rooms, including all the rooms from floor 6 to floor 8, are in poor condition. Most of the time, I would see repairing and renovation occurring when the guests are in-house guests. This would cause inconvenient and possible discontent in their position. Therefore, I would like to suggest to invest a big amount at the beginning for once, which is better than having to repair facilities many times later on. Furthermore, it would be better if the hotel rooms in floor 6 have balconies with beautiful and decorative rocks, sand, and artificial flowers. Instead of planting trees in pots which wastes time and energy to clean and manage, using other types of decoration would be equally beautiful and even more efficient. Also, the “Do Not Disturb” signs that are used to hang on the doorknobs should be in better quality. The paper is too thin and weak that we always 1
Nichaya Huangteerakul 5080168 Internship Batch 39
faced troubles when the signs were always blown off the doors on windy days. Lastly, I would like to suggest to keep the linen size (ie: S, M, Q, K, 3, 3.5) stable and systematic. For example, they should all stick with letters for all the linen or stick with numbers for all. This would limit confusion and misunderstanding for the trainees. The second department that I worked in is Front Office. There are several things that could be improved in this department. Firstly, I think that the room rate for MUIC students and staff is too low compared to the rack rate. Even if the price is increased a little bit more, the demand would be the same because Salaya Pavilion is not overpriced and it is the only hotel in this area with reasonable price and service. The system of price differentiation between customers is excellent. But the promotion price for several groups of people will only lead to the hotel’s financial and credibility loss. Also, the breakfast voucher for the customers should be printed instead of hand-written. If the vouchers are computer-based and properly printed, it would look higher quality and lower the number of mistakes. Furthermore, I think that breakfast in the Little Mango Bar should be in a buffet manner. This would limit the work of staff and decrease time consumption. The place might be too small for buffet tables, but this can be solved by expanding the size of the Mango Bar. I personally think that the lobby in front of the Salaya Pavilion reception area is too big and empty. It would be put into good and effective use if we expand the bar and allow the staff and customers to move more freely in it. Our guests rarely spend time sitting in the lobby and each time they would only stay for a little while. So it is more useful if we make use of that space for a more effective purpose. In addition, the hotel should improve room keys and key cards. Most of the room keys for floor 6 are broken and in bad condition. Also, some of the key cards have colors that have faded and disappeared. This would more or less affect the professionalism of our hotel. Moreover, I would like to suggest having more staff on duty in the reception area. Because there is a few number of staff compared to the amount of work,
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Nichaya Huangteerakul 5080168 Internship Batch 39
sometimes the staff would have to run errands where the reception is left with trainees only. It is difficult for the new trainees to handle situations that they have never dealt with before. The next department that I worked in is Kitchen. This is the department that I enjoyed the most. However, there are still several points that I would like to make that would make this department possibly better. For example, I personally think that the amount of time we got to spend in the main kitchen, bakery, and the Little Mango Bar is too short. We only had one and a half week to work in the main kitchen and another one and a half week to work in the bakery. Also, we only had two mornings to work in the Little Mango Bar to learn to cook breakfast. I think that the time is too short and before we learn anything we have to change department already. So I suggest that the period in the kitchen department should be extended in order to allow ease in learning and maximum experience in this field. Most importantly, the hotel should address more on the issue of hygiene and safety of equipment, food, and facilities. There should be more rooms and space for proper equipment storage. In addition, the problems of rodents and cockroaches should be put in serious consideration and the hotel should take immediate action. There are several times that small roaches were seen during meal time and customers really showed disgust and fear. If the hotel still does not solve this problem, it would decrease the credibility and the fame of Salaya Pavilion. The last department that I worked in is Food Service or Food and Beverage. This is one of the departments that are the most tiring yet the most exciting and fun. There are several recommendations that I would like to make regarding this department. First of all, I think there are too many outlets compared to the number of staff that we have on hand. In my opinion, the F&B staff is too tired having to take care of functions, meetings, Herb Garden restaurant, and also the Little Mango Bar. They have to work too hard and they rarely get time to rest. In addition, it is also important for all the staff and the trainees to have better time management. There should be better queuing of work. Also, I think it would probably be better if the hotel purchase washing and drying machines used for silverware, glassware, and 3
Nichaya Huangteerakul 5080168 Internship Batch 39
plates. It wastes time when trainees have to wipe the utensils every time after they have been washed and every time before they are used. Lastly, I would like to stress the point that the sales and marketing department should narrow down its target market. The hotel always receives work on functions and meetings everyday without concerning the possibility and ability of our own staff. In general, the hotel could expand its product variability to increase its revenue. For example, besides the laundry bags that are provided in every room for guests to buy if they are interested, the hotel can also provide elephant dolls and silk cloths to be sold. Furthermore, the hotel area for the 7th and 8th floor in the new building should have better heat control. The roof is transparent so most of time it allows sunlight to shine through. This increases the temperature around the area and forces the air-conditioners to work harder. Furthermore, I would like to suggest that there should be more technicians besides P’Oat to help in functions and meetings. During our theme event, I had a chance to work as an IT. I come to discover that IT is a job that is very hard to work alone. There should be more people to manage this field and lessen the amount of work that the current IT has to do. Moreover, the air-conditioning in the Herb Garden Restaurant should be fixed sooner or later. It has been one of the issues that have been addressed for a while. But the hotel still has not made further improvement on this. Therefore it would be better if the hotel changes the airconditioning in this area as soon as possible. In conclusion, even though there are quite a number of improvements that should be made during this internship, I enjoyed this experience very much. It will be one of the most memorable periods of my life.
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