Hotels and Resorts:
Student Name:
Institution:
The two hotels investigated are the Hilton Hotels and Resorts and Serena Hotels. Hilton hotels and resorts are an international chain of hotels that offer a wonderful range of guest services. With more than 540 locations in 78 countries they offer the guests the opportunity to select their most favourable location. Together with that they provide transport services to the guests to the desired location. The hotels have a range of activities on any location since they are spread across all the time zones and different climate zones. They have innovative dining options as well as thoughtful facilities. On the other hand Serena Hotels is not as widely spread out but it has with it unique services for the guests. They first and foremost offer the guests an interactive guest book that allows the guests to access information about the hotel. They have dedicated Serena TV channels, and other activities such as safaris and a travellers gold list indicating the 510 best places to visit on earth.
Tour Desk
A tour desk in a medium or large hotel will serve the purpose of ensuring that the guests in the hotel are provided with tour services and connected to tour agencies that will provide tour services for the guests. Every hotel seeking to increase its sales and popularity must have a tour desk that is fully equipped and functional and that is well staffed. The tour desk needs to have information on all the tour agencies within reach and their contacts. This information can be availed on brochures displayed at the tour desk. The desk should also ensure that they have a program of the available tours and their timing in the event that the guests desire to go on a tour; they need to have sufficient choices to select from.
Another important resource on the tour desk is the human resource. The desk should be staffed with qualified well informed personnel who can efficiently help the guests to know the local tour agencies. The staff should also have the capacity to help the guests make their decision of which tour to take depending on their tastes and preferences. The staff also connects the different guests with the tour agencies. In most high end hotels, agents from the tour agencies are allowed to have their own desk under the tour desk to provide the needed assistance and information. This is efficient as it saves time and provides more accurate information.
Activities for the guests
A 150 room resort hotel located in the tropical seaside has limitless possibilities when it comes to activities which may vary from indoor activities to outdoor activities. This is made possible especially by the climate in the tropical regions which are not much affected by large changes in the weather. The tropical seaside may be warm and humid during the daytime and this would be conducive for outdoor activities such as swimming, hiking, diving, photography, skin diving, rock climbing, scuba diving, beach soccer and beach volleyball, water skiing, yoga, skateboarding, roller skating and other activities such as tai chi and simply walking about.
Besides the outdoor activities, there are other indoor activities which are favourable in the tropical regions especially when the weather is too humid. The advantage is that, at no one point will the resort lack an alternative for outdoor activities considering the fact that the indoor activities are not just limited to day light. The activities program for indoor activities would be, squash, reading, theatre, and table tennis, board games such as chess, draughts, darts, drama, dancing, debates, discussions, bowling and arts.
Large hotels are commonly frequented by families with children. This adds another necessity of having activities that are specially customized for children, activities that do not pose a threat to the health of the children or that would cause injury. Children’s activities include; drawing, modelling with clay, beading, candle making, music, beading, pottery, racing, painting, fancy dressing, storytelling, potato race, three legged race, tug of war, competitions and quizzes. In the light of the above named activities, outdoor, indoor and children activities, equipment and staff are availed to ensure that order is maintained.
Chart of the activities of a large hotel.
13785852288540GUEST ACTIVITIES
4000020000GUEST ACTIVITIES
The chart below indicates the activities of a large hotel and with the activities comes the necessity of having well trained staff and readily available information. The information to be made available includes the venue of the activities, the timing of the activities, the guides and planning for the activities as well as the order in which the activities using similar venues are going to be conducted. Besides the staff and the information, all the places that are to be venues for activities should be well inspected and confirmed to be safe and usable especially for the children’s activities.
-57150074930OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
Swimming
Hiking
Diving
Photography
Skin diving
Rock climbing
Scuba diving
Beach soccer
Beach volleyball
Water skiing
Yoga
Skateboarding
Roller skating
Tai chi
Walking
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
Swimming
Hiking
Diving
Photography
Skin diving
Rock climbing
Scuba diving
Beach soccer
Beach volleyball
Water skiing
Yoga
Skateboarding
Roller skating
Tai chi
Walking
1725930484505INDOOR ACTIVITIES
Squash
Reading
Theatre
Table tennis
Chess
Draughts
Darts
Drama
Dancing
Debates
Discussions
Bowling
Arts
INDOOR ACTIVITIES
Squash
Reading
Theatre
Table tennis
Chess
Draughts
Darts
Drama
Dancing
Debates
Discussions
Bowling
Arts
4006850474980CHILDREN ACTIVITIES
Drawing
Modelling with clay
Beading
Candle making
Music
Beading
Pottery
Racing
Painting
Fancy dressing
Story telling
Potato race
Three legged race
Tug of war
CHILDREN ACTIVITIES
Drawing
Modelling with clay
Beading
Candle making
Music
Beading
Pottery
Racing
Painting
Fancy dressing
Story telling
Potato race
Three legged race
Tug of war