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Hospitality Management
Internship Paper
I. MACRO overview
The segment of the hospitality industry I interned was the hotel industry. It is
important to understand that the hospitality industry can be traced back to the end of the
visitors began in 1794. This is when the A City Hotel opened in New York City. The
brand the A City Hotel claimed to be the first building designed only for hotel operations.
The next cities to follow with the hotel operation concept were Boston, Baltimore, and
Philadelphia in 1809. The hotel industry took off in the 1950s and 60s. This is because
in the 1920s people started taking frequent vacations. (UK Essays, 2015)
Fortunately, the tourism industry has been able to generate billions of dollars for
countries worldwide. Interestingly, the tourism industry is one of the most successful in
international trade services. There are four main organizations that monitor progress
and promote/develop sustainable tourism in the hotel industry. The first one is the World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO). This is one of the United Nations agencies that is
accountable for advancement and sustainability of tourism. It is also the world leading
organization in the tourism sector. Its main job is promoting tourism as means for
economic growth and developing environmental sustainability. It also helps create
global tourism policies. The next organization is the International Hotel and Restaurant
Association (IHRA). The main members of this organization are national hotels and
restaurants that are worldwide. Included in this are 300,000 hotels and 8 million
restaurants. This means that this effects 60 million people who worked in the industry
that contributes 950 billion yearly. The third organization is the Hospitality Sales and
Marketing Association International (HSMAI). This is the largest organization for travel
sales and marketing professionals. This particular association has over 4,000 members
sales as well as educational and management skills. The fourth is the WTTC. The main
With the rise in income and the standard of living came a boost in the hotel
industry. This, plus the increase in leisure time proved to be very beneficial to the hotel
industry. Also, in more recent times the advancement in technology played a large part
in the continued successful development of the hotel industry. Another helpful part of the
industry is the competition that is created because of the large success. This allows
various hotels to lower prices and be more competitive to get people to stay at their
hotels. This is where loyalty programs become very important. If you are dealing with
business travelers that often are staying in hotels they are looking for perks and
rewards. Once they find a hotel that meets their needs they will continue to book and
example, in the 1950s the international tourist arrivals were 25 million. Now the
projections into 2020 is 1 billion. This number is interesting because in 2012 the global
growth percentage went from 2.8 to 2.7. Even with this minimally slight decrease the
travel and tourism figures have still been positive. An example of this is the global tourist
arrivals. This number has raised to 4.9% in 2012 just from January to June. The most
important part of the hotel industry is to remember that it is constantly creating jobs for
not only America but for the entire world. (UK Essays, 2015)
The hotel that I completed my internship at was The Publick House Historic Inn
as a guest services representative. This company is a full service hotel with two
restaurants, a bake shop, multiple banquet rooms, and an elite wedding venue.
Although my internship was focused on the hotel sector, I was able to learn about the
various departments. The General Manger works closely with all departments which
Shop. Under him is the Director of Food and Beverage that oversees the restaurant and
the bake shop. Within the other departments there are managers, assistant managers,
and supervisors.
I was fortunate enough to become close with not only the rooms division
department but also restaurant, banquets, and sales. It is my understanding that the
rooms division, banquet, and sales departments combine to bring home the most
money for the company. The reason that these three departments make the most
money is because they all work together. An example of this is when the sales
department will bring in clients to have an event at the Publick House. These clients will
then need a block of rooms which brings in revenue for the rooms division. The
banquets department then carries out the event. From my observations each of these
The owner of the company (Mr. Harrington) also owns two other properties.
These properties are the Colonial Inn and the Hawthorne Hotel. The Colonial Inn is in
Concord, MA, and the Hawthorne Hotel is in Salem, MA. These two other properties
also host dinning, banquets, and rooms. Mr. Harrington first bought the Publick House,
then he added the Hawthorne Hotel, and most recently the Colonial Inn. As an intern
working with various employees I learned that the Publick House paid their employees
less than the other two properties. Although that was discouraging to hear, I understood
that demographics were the main reason for this. The cost of living in Salem and
division. The main role of my positon was to promptly check guests in and out, answer a
multiline phone system, handle guest complaints, and complete weekly/monthly reports.
When I first came on I was trained in learning how to answer the phone and how to
check guests out. A reason for learning these two tasks first was because they were
used the most in the job. The computer program that the Rooms Division used is Opera,
and it was an expectation I would learn how to use it as soon as possible. This meant
worked with my manager Michelle, my supervisor Christy, and four or sometimes five
employees. Within each shift there was usually two people or sometimes three for busy
times. The work space that the guest services employees had to work with was fairly
small, so any more people than that it became too crowded. Also, we only had two
computers which meant a maximum of handling two guests needs at a time. That third
As I became more experienced with the job I was able to take on more
responsibility. This included working with the sales department and banquet department.
The tasks I completed for the sales department were inputting or altering client room
blocks. This included wedding blocks, corporate client blocks, and government blocks. I
assisted the banquet department in executing their events. This meant satisfying brides
and other clients. The front desk is the point of contact, so making sure we knew the
clients needs before passing them along to the banquet department was extremely
important.
A major responsibility of mine was the weekly rooms projection of not only the
Publick House Historic Inn but also six other hotels in the area. I had to go on Expedia
and input into an Excel spreadsheet the room rates for all hotels. I then had to generate
multiple reports that I pulled certain data from to put in this spreadsheet. It was vital that
I completed this report on time and correctly because my boss would present it at the
Monday morning meeting with the General Manager, Mr. Harringtons son, and all other
department managers. My boss informed me that I was the only employee she has had
that has been able to properly complete this task on a consistent basis. This made me
front desk position can be an extremely slow job. I would complete an eight-hour shift
and be lucky if two of those hours were busy. This was the frustrating part of the job
because I like to be busy and constantly working. Although I would get busy work it
When I first interviewed for this position Michelle informed me that I would visit
event planning, and I felt that was put to the back burner because of her being short
staffed. I constantly had conversations with her about going to the sales and banquet
My advice for any potential interns is to be sure you want to be working with the
rooms division department. As someone who was looking for more of an event
every experience into a positive one and made the best of it. My big internship project
was the Pan Mass Challenge. I was the point of contact for all riders and their teams.
This was my favorite part of the internship because it was most related to event
planning. It was most related because of the rooming lists and preparation that went into
endeavors. It was a great feeling for her to tell me that I am welcome to go back and
work there if I ever need a job. Although the internship did not pan out exactly how I
expected, I look at every job as a learning opportunity. This internship is only going to