Overview

The Tranquil Meadows is a medium-sized hotel which has 50 bedrooms. It is

privately owned and located in the countryside near the town of Harrow-OnThe-Hill in the south of England. The Tranquil Meadows has a restaurant and a
bar, which are open to non-residents. There are also function and conference
facilities which can be booked by individuals and companies.

Publicity
The hotel's main method of advertising is via the internet and in Town and
Country magazine (published monthly). It also places advertisements in the
local, weekly, free Advertiser newspaper. It does have an entry in
www.thomsonlocal.net. It also has links from tourist board websites,
magazines, etc.
However, Banki Chester, the owner, is always looking for ways to attract guests
to the hotel. Bankis son, James, runs the reception area and is able to use the
guest database to analyse the type of guests, using the lengths of stay, home
regions, etc., thus allowing Banki to target promotions.
To attract local people to use the hotel restaurant, a number of special events
are organised, such as Murder Mystery weekends. James uses a desktop
publishing package to produce posters that are displayed in the hotel and in
the local area. A smaller version is also sent as an advertisement to the local,
free Advertiser newspaper.
Mailing lists of previous guests can also be produced, allowing personalised
letters to be produced and sent promoting events and reminders of special
offers, etc.

Sports facilities
The grounds have a 9-hole golf course, a tennis court, a squash court, a
gymnasium and a small indoor swimming pool. The sports facilities are also
open to non-residents; in fact, most of the profit for these particular facilities
comes from non-residents, as there are no other sports facilities in the area.
There is a reception desk at the sports centre to take bookings for courts, loan
out equipment and take fees for usage of the facilities. The facilities are staffed
by three part-time fitness trainers and two duty managers on a shift basis.

Reservations
Guests can book directly with the hotel by telephone, facsimile (fax) or letter.
James, or one of his team, takes down details of the reservation on a booking
form. The availability of the room required is checked on the database and
details of the booking are entered via a reservation screen. Each reservation is
assigned a unique reference number. A confirmation letter is prepared and sent
to the customer via fax, email or post.
Reservations can also be made through travel agents over the telephone.
When this is received, James, or one of his team, updates the booking details
and sends confirmation to the guest.
Reservations can also be made by agents for businesses (companies). If this is
the case then the reservation invoice will be sent to the company rather than
made payable by the guest. James keeps records of the company name,
address and bank card so that deductions can be made automatically to this
account. This information is also made available to James wife, Hineesha, who
is the accountant and maintains all the financial records for the hotel. She
allocates a company an ID by which the records will be stored.
Reservations may only be made using a credit or debit card. Should a guest fail
to arrive, then a fee of 50 is deducted using the card number and the room
made available for further booking. This also applies to business bookings.
The reservation system is currently using an old Access system created several
years ago when the hotel was first purchased by Banki and her family.

Registration
On the date of the reservation James prints out a room card. The room card is
two-part, half goes to the guest and half is retained at reception until the
guests stay is completed. The half retained by the guest allows him/her to
charge items to his/her account. A separate account is set up for guests who
have a company booking and who are expected to pay for extras themselves.

Billing
When a guest purchases a meal or drinks to be charged to their account, a
receipt is printed at the point of sale terminal in the restaurant or bar, which
the guest signs. The receipts are passed to the duty receptionist who enters
the details into the guest's record in the database. When the guest checks out
of the hotel, these data are used to produce an invoice, which the guest then
pays. Payments may be in cash, by cheque or card. Signed invoices are passed
to the accountant.

Check out
When the guest wishes to check out, the invoice is prepared based on the
number of nights stayed, etc., plus the extras added on during the stay. The
guest settles the account this applies to both private and business clients.
Business guests are expected to sign the invoice so that it can be retained for
audit purposes. Any company invoices are copied and passed to the respective
company.

Accounts and auditing

Hineesha is responsible for keeping records of all monies the hotel receives and
all the payments it makes. She currently uses an off-the-shelf accounting
package for this. The package has been set up to produce details for the tax
and HM Revenue and Customs as well.
As all the computers are stand-alone, details of all payments made at reception
and in the restaurant and bar must be keyed in and sometimes mistakes are
made.
Another of Hineeshas responsibilities is arranging payment of staff wages.
Again, there is some duplication of data, as some of the details in the personnel
database are also required for payroll.
Each month Hineesha uses a spreadsheet package to calculate the wages and
deductions for each member of staff. The net amount to be paid to each
member of staff and their bank account details are sent electronically to the
hotel's bank. The staff are paid directly into their bank accounts by BACS
transfer. The system prints out pay slips, which are handed or sent to each
member of staff.
Any cash in the till is banked every night at the local branch of the National
Trustees Bank. Any such transactions must be accompanied by a printed
paying in slip. It should be noted that the bank charges for overdrawn accounts
and pays a small amount of interest on accounts in credit over 5000 but the
rates fluctuate on a daily basis.
Banki and Hineesha use the accounts information to monitor the hotel's
finances and produce balance sheets and monthly accounts for the HM
Revenue and Customs and other tax related records.

Staffing
Bankis daughter Jemina operates the personnel aspects for the hotel, ensuring
that sufficient staff are rostered on each shift and extra staff contracted in
when required for special events or functions. The hotel often uses the HarrowOn-The-Hill Employment Agency (HOTHEA) for this purpose.
Banki takes most of the responsibility for the overall running of the hotel but
does delegate a lot of the work to her children. James has three duty
receptionists to help him out and these share the shift patterns throughout the
week. Jemina has an assistant, Mina, to help with personnel issues, Mina only
works part time.
Jemina also acts as the housekeeper, ensuring that all guest comforts can be
met. To help her in this area she has two daily and one night rostered staff.
When the night rostered staff member is not on duty the night concierge has to
undertake any relevant duties.
Each shift also has a Restaurant Manager, a chef, and waiters, waitresses and
bar staff who report to the Restaurant Manager; there are kitchen staff who
report to the Chef. Many of the restaurant and kitchen staff work part-time and
the number on duty is dependent on the number of guests and any functions
taking place. These are recruited as and when required through HOTHEA.
All staff must complete a time sheet each week showing details of hours
worked. These are passed to Hineesha and Jemina for wage calculations, etc.
James and his team carry out purchasing and personnel functions as well as
general administration and marketing functions as well as dealing with
bookings.

IT facilities
There is a computer at the reception desk and two in the main office, as well as
point of sale terminals in the sports reception, restaurant and bar. All
computers are currently stand-alone although one of the main office computers
does have a modem that enables staff to communicate electronically with
some suppliers and the hotel's bank.
One of the computers in the main office contains a database that includes
details of rooms, guests and bookings. Much of this information must be
duplicated on the computer at reception.
The hotel currently uses Microsoft Office and Sage packages, which are
installed on the computers in offices befitting the requirement. The hotel does
not have any contract for maintenance of the equipment, so any faults are
reported to and repaired by Harrow-On-The-Hill Computer Repair and
Maintenance (HOTH-CRAM). James is responsible for this.

HOTH-CRAM is currently undertaking an analysis for the supply and fit of a

wireless network in the hotel. This will allow files to be shared between
different departments in the hotel and also permit guests, for a small fee, to
have access to the internet from their rooms and
public areas around the hotel. There is a concern that some files may become
vulnerable to attack from outside the hotel when this network is set up.

Suppliers
The hotel needs a wide range of supplies and services to enable it to function.
Some supplies and services are required on a daily basis, some are required
regularly but at less frequent intervals, while others are only required from time
to time (ad hoc). Banki usually negotiates contracts for regular services and
supplies.
A daily service required is to collect, wash and return bed linen, towels, etc. A
contract has been negotiated with a local laundry, Harrow-On-The-Hill Laundry
and Pressing (HOTH-LAP) for this service. The laundry sends an invoice each
month for which Hineesha raises a cheque.
Occasionally, maintenance services such as plumbers or electricians are
needed. Requests for maintenance are passed, either face-to-face or in a note,
to the Duty Administrator who contacts the contractor by telephone to organise
for the work to be done. Once the work has been carried out, the contractor
sends an invoice for payment. Banki has negotiated a contract with her
husbands firm, Harrow-On-The-Hill Construction, for this, as they have details
of a range of skilled tradesmen.
The gardens and grounds are maintained by Harrow-On-The-Hill Construction
and Gardening (HOTH-CAG). This arrangement is serviced with a monthly
contract paid by Hineesha by cheque.
Fresh foods must be delivered daily. Once a week the chef decides the menu
for the following week and produces a list of all the fresh food required for each
day's menu. This is passed to a member of the family who orders the food by
telephone from local suppliers. Each supplier sends an invoice at the end of the
week.
The hotel aims to work with local suppliers in order to take an ecological
approach to its produce. The main source of meat, fruit and vegetables is the
Harrow-On-The-Hill Market Farmers Association (HOTH-MFA), but fish has to
come from other sources as do any speciality goods. Wherever possible local
wines are used in the bar but the hotel does have a contract with a one of the
major brewery chains for supplies. A local wholesaler is used for the dry (nonperishable) goods.
HOTH-MFA and other wholesalers use order forms standard to their own
organisation but not necessarily in a common format. The chef checks the
stocks of non-perishable foods fortnightly and writes an order form. The shift
Restaurant Manager is responsible for writing an order for beers, wines, spirits
and soft drinks each week and Jemina writes orders for cleaning materials,

toilet rolls and guest toiletries when stocks are running low. The duty
receptionist faxes these orders to the wholesaler. An invoice is sent when the
goods are delivered. Hineesha organises the payment of these invoices.

Room revenue and rates

The hotel operates a range of packages, business rates during the working
week and weekend rates during the weekend and bank holiday periods.
Weekend rates for any room are 33% cheaper than during the working week.
There are various rooms, single, twin, double and family. Rooms can be
reserved as bed and breakfast, bed breakfast and evening meal (half board) or
full board. The rates,
Room type
B&B
HB
FB
per person, during
Single
60
75
90
the week are as
Twin
65
80
95
follows:
Double
65
80
95
Family
4)

(max 60

75

90

Each is stocked with a mini bar chargeable upon use. It is the duty of Jeminas
staff to check this on a daily basis and report any usage to reception to add to
the invoice.

Personnel records
Jemina maintains a database where details of all staff are stored. Data stored
on each member of staff include:

Personal details (name, address, date of birth, emergency contact,

nationality)
Job (housekeeping, porter, receptionist, waiter, etc.)
Salary
Normal hours
Availability
Hours worked

In addition the database contains details of appraisals, pension and holiday

entitlement and any company medical cover.
Appraisals are undertaken by the relevant section manager and passed to
Jemina for entry in the system by Mina.
Each week Jemina or Mina updates the number of hours worked by each
member of staff from their time sheets. This data is used to schedule staff and
to calculate wages owed.
Records are also kept of temporary staff who proved good in their roles, should
additional staff be required and not provided by SEA. Occasionally mail-shots

are made to staff offering them a discount on room rates, especially for special
occasions such as birthdays.
Any temporary staff supplied by SEA are paid by SEA and Jemina must supply
SEA not only with the hours worked but also monies for the contracted staff
member.