Services and Facilities in a Hotel
Introduction to Services and Facilities in the hotel
Nowadays, people choose to stay in the hotel not only for the accommodations, some of the tourists would choose a particular hotel because of its unique services given or special facilities that other hotel might not have or might not provide as good services compared to other competitor hotel. Example of facilities in most hotels that are five stars and above are swimming pool, outdoor games pool, restaurants, lounges, bars, golf clubs, spa and Jacuzzi, parking garage, conference rooms , banquet rooms. TV lobbies, snooker tables, special manicure services, porter services, personal convention centre and etc.
Services and Facilities in a Hotel
I am going to elaborate and illustrate the services and facilities in a large hotel named Hotel De Paris, Monte Carlo. Hotel De Paris is a luxury hotel that is located in Monaco which is located in a sovereign city on the French Riviera in Western Europe, France. According to Hayes, D. and Ninemeier, J. (2007), 1st ed, Hotel operations management, Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Accommodations – Rooms
Starting from the accommodations of this amazing luxury hotel, there are a total of 182 rooms in this hotel, this 182 rooms includes the superior room which is facing the courtyard view. These superior rooms are the perfect examples of the “Belle Epoque Era”. “Belle Epoque Era it’s in French language and it means “Beautiful Era” in English. It was a period of time in French and Belgian which world war one just ended in the beginning of the year 1914. The size of these superior rooms is from 371 to 571 sq. and it is located in the 2nd and 3rd floor of the hotel. The rack rates of this superior rooms cost around 579 Pounds which is 2880 MYR for 1 night stay. Next, is the Exclusive room which is facing city view, all the furniture and decorations is made from white leaded wood and mahogany. The toilets is specially made from pale marble from the 19th century to give guests a warm and welcoming feeling upon arrival. Rooms from this exclusive are from 377 to 538 sq. and is located on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor of Hotel De Paris. Rates of rooms are 657 pounds and after converting is 3447 MYR for one night stay. Last but not least of the rooms and that is the Exclusive Room that is facing casino view, all the facilities and decorations are most likely same as the other exclusive room but the only difference is that this room is facing the casino view. ( Hotel de Paris, (2014). Practical Details. [online] Available at: http://www.hoteldeparismontecarlo.com/practical-information/practical-information/ [Accessed 14 Oct. 2014].)
Junior Suites
Besides the normal exclusive and deluxe rooms, there are a few types of junior suites in Hotel De Paris. There is inner courtyard view which is fully furnished with red velvet carpets to give a feeling of total relaxation to the guests or conduct important meetings. The lounges in these junior suites are well equipped with perfect office tools with exquisite touch of elegance. The rates for this junior suites cost 846 Pounds which is 4422 MYR. Next up it’s the country view junior suite that is specially made for the night view lovers. (Hotel de Paris, (2014). Junior Suite – Inner Courtyard View. [online] Available at: http://www.hoteldeparismontecarlo.com/luxury-rooms-suites/junior-suite/junior-suite-courtyard/ [Accessed 14 Oct. 2014].)
Diamond Suites
The most expensive room in this hotel is the diamond suites. The diamond suites resemble the sense of luxury in Hotel De Paris. The diamond suite which is named by Charles Garnier normally is used by people who are going to have a wedding or any special family reunions. The diamond suites are located at the 2nd floor of Hotel De Paris and it is around 1890 sq. It has two big bedrooms, with an enormous lounge with a well-established dining area. All the toilets in this suite is made by light grey and white mosaic marbles tiles. The rates of this diamond suite is simply stunning a night in this diamond suite cost around 7400 pounds with is around 38687K MYR.
Restaurant and Bars
In Monte Carlo, the most famous restaurant bar is named Le Louis XV- Alain Declasse. Le Louis XV is especially dedicated to the taste of exquisite and fantasy. It is open around 25 years ago in the Monte Carlo. The unique setting of this restaurant is focusing mainly on elegant cuisine with excellent wine list and outstanding menus. According Alain Declasse(2014),to the chef of Le Louis XV that the philosophy of this restaurant is to fill this restaurant with reinterpreting that what is essential, the food they serve can be simple and easy to understand to every guests but it has it’s subtle of balance on the tradition,culture,modernity of the restaurant. There are three main menus in Le Louis XV, The seasonal club lunch which cost about 145 pounds approximately 785MYR, evening menu “Les Jardins de Provence” which is 230 pounds approximately 1.2k MYR,Menu “Pour les Gourmets which does not include drinks cost around 310 Pounds approximately to 1.6k MYR. There are mainly three types of cuisine served in Le Louis XV and that is Gastronomic cuisine. Gastronomic is a study of food it can also mean someone who unites the theories and practices on the study of gastronomic. Le Louis XV also serves the French Riviera cuisine. French Riviera cuisine means a nice view of beach amazing cultural amenities or with fabulous sight-seeing views that is the definition of French Riviera. All the food and cuisine is inspired by the French and Italian Riviera’s with has been nominated in the Michelin Guide with three stars. Michelin Guide is one of the series guide books that is published in France by the publisher named Michelin for more than 100 years for now. (According to Services Management [Including Skill Development]. (2014). 1st ed. [ebook] Mumbai, IND: Himalaya Publishing House. Available at: http://library.olympia.edu.my:2051/lib/olympia/docDetail.action?docID=10415572&p00=hotel+management [Accessed 14 Oct. 2014]) Le Louis XV is closed everyday but only open on Tuesday and Wednesday. If you want to enter this restaurant you would have to wear a jacket or a tie, it is strictly required for the guest; this is to ensure that the quality of guests is up to the restaurant’s standard.
Grills
Located at the 8th floor in the Hotel Le Paris, this grill is named by Le Grill. Le Grill is one of the best grills that offer a reinterpretation of the famous Mediterranean gourmet dishes .During the summer season, Le Grill has its grill side that will reveal the beautiful sky and it is one of the most beautiful views on the French Riviera. The type of cuisines that Le Grill offers is mainly focused on Mediterranean-style gourmet cuisine. The menu has a range of different types which the set lunch is around 75 pounds, and for the dinner or a-la-carte is around 130-150 pounds. Special functions and birthday parties can be held in the Le Grill’s Churchill lounge, cocktails and private parties can also can held there too. Outside of the Le Grill is the open-air terrace which has a good view of the sky or sunset when u visit it at the right hour. The lunch hour is normally from 12pm to 2pm and dinner starts from 8pm-11pm.
Banquet Rooms
Banquet room is purposely for the use of when you are going to hold a meeting or private birthday parties or even personal meetings. The banquet room in Hotel De Paris is named La Salle Empire and terrace, it is listed as a historical sites since the end of 19th century, it symbolize the history that is left during the 19th century back then. La Salle Empire is a magnificent place to hold banqueting services. Normally for banquet orders, there are two different types of menu one of them is in season and another one is summer menu.
Live Band
In a large hotel, there is normally live band performance maybe on the Saturday night or Sunday night according to the hotel secludes. The purpose of having live band is to entertain the guests when they have their free time or maybe they can be at the lobby to listen to the live band at night while drinking wine or chatting in the lounges. The live band in Hotel De Paris is named Le Bar American. Le Bar American is fully furnished by the low key ambiance of the beautiful wood. The chairs they used in the bar is all 100% leather armchairs, with all red light bulbs soft lighting, all the windows are facing to the sea view. This fabulous live band bar will play all Doctor’s Gab acoustic piano music to let the guests feel relax and homey. All the snacks will be served from 12 noon to 6.30 in the evening, following by a break; they will be back to business at 10pm at night to 1am in the midnight. Live jazz is the main theme in this beautiful bar.
Private Beach
In our country there might not be this facilities in any of the hotel in Malaysia, but in overseas, there are a few luxury hotel that offers private beaches in their hotel. Private beaches are an absolute delight for guests that like to enjoy the sunlight or like to swim. The setting in this awesome private beach is based on chic striped canvas beach cabins. All the cabins in this hotel are charged in the hotel accommodation and it ensure the entire guest to reach their max level of satisfactions and enjoyment. Guests can enjoy the sun while refined cuisine will be sent to your personal tent by the private beach. The organic pizzas and gourmet wood-oven pizzas is the must try food in the private beach side bar. On the beach, there are around 200 tents surrounding the beach, 120 beach cabins and almost 30 solariums available for rent, but the charges is not included in the accommodations fees.
Sports and Leisure –
Swimming Pool
The swimming pool of Le Hotel Paris has a 25 by 13 meters swimming pool filled with 29 Celsius seawater taken from its depth which is around 37 meters and 400 meters out. Only customers that are staying in Hotel De Paris Monte Carlo and the Hotel Hermitage Monte-Carlo can access to the Thermes Marins Monte-Carlo only. Swimming pool is normally open from 7am to 9pm.
Fitness
Nowadays people are very health conscious; fitness gym is one of the essential needs of running a hotel. This 5 star gym fitness is facing to the sea, it consists of thread mill, dumbbells, bike machine and so on. There are dozens of coaches everyday there to help guests with what is their routine and what should they do to keep fit. The personal coaches will give advice on weight training, swimming, water aerobics, pool biking, lipo training and so on. They also supervise guests on their heart rates for preventing them to over exercise themselves. There are also special traditional Tai chi classes in Hotel De Paris and also Five Element Tai Chi for the guests who want to experience the Chinese traditional Tai Chi.
Tennis and Squash
Tennis is also a requirement for a large hotel establishment because most of the business peoples like to talk about business while playing outdoor activities. In the Hotel De Paris, there are around 21 clay courts that are overlooking the sea of the Monte Carlo Beach. In this hotel, there are tournaments against club tennis schools and completions junior versus seniors and all soft of activities.
Golf Coast
Gold coast is a place of relaxation for the guests where they can enjoy the many services and the facilities founded in regular Golf Courses. Golf Courses provide many great servicing such as Golf Cart services, where they can enjoy the relaxing ride while enjoying the scenery at the Golf Course. Golf court provides services of golfing with the assistance of personnel to aid with the golfing experience.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Despite the accommodations of the hotel, the facilities in the hotel are the point attraction to attract people to put up a night in the hotel. According to Larkin, E. (2009). How to run a great hotel. 1st ed. Oxford: How To Books. This type of facilities will attract more guests and tourist to stay in the large hotel. With good facilities and services it will gain reputation for the hotel and to keep the guests and tourist to stay with pleasure and will visit us again next time during vacations or business trips. As a conclusion, the Relationship between customer satisfaction and hotel attributes is being focused on the service or facilities, the better the facilities and services the better impact of the preference of someone in choosing a hotel because based on Atkinson (1988); Barsky and Labagh (1992); Choi and Chu (2001) studies, it has been found that the most important attributes a customer seeks are staff service quality and friendliness.