Hospitality Studies

What you must be able to do

• Say what the hospitality industry is, name its six sectors and the services each provides
• Name the four types of food and beverage establishment and identify each from a service clue
• Compare establishments in your area on services and products
• Explain what a franchise is, in food and beverage and in accommodation, with its advantages and disadvantages
• Tell formal service accommodation from guest accommodation and name the types in each
• Name the positions in the rooms division, give each role and explain how they work together
• Describe the general manager and the assistant manager and how they relate

Core content · What Hospitality Studies is: the sectors and the services each provides

Hospitality means welcoming guests and looking after them while they are away from home. Hospitality Studies is the subject that teaches you how businesses feed, house and entertain guests, and how the people who work in them are organised. When you eat at a restaurant, sleep at a guest house or attend a wedding at a function venue, you are using the hospitality industry, and everyone who served you had a career in it.

CAPS asks you to know the sectors and the services each provides. CAPS itself names food and beverage and accommodation; the annual teaching plan (ATP) adds four more sector names, so learn all six.

A single business can belong to more than one sector. A large hotel sells beds (accommodation), meals in its restaurant (food and beverage), hosts conferences (function and events) and may have a gym (recreation). To classify a service, ask what is the guest actually buying? A bed for the night is accommodation; a meal is food and beverage; a seat at a show is entertainment.

Do not mix up entertainment and recreation. In entertainment the guest watches or listens (a show, a band, a film). In recreation the guest takes part (swimming, gym, golf). The ATP lists both, so a question may ask you to tell them apart.

Every sector is also a source of career opportunities. Accommodation needs receptionists, housekeepers and managers. Food and beverage needs chefs, waiters and bartenders. Function and events needs planners and caterers, while recreation needs fitness instructors and spa therapists. The skills overlap: good communication, neatness, teamwork and a friendly attitude matter in every sector, which is why a learner who can work in one sector can often move to another.

Notice also that the sectors depend on each other. A guest who travels for a conference needs a bed (accommodation), meals (food and beverage) and a hall for the sessions (function and events). The more sectors a business combines well, the more complete the stay it can offer.

Core content · Food and beverage establishments: distribution, careers and the four types

Food and beverage establishments are spread right across South Africa: in city centres, shopping malls, small towns, townships, villages, beaches, farm roads and petrol stations. They are not all the same, because South Africa's cultures are not all the same. Many cultural traditions shape what is sold: African dishes served at a township shisanyama, Indian curries and bunny chow, Cape Malay koesisters and bredies, Portuguese-style grilled chicken, and many more. This mix is the cultural diversity of our hospitality industry, and it is part of what makes South African food unique to visitors.

The industry is also an employer. Career opportunities in food and beverage include cook or chef, baker, waiter, barista, bartender, host or hostess, caterer and restaurant manager.

CAPS names four types of food and beverage establishment. Each one is identified by the service clue that gives it away.

The type also tells you how the guest is served. At a fine-dining restaurant and a family restaurant, waiters take the order at the table and bring the food. At a coffee shop the guest may order at the counter and be served at the table. At a fast-food outlet the guest orders and collects at the counter or the drive-through. Customers choose an establishment by what they need at that moment: time, budget, occasion and who they are with. That is why one town can support all four types side by side.

Core content · Food and beverage establishments in your area: comparing services and products

CAPS asks you to identify the establishments in your own area and compare their services and products. It also suggests this as a Term 1 project (CAPS p.20). The method is the same whether you are doing it for the project or for a test: first identify the type using the clue, then compare on the same headings so that your comparison is fair.

• Type: fine-dining, family restaurant, coffee shop or fast-food outlet.
• Services: table service or counter service, takeaway, delivery, drive-through, booking.
• Products: the range of the menu, the kind of food, the portion size and the price.
• Facilities: parking, toilets, a play area, free wifi, outside seating.
• Customers and staff: who the place is aimed at, and how formally the staff dress and speak.

Once the table is filled in, finish with a short conclusion: which place suits which customer and why. For example, Place A suits a family that wants to sit and talk for an hour, while Place B suits a worker with a short lunch break. A conclusion that ties the services and products to a customer earns more than a bare list of differences.

Here is a stimulus in the style you will be given: an extract that describes a place, followed by a question. Read it, find the clues and name the type.

Core content · Franchises in food and beverage and in accommodation

A franchise is a business model. The owner of a successful brand (the franchisor) sells other people (the franchisees) the right to run a business under its name, using its menu, recipes, uniforms and way of working, in return for fees. Many fast-food outlets are franchises, so a customer gets the same menu and standards wherever they are.

The rules of the arrangement are written in a franchise agreement. The franchisee usually pays a once-off fee to start, and then pays the franchisor regularly, often a share of what the outlet earns. In return the franchisee receives the brand, the training, the recipes and the marketing. The franchisor can only keep its name respected if every outlet follows the same standards, which is why the rules are strict.

Franchises are not only for food. Accommodation also has them: a hotel group can allow an owner to run a hotel under the group's name and standards, so that guests know what to expect before they arrive.

Tell the franchisor and the franchisee apart. The franchisor owns the brand and sells the right to use it. The franchisee buys that right and runs the outlet, and is the one who pays the fees. Write which of the two each statement describes.

Core content · Accommodation establishments: formal service, guest accommodation and careers

Accommodation establishments give guests a place to sleep away from home. CAPS groups them into two: formal service accommodation and guest accommodation. The difference is the level of service and the size of the business.

Formal service accommodation means the hotel and the lodge. They are larger businesses with a full staff, a reception desk, housekeeping, a restaurant and organised departments. A lodge is often in a nature or game-reserve setting and usually includes meals and activities in the price. Guest accommodation means the country house, the guest house and the B&B (bed and breakfast). These are smaller, often owner-run, with fewer rooms, a homely feel and a more personal welcome.

Guests choose between the two groups for different reasons. A business traveller who needs a gym, a restaurant and a meeting room will look at a hotel. A couple who want a quiet weekend in the country with a home-cooked breakfast may choose a country house or a B&B. The services, the staff and the price all follow from the group, so the clue that decides the group is the one to look for.

Careers in accommodation include receptionist, reservationist, room attendant, housekeeper, maintenance worker, concierge, chef, manager and owner of a guest house. The later headings show how the larger jobs fit together.

Core content · Rooms division: positions, roles, responsibilities and how they interrelate

In a hotel or lodge, the rooms division is the part of the business that looks after the guest's room and the guest's stay: the booking, the arrival, the clean room, the working equipment and the departure. It has three arms. The front office manager looks after reception and reservations, the maintenance manager looks after repairs, and the executive housekeeper looks after cleaning and laundry. All three report to the rooms division manager.

The positions only work if they interrelate, which means they depend on and pass information to each other. The reservationist tells the front desk who is arriving, and the front desk tells housekeeping which rooms are free to clean. Housekeeping tells the front desk when a room is ready, and reports any broken item to maintenance. Maintenance tells both when the repair is done and the room can be sold again.

Follow one guest through the stay to see the division at work. Before arrival the reservationist records the booking. On arrival the receptionist checks the guest in and gives the key. During the stay the communications and PBX operator handles the calls, the room attendants clean the room and the maintenance team fixes any fault. On departure the front desk checks the guest out and tells housekeeping the room is empty. The rooms division manager makes sure each step is smooth, because a failure at any step is felt by the guest.

Core content · Senior management positions: the general manager and the assistant manager

Above the departments in a hotel or lodge sit the two senior management positions. The general manager carries overall responsibility for the establishment: its profit, its standards, its staff and its guests. The general manager sets the direction and answers to the owner. The assistant manager helps the general manager and carries out the plans in day-to-day running.

How they interrelate: the general manager decides, the assistant manager makes it happen, and the heads of department (such as the rooms division manager) report upward through them. If the general manager is away, the assistant manager takes charge, so the two must always know what the other is doing.

This is the chain of command: instructions pass down from the general manager to the assistant manager to the heads of department, and reports pass back up the same line. A room attendant with a problem does not go straight to the general manager; the problem goes up through the executive housekeeper and the rooms division manager, and only reaches the senior managers if it is serious.