Lodging Facilities and Management: Lodging

Lodging Facilities and Management:

Lodging facilities are basically rental rooms that provide people with a temporary place where they can stay or live. These facilities differ due to the various features which they may contain including restaurants, bars and other features. Basically, lodging facilities have various classifications that can change based on the legal criteria, function, location and market forces. It's important to note that the classification of hotels is not dependent on a rigid criterion due to the previously mentioned factors. However, hotels and motels are the major lodging facilities and are considered as either limited or full-service properties. The various types of lodging facilities usually fall under these two main classifications i.e. limited or full-service properties.

The limited-service properties are self-supporting facilities which do not contain on-site restaurants or other services that can only be provided by a staff apart from front desk or housekeeping. These kinds of lodging facilities always provide continental breakfasts, Internet services, swimming pools, small-packaged items, game rooms and vending machines. Limited-service facilities often appeal to budget-conscious family vacationers and travelers who are willing to sacrifice certain amenities in order to pay lower room prices ("Career Guide," 2009).

On the other hand, full-service lodging facilities provide a broad range of services to their guests though they always incorporate at least a single restaurant and beverage service option apart from self-service. These restaurant or beverage options include coffee bars, cocktail lounges, formal restaurants and lunch counters. While they always offer room service, some of them contain a range of retail shops within the facilities including newsstands, cosmetic counters and gift boutiques. Unlike the limited-service lodging facilities, the full-service properties are costly to develop and maintain. As mentioned earlier, there are different types of lodging facilities including & #8230;

Resorts:

Resorts are places used for recreation or relaxation since they provide luxurious surroundings with several recreational facilities like swimming pools, game rooms, entertainment activities, tennis courts, planned social activities and golf courses. Basically, these facilities are situated in vacation destinations or close to natural surroundings like theme parks, mountains, seashores or other attractions. In most cases, resorts are managed by one company which tries to provide for all of vacationers' wants during their stay in the facility. These various vacationers' wants usually include food, drink, shopping, lodging, entertainment and sports. Apart from these facilities, some resorts offer extra convention and conference amenities in order to motivate customers to mix business with pleasure.

Resorts are also classified into resort towns and destination resorts with resort towns being towns where vacationing and tourism are the main part of the local activity. One of the most famous examples of resort towns is the Walt Disney World Resort with most of resort towns being in the Caribbean and Central America. On the other hand, destination resorts are resorts that provide food, drink, shopping, lodging, entertainment and sports within the premises so that customers don't leave the facility once they arrive. As compared to facilities offered when one is to stay at a hotel or eat in a restaurant, destination resorts are of higher quality (Stone, n.d.).

The main managerial roles in resorts are Front-of-House management and the Heart-of-House Management with the latter including areas that support the former. The managerial roles deal with the accounting, procurement, physical plant, energy and grounds functions of the resort. Therefore, the Heart-of-House Management is not seen by the resort's guests though it's aimed at ensuring that they are provided with high levels of satisfaction.

All-Suites:

All-Suite hotels are ideas that were developed in the 1980s as a distinct marketing concept and provide a living or sitting room and a bedroom. These kinds of lodging facilities provides guests with a broad range of service that include kitchenette, living room, room service, reservations, separate bedroom and an optional public dining room. Additional services offered by all-suite lodging facilities include personal service, swimming pool, cable television, specialty shops, ground transportation as well as valet and laundry. Most of these lodging facilities are situated in airport locations, suburban and center-city with a size of operation that ranges from 50 to 100 units. It's important to note that length of guest stay in an all-suite hotel range from overnight, several days and long-term stays ("Types of Lodging Facilities," 2011). Some of the major examples of all-suite hotels across the globe include InterContinental's candlewood Suites and Hilton's Embassy Suites.