Fire Prevention

Fire Prevention and Fire Safety

Fires are one of the most dangerous and life threatening things that could happen within various types of establishments. Working on a nature reserve and in the hotel industry, i have definitely become more safety cautious and aware of all safety and fire hazards.


As part of my Hotel, Lodge and Resort Management course, i have to know the following:

• what types of fire hazards there are
• how to identify them
• how to prevent a hazard from causing a fire
  
• what procedures to follow in case of a fire
  

Hazards can be any of the following:

Loose wires/faulty wiring
Open gas bottles/stoves
Shortage
Mixing of the wrong flammable chemicals
Cigarettes which are not disposed of properly

It is a lot easier to prevent a fire from happening than fighting a out of control fire. Always be alert, report faulty equipment, get it fixed, remove any hazard or barrier that might prevent you from following correct procedures.


There are 3 components that are necessary for a fire to start, if one of the 3 is not present or is removed, the fire doesn't happen or it is extinguished, these components are:

1. fuel - something to burn
2. air - oxygen to keep the fire going
3. heat - gas, electricity

How to extinguish a fire:

1. starving - remove the fuel
2. smothering - remove the air
3. cooling - remove the heat

Procedure to follow when a fire occurs:

• Stay calm, assess the fire, where it is; what type of fire; how big
• Sound the alarm
• Inform the Manager on duty, who will then notify the fire brigade
• Assist guests and other staff members
• Close all windows and doors and turn of electrical equipment, as you evacuate
• Evacuate to assembly point

All staff members should be trained and educated on the different types of fire extinguishers and other fire fighting equipment, like a fire blanket and smoke detectors.

When extinguishing a fire, always aim at the source of the fire, the bottom, and kill it.

All establishments must have fire fighting equipment, located throughout the building, well marked with a sign saying what it is and where, so it is easy to find and use during a emergency.


Different types of fire extinguishers:

• Water(red) - Water is used for fire in ordinary combustible materials such as wood, paper ext.
• Foam(cream) - Puts out fires by forming a blanket of foam over the top of the fire and smothering it.Can be used for natural materials
• Carbon dioxide(black) - Used for fires of inflammable liquids and has the advantage that it does not conduct electricity
• Dry powder(blue) - Commonly used for fat fires. It does not conduct electricity
• Halon(green) - Known as BCF , bromochlorodifluoromethane. It does not conduct electricity. It is a gas, and creates a thick cloud and may irritate the users throat

Fires are extremely dangerous and hazards should not be overlooked. In the hospitality industry there are a lot of fire hazards, that is why staff should be properly trained, so that they know exactly what to do, how to do it and who to ask for help.

Simple example of oil catching fire in a kitchen

Reception operations and services

The lodging industry

Hotels can be classified in different ways : Commercial hotels, airport hotels, suite hotels, extended stay hotels ext. The reason for this, is that different hotels, cater for different types of guests, all with different types of needs. Commercial hotels are located in down town/business districts, and they mostly cater for business travellers. Resort hotels are planned destinations/vacation spots, located in mountains, islands ext. Away from residential areas.

The service we render, is not a physical thing, but rather a action or deed.It is intangible, you can't touch, taste or return a service. Guests can only take away the memories of their experience. That is why it should be powerful, clear and precise. All hotels/establishments have certain standards, and by keeping up these standards, quality becomes reality.

Hotel organization

A hotel is a very complex and unique structure, and takes a lot of people, teamwork and good management to be a success and exceed the expectations of it's guests.A hotel is made up of different departments, each with it's own responsibility. The operating departments are the revenue centres, they sell goods or services to guests, thus generating revenue for the hotel.
Support centres, also known as, cost centres, include housekeeping, accounting, engineering, maintenance and human resources. They generate direct revenue, but provide support for the hotels' revenue centres.

Front office operations

The guest cycle

Pre-arrival : Reservations
Arrival: Registration, uniformed service by desk agents
Occupancy: Occupancy service
Departure: Check-out and uniformed service


Reservations

Reservations is the first step of communication between the guest and a staff member of your establishment, and is absolutely vital, because it's the first impression the guest has of your company standards and that is when the expectation is set.

Their are different types of reservations: Guaranteed, prepayment, credit card, advance deposit, travel agent, voucher, corporate, non-guaranteed.
To make a reservation you need the following information : guests' name, address, telephone number, company name, date of arrival/departure, type and number of rooms requested, method of payment and any special requests.

There are a lot of reports that can be generated from reservation data, like: reservation transactions report, commission agent report, turn away report and revenue forecast report. Other useful documents are, arrival lists, departure lists, in-house lists and reservations history.


Registration

Steps of the registration process:

Pre-registration, creating the registration record, assigning the room and rate, establishing method of payment, issuing room key, fulfilling special requests.

Pre-registration activities help accelerate the process, guests can only verify/double check if information is correct and sign.

Computerized systems makes the whole process a lot faster and more effective. Settling accounts on check-out is fast and the system automatically updates the system and room status report. Communication between front office and housekeeping is also more effective.

Front office responsibilities

Working in the front office department/front desk, you have a lot of responsibilities and tasks that needs to be done, to ensure customer satisfaction and to make sure by following the correct procedures, all allocated tasks are dealt with, such as:

• Delivery of mail, messages and faxes
• handling guests' accounts and folios
• observe all persons entering and exiting hotel
• dealing with complaints and compliments
• dealing with guests inquiries
• ensure guest and staff safety
• making bookings for activities
• allocating rooms and issuing room keys
  

Glossary - Reception

Working in all the different departments of the hotel industry, you learn and use a lot of different and helpful terminology, to speed up the work process and keep up the standard and professionalism of your company. These are some of the terms we use in the front office department:

Account - A form in which financial data are accumulated and summarized.
Account aging - A method for tracking past due accounts according to the date the charges originated.
Account receivable - An amount owed to the hotel.
Account receivable ledger - A grouping of accounts receivable, including the guest ledger and the city ledger.
Adjoining - Rooms with a common wall but no connecting door.
Adjacent rooms - Rooms close to each other, such as across the hall.
American plan - A billing arrangement under which room charges include the guestroom and three meals.
Auditing - The process of verifying front office accounting records as to accuracy and completeness.
Back of house - The functional areas of a hotel in which personnel have little or no direct guest contact, such as the engineering, accounting and human resources.
Block- An agreed-upon number of rooms set aside for members of a group planning to stay at the hotel.
Cash voucher - A voucher used to support a cash payment at the front desk.
Central reservation system - A network for communicating reservations in which each participating property is resented in a computer system database and is required to provide room availability data to the central reservations center on a timely basis.
City ledger - The collection of all non-guest accounts, including house accounts and unsettled departed guests accounts.
Commercial hotel - A property, usually located in a downtown or business district, that caters primarily to business clients.Also called a transient hotel.
Confirmation letter - A letter sent to the guest to verify that the reservation has been made and that it's specifications are accurate.
Control folio - An accounting document used internally by a front office computer to support all account postings by department during a system update routine.
Direct billing - A credit arrangement, normally established through correspondence between a guest or a company and the hotel, in which the hotel agrees to bill the guest or the company for charges incurred.
Electronic locking system - A locking system that replaces traditional mechanical locks with sophisticated computer based guestroom access devices.
Emergency key - A key that opens all guestroom doors, even when they are double locked.
End of day - An arbitrary stopping point for business day, eststablished so that the audit can be considered complete through that time.
European plan - A billing arrangement under which meals are paid separately from rooms.
Forecasting - The process of predicting future events and trends in business. Typical forecast developed for the rooms division include room availability and occupancy forecast.
Front office accounting formula - Previous balance + debits - credits = net outstanding balance.
Guaranteed reservation - A reservation that assures the guest that a room will be held until check-out time of the day following the day of arrival.The guest guarantees payment of the room, even if the room is not used, unless the reservation is canceled properly.
Housekeeping status report - A report prepared by housekeeping department that indicates the current housekeeping status of each room, based on a physical check.
Key rack - An array of numbered compartments used to store guestroom keys.
Night audit - A daily comparison of guest accounts with revenue center transaction information.
Pre-registration - A process by which sections of a registration card or it's equivalent are completed for guests arriving with reservations.
T-account - A two column account-recording format in which debits are posted to the left side and credits to the right side.
Traveler's check - A prepaid check sold by banks and other financial institutions which is considered equivalent to cash.
Upselling - A sales technique whereby a guest is offered a more expensive room then what he or she reserved, and then persuaded to rent the room based on the room's features, benefits, and his or her needs.

Case study - Fawlty towers

It is difficult to see what your establishment does right and wrong, if you can't compare it to anything. We watched a television sitcom, Fawlty Towers, which definitely opened my eyes. It's about a husband and wife who owns and manages a small hotel. The problem is that, Basil, the husband does not have the correct people skills, including, communication skills, conflict management and time management, to deliver a good customer service.

He is ill tempered and rude to guests, except the ones he thinks are important, he makes a lot of assumptions, and because of that, a lot of mistakes. The communication between him and his wife and the rest of the staff is terrible, and they don't understand each other. Nothing gets planned, and a plan b does not exist. He thinks he can do everything on his own, and doesn't allocate tasks.

The security procedures are not in place and in practice, the room keys are accessible to anyone, and guest valuables are not handled safely, but rather left on the reception counter. The fire drill does not work, staff is untrained and incapable.

There are a lot of things that can be improved, that has to be improved, for a hotel establishment to run smoothly and to deliver a good customer service.

Key control and company procedures

Within a big company or establishment like Sondela, with a lot of different departments, staff areas, guest areas, chalets, money, paper work and equipment, it is very important to have a good key system in place and in practice, and a procedure of the handeling of these keys.

It is very important that the correct autherized personal handle certain keys, to avoid theft, confussion, missing stock, unhappy guests and the loss of effective time management. Each department has a procedure of what and how they handle their keys, but it should always be signed in and out at the security offices.



Chalet/room keys should be well controlled between guests and reception. The guest must pay a deposit before he can receive the key, and bring the key back before we can give back his deposit. If maintenance needs a key for repair work, they have to sign it out at reception and sign it back in when returning the key. This way we always know where to find a missing key. If a key does get lost, immediately radio the main gate and housekeeping, if they do not have the key, you have to phone the guest, because he might have left with the key by mistake. If the key is not found, the locks of the door in question must be changed for safety and security reasons.

Storage areas

All storage rooms and offices are off limits to guests and unautherized staff members. These areas contain valuable and harmfull items/products/chemicals/equipment, which should only be used by autherized staff members who are trained to handle these kinds of material. That is why it is important to have a key system and control who handles the keys and where they are kept.
A guests' safety is very important to us and it is our responsibility to make them feel safe and at home, and avoid all hazards and possible disapointment and injuries.

Our visit at Pietersburg Highschool

There are a lot of things to think about when planning a marketing visit like this. The day before we had to make sure that we have everything we need, from pamplets, capture forms, banners, camera, pens, to, lap tops, projecters, petty cash and a suitable vehicle.Once you have made a list, collected all your equipment and double checked it, you are ready. Set a time of departure, and stick to it.

It was a long drive but at least there was coffee and scones when we got there. First we set up our tables and slideshow, before the students started walking through all the different dispalys of careers. During the day 7 schools visited us, we had a lot of interest and definitely got our message across.Overall the day was a huge success and a lot of fun.

Fikkie Meyer comes to visit

As everyone knows marketing is one of the most important tools we use to advertise and show off with our resort and Academy.We have been to a few schools, all over, doing cooking demos, giving slideshow presentations, and telling them all about the courses we offer.