Hotel Front Office Management, 3rd Edition

30 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO HOTEL MANAGEMENT13. Compare your career plans with the concepts presented in this chapter. Do you feelthe steps presented here will be useful to you in your first job? In subsequent jobs?14. Go to a current hospitality-related Web site such as www.hotel-online.com and researcha trend in the hotel industry such as real estate investment trusts (REITs),extended-stay hotels, or RevPAR. How does that concept affect your future careerplans?15. Go to the Web site of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (www.ahla.com)and determine how this professional trade association (formerly known as the AmericanHotel & Motel Association) will be helpful to you in your future career.CASE STUDY 101Professor Catherine Vicente has allotted time in theHRI-201 Introduction to Front Office Managementcourse for a field trip this semester. After the first fewlectures, she wants to take her class to the hotel establishmentsin the vicinity of City College. The areais well known for its tourist attractions and is theheadquarters of several major U.S. businesses. Sheappoints a group of students to assist her in settingup tours.One of the students, Maria, is a resident of thearea and suggests they visit the grand old St. ThomasHotel in the downtown area. She would also like tosee a hotel located at the Wide World Airport. Ryan,another student, has worked at a limited-serviceproperty in his hometown. He understands there isanother hotel in that chain located on the outskirtsof the city. David, who is applying for a job at a localhotel, wants to get information on all-suites hotels.Linda has heard there is a new extended-stay hotelin town and wants to know what makes that type ofhotel different from a limited-service hotel.The group has sifted through all the requests anddecided to form five teams to visit these places. Eachteam will appoint one spokesperson for a panel discussion.The spokesperson will present a five-minutesummary of what was learned from the visit.What items do you think each spokesperson willinclude in his or her summary?CASE STUDY 102A recent survey in a suburban community has revealedthat there will be an influx of new citizens intothe area. Several computer industries will be relocatingto this area, and they are expected to employ25,000 persons at all levels of the organizations.Also, one of these computer companies will locate itscorporate headquarters here, with an additional 500executives arriving soon.The local hotel association has contacted ProfessorCatherine Vicente of the HRI program at CityCollege to assist them in determining the impactthese new residents of the area will have on their hotelswith regard to occupancy and use of facilities.If you were Professor Vicente, what actions wouldyou undertake? Justify your responses with regard tohotel operations and development. If you lived in thiscommunity, how would these developments affectyour career in the hotel industry?TLFeBOOK