Winter Park Hotel
Winter Park Hotel
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
Introduction
Donna Shader, manager of Winter Park Hotel, is considering how to restructure the front desk to reach an optimum level of staff efficiency and guest service. At present, the hotel has five clerks on duty, each with a separate waiting line, during the peak check-in time of 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Observations of arrivals during this time showed that an average of 90 guest arrived each hour (although there is no upward limit on the number that could arrive at any given time). It takes an average of 3 minutes for the front-desk clerk to register each guest.
Donna is considering three plans for improving guest service by reducing the length of time each guest spends waiting in line. The first proposal would designate one employee as a quick service clerk for guest registry under corporate accounts, a market segment that fills about 30% of all occupied rooms. Because corporate guest preregistered, the registration takes just 2 minutes. With these guest separated from the rest of the clientele, the average time for registering a typical guest would climb to 3.4 minutes. Under plan one, noncorporate guest which use any of the remaining four lines.
The second plan is to implement a single-line system. All guest could form a single waiting line to be served by whichever of the five clerks becomes available. This option would require sufficient lobby space for what could be a substantial queue.
The third proposal involves using an automatic telomere teller machine (ATM) for check-ins. This ATM would provide approximately the same service rate as a clerk would. Given that initial use of the technology might be minimal, Shader estimates estimated that 20% of customers, primarily frequent guest, would be willing to use the machines. (This might be a conservative estimate if the guest receive direct benefit from using the ATM, as bank customers do. Citibank reports that 95% of its Manhattan customers use
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
Introduction
Donna Shader, manager of Winter Park Hotel, is considering how to restructure the front desk to reach an optimum level of staff efficiency and guest service. At present, the hotel has five clerks on duty, each with a separate waiting line, during the peak check-in time of 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Observations of arrivals during this time showed that an average of 90 guest arrived each hour (although there is no upward limit on the number that could arrive at any given time). It takes an average of 3 minutes for the front-desk clerk to register each guest.
Donna is considering three plans for improving guest service by reducing the length of time each guest spends waiting in line. The first proposal would designate one employee as a quick service clerk for guest registry under corporate accounts, a market segment that fills about 30% of all occupied rooms. Because corporate guest preregistered, the registration takes just 2 minutes. With these guest separated from the rest of the clientele, the average time for registering a typical guest would climb to 3.4 minutes. Under plan one, noncorporate guest which use any of the remaining four lines.
The second plan is to implement a single-line system. All guest could form a single waiting line to be served by whichever of the five clerks becomes available. This option would require sufficient lobby space for what could be a substantial queue.
The third proposal involves using an automatic telomere teller machine (ATM) for check-ins. This ATM would provide approximately the same service rate as a clerk would. Given that initial use of the technology might be minimal, Shader estimates estimated that 20% of customers, primarily frequent guest, would be willing to use the machines. (This might be a conservative estimate if the guest receive direct benefit from using the ATM, as bank customers do. Citibank reports that 95% of its Manhattan customers use
References: Hanna, M.E., Rneder, B., Stair, R. M., (2012). Quantitative Analysis for Management (11th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. N.A. (N. D.). Winter Park Hotel. In Hanna, M. E., Render, B., Stair, R. M., Quantitative Analysis for Management (11th Ed., p. 531). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.