RECEPTION ACTIVITIES AT JAPANSES AZUMAYA HOTEL HA NOI 2

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS  - MID-TERM INTERNSHIP REPORT RECEPTION ACTIVITIES AT JAPANSES AZUMAYA HOTEL HA NOI Name Trieu Duc Duy Class A29 High Quality – Term 50 Instructor Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Quyen Hanoi, August, 2014 Contents Preface Hotel sector plays an important role in social and economic life It not only meet the needs of people staying but it is also indispensable for the development of tourism in a particular region and throughout the country as a whole Hotel industry is a key economic sector not only the reason that it accelerates introduction of our country image to the world but also because of its ability to obtain foreign currencies for the country Due to the fact that the hotel could "perform" spot exports Indeed, when foreign guests come to stay at the hotel, they have to pay for services and goods that they use by foreign currency The goods and services sold to guests by the hotel primarily are domestic goods If you want to get foreign currency through export to international markets, goods and services must comply with international general price, must have the necessary expenses: Selection, testing, packaging, packing, storage and transportation Selling goods and services at the hotel will greatly reduce costly, those goods and services are not narrowed only at the hotel, but in the neighborhood around the hotel other things are also be sold to foreigners In a word, foreigners staying at hotel become a potential object for selling goods and services, bring back foreign currencies and social benefits Hotel and Tourism sectors become nowadays the core business drivers in Service Industry globally Getting to know and learning the career in hotel and tourism fields are bounded and serviced by the academic experts who have delivered at close hand all necessary educational tools, well-prepared guidance and ample business case studies But yet, real time and practical experience apart from the classroom theoretical studies are considered as grounds for student the deeper understanding and greater mean in People Business At FTU Ha Noi, these is no subject about Tourism and Hospitality, so I never have a chance to discover this sector, many question relating to the activities and management conducted at a hotel still remains unanswered to me I have been always seeking for chances to my internship at a hotel to get a more understanding of that sector, I hope that experiences and lessons obtained will be added as a new subject in various subjects I have been taught at the university, completing my overview about all sector of the country economy To back up this purpose, I choose to work on reception division during the time I my internship in Azumaya Ha Noi This is not a big hotel, but it has many specialities deserving study Unlike other hotel, Azumaya hotel chains brought new concept about hotel in Vietnam, coming from Japan, Japanese style Business hotel Business hotels are the ideal option for the traveller who doesn't wish to spend the majority of their budget on expensive tourist hotels In conclusion, I wish that this report will provide you with valuable information and I would welcome all comments in order to improve my knowledge, viewpoint as well as writing I Introduction to Azumaya hotel About Azumaya hotels After a period of market research in Vietnam, Mr Han Donghee (General Director of Azumaya hotel chains) understand the needs, challenges and advantages of Japanese people who are living and working in Vietnam So, he has strongly developed chainstyle hotel Azumaya Japan, including reception staff speak Japanese fluently, breakfast served Japanese dishes, Japanese restaurant, Japanese TV, especially foot massage and have outdoor hot tub Located in the “Japanese town” of Ho Chi Minh, the first Azumaya hotel set its presence in Vietnam in 2011 Its main objective is to create the second home for Japanese people who travel or business overseas in Vietnam With professional working manner, the hotel hopes to bring customers happy and comfortable times like their own houses Azumaya Ho Chi Minh: AZUMAYA HCM 8A/8D1 - 9D1 Thai Van Lung St., Dist 1, HCMC AZUMAYA HCM ANNEX 8A/8D2 Thai Van Lung St., Dist 1, HCMC AZUMAYA HCM 15/3 Le Thanh Ton St., Dist 1, HCMC In 2012, Azumaya hotel expanded its branches in Ha Noi to reach more customers AZUMAYA Ha Noi 16 Bui Thi Xuan St., Hai Ba Trung Dist., Ha Noi AZUMAYA Ha Noi 62 Pham Huy Thong St., Ba Dinh Dist., Ha Noi In 2014, Azumaya hotel expanded its branches in Da Nang to reach more customers AZUMAYA Da Nang 31 Nguyen Tat Thanh, Hai Châu Dist, Da Nang Azumaya Hanoi was established in 11/2013, next to Ngoc Khanh lake, located in the “Japanese town” of Ha Noi, the hub of many Japansed restaurants, apartments and offices It’s services is in line with the whole Azumaya hotel chain, mainly focus on the Japanese businessmen sector Azumaya Ha Noi facilities Due to the inevitable demands of business hospitality services in the current market and specialization at Japanese customer orientation, Azumaya Ha Noi facilities are relatively complete building with total number of bedrooms is 30 rooms,1 Japanese Open-air Bath-tub, restaurant , director room and staff room With a full range of equipment and facilities quality of work and service to meet the needs of Japanese customers Room types Azumaya hotel is star hotel with 30 rooms, divided into categories of rooms to fit into different needs of customers N o Room type STANDARD/ 1F FRONT STANDARD/ SMALL WINDOW DELUXE/ SMALL WINDOW Pric e Photo Descriptio n 45$ - 15 m2 - 1st floor - Small windo - No bathtub 48$ - 15 m2 - Small window - Included bathtub 52$ - 18.5 m2 - Small window - Included bathtub DELUXE LAKE SIDE M LAKE SIDE L 58$ - 18.5 m2 - Big window - Included bathtub 60$ - 18.5 m2 - Lakeside - Included bathtub 65$ - 20 m2 - Lakeside - Included bathtub 8 ANNEX M/ NO WINDOW ANNEX L/ LAKE SIDE 38$ - 13 m2 - No bathtub - No window - No elevator (~4F) 50$ - 22 m2 - Lakeview - Included bathtub - No elevator (~4F) The charge is typically between 38$ and 65$ per night for a single Although rooms are relatively small, they are usually clean and well kept, with an attached bathroom Basic amenities such as soap, shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste, razors, cotton buds, shower caps and towels are normally provided Most rooms also come with a television, an air conditioner, a telephone, a hairdryer, a refrigerator and a water boiler with complimentary green tea bags Internet access is available in the rooms via a Hi-speed Wifi & LAN cable Television with Japanese TV channels (NHK Premium, Asahi, Fuji, TBS, Nihon, Tokyo) Organizational structure General General Director Director Branch Branch Manager Manager Supervision, Supervision, Accounting Accounting Reception Reception Ha Ha Noi Noi area area Manger Manger Azuman Azuman Housekeeper Housekeeper Restaurant Restaurant General Director: administrate the whole Azumaya hotel chains, establishing customer policies, company strategic move and investment He also play a role as Ho Chi Minh area manager, managing the activities of Azumaya hotels in that area Ha Noi area Manager: Manage the activities of Azumaya hotels in Ha Noi area, taking part in meeting of hotels as an agent of General Director Having the responsibility of hiring employees (including the recruitment and selection of personnel in and out), as well as programs training, orientation, employee relations, wages, and labor relations human resource development Branch Manager: is responsible for handling the daily operations of the Azumaya Kim Ma daily activities hotel, handle emergencies and is responsible for the safety and welfare issues entire staff of the hotel and the guests Supervision, Accounting: Supervising working employees, purchasing and storage of beverages used for in-room minibar, working instrument of housekeeper division Accounting: Control cost of hotel operations, revenue, investigate the spending bill and customer purchases 10 Housekeeper: responsible for daily or periodically cleaning all rooms Therefore, the division is responsible for cleaning cloth type furniture (bed sheets, pillows, blankets, mattresses, curtains), cleaning furniture in room, carpet cleaning, room decoration or according to customer requirements, prepare bed, blankets and provide additional services add to guests In addition, the chamber parts are cleaned in the public sector communities such as corridors, halls In all its work, the purpose of the division is always maintain all things in clean, clear and neat state - this reflected in customer satisfaction Restaurant: Responsible for preparing breakfast for all guests, not only for hotel staying guests but also outside Japanese people who desire to enjoy traditional Japanese dishes Reception: The reception is the first and the last part which contact with customers, is considered to be the face of the hotel represents hotel offers welcome, learn to satisfy all needs of staying visitors and will see them off when leaving activities in the front plays an important role in creating a first impression of the hotel Through the reception that guests can evaluate the quality of the hotel is good or not Also through the hotel's front desk operations, managers will able to get a better insight in to guest needs and wants and will devise a successful business strategy Azuman: The division is called under the name Azumaya, which can be literally translated as “The men of Azumaya” They are not just employees who in charge of helping guest to deliver their luggage to the room or opening gate to welcome incoming guests They also have responsible for providing the technical conditions necessary for normal functioning hotel and ensure the quality of hotel services such as power equipment, water supply and drainage electronic, mechanical, facilities and utensils, household utensils of the entire hotel With such a compact structure, the strong cooperation and versatility of divisions, Azumaya Kim Ma ensure its good operation and enough staff to handle every task of a well running hotel 11 12 II Reception Division Overview Being Japanese-style, mainly focuses on guests as businessmen with basic accommodation needs, at Azumaya hotel reception division workload is not much, therefore, the number of receptionists are only 4, each receptionist has to be able to undertake variable tasks in a work shift Typically, each work shift needs one or two Azuman (security guards and bell boy) responsible for helping guest with luggage and opening door The reception staff undertake all work including reception, receiving hotel booking , cashiers and other jobs The organizational structure of the reception at the hotel is very simply and easy to understand; one experienced, skillful receptionist act as division leader and three other receptionists Reception division leader hold responsibility of grasping the general situation, directly address any issues arising in shift work and daily report to managers of the hotel, she also is in charge of establishment of monthly division meeting with presence of managers Among receptionists, there are full time and part time employee, “part-time” in this context does not mean that working hour is hours, part-time receptionist also works hours but only half of the month (1/2 numbers of shift as full time receptionist) Working schedule is sorted in the last of each month in accordance with individual arrangement, each receptionist has 4-5 day off (equal to the numbers of Sunday in that month) in any day of the month as long as there is enough staff ( 2-3 receptionists) to handle tasks in shifts 13 Reception Tasks Reception division operate 24/24 hour and is divided into three work shifts, content of tasks in each work shifts is as the following: A shift (6:00-14:30) Read through the Shifts notebook from last working shift to this shift to have an insight of what happened, the solved or pending work, problems Hand over reception money, money for exchange (2 receptionist calculate and confirm about the exact amount of money handed over ) Get information about the number of check out, check in and staying guests, other information related to airport pick up service, morning call Examine and recalculate hotel invoice of guest checking out in that day, check laundry, minibar charge Checking guest information to write red invoice or availability of demanded previously red invoice for tomorrow check out guest Checking again C shift’s report about today room availabilities Checking exchange rate of Yen, Dollar, VND on Vietcombank’s website, set up only one exchange rate of those currencies that will be used throughout the day normally 200VND=1Yen, 20000VND=1$ Clean up the reception counter Checking mail from his or her last working shift (2 shifts before) , grasp fully information, responses between hotel and guest’s side In case of having guests that have to change their room tomorrow, create notification form to put in the guest’s room 14 Receive booking procedure: - Receive guest booking demand by phone, email or walking-in guest Confirm check in, check out date, check room availability on the Reservation Notify guest room available to his/her demand Suggest other options if demanded room type is not available After guest’s acceptance, create Booking confirmation and send to guest for - final confirmation Print out Booking confirmation and put in Daily booking confirmation file Send contract or red invoice to companies Calculate and report daily revenue, expenses, profit for managers in the Office Do check out procedure: - Notify the housekeeper or Azuman the room number to check the consumed - beverage in minibar, forgot-to-bring belongings Ask the guest to survey form assessing customer satisfaction for hotel - services Confirmed the accommodation fee again Process the guest payment by card, cash In case of transfer by company, the - guest just have to sign in his name Say goodbye to guest and express our wish to have his visit again Hand-over information of done work, resolved problems in my shift, instruct way to solve pending problems or work Clean up the reception counter before leaving B Shift (14:00 – 22:30) Read through the Shifts notebook from my last working shift to this shift to have an insight of what happened, the solved or pending work, problems Handover reception money, money for exchange Clean up the reception counter 15 Checking mail from his or her last working shift (2 shifts before) , grasp fully information, responses between hotel and guest’s side Checking information in check-in forms prepared by C shift for today coming guests Usually need to check information are guest demand on airport pick up, drop-off services, smoking or non-smoking room, red invoice when checking out, free laundry, discount on accommodation fee Receive booking according to A shift’s procedure Do check-in procedure: - Welcome coming guest Borrow guest passport to copy, Confirm about check-in, check out date, room type, room rate, other - requirements Handover the room key to the guest, introduce basic information about Azumaya hotel like service, location of rotenburo (a large outside bathtub), - restaurant Issuing hotel invoice, note guest information in Revenue notebook for - accounting Save guest information in staying report system (PA18) for the authority’s management Booking taxi, onigiri (boxed lunch), morning call if received demand from guests Hand-over information of done work, resolved problems in my shift, instruct way to solve pending problems or work Clean up the reception counter before leaving 16 C Shift (22:00 – 6:30) Read through the Shifts notebook from my last working shift to this shift to have an insight of what happened, the solved or pending work, problems Handover reception money, money for exchange Clean up the reception counter Do check-in procedure for late check-in guests Booking taxi, onigiri (boxed lunch), morning call if received demand from guests Check all mail coming in day, be sure that all mails answered, all information in mails were noted exactly Put minibar, laundry invoice of staying room into its file Calculate accommodation fee, minibar, laundry fee of tomorrow check out room, note on file of each room Create report on tomorrow room availability Dealing with special case of night shift: for example, the guest have girl coming in his room If there are available rooms, suggesting the guest to take one more room with 50% discount for his girl to stay If not, charge 12$ for one more person and ask him to sign in form ensure that he will take all responsibilities for his security and safety because let a strange girl come in room Take a nap from 1.00 am to am Write daily report to tell all problems happed, complains received within Shifts of one day Hand-over information of done work, resolved problems in my shift, instruct way to solve pending problems or work Clean up the reception counter before leaving 17 Skill accumulation at receptionist position 3.1 Working at office skills 3.1.1 Using computer, printer, scanner: Nowadays, the apparent dominance of variable electric instrument in an office, focus on helping people to accomplish their task quickly and accurately is undeniable Without basic knowledge to operate these smart and handy machines, person might become unproductive and lag behind other colleagues At Azumaya hotel, reception division is furnished with modern machine like computer, printer, scanner, multitask telephone, radio transceiver .These are many skills relating to operation of them, for example, with printer, we should learn to print in sides of a page, print in large numbers of copy, copy document… Multitask telephone is a special phone used in communication within divisions of company with functions like transfer call to other phone, save phone number called in, called out…Radio transceiver is relatively similar to a mobile phone, but it is used among hotel staff and have mutual secret frequency to establish connection between transceivers Reception, house keeper, Azuman are main users of this device 3.1.2 Classify documents Work at reception position, a receptionist usually have to handle many kinds of document, each of them need proper classification, either on computer or in real files In computer, every receptionist has a folder bearing his/her own name to save booking confirmation of guest she/he booked before sorted in children folder of months That will be handy for receptionist to find out guest information, booking she/he in charge of and protect other people’s files intact Other documents are saved in public, noticeable folder for mutual usage Other paper documents are put in plastic files or noted in big notebook for examination Every guest has a file, containing signed booking confirmation, hotel invoice, a copy of passport, minibar, laundry invoice, these files are sorted in a 18 particular area, because of its importance related to calculation of accommodation fee and only be taken out when guest check out 3.1.3 Writing report, explanation: Report: At the end of shift C, receptionist has to write a report by email to Supervisor, HN area Manager, Branch Manager and cc to General Director The content is yesterday technical problems, complain and feedback from guests…To ensure all managers understand hotel situation thoroughly even when they are not here, reports are required to be in form, supply proper answers for a set of questions: What happened, Who did this, Why did this happen, How serious the problem was, Who will be in charge for fixing this problem It was not just a report, all relating member will follow problem and exchange ideas until it is fixed completely Explanation: Because report is wrote at the end of Shift C, it can not deliver unexpected problem immediately, when an serious, unexpected problems occur, receptionist will ask to have Branch manager’s direct to solve quickly After that, she/he will write a explanation to All managers to report the problem 3.1.4 Using office software: Receptionists are required to use Microsoft Word and Excel, PDF reader program fluently and able to type by 10 fingers These are some particular software, designed only for hotel management Firstly, the Reservation, this is an online application, receptionist, managers has username and password to access it It’s functions are arrange rooms, search for guest, save guest particular preferences or demand when staying at hotel previously Mastery of this application defines receptionist’s success in guest management and booking, because relating to it, there are many skills deserve well learning and training Another program is PA18, registration system for guest staying at the hotel, this software is provided by local authority to control and manage information of foreigners resided at the Ngoc Khanh Ward Registration of information require carefulness from receptionists , because according to law of residence, with an unregistered guest, the hotel could get a fine up to three hundred million VND 19 3.2 Communication Skill 3.2.1 Communicate through Japanese, English: As a Japanese hotel, our guests mainly come from Japan therefore, the first requirement for being receptionist is able to understand, speak Japanese New receptionist will be given a short list of 12 most frequent Japanese sentences, which are used to greet, say sorry, say thank .to the guest Receptionists are encouraged to communicate with guests all time they could, because according to the Japanese General Director, that will create the ease and lessen the stress for guests when have to travel to unfamiliar country to work or business Besides that, these source from another countries like Korea, China, Thailand…even Vietnamese people, English is definitely necessary 3.2.2 Situation Management: Everyday, each receptionist has to deal with many unexpected situation, for instance booked guest come to the hotel and there is no booking exist on the Reservation system, guest become angry with some problems rising in his room, give key of different room to guest Situations like those challenge receptionist ability to handle it well based on individual instinct and working experience, she/he should be able to give apology in the most pleasant way and negotiate and devise an acceptable method to solve the problem with guest In unmanageable cases, receptionist will consult Managers who have higher authority to apply discount on room rate or directly talk to the guest to satisfy his demand or complain 3.2.3 Negotiation: In booking procedure, it is not always that there is available room as guests demand If these is no room at the price he want, receptionist can suggest a little higher price room, in most case, the guest will accept Even in the situation that the hotel can only provide much more luxury room at apparently higher price, receptionist can consult to 20 manager to apply discount 5%, 10% on room rate if the guest is a frequenter Receptionist also can introduce him to Azumaya 1, another branch at Ha Noi, in a word, receptionist will any negotiation allowed to get customer’s acceptance to stay, “Do our best to let our customer choose” is one of motto for Azumaya receptionist 3.2.4 Communication by phone: Receptionist usually has to contact customers through phone, play a very important role in introducing hotel, negotiation and keeping good relationship with partners Therefore inspiring cordial voice, persuasive ability of the receptionist is essential and contributes to improve effective communication In Azumaya, experienced receptionists or Managers are people who frequently instruct other receptionist ways to enhance their communication by phone For example, we should know how to show our highest respect to customers, to give them good impression that they are treated specially, our work is to passionately care about their comfortableness when staying at the hotel 3.2.5 Communication between divisions: To serve guests in the most professional way, the co-operation between hotel divisions is essential, each division does particular function, therefore only by understanding and collaborating with each other the ultimate goal could be archived Good communication between divisions help information travel exactly and quickly In Azumaya hotel, in Monday of every week, all employees from divisions have a meeting to discuss or present problems occurred within last working week rose from the inconsistency between sides and how to solve it effectively By that way, divisions could have a better insight into work, functions of others, importance of one division in mutual work, meetings usually end in happy and sympathetic atmosphere 3.2.6 Writing email: Along with telephone, email is one of the ways customers and hotel contact with each others Processing an email is more easy than holding a phone because receptionist 21 does not require immediate response, he/she could have time to select best words, sentences fit to particular contexts, guests In Azumaya hotel, emails come mainly in Vietnamese and Japanese, sometimes in English With Vietnamese mails, because of native language which can be understand easily, receptionists are required to answer effectively and efficiently Japanese mails demand great mastery of language, read carefully and understand any details mention, receptionist has to care for using honorific language of Japan Each mail send to customer need to be CC to Managers who are very fluent in Japanese as well If there is error in word usage or grammar, they will correct and receptionist will learn to avoid in future Emails for usual cases are save into a public file, when a new situation happen, this used mail will be added into this file 3.3 Adaptation of skills, learnt subject at University: 3.3.1 Accounting: At University, I learnt “Introduction to Accounting”, became familiar to Debit, credit, revenue, profit In Azumaya hotel, A shift receptionist write a report about daily revenue, profit based on income and expenses recorded in Account notebook Everything just like what I have learnt, therefore I found no difficulty in handling that paperwork 3.3.2 Language: Foreign Trade University focus specially in training student’s English language skills, both at basic level and language for special purpose like business, commercial correspondence … I have many chances to use my English in writing email or communicate directly or by phone with customer Many customers are highly educated businessmen, they can use both English and Japanese, although Japanese is required to used in Azumaya hotel, but when confusion happens in Japanese, to avoid misunderstanding, I also can use English to understand better 22 3.3.4 Skill development subject: This subject taught me many skills at elementary, introductory level, for example working in a group (team work), negotiation, time management those turned out to be very useful when coming at working environment and condition I know how to get on well with colleagues, how to dress appropriately, how to communicate properly In addition, being at office hours a day, was really tired and stressful for me at first I had to learn to better manage my time, balancing among housework, study, and office work 23 III Observation & conclusion: Before practicing internship at Azumaya Hanoi 2, I never had a clear definition of how a hotel can handle all things related to many variable customers After taking part in the internship course at the company; however, I was aware of that nearly in tourism and hospitality nearly all hotel operate in a same pattern the differences arise when considering hotel’s scale large or medium, small size On the very first days of my internship in the front office department, I was far from satisfied because I was bored on doing nothing and just observing But later on, after having gained the confidence of my tutors, I managed to grab plentiful of information from them and learnt from them I made the best of every opportunity I was given and made the use of my abilities and knowledge to fulfill all my responsibilities I feel satisfied that I could implement my academic skills into practice and my efforts were paid off I thoroughly enjoyed the challenges that came along every single day Within year practicing internship at Azumaya Hanoi 2, I was involved in many activities such as Writing email to customer by Japanese in honorific way, helping in contract signing between the hotel and partners, Issuing hotel invoice, service invoice From those actions, I had chance to get in touch with real documents and vouchers that I might have not seen at class before This can help me get acquainted with various types of vouchers and bills in daily business of a company like taxi bills, red invoices, and so on Practicing internship course at the company, I would improve my writing report skills, ability to find, select, summarize and organize available information to make an informative and persuasive report Receiving and making phone calls helped me to improve my telephone communication skills Sending documents via email helped me to know how to write a business email, how to start and end it, how to address the receivers appropriately and so on Booking airline ticket and hotel rooms were also a good experience for me I had to communicate a lot with people I have never met I found out that even speaking fluently in my mother tongue language in this situation is not easy and I have to learn it all, from the easiest tasks to the hardest ones The task seems to be easy but you 24 never know it if you never it And I think my business communication skill is now better Working in Azumaya Hanoi provided me a precise opportunity to work in a professional, good learning, and multicultural environment I would understand more about the differences between Vietnamese and Japanese cultures practically observe and withdraw helpful lessons of social behaviors, which would be very helpful for me to verify some knowledge I have learned from the books, and for my future job 25 ... AZUMAYA HCM 15/3 Le Thanh Ton St., Dist 1, HCMC In 20 12, Azumaya hotel expanded its branches in Ha Noi to reach more customers AZUMAYA Ha Noi 16 Bui Thi Xuan St., Hai Ba Trung Dist., Ha Noi AZUMAYA. .. Noi AZUMAYA Ha Noi 62 Pham Huy Thong St., Ba Dinh Dist., Ha Noi In 20 14, Azumaya hotel expanded its branches in Da Nang to reach more customers AZUMAYA Da Nang 31 Nguyen Tat Thanh, Hai Châu Dist,... of Azumaya hotels in that area Ha Noi area Manager: Manage the activities of Azumaya hotels in Ha Noi area, taking part in meeting of hotels as an agent of General Director Having the responsibility