Alternatives
Spring Grove Hotel has existed in the market since the year 2002, and should know the value of hiring competent workers as a manager or an assistant manager. Steve only has an experience of three years and very little exposure which is not sufficient. The experience at Grove group did not equip Steve enough as to function as an assistant hotel manager. If the management must hire Steve in the same position, they were supposed to extend his internship to expand his experience. Adequate staff training is paramount in a Hotel environment. If Steve is expertly trained, he would be more efficient in managing the crisis he encountered on the day that the band crashed the wedding. Hiring Steve causes a reduction in the quality of the service the Hotel offers to its clients due to his poor organizational skills and failure to support his junior staff members. Effective training would also ensure that the Hotel has employees who can deal with pressure without necessarily treating the guests with attitude (Donald, Susan, and Thomas 2002).
The organizational structure at Spring Grove should be improved to prevent such an occurrence in the future. The Manager on duty should always ask for assistance in the event of busy nights. The Hotel management team should also ensure that every person is fully equipped, and qualified for the job to improve the quality of service, and cooperation among members of various departments. The senior management staff should relate well with the junior staff to keep them always motivated. The organization should also have disciplinary measures of the officials who mishandle the guests or junior employees.
Scheduling is also a suitable alternative to deal with such a problem. Scheduling allows the use of clearly defined timelines showing the expected numbers of guests, the date of check in and check out, as well as their daily activities and meals. The best way of scheduling is through the forecast and improved communication between the event planning, marketing and other departments in the Hotel. During busy moments like the day of the wedding, the management should allocate enough members of staff to help coordinate various activities. At the day that the band crashed the wedding, Steve was the only manager on duty, even with his limited experienced. Steve shows signs of tension since he was overwhelmed by the confusing activities of the night by the guests in the wedding, and the band members as well.
Contingency planning allows the Hotel to have a backup plan to help solve a problem. The Hotel managers at Spring Grove should always keep in touch with neighboring Hotels that offers service of the same quality. This helps them to outsource bookings in case the Hotel is fully booked to prevent overcrowding. Another possible contingency plan for this scenario is adding more head of departments to be managers on duty when the Hotel is busy. For example, we could have three head of departments as the managers on duty. The latter avoids the scenario of overwhelming all these responsibilities on one single person. The Kitchen should have more than one outlet for serving the food. It should only use one, but open the backup outlet at busy times like the event of the wedding, and the band visit at the same time. Reducing the number of people accessing the kitchen area is also an alternative that would solve the problem of congestion at the kitchen. The scramble during a last minute rush may be dangerous, and can compromise the quality of service delivery in the hotel.
Installing Policies is also a very efficient way of preventing such an occurrence in the future. For example, the policy of preserving the right of admission in the Hotel could be very helpful. The right of admission means that the Hotel has the right to terminate your stay under certain conditions such as interruption of other people activities. In this case, such a policy would be used as a disciplinary measure against the high school students who crashed the wedding and caused havoc.
Recommendations
The new management of the Hotel should also place emphasis in hiring people who are experienced and competent. Training employees on stress management is also a primary task. When stressed or overwhelmed with the activities of the day, Steve should always remain calm and avoid being rude or show any form of arrogance to the employees or the guests. An experienced manager would foresee that the busy weekend would need a more than one manager on duty and propose the same to the management team.
Contingency planning would be very helpful in such a scenario. The Hotel could outsource one group to a nearby Hotel that offers quality service to its guests. The Hotel should also invest in a serious security team that can provide first aid to its guests and respond to security concerns such as the presence of uninvited guests in weddings and parties. The management team should also place a priority on the needs of the customers.
I would also recommend revision of the policies at Spring Grove Hotel. There is a need for a forecast policy, which should make it mandatory for the events, marketing and the kitchen departments to share an updated forecast. Failure to use this forecast may cause a disciplinary action against the responsible employee. The use of a forecast would also be very helpful in the planning of the future events. A forecast is shared between the kitchen, service and the events departments to help them identify busy days ahead. Had the events department used a forecast, they would notice the advantages of allowing a group of high school students at the same weekend with Kirkpatrick’s wedding. High school students are often uncontrollable, and they could easily predict that their presence would be a nuisance in the wedding. The security policy would also be very necessary at Spring Grove. It should define the responsibilities of the security team, powers, and discretion if any.
Work cited
Donald G, Susan, and Thomas R.(2002) When the Band Crashed the Wedding
