Category Archives: The Park Lane, Site Visit

Park Lane Hotel

Occupancy – how many rooms is occupied in the hotel.

Housekeeping standards – all rooms should look the same.

Turn- down- service- refreshing the room while the guest is already in the room ( chocolate on the pillow, fixing the bed, close the curtain )

Revenue management- helps to predict consumer demand to optimize inventory and price availability in order to maximize revenue growth.

A Restaurant- restaurant at Park Lane Hotel is serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

A Place to Work – Kitchen at Park Lane Hotel.

Amenity – gym at the Park Lane Hotel.

Expression of Hospitality – they had a table ready for us and each of us got water bottle, pen, notebook and candies.

Shanika Thompson

Did you feel prepared for what you experience during the site visit?

No I did not feel prepared because I did not know what to expect from it so trying to be prepared was going to be difficult because I had no idea what the hotel visit will be like.

What did you learn?

I learned that the hotel industry is like one body. There are many different parts to a body and every body part has to do their part or the body won’t function properly.  All of the departments are working together in a nice flow to keep the hotel running properly.

Reflection of Park Lane Hotel

I enjoyed my visit at Park Lane Hotel. I had sometime to observe the hotel flow and some of the staff before being introduced to the General Manager. The first person I came across was the bellman. He is the first and last person a visitor sees before entering or leaving the hotel premises. I also took notice to the seating areas in the lobby, the cafe and the traffic of tourist and hotel visitors. The hotel manager informed us that the Park Lane Hotel has a 97% occupancy, which is successful for a hotel that is surrounded by other 4 star and % star hotels.

The best part of the tour was the visit to the penthouse suite which was occupied by Leona Helmsley. The view of the NYC skyline and Central Park were breathtaking. The suite goes for $7000 a night and it is worth every penny if you wanted to live like a queen. Hidden walkin closets, hidden salon and the countless chandeliers in every room.

After the tour of the many departments and meeting the people the work to make the hotel a success, we met in the ballroom area where we had the opportunity to pick the brain of the Director of Housekeeping, General Manager and the Director of Front Office. listening to their history of how they started in the industry and how rewarding it is to work in the hotel was interesting.

Park Lane Reflection

Visiting the Park Lane Hotel was a great experience. Getting to see a little behind the scenes of how  large hotels operate was fun. We learned that many of the departments closely work together because without one another the hotel could not run at its fun potential. I was more interested in the housekeeping aspect. When we visited that departmemt i noticed pictures of how the room is supposed to be set up and that the room attendants are to follow these guidelines to insure a uniform look in every room. Also that the housekeeping department works closely with the front desk. Without the front desk they wouldn’t be able to know which rooms need special care for VIP guest or when a rooms needs to be cleaned in general. Also the housekeeping manger said that the room attendants are like the “eyes and ears” of the hotel. They’re in the rooms so often that they know how appliances are to run, which they can report to the engineering department to take care of. One thing that i did take away from the visit is no matter how bad of a day you’re having that it’s always good to make one guest your priority. By doing this you make the trip for the guest as memorable as possible by going above and beyond to make sure they enjoyed their stay and if they come back to visit they’ll ask for you.

The Park Line Hotel

Prior to the hotel trip I was extremely curious about how a hotel functions, because is different to stay at the hotel and to work in one, and also to see how different departments come together to make the hotel run smoothly.  After visiting this hotel I learned that positive attitude and guest satisfaction is everything. The visit also answered the questions I had before, for example how important it is for the different departments to work together to have a successful hotel. I learned the responsibilities of the General Manager and how important is his presents in the hotel. I was happy with this trip, because it show me how it is to be in a hotel environment.

 

Park Lane Visit Reflection

Before visiting the Park Lane Hotel, I had very little knowledge about it. I think it was a great opportunity to see what is like to work in a luxurious hotel. This opened my eyes to the many different areas within the hotel industry and the different kind of hotels you can choose to be a part of. I definitely enjoyed learning about the speakers and how they started off and eventually reached their current positions. The most significant information for me was to learn about some of the challenges a general manager has to face and learn more about the responsibilities that a general manager has not only with the hotel, but with its employee, its guests and the community because they all go hand in hand.

Reflection of The Park Lane Hotel

The most significant information i learned was about revenue management and the huge impact it has, for an example they need to make sure they are selling the the hotel at its maximum occupancy and Park lane’s average occupancy is 97% yearly. The revenue management department doesn’t only work with numbers, they also work with promoting their site and make sure people see their site before they see a online travel agency (OTA). I also learned about how housekeeping strands are met, for an example at the Park Lane hotel have communication  by utilizing walk-talkies in order to make sure where they are and to make sure they their on task. On the tour i also saw some expression of hospitality like when we were heading to the cafeteria and a man was passing by and he held the door for on of his co workers probably thinking that he was going to head out, you might say this is just manners but its what hospitality is all about. Overall i enjoyed the tour and learned many things and heard some advice from some of the workers there for when i do work at a hotel, like not bringing your problems to work, always keeping a smile, and also the front desk manager said “try to focus at least on one person throughout their stay and make it memorable for them so for when they do come back, they’ll remember you and might even ask for you”.

it was very nice to visit the hotel and learn what it is like to work there I felt like turn down service is one of the most important things in a hotel because you need the people to feel welcome and if they are they will enjoy there stay with the good service. in order todo that you need to have good revenue management to make sure that you will have enough supplies for when the people need it. House keeping standards also show just what kind of total you are running and what are the standards you want to meet to begin with. That would possibly determine the housekeeping standards on how strict you want to keep all of the rooms clean

Reflection on Park Lane Hotel

During the Park Lane Hotel visit, I learned several things about the hospitality industry as well as Lodging. When the manager first arrived to give us the tour he gave us background information about himself and how he started his career in the hotel. As a professional it is always right to give a nice bright smile to the visitors, in this case it was us, the Perspective in Hospitality Management class. He greeted us and made us feel welcomed into the environment. What I enjoyed the most was when the class was in the ballroom and we got introduced to the Director of House Keeper, General Manager, as well as the Assistant Director of Front Office, there is where we learned about how they grew into the industry of Hospitality.

From the director of house keeping, she build her experience from front desk in Texas, later on moved to New York for a internship. It wasn’t easy at first for her, her job required a lot of training, required a lot of progressive discipline, she also had to make sure that turn down service is progressively going on. Since the Park Lane Hotel requires a lot of employees to meet the guest needs, she mentioned a way that she gives recognition to employees. She gives them recognition by doing “Employee of the Month”, for her that is a way to say thank you for the hard work to the employee. After the director of house keeping we had the General Manager of the Park Lane Hotel. He often compared his job with being the director of an orchestra, he doesn’t want his music to be out of rhythm or not on pitch, he wants it to be nice and fluent. He loves “Managing the souls of travelers” which mean connecting them to places, activities, restaurants, possibly even hotels that work within the same company. Although he is the general manager he does face challenger, he is in charge of opening emails, reports from customers, walk the hotel to see the staff, most importantly has to make sure that everything is in place, and something else he mentioned was “meetings, meetings, meetings.” Then the class got to know the Assistant Director of Front Office, where we learned that it can be a tough job for some people. This job requires a lot of patience and always have a positive attitude. Attitude is what shows the most to the guests. Even with tough customers you must know how to deal with them. The assistant director of front office mentioned “ Chose one guest for each day, make the guests day” this means focus on one customer and you’ll realize that you’ll cover the customers needs, and thats what the customer wants at the end of the day. What stood out to me the most was that the Assistant director of front office didn’t have an educational background, and now he is in a good level of experience.

Reflection on the Park Lane, Site Visit

What did you like/dislike about our site visit to The Park Lane?

I really liked the tour at the Park Lane hotel. My classmates and I had the opportunity to see how the different departments in the hotel operate in real life. For example a doorman who opened the door for guests and greeted them very kindly, the smile and greeting from front office agents, and all the employees who very humble to everyone. The hospitality industry is about treating others with kind and respect and I was able to experience that first hand through this site visit. I also liked that the class was able to meet managers and learn what they do. They explained thoroughly what their jobs are and I believe that was helpful.

 

What did you learn?

I learned the different jobs available in hotels and truly how hotels are run. It was very interesting to see what goes on behind everything that is presented to guests. Those behind everything really work hard to provide the best service possible to everyone around. Even the small touches are actually really important and make a hotel greater. I learned of what a housekeeping director, front desk director, engineering director, and managers do and how they collaboratively work together.