Room Service / In Room Dining / In-Situ

1 Introduction. General Principles

Room Service varies from basic “in-room” tea & coffee making facilities as well as mini-bars to vending machines on each floor or may be personalized to serving a variety of meals in the rooms. In a five-star hotel 24-hour room service is expected and can vary in two or three-star hotels with the service of only tea or coffee with continental breakfast served in a room.

Room Service can be of two types:

1) Full Room Service or Centralized

2) Partial Room Service or Decentralized.

1) Full Room Service or Centralized

Full Room Service is where all food & beverages come from a Central kitchen and are delivered to the rooms of guests directly by tray or trolley.

2) Partial Room Service or Decentralized.

Partial Room Service or Decentralized is a service can be operated from a floorpantry; pantries can be available on each floor to manage better service.

Both of these can be operated 24 hours and the service staff needs to have good knowledge of all the types of meals and alcoholic beverages, since the service needs to be

quick & efficient, the guest may call the floor pantry directly or call the reception or dining area for the order and the order needs to be delivered on time.

The check /bill is made out for all requests from the guests and appropriate signature needs to be taken after delivering the order to charge in the guest room K.O.T are normally made in triplicate, the top copy goes to the kitchen, the second goes to the cashier /reception and the third is kept with the floor service staff for reference and order set up.

The Pantry of each floor needs to be equipped with the following equipment:
1. Sink Unit

2. Hot Plate

3. Refrigerator

4. Ice Making Machine

5. Lift to Central Kitchen

6. Salamander

7. Cutting Boards

8. Coffee making machine

9. Knives

10. Gas Burner

Room Service implies serving of Food & Beverage in guest rooms of hotels. Small orders served in trays, and major meals are taken in trolley.

Sufficient equipment must be available to enable efficient service to be given at all times and a high standard maintained.

The Service staff carries out all their own pre-service preparation (mis-en-place) before the service of a meal. This includes the checking & refilling of cruet set & other accompaniments, lying up of breakfast trays, changing of linen, laying up of trolleys, cleaning of trays and so on. The room service staff must ensure that all rooms are cleared as soon as meals are finished so as not to be in the way when rooms are being cleaned.

2 Room Service, Scheduling & Staffing

The Room Service department is the in room dinning service since the guest comes in contact with the staff on choosing the right staff is crucial. Human resources in Room Service should be of the right quality and quantity for efficient functioning of the department. Planning the manpower / staffing is a important activity for any department. The Room Service department’s key challenge is to have the correct number of qualified staff members available in every necessary position to meet the In Room Dining service as per number of rooms.

Scheduling

The 24-hour nature of Room Service operations requires constant staffing. The day in the Room Service is usually divided into three shifts.

The timing of 1st shift or morning shift is usually from 7 am to 4 pm. The staff of morning shift arrives to relieve the staff of night shift and takes over from them for the day’s operations. The morning is very busiest shift as most of the room guest like to take breakfast in the room.

The 2nd shift or afternoon shift mostly is from 3 pm to 12 am. There is an overlay of 1 hour with the morning shift. This is important since important tasks like handover, cash counting, tallying and briefing happen during this overlap. Sometimes departmental training or meetings workshops are scheduled during this time as well.

The 3rd shifts or the night shift is from 11 pm to 8 am. They relieve the afternoon staff shift. In India, most of the shifts are 9-hour shifts and have 1-hour overlaps. A swing shift may be required where employees are given a break for a few hours and they report back in the evening. This may be required in case of group arrivals or on busy days or when a couple of employees are on leave/unwell. It is also known as a break shift.

Staffing

3 Cycle of Service

Flow Chart of IRD

1) Phone Rings

2) Order Taker Answers Phone within Three Rings

3) Take the Order over the Phone

4) Suggest /up sells/Repeats the Order

5) Makes the K.O.T
i) Kitchen ii) Waiter iii) Order Taker/Cashier

6) Makes the Order

7) Sets the Order

8) Makes the Bill

9) Picks up order from kitchen

10) Hands the bill to waiter

11) Set the order on tray or trolley

12) Checks the entire tray /trolley for accompaniments

13) Informs the captain to check the order

14) Proceeds to the guestroom knock the door

15) Enters the room wishes the guest

16) Asks the guest where to place the order

17) Explains the order to the guest and present the bill for guest sign

18) Thanks, the guest goes back to IRD, hands over the bill to order taker /cashier

19) Gets ready for next order

20) Goes back to the room for clearance

Procedure to be followed when serving order to the guest room:

a) Once the order is set, recheck before sending it to the guest room.

b) Stand in front of the door and knock or ring the bell twice.

c) Say ‘Room Service’.

d) Wish the guest when the guest opens the door.

e) Ask permission to enter, then enter and enquire where to place the order.

f) Assist guest with the order, explain the order.

g) Present the check/bill.

h) Say Thank you.

i) Any queries the guest has be assisted.

j) Do not SOLICIT for TIPS.

k) Do the clearance properly

l) Do not leave the room service equipments on the Floor /Pantry.

4 Forms & Formats

a) Duty Rota

b) Breakfast Door Knobs

c) Mini Bar

d) K.O.T

e) Order Taker Control Form

f) Clearance /Order Delivery Card

g) Bon Appetite Card

h) Guest Comment Card.

i)

Different Types of Set Up in IRD

1. Continental Breakfast

2. American Breakfast

3. Indian Breakfast

4. Tea/Coffee

5. Alcoholic/Non-Alcoholic Drinks

6. A La Carte Set Up

Format of Duty Rota:

The exact nature of duty-rota varies with every establishment according to the duties to be performed, the number of staff time off and whether split/straight shift is required.

The Objective of Duty Rota:

• To ensure that all necessary duties are covered in order that efficient service may be carried out.

• It also provides the basis for staff training.

• Task & duty lists for each of the tasks and duties given are drawn up.

• These will also identify standards to be achieved.

All F&B Service staff should be made aware of the importance of cleaning programs to reduce and minimize the built up of dust, bacteria and other forms of debris. Whatever cleaning tasks have to be done cleaning programme should be set up. Some tasks are done daily, weekly, monthly or every six months.

Points to Note:

1. Always use the correct cleaning materials.

2. Clean frequently.

3. Rinse all surfaces well

4. Dusters should be only used for dusting and not for cleaning tasks.

5. Clean and store equipments safely & in correct place.

6. Consider safety Tips at all times.

7. Do not use cleaning cloth for wiping food stuff.

8. Do not wiping cloth used for plates and glasses for other purpose.

1.5 Order Taking, Suggestive Selling

Order Taking

1. Answer the phone within 3 rings.

2. Greet the guest the time of the day

3. Use proper Verbiage-like Good Morning In Room Dining.” This is ______ speaking, how may I assist you?”

4. Take down the order of the guest first listen Carefully.

5. Offer suggestion and do up selling.

6. Repeat the order.

7. Inform the guest the time of delivery of the Order.

8. Write down the order in the K.O.T

9. Prepare the bill.

10. Know the not available items for the day.

Suggestive Selling
Selling refers specifically to the ability of the staff in a Food & Beverage Operations to contribute to the promotion of sales. It is important to involve service staff to do suggestive selling and up selling of a particular type of menu or drink, a special deal or the availability of a particular meal or drink.

With the context of selling, the service staff should be able to:

1. Detail the food & drink on offer in such a way as to make the product sound interesting and worth having.

2. Seek information from the customer in a way that promotes sales, for example rather than asking if drinks are required with meal? ask which drinks would you prefer with the meal?

3. Use opportunities for sales of additional items such as extra garnishes, special sauces or accompanying drinks like dessert wines with food a sweet course etc.

4. Provide excellent guest service.

1.6 Time Management

It is the time taken from taking the order from the guest making the K.O.T., placing the order setting the order and delivering to the guest room.

The Standard Time followed is:

Continental Breakfast: 10-15 mins.

American Breakfast: 15-20mins.

Tea/Coffee: 5-10 mins.

Lunch: 25-30 mins.

Dinner:30-45 mins.

Drinks & Snacks: 15-20 mins.

Clearance: -5 mins.

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Specialised F & B Service Management

Beverages Service
Paperback
January 2020 Edition
Author:
Dr. Deepa Prasad Venkatraman
Ulhas Chaudhari

Food & Beverage Services Practical & Techniques
Paperback
January 2020 Edition
Author:
Dr. Deepa Prasad Venkatraman
Ulhas Chaudhari

Room Service / In-Room Dining / In-Situ Services

1 Introduction. General Principles
2 Room Service, Scheduling & Staffing
3 Cycle of Service
4 Forms & Formats
5 Order Taking, Suggestive Selling
6 Time Management
7 Terms
8 Review Questions