Donna shader is manager of the 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 5 clerks on duty each with a separate waiting line, during peak check-in time of 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. On average 90 guests arrive each hour. And it takes average 3 minutes for the front-desk clerk to register the guest. Donna is considering 3 plans for improving guest service by reducing the length of time guest spend waiting in line.
- First proposal
- Designate 1 employee as a quick service clerk for guests registering under corporate accounts, a market segment that fills about 30% of all occupied rooms. As corporate guests are preregistered, their registration will take only 2 minutes. With these guests separated from the rest, the average time for registering a typical guest would be 3.4 minutes. Non-corporate guest can choose any line from the remaining lines.
- Second proposal
- To implement single line system. All guests could form a single waiting line to be served by whichever of five clerks became available. This option requires sufficient lobby space for what could be a substantial queue.
- Third proposal
- It involves using ATM for check-ins. It will provide same service rate as a clerk would. Initial use of technology might be minimal, Shader estimated that 20% of customers would be willing to use machines (this might be a conservative estimate if the guest perceive direct benefits from using the ATM, as bank customers do. Citibank reports that some 95% of its Manhattan customers use its ATMs.) Donna would set up a single queue for customers who prefer human check-in-clerks, although Donna is hopeful that the machine will allow a reduction to four.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- Determine the average amount of time that a guest spends checking in. How would this change under each of the stated option?
- Which option do you recommend?
