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Analytical Case Study: Marriot Fairfield Inn Memo

MEMO

TO: The General Manager

FROM: The Manager, Front Desk

DATE: 27^th March, 2017

SUBJECT: Theft at the Front Office

This report is an analysis of the recent rising cases of theft at the Front Office Desk and provides proposed actions to tame the vice. It contains an analysis of the current situation and identifies possible loopholes that the perpetrators of this vice may be using to carry out the same. More importantly, it details actions to be taken to prevent reoccurrence of theft in future.

Situation Analysis

Three employees usually staff the front desk at any given shift. Generally, the three employees provide information to the guests and give directions to new visitors, both customers and business partners., One employee attends to the telephone to respond to callers, while the other two workers attend to guests arriving or leaving the establishment. A guest or employee who needs to leave his or her baggage at the desk can hand it over to any of the employees serving him. Besides, the guest enters his details on one register passed across the three employees. In addition, the design of the Front Desk allows the three staffers to sit behind a common desk on chairs adjacent to each other. There is no central place to keep safely keep the visitors’ luggage. Hotel property including float money is kept in the drawers accessible to all the staffers on duty. It is difficult to place any misdemeanor on one single employee.

It has also been observed that at peak hours, there is usually a reasonable queue of guests waiting for service. It is common to find that the guests are not lining up but surround the desk in a disorganized manner. During off-peak hours, other hotel employees have been spotted at the Front Desk whiling away their time. The presence of many people at the scene provides opportunity for thieves (employees or guests) to steal.

Proposed Actions

Record Keeping

The hotel should provide each Front Desk worker on duty with a register to keep records of the visitors they serve. Individual records will enable the management to know the particular employee to address in the event of any complaint by a guest.

Lockers

The hotel should avail lockable lockers for each of the staffers to keep their personal effects while on duty. This action will curtail the loss of the employees’ property. A central cabinet with individual lockable drawers should be availed for other hotel staff to keep their personal effects while on duty. Each of such employees will keep the keys to the drawers they use for their shifts. A lockable cashbox should be provided to keep the daily floats and a specific employee on duty charged with managing the cash. That employee will be responsible for keeping the key to the cashbox.

Guests and Personal Effects

Guests should not be allowed to leave their personal effects at the Front Desk. The hotel should provide visible signage in prominent places at and around the Front Desk to the same effect. The notices should clearly spell out that the hotel will not accept responsibility for any loss arising from flouting that regulation. Heavy luggage (besides personal effects such as purses, handgrips and laptops) may be left in the store adjacent to the Front Desk and a tag issued by the store clerk to acknowledge the storage. This last provision is to avoid inconveniencing guests who may have personal property that they may not wish to carry into the restaurant or their rooms. Customer satisfaction and happiness is key to retention and repeat business (Rai and Srivastava 2014).

Hotel Employees

All employees should stick to their work stations at all times including off-peak hours when they have little work to do. A memo to that effect will be issued specifying the actions that will be taken for contravention of the order. The memo will also give details of the exceptional cases when the order may not apply.

CCTV Surveillance

An additional CCTV camera should be installed behind the Front Desk to monitor the actions and activities of the Front Desk Staff. The camera will focus on the scenes behind the Front Desk to curb theft by the employees.

Supervision and Order

One of the three Front Desk Staff will be charged with the supervision of the rest during each of the shifts. The supervisor will ensure that the guests will queue whenever they exceed the number of staff available.

Closing Remarks

The reputation of a business is part of its brand and plays a major role in winning more business or losing existing business (Sartain and Schumann 2013). Elimination of theft at the Front Desk is critical to maintaining the good reputation of the establishment. It is hoped that the aforementioned actions will help curb if not eliminate incidences of theft that have been increasingly reported in the recent past.