How a hotel is divided into departments
Hotels split into revenue departments and support departments. Rooms division covers the front office, which handles reservations, check-in, concierge and guest relations, and housekeeping, which cleans rooms and public areas and runs the laundry. Food and beverage covers restaurants, bars, room service and banquets, with the kitchen under the executive chef. Support departments include engineering and maintenance, security, HR, finance, purchase, and sales and marketing, which sells rooms, banquets and weddings to corporate and leisure clients. Each department has its own head, and the heads together form the executive committee chaired by the general manager.
- Rooms division: front office, reservations, guest relations and housekeeping
- Food and beverage: restaurants, bar, room service, banquets and kitchen
- Sales and marketing: corporate sales, MICE, weddings and revenue management
- Support: engineering, security, HR, finance, purchase and stores
Hotel teams at 50, 500 and 5,000 employees
A 50-employee business hotel usually has a general manager or hotel manager, a front office in-charge with receptionists on three shifts, a housekeeping supervisor with room attendants, a small restaurant and kitchen team, a maintenance technician and an accountant, with many people covering more than one role. A 500-employee five-star hotel or resort has a full executive committee: rooms division manager, executive housekeeper, front office manager, director of F&B, executive chef, chief engineer, director of sales, HR manager and financial controller, each with assistant managers, supervisors and associates.
A 5,000-employee hotel company runs a portfolio of properties, each with its own general manager and department heads, and a corporate office with a head of operations, regional general managers or area directors, and corporate heads for F&B, sales, revenue management, HR, finance and brand standards. Training academies and management trainee programs build the pipeline of supervisors and managers for new openings.
How hotel departments depend on each other
A guest's stay crosses every department. The front office cannot check a guest in until housekeeping marks the room clean and inspected, so the two keep a running room status through the day. Banquets depend on sales for event details, on the kitchen for the menu and on engineering for sound, lights and air conditioning. Purchase and stores supply linen, amenities and food, and finance handles the night audit and billing disputes. HR runs heavy seasonal hiring, trainee intakes from hotel management institutes, uniforms, staff meals and rosters that cover early morning, late night and overnight shifts. At night the duty manager ties it together, when department heads are off and only the night team is on the floor.
Hotel reporting lines and approvals
Associates report to supervisors, who report to assistant managers and the department head, who reports to the general manager; in large hotels, front office and housekeeping heads report through the rooms division manager, and outlets through the director of F&B. Room upgrades, late check-outs and rate overrides beyond set limits need the front office manager or duty manager. Complimentary meals and rooms need the general manager's approval. Leave and weekly offs are planned by the department head around occupancy and events, and blackout dates are common during the wedding season and long weekends. Overtime in banquets is approved by the F&B head and checked by HR.
Typical hospitality team structure
Hospitality designation hierarchy
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What is the hierarchy in a hotel?
A hotel is led by a general manager, with department heads for rooms division, front office, housekeeping, food and beverage, kitchen, engineering, sales, HR and finance forming the executive committee. Below them are assistant managers, supervisors or captains, and associates such as front office associates, room attendants, stewards and commis chefs, plus trainees.
What are the main departments in a hotel?
The main hotel departments are front office, housekeeping, food and beverage service, food production or kitchen, engineering and maintenance, sales and marketing, security, human resources, finance and purchase. Front office and housekeeping together are called the rooms division, and F&B service and the kitchen together make up the food and beverage division.
What does a front office manager do?
A front office manager runs reservations, reception, concierge and guest relations. They plan shift rosters for the desk, handle overbookings and room allocation with housekeeping, approve upgrades and rate changes within limits, resolve guest complaints, check night audit reports and track occupancy and average room rate with the revenue team.
How are shifts planned in a hotel?
Hotels usually run three shifts, such as 7 am to 3 pm, 3 pm to 11 pm and 11 pm to 7 am, with split shifts for restaurant staff who cover lunch and dinner. Rosters are planned weekly around occupancy and banquet bookings, weekly offs are rotated, and the night shift keeps a duty manager, front desk, security and engineering on call.