Pearson New International Edition International pcl tp indd 1

FRONT OFFICE : HUB OF THE HOTEL
The FOM and the director of sales and marketing should meet regularly to discuss potential
business opportunities.
states that the organization of health care administrators is looking for a property with
meeting facilities that will charge attendees no more than $55 per night, which is about
$25 less than the hotel’s ADR for that time of year. The call is routed to the director of
sales and marketing, whose first task is to determine the availability of rooms for the
nights they are needed. Let’s assume that the meeting planner’s required rate is non-
negotiable, and that there are comparable hotels in the area with the meeting space to
accommodate the meeting planner’s needs. Should the hotel accept this business?
While meeting with the FOM, the director of sales and marketing learns that
there are a large number of rooms—more than enough to accommodate the group—
that remain unsold. The room rate during this period has been reduced once already,
and the number of unsold rooms is still far more than the number remaining to be
sold at this time last year. Based on these data, the director of sales and marketing can
make a good business case to the GM to accept this business.
By contrast, let’s assume that the PMS report indicates that there are not a suffi-
cient number of rooms available to meet the group’s needs, or that rooms are available,
but there are many fewer than there were at this time last year. The experience and
common sense of the FOM, director of sales and marketing, and GM must be used
to determine whether the proposed business should be accepted.
Now let’s bring the “real world” into our analysis. Many times the decision-
making process is clouded by variables that are unknown or will not be known on a
timely basis. The director of the local convention and visitors bureau just announced
that the community is one of two finalists for hosting a convention that will take
place at the same time of the health care administrators’ meeting. The convention
will bring enough delegates into the community to fill every hotel room. The host
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