My Industrial Training Essay Example for Free

My Industrial Training Essay I started my training on 7th July 2008 at JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, where I was first assigned to start as a CRO (customer recognition) in Front Office. I got to learn about the procedures of welcoming certain guests, such as VIP’s, by preparing welcome letters, flowers, chocolate and fruit baskets. I was only there for one week, and then I changed my training to Royale Bintang Damansara Hotel instead because of transportation and financial problems. My first department at Royale Bintang Damansara was Housekeeping, I tarted there on 21st July. What I came to notice first was that all the staff had problems communicating with me in English, but everyone was very nice, helpful and supportive. Even though we had problems communicating and understanding each other they still tried their best to teach me everything they knew. During my first two weeks in Housekeeping Department, my department head conducted a short training every day for both trainees and staff on how to clean floors, carpets, the pool area and things like that. They showed us the equipment that was used and we all had to try to use it ourselves. I think it was very good of them to have these trainings as it also widened their staff’s knowledge so that if, for example, a staff from public area cleaning would be away, a housekeeper could just jump in and help out. A room attendant wouldn’t just know how to clean guestrooms but also how to do public area cleaning as well. While training in Housekeeping, I got to learn about linen and laundry for awhile, I also got to refill the mini-bar in all the guestrooms. I was taught how to inspect the rooms, to make sure the room was ready for a new guest. I also had to try public area cleaning, where they taught me how to clean the pool side and the swimming pool, cleaning windows and swiping floors. What I enjoyed the most was to clean the guestrooms, which I did most of my time in Housekeeping. At first I was only making the bed in all the rooms as most housekeepers didn’t want me to clean the toilet, but after awhile I had tried everything and my last two weeks in Housekeeping I was even assigned to clean some guest rooms all by myself. I was a bit slow cleaning rooms alone as I wanted the room to look perfect, but I know I did I good job and I feel very happy and proud over my performance there. One thing that shocked me in Housekeeping Department was that sometimes the Housekeepers didn’t have enough linen for all guestrooms, so instead of changing the bed sheets and pillow covers they just dusted away hairs and stuff and sprayed a lot of freshener on it so the new guest would think it’s clean. When I saw these things I asked them how they could do in such a way as it’s not hygienic at all, but they all answered me that it was the otel’s fault as they didn’t want to buy in more linen. Another thing that shocked me was that I noticed the Front Office staff always talked bad about the housekeeping staff and looked down at them just because they were cleaners. For me, I think that the Housekeeping Department is one of the most important departments in the hotel and the Front Office staff must work closely with them to get the guest satisfaction. This is the picture of a bed inside one of the guest rooms I cleaned by myself After six weeks I changed my department to Front Office. I was very excited to start there because I would really want to work with that in the future so I had very high expectations about it, however I felt very disappointed with how they handled things there. First it was the staff; I think most of them had the wrong attitude for being receptionists, they barely smiled at the guests coming to the reception; sometimes they could be very rude and blame things on the guests and not being helpful at all. They were also very bad in handling guest complaints. Everything seemed so different from what I had learned in Front Office classes, and I felt very disappointed over the service they were practicing. All Front Office staff were also using different uniforms, so I think that looked a bit odd. It would look better if everyone was wearing the same color and blazer at least. Later on they got more uniforms to the hotel for front office staff so even the trainees could borrow it while standing at the reception. All other trainees got to borrow uniforms but every time I asked they told me they didn’t have for me so I had to buy one myself. My first two weeks in Front Office I was sitting as the telephone operator. I was transferring calls to different departments, ordering taxis for guests etc, if I worked in the evening I also had to take reservations. When I started in the reception I started to get problems; I felt that nobody there could take the time to tell me what to do or teach me anything. If I asked them they would tell me they were busy or that they couldn’t teach me in English, so instead I had to stand and try to understand when they were teaching the other trainees in Malay or Chinese, which I really didn’t think was fair. Although I told my department head about this so many times nothing happened. I finally learned about the program they were using and I observed how the staffs were talking to the guests during check-in and check-out, so finally I tried to do it myself. I could do all of the procedures for check in and check out, and each day I was doing it I felt it went easier. Sometimes if a guest wanted a late checkout we would charge the guest either a half day charge or full day charge, depending on the time they would check out. At these times we had to calculate how much extra the guest would have to pay. One of my supervisors had showed me how to do it so one day when I had to calculate the half day charge for one guest, one of the staff was looking how I was doing it. When I showed the guest her bill the staff who had been seeing everything started screaming at me in front of the guest that I was doing it wrong, but I told her I was sure of what I was doing. This girl working at the reception said that she was right and called another receptionist right away. However by the time that receptionist came there, the guest I had charged had already left. Both receptionists was telling me I charged the guest too little and that I had to pay with my own money right away to cover up the amount of money I never charged. I called one of my supervisors at that time and explained to him that I thought maybe I had done a mistake, but when he checked it he said that everything was correct and instead he noticed that the other receptionist had charged some guests wrong instead. For some strange reason this incident caused that many of the staff there was talking bad about me, saying that I thought I was better than them as I always corrected their work. I thought instead that it was good that I noticed if they had done any mistake such as charging the guest wrong so they could learn from it instead, The staff really wanted to blame a lot of things on the trainees instead of accepting their own mistakes. I was working very independently as I didn’t get much help from most staff, but I think I did a good job and the staff that actually taught me things even complimented me for being so clever for learning everything by myself so fast. I also had to work overnight while I was in Front Office, so that I ould get to learn and understand about the night audit. I was first assigned to prepare all registration cards; which is all the reservations for guests arriving the next day. I had to look over special requests such as room types, smoking- and nonsmoking rooms, connecting rooms and views so that I could assign the different rooms to each arriving guest. I also had to write breakfast coupons and set up wake up calls for guests. I felt that I didn’t learn as much as I had hoped during the night shift. The staff I was working with said that the supervisor would do most of the auditing, so for the staff there wasn’t much things at all to do. I wanted to ask my supervisor to tech me some of the auditing but he was missing most of the time so I never got to learn about the night audit. During my first nightshift, my boyfriend wanted to sit in the lobby and wait for me to finish so I asked the staff in the reception including my supervisor if it was ok, and they told me he could sit there the whole night if he wanted to, as long as he didn’t cause any problem or disturbed me. At 4am, my supervisor told the security to tell my boyfriend to leave the hotel. When I heard about this I asked my supervisor why he at first told me it was ok for him to sit there, but then he just told me it wasn’t allowed. A few days later Ms Zurin from Human Resource Department told me that because of that incident I wasn’t allowed in Front Office anymore and had to change department immediately. She told me I was lucky to get a second chance as my supervisor wanted me to be terminated. I felt very sad and confused because I didn’t understand what that incident had to do with my work there. I was transferred to Food and Beverage Department on 18th October. Over there I was taking care of their lobby bar; I was making welcome drinks and all kinds of other beverages and served it to guests. I was also taking down all orders for room service. Every weekend and during public holidays they were having a hi-tea buffet for lunch and a BBQ buffet for dinner, at these times I helped the staff to clear and set tables. While working in the morning I helped with their breakfast buffet by greeting and welcoming the guests and collecting breakfast vouchers. After every breakfast, we had to set up the restaurant for lunch or if there was any special function going on there, so I learned how to do so many different table settings. There was one thing that shocked me in Food and Beverage Department as well; most staff doesn’t know how to wash a simple glass, they just wash it with their hand and water and later they will take the dirty glass and put some beverage in it and serve it to the guest. Every day when I started my shift I had to rewash all of the glasses because they were so dirty. Sometimes I also saw that the napkins they put on the tables looked dirty or were full of holes or that the plates were having dried food stuff on it or be full of grease. For being a restaurant in a four star hotel they should have a better service than that and not act like it is just a mamak shop. That is also the reason why I liked standing at the lobby bar, because then I knew the glasses for example would be washed properly. However in December, their restaurant got two new supervisors and especially one of them were very strict about hygiene so I hope that this things will improve or change now. Although I didn’t want to do Food and Beverage at first, it was above my expectations and I really learned a lot of new things. I got along well with all the staff also even though many of them weren’t good in English. Now when I look back at my training at Royale Bintang Damansara, I’m happy with what I achieved from there. I know that many trainees only get to observe most things; instead of trying it themselves so for that I’m happy that I got to do everything practically, because for me that is how I learn the most. I don’t think the hotel is that good though and many staff working there seems to be there only to have something to do, instead of being passionate about the service industry. Another thing that really shocked me also was that there is a lot of drug use going on inside the hotel, people working there that I didn’t even know asked me if I wanted to buy drugs. This really came as a shock to me and I can’t believe how something like that can exist in a working place like a four star hotel. I don’t think Royale Bintang Damansara should have a four star rating because their service is not good. For example that they don’t change the bed sheets after a guest checked out, how they are behaving at the reception or that they are serving dirty glasses to guests. I’m still happy that I got to see this kind of things, because I would never have thought it could be like this in a hotel. I know I will be more careful now in the future while staying in a hotel, I will always be aware of these things. These bad experiences I saw have given me a new career option; I would like to be a hotel inspector. Because I don’t think a guest should be paying a lot of money for a service like that in a four star hotel. In a way I could recommend Royale Bintang Damansara to other trainees, because you will see a lot of useful things and you will get the chance to try everything practically, unlike some other hotels. I would in that case only recommend it to local students. As a foreigner I had a lot of problems in the hotel, especially to communicate in English with the staff. It didn’t matter if it was in Housekeeping Department or Front Office. However, I succeeded to gain a lot of knowledge from all the departments I went to and I know that the things I have learned will be useful for me in the future.