Business process management in hotel industry: A proposed framework for operating processes

TLDR

A process‑oriented perspective can overcome the weaknesses of classical functional structures in hotels by shifting focus to horizontal business processes such as operating, management, and support activities that are coordinated, measurable, and value‑creating. The study aims to develop a generic hotel enterprise framework that encourages hotels to view their activities from a cross‑industry process viewpoint rather than a narrow functional one. The framework classifies operating business processes into housekeeping, input supply, guest arrivals and departures, and food and beverage production and service. The framework proved useful for hotel managers in Serbia, demonstrating that consistent application of BPM in daily operations supports more effective decision‑making.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to develop a generic hotel enterprise framework for operating business processes. That framework will encourage hotel and lodging enterprises to see their activities from a cross-industry process viewpoint instead of a narrow functional viewpoint. The process oriented perspective of business and hotel enterprises may surmount many of the weaknesses of the classical functional organizational structure and vertical management. The transformation of a hotel organization towards a business process management system with horizontal or process management point out the need to leave functional organizational in a hotel, and directs attention of its managers to different types of business processes: operating processes, management processes and support processes. Operating processes are a complete, dynamically coordinated and measurable set of activities or logically related tasks that use one or more input and produce outputs, at the same time creating value for hotel guests. This paper develops classification of operating business process on: the process of hotel housekeeping, the process of supplying necessary inputs, the process of guests arrivals and departures and the process of producing and serving food and beverage. The proposed framework for operating processes are very useful for hotel managers in Serbia, since they point out the relevance of more consistent application of business process management system in dayto-day business activities with the aim of effective decision-making.