Donna Shader, manager of the Winter Park Hotel, is consider-
ing how to restructure the front desk to reach an optimum level
of staff efficiency and guest service. At present, the hotel has
five clerks on duty, each with a separate waiting line, during
the peak check-in time of 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Observation
of arrivals during this time shows that an average of 90 guests
arrive each hour (although there is no upward limit on the num-
ber that could arrive at any given time). It takes an average of
3 minutes for each front-desk clerk to register each guest.
Donna is considering three plans for improving guest ser-
vice by reducing the length of time guests spend waiting in line.
The first proposal would designate one employee as a quick-
service clerk for guests registering under corporate accounts, a
market segment that fills about 30% of all occupied rooms.
Because corporate guests are preregistered, their registration
takes just 2 minutes. With these guests separated from the rest
of the clientele, the average time for registering a typical guest
would climb to 3.4 minutes. Under plan 1, noncorporate guests
would choose any of the remaining four lines.
The second plan is to implement a single-line system. All
guests could form a single waiting line to be served by which-
ever of the five clerks became available. This option would
require sufficient lobby space for what could be a substantial
queue.
The third proposal involves using an automatic teller
machine (ATM) for check-ins. This ATM would provide ap-
proximately the same service rate as a clerk would. Given that
initial use of this technology might be minimal, Shader esti-
mated that 20% of customers, primarily frequent guests, would
be willing to use the machines. (This might be a conservative
estimate if the guests perceive direct benefits from using the
ATM, as bank customers do. Citibank reports that some 95% of
its Manhattan customers use its ATMs.) Donna would set up a
single queue for customers who prefer human check-in clerks.
This would be served by the five clerks, although Donna is
hopeful that the machine will allow a reduction to four.
Discussion Questions
1. Determine the average amount of time that a guest spends
checking in. How would this change under each of the
stated options?
2. Which option do you recommend?