Field trip to Hotel - Hospitality industry

The Grade 4 students visited Sokha hotel today.

Ms. Morilene the Sales and Marketing Manager spoke to them about Sokha’s 4 hotels in Cambodia and answered questions from the students about the hospitality industry and how they organize Sokha Hotel.

Ms Morilene told us there were 744 guest rooms at the hotel and more than 800 staff.

The Hotel is divided into sections, they call them teams. Each team is responsible for doing one thing and has its own manager. For example there is a Marketing team, Housekeeping team, Laundry team, Functions team. They also have 7 restaurants and a huge pool.

The Hotel has to try to keep services and facilities at a high standard so they have a high rating. A high rating attracts customers who are looking for quality service. They have busy times and quieter times. Today about 200 of the rooms were occupied.

The Hotel has competitors in Phnom Penh. Ms Morilene talked about Raffles, Intercontinental and Sofitel. One thing they try to promote as being different to their competitors is their space - they have huge grounds and their Ballroom for 3000 people.  

We liked ….

• The tour of the hotel.
• Seeing the fancy Ballroom being set up for a function.
• Seeing all the behind the scenes parts of the hotel - like the laundry and kitchen.
• Seeing how big the hotel is.
• Meeting the different teams and finding out what they do.
• The swimming pool.
• Listening to the Managers speak about the business.
• Seeing inside a room.

We wondered ….

• Why the ballroom had so many doors? Can it be split up into smaller rooms?
• How long it took to build Sokha?
• Ms Morilene said it cost millions to make. I wonder if they are still paying back the loan and in debt or if they are making a profit?
• I wonder how many customers they need to make a profit each day?
• I wonder how often staff have training in the staff training room?
• I wonder why they decided to build such a big hotel on the other side of the river?
• I wonder what has been their busiest day? All the rooms full?
• I wonder why they had so many restaurants?
• I wonder if their customers are satisfied? Or not satisfied with the service?
• I wonder who put up all the money for the hotel?
• I wonder if they get many customers in the restaurants?
• I wonder if the 800 staff are full time or part time?
• I wonder if each team has their own budget to spend and how they organize their spending?