Facility management: Review Questions
Chapter 2: The role, cost and management of hospitality facilities
1. What are the roles fulfilled by facilities in the hospitality industry?
- Guest satisfaction
o Appealing visual environment
- Attraction
o Engagement & entertainment
- Unseen facilities
o Elimination of unwanted sounds
o Comfortable thermal environments
- Manufacturing plant
o Equipment and systems that allow the operation to function
o Workplace for the employees
- Identity
o Trademark elements
- Return on investment
o Location where the business generates operation profit
- Revenue generation
o Guest rooms, meeting spaces, dining outlets…
- Safety
2. What are the 3 major categories of costs of hospitality facilities?
- Development and construction
- Operation
- Renovation and modernization
o Significant portion of the facilities manager’s duties.
3. What are some advantages of gathering utility and POM data on a per-
room basis? What are the disadvantages?
- Advantages:
o Allows you to compare
- Disadvantages:
o Comparing properties without controlling for
occupancy/cover may lead to incorrect conclusions
o Large differences exist in business mixes. If a hotel has a
large banquet business, but its POM/utility expenditures are
expressed per room, it will look high compared to a hotel
without banquets.
o Presence of laundry increases POM and energy expenses
, 4. How might knowledge of equipment lifetimes affect maintenance
decisions?
- Some equipment is designed with a throwaway mindset, others are
suitable for residential use, but not commercial usage (e.g. vacuum
cleaners)
- Info about equipment lifetime and maintenance costs are helpful in
understanding maintenance needs and planning equipment
purchases
- With a good maintenance program, the life of the equipment can be
prolonged. However, As the equipment reaches and exceeds the
expected life, anticipate more frequent failures and a need to invest
additional labor and materials to keep the equipment operational
5. What are management’s general responsibilities with regard the
maintenance function?
- Safety and security
- Legal and regulatory compliance
- Service
- Cost control
- Asset management
6. Why is there sometimes a question over whether to allocate an expense to
the POM, reserve for replacement or capital account?
- Disagreements in management contracts
o Under most contracts, the operator generally needs the
owner's approval to spend the reserves
o Getting this approval can be difficult when the operator and
the owner disagree over whether the expenditure should
come from the POM budget, the reserve account, or the
owner's capital (when removed from POM, it decreases
income before fixed charges, if it is after, management fee
will be higher)
Chapter 2: The role, cost and management of hospitality facilities
1. What are the roles fulfilled by facilities in the hospitality industry?
- Guest satisfaction
o Appealing visual environment
- Attraction
o Engagement & entertainment
- Unseen facilities
o Elimination of unwanted sounds
o Comfortable thermal environments
- Manufacturing plant
o Equipment and systems that allow the operation to function
o Workplace for the employees
- Identity
o Trademark elements
- Return on investment
o Location where the business generates operation profit
- Revenue generation
o Guest rooms, meeting spaces, dining outlets…
- Safety
2. What are the 3 major categories of costs of hospitality facilities?
- Development and construction
- Operation
- Renovation and modernization
o Significant portion of the facilities manager’s duties.
3. What are some advantages of gathering utility and POM data on a per-
room basis? What are the disadvantages?
- Advantages:
o Allows you to compare
- Disadvantages:
o Comparing properties without controlling for
occupancy/cover may lead to incorrect conclusions
o Large differences exist in business mixes. If a hotel has a
large banquet business, but its POM/utility expenditures are
expressed per room, it will look high compared to a hotel
without banquets.
o Presence of laundry increases POM and energy expenses
, 4. How might knowledge of equipment lifetimes affect maintenance
decisions?
- Some equipment is designed with a throwaway mindset, others are
suitable for residential use, but not commercial usage (e.g. vacuum
cleaners)
- Info about equipment lifetime and maintenance costs are helpful in
understanding maintenance needs and planning equipment
purchases
- With a good maintenance program, the life of the equipment can be
prolonged. However, As the equipment reaches and exceeds the
expected life, anticipate more frequent failures and a need to invest
additional labor and materials to keep the equipment operational
5. What are management’s general responsibilities with regard the
maintenance function?
- Safety and security
- Legal and regulatory compliance
- Service
- Cost control
- Asset management
6. Why is there sometimes a question over whether to allocate an expense to
the POM, reserve for replacement or capital account?
- Disagreements in management contracts
o Under most contracts, the operator generally needs the
owner's approval to spend the reserves
o Getting this approval can be difficult when the operator and
the owner disagree over whether the expenditure should
come from the POM budget, the reserve account, or the
owner's capital (when removed from POM, it decreases
income before fixed charges, if it is after, management fee
will be higher)
