This weekend I worked at Guest Services in the morning and Food and Beverage in the afternoon on Friday and at the Tram Haus Lodge on Saturday.
From a sustainability perspective, guest services uses the most environmentally friendly practices. Guest services is where everyone picks up their lift tickets and season passes. Because RFID cards are reloadable, guests are encouraged to recycle their used RFID cards at the end of the day. The recycled cards can be used again for future guests.
From a service perspective, of course guest services is the most related. The guests go to guest services to buy lift tickets and ask questions. The people who work in guest services must be extremely knowledgeable about the mountain. Food and beverage is also important for service because you have to make sure you get the guests their food without making them wait. During a big rush, people had to wait for cheeseburgers and hot dogs for a little while but because we worked quickly, the customers didn't get angry for having to wait. The Tram Haus Lodge also revolves around customer service and even when people are being mean, you must remain nice to them. The hotel provides people with the service of a place to sleep and everyone likes to sleep comfortably so they must be treated with a smile and a friendly attitude.
Safety is most important in food and beverage than in the hotel and guest services. In f&b, there are hot grills and sharp knives. It is important to be careful and pay attention to everything you do in f&b to make sure you avoid injury. Mike showed me the best way to cut with a big knife without risking cutting myself.
Guest services and Tram Haus Lodge benefit the consumer in similar ways by offering them the service of a good experience by selling lift tickets and hotel rooms. In guest services, there are many ways to pay for a discounted lift ticket, and the workers are responsible for trying to get the guest the best price on a lift ticket. Food and beverage benefits the guest by providing them with an opportunity for some different options for lunch, so they don't have to pack their own if they don't want to.
Guest services benefits the employees because it is where employees go to pick up their season pass. During my time there, a few of the Pump House employees stopped in to get their picture taken and pick up their season pass. The Tram Haus Lodge may benefit employees in case they need a place to stay for a night in case there was a huge snow storm or accident. Also, the valet employee benefits because he receives tips all day. Food and beverage also benefits the employees because employees get a 50% discount on food so they don't have to pack their own lunch.
All three departments benefit the shareholders because they all make money for the resort. Hotel rooms are not cheap and on weekends, guests are required to stay at least two nights, meaning that each bill is at least a couple hundred dollars up to over a thousand dollars. Guest services brings in revenue from the sale of lift tickets and food and beverage bring in revenue from hungry guests.
Next weekend I get to be in the Pump House! I'm pretty pumped!
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Special events and Rentals
This weekend, there was a "special event" but really it was about 10 buses coming from Canada to Jay Peak for the weekend. Our job was to assist in unpacking buses. However, there was an issue with a couple of buses getting through the border smoothly so we had to go up there and switch people from one bus to another bus. It was really easy but it was cool because we got to hang out with Tom Howell who is in charge of security, parking, and transportation at Jay Peak. On Saturday, I got to work in rentals all day. I got to be the one to get the boots for the customers because I'm not certified to tech skis. It was fun for the most part, but it gets boring when there's no customers coming through.
Neither department I worked with really had anything to do with environmental sustainability. However, financial sustainability is an important part of both departments I worked for. Having about 700 people come to the resort in buses from Canada is a great way to bring revenue from Canada to the Northeast Kingdom. On top of those that came by bus, there were many other people on the mountain spending money at Jay Peak. Rentals is a great way for financial sustainability because you pay one price for the boards and skis and you can use them over and over again. Rentals has a hugeeee opportunity to bring in a high amount of profit.
From a service perspective, both departments are extremely important in providing service to customers. Because of communication with this large group of Canadians, the mountain was able to plan and accommodate many people to be on the mountain throughout the weekend. Without the planning, everything would have fallen apart. Working rentals is all about service so good people skills is a must. Customers come to have a good experience and by providing the option of rentals gives people a chance to learn without spending crap loads on brand new equipment they may never want to use again.
Safety is important all around the mountain, but we didn't really have to think too much about safety while working special events. We just had to keep peoples' bags safe and not throw them around. In rentals, safety is very important. All skis are set to a certain DIN setting that is safest for the person using them. Also, if there is equipment involved in a case that ski patrol deals with, that equipment must get a torque test in order to be allowed to be used again. This prevents equipment damaged in collisions or accidents to cause any more problems for others. Unsafe equipment will never be rented out.
Rentals are very beneficial to the guest because it makes it so people who don't use equipment a lot are able to rent it at a low price. It is especially important for beginners to rent because they are not always sure that they want to continue to ski or ride after a first lesson. The special event was beneficial to the Canadians because they got to take buses to the mountain and not drive their cars. They were able to come as a large group so there were probably a lot of groups of friends who wanted to hang out together.
Having a special event planned is beneficial to the employees because it brings in more people and generates revenue. It is also good to plan a mass amount of people to show up so that there is plenty of staff scheduled to take the extra volume. Rentals is beneficial to the employees because it gives them a job! Employees who normally ride could rent some ski to try something new for free.
For the shareholders and investors, special events and rentals are important because they make a lot of money. Having 700 people show up to the mountain as well as all the people who were going to show up anyway brings in a lot of revenue. They are all taking money out of the Canadian economy and putting it into the American economy. They spend money on lift tickets, rentals, water park tickets, food and beverage, hotel rooms, and retail. All departments benefit from having a higher volume of people on the mountain. Rentals can also make the mountain a lot of money because the same equipment is being used over and over again until it is time to replace them.
Neither department I worked with really had anything to do with environmental sustainability. However, financial sustainability is an important part of both departments I worked for. Having about 700 people come to the resort in buses from Canada is a great way to bring revenue from Canada to the Northeast Kingdom. On top of those that came by bus, there were many other people on the mountain spending money at Jay Peak. Rentals is a great way for financial sustainability because you pay one price for the boards and skis and you can use them over and over again. Rentals has a hugeeee opportunity to bring in a high amount of profit.
From a service perspective, both departments are extremely important in providing service to customers. Because of communication with this large group of Canadians, the mountain was able to plan and accommodate many people to be on the mountain throughout the weekend. Without the planning, everything would have fallen apart. Working rentals is all about service so good people skills is a must. Customers come to have a good experience and by providing the option of rentals gives people a chance to learn without spending crap loads on brand new equipment they may never want to use again.
Safety is important all around the mountain, but we didn't really have to think too much about safety while working special events. We just had to keep peoples' bags safe and not throw them around. In rentals, safety is very important. All skis are set to a certain DIN setting that is safest for the person using them. Also, if there is equipment involved in a case that ski patrol deals with, that equipment must get a torque test in order to be allowed to be used again. This prevents equipment damaged in collisions or accidents to cause any more problems for others. Unsafe equipment will never be rented out.
Rentals are very beneficial to the guest because it makes it so people who don't use equipment a lot are able to rent it at a low price. It is especially important for beginners to rent because they are not always sure that they want to continue to ski or ride after a first lesson. The special event was beneficial to the Canadians because they got to take buses to the mountain and not drive their cars. They were able to come as a large group so there were probably a lot of groups of friends who wanted to hang out together.
Having a special event planned is beneficial to the employees because it brings in more people and generates revenue. It is also good to plan a mass amount of people to show up so that there is plenty of staff scheduled to take the extra volume. Rentals is beneficial to the employees because it gives them a job! Employees who normally ride could rent some ski to try something new for free.
For the shareholders and investors, special events and rentals are important because they make a lot of money. Having 700 people show up to the mountain as well as all the people who were going to show up anyway brings in a lot of revenue. They are all taking money out of the Canadian economy and putting it into the American economy. They spend money on lift tickets, rentals, water park tickets, food and beverage, hotel rooms, and retail. All departments benefit from having a higher volume of people on the mountain. Rentals can also make the mountain a lot of money because the same equipment is being used over and over again until it is time to replace them.
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