Introducing fb community page Maldivessc

Recently a fellow resort worker applied to a job in a big brand resort and was well into the process of the interviews untill he asked an innocuous question. He asked how much can he expect as monthly service charge. His interviewer was not impressed. The interviewer refused to disclose any amount be it maximum, minimum or even average. The interview faltered from this point onwards and our friend resort worker didnt win the job.

This is clearly an extremely stupid position held by the resort unaware of how much information about resorts is already out there by excellent collaboration of resort workers.

Inttoducing facebook community page

https://www.facebook.com/MaldivesSC/

and accompanying site

http://www.maldivessc.wordpress.com

is a must visit resource for resort workers looking to understand the kind of service charge the resort pays.

Different resorts charge different rates from guests per room night as well as other sales items and services, so there is legit reason for big variation in service charge. However if the variation is big between almost similar sized resorts, there is benefit in being in the know.

What is the best PMS to use in resort?

PMS or property management software goes by many names. There are many types of PMS related software often packaged as modules and sold with other bigger software packages such as inventory trackers & booking systems. A typical PMS setup would be to have a database of all assets, PMP (preventive maintenance program) routines, reporting levels, workorder processes which all tries to update key people on breakdowns, routine maintenance checks or guest complaints.

PMS Pricing is usually subscription based and can cost around the salary of 1 to 3 regular staff per month. Most high end resorts use some sort of PMS to manage the works. Smaller low budget resorts mostly do not use PMS and manages their work just fine, so what gives?

Why is PSM a neccesity and why does it cost arms & legs? Are there ways to achieve the benefit of using PMS without buying in to the bogus sales pitch thats also usually packaged with PSM package? The answer is yes PMS is an important part of any maintenance or engineering setup and its entirely possible to build a free PMS suited to any particular business. A powerful PMS can be stiched together using a combination of free online services to achieve the same result with zero budget.

A typical such system would include an online calendar such as google calendar (for scheduling tasks), Trello (good mobile support & kanban style cards), google sheets (for data analysis & collection), IFTT (for connecting the other services and google forms (for data collection and db). These are all free but extremely powerful and customizable tools ideally suitable for managing small to mid size businesses for use as PMS proper.

Innovation is not always investing in the next bloatware in the market but to make use of low cost, high tech services to advantage and improve on existing setup.

Service charge rankings by resort

Chavel Blanc Randheli leads all resorts in Maldives in service charge payments. This trend has been ongoing for quite sometime and it looks like bigger brands with new hotels will dominate this in the future. However with many new big brand resorts scheduled to open in near future, some quite close to Male, change is expected. Service charge is a legal right of employees in Maldives under local labour laws and yet majority of resorts are said to distribute only a fraction of SC to staff. While some resorts do display service charge revenue to staff on regular basis on public noticeboards, most keep this information a tightly guarded secret. With little accountability in tourism sector towards employees rights, it is hoped that various awards and recognition bodies will prod the employers on issues like this to bring conpliance and integrity to tourism sector.