Saint- Petersburg, its climate, geographical position

St.-Petersburg is my native city and I would like to tell you a few words about its climate and geographical situation.

The city lies in the North-West of Russia in the delta of the Riva Neva. It is only a few feet above the sea level and is criss-crossed by rivers and canals. The huge delta has formed 42 islands which are linked by 559 bridges.

St. - Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great as a capital of Russian Empire and from1712 up to 1924 was really its capital. The population of the city is about 5 million people.

My city lies in the marine, moderately cool west wind zone. Its climate is influenced by the Baltic, that’s why the winters are usually cold and summers are warm and sometimes hot. In summer and autumn rainfalls are frequent and heavy. The average temperature is + 18 C (eighteen degrees above zero) and in January is – 8 C (eight degrees below zero).

Early in summer the White Nights is unusual phenomenon. They last from the 11^th of June to the 2^nd of July. There is only a brief interval of semidarkness between the late sunset and the early sunrise.

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Getting around the city

Saint-Petersburg has a well-developed transport service; it includes buses, trams, trolleybuses, subway and route-taxi. Subway is the most popular transport in Saint-Petersburg as the majority of people use it. It goes to almost every corner of Saint-Petersburg and its lines connect all the parts of the big city. The Saint-Petersburg subway is easy to use and quite cheap. The price on one ticket is twenty five rubles which is cheaper than on other public transport. Our subway is considered to be not dangerous. Traffic jams can be terrible, and it's usually the quickest way to go by subway.

You see more, of course, if you go by bus or trolleybus. The routs of buses or trolleybuses and trams are printed in special booklets. But if you are in a hurry you may take a taxi. Sometimes you can find taxi ranks (places where taxi wait). You can also telephone for a taxi or stop one in the street. Taxi in Saint-Petersburg is very expensive, so be careful. To go from airport to the city centre by taxi is rather expensive. You'd better use so-called route-taxis.

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DAILY DUTIES OF THE CHAMBERMAID

Rooms in any hotel must be always clean, and it doesn’t depend on the category of a hotel. Cleaning is very time- and labour- consuming procedure, so the hotel should have highly qualified personnel and all necessary labour-saving equipment. Also it is very important to choose the right time for cleaning the room in order not to disturb guests. There are 5 kinds of cleaning:

Check-out cleaning (Cleaning after the guest’s departure);

Daily cleaning;

General cleaning;

Cleaning of the reserved rooms;

Express cleaning.

In most hotels chambermaids work in shifts and are answerable to the Head Housekeeper who gives them orders and controls their work. The head housekeeper runs a complex of activities with many employees, not just a single household. She needs to know how to purchase on a large scale, as well as how to make beds and clean carpets properly.

The main task of chambermaids is to clean hotel rooms. If the rooms are ‘stay-overs’ it is a general routine cleaning. Daily duties of any chambermaid are to change the sheets (every two days), make the bed, quick clean and tidy up the bedroom without disturbing guests’ things. Then comes cleaning of the bathroom and changing of towels.

If the rooms are ‘check-outs’, in this case, cleaning of the reserved rooms has the highest priority so it’s necessary to start with room airing, checking the number of hangers in the wardrobe and airing it, checking that the mini-bar is full and that the air-condition is fixed correctly. Also it’s important to make sure that curtains are open and the blinds are up before the guests come in. After that comes changing of sheets and pillow cases, making the bed, cleaning and tidying up of bedroom and bathroom.

Room cleaning is very important, as it forms the image of the hotel and makes guests feel comfortable.

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Careers in the Hospitality Industry.

A lot of people work in a hotel, the main task of all personnel is to look after guests, and each member of the staff has its own duties and responsibility.

At the head of the hotel there is General Manager. He runs the hotel and controls the whole work of it. He controls that the hotel is profitable. Then comes, Assistant Manager, he is answerable to General Manager and responsible for all the departments.

All hotels, big or small, have a staff structure. In medium to large hotels, the staff are organized into departments. A simple structure might have only three departments: food and beverages (restaurants, bars, kitchens), housekeeping and maintenance, front office and administration.

In a bigger hotel the restaurant and the kitchen are separate departments. The same would happen with maintenance and housekeeping, and also with administration and front office.

The department which has the closest contact with hotel's guests is the front office, also is often called the reception. Head Receptionist controls the work of the Front Desk. He has some assistants whose duty is to book rooms, to check- in and check - out the guests, as well as to deal with their complaints. They work with computers and hotel documents, check both the manual records and the computer records to see which rooms are occupied, which are unoccupied, which are closed for maintenance and which need cleaning. Also, they send faxes, answer the telephone calls, deal with enquires, take reservations and put calls through to other departments. Hotel receptionists are in constant contact with the public and need to have very good customer skills.

The Head Housekeeper gives orders to the chambermaids whose job is to see to it that all rooms are clean and everything is in order.

Large hotels also have a concierge, who has a desk in the hotel lobby near the reception. The concierge's job is to provide necessary information to guests and to help guests find the facilities and attractions that they want both inside and outside the hotel.

To work in a hotel you must be reliable, hardworking, energetic and honest. It is hard work, especially in peak season. The working hours are long and unsociable. You are expected to work at weekends, some guests may be difficult to deal with.

The personnel of the hotel should be helpful and friendly and (try to) always smile to the guests. More over working in a hotel demands a great deal of energy, flexibility and dedication. You have to be creative, polite, friendly and highly responsible.