Operations Management

Belaire Casino Hotel

The Belaire Casino Hotel is a 50-room hotel and casino in the Nyanga highlands of east-central Zimbabwe. Located 2700-kilometers and three hours drive from the capital, Harare, the hotel serves as a conference center and destination resort. Its facilities include two sizeable conference rooms, two restaurants, a billiard room, a swimming pool, lighted tennis courts, riding stables, a sauna, a fishing pond, slot machines, roulette, blackjack, etc. Single rooms with breakfast are provided for 44 Zimbabwe dollars per day. The main restaurant is open all week and serves a set lunch and dinner, while a small a la carte menu of light food is available in the bar, the common rooms and on the patio. During the weekends the second restaurant is opened with an a la carte menu.

Most guests come by car from within Zimbabwe and from South Africa via Harare. The area includes several hotels without casinos, Mt. Inyanga (7,500 feet) and the surrounding national park, lakes stocked with trout, golf courses, and many interesting rock formations and scenic vistas. The area is a popular summer resort with a number of private cottages nearby. Because of the long history of farming and cattle-raising in the area, there is relatively little evidence of wild game. Because of the elevation, the winters are quite cold.

Security at the Belaire is not a problem, despite being only 30 kilometers from the on-and-off fighting in Mozambique. Most of the staff live in the neighboring villages and walk to work. Underemployment in the areas is heavy and jobs at the hotel prized. However, the staff seems to have frequent difficulty remembering who ordered what at a table, mixes up the laundry on occasion, and occasionally writes down the wrong number for an international phone call. The manager, Mr. Tracy Andrews, 28, who had arrived six months before, posts on the bulletin board in the main hallway next to the front desk, the tabulation of client surveys and the listing...