Waits at hotels and shops depend not only on the staff and the number of guests but on when rooms are vacated, how long people may stay and how often they order. Here are five examples from hotels, banquets, a karaoke box and an izakaya (a Japanese pub-restaurant) that an AI simulated in earlier articles, with the tool it calls over MCP (sweep_process_parameters); each figure is the mean of 20 runs.
1. By set-up
| Example | Set-up | What is measured | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| A hotel's housekeeping (12 rooms, 25 minutes per room) | One housekeeper | Wait for a housekeeper once a room is vacated | 80.1 minutes |
| A hotel's housekeeping (12 rooms, 25 minutes per room) | Two housekeepers | Wait for a housekeeper once a room is vacated | 25.6 minutes |
| A hotel's housekeeping (12 rooms, 25 minutes per room) | One housekeeper, a quarter checking out late | Wait for a housekeeper once a room is vacated | 44.9 minutes |
| A hotel's public bath (150 guests) | Three wash basins | Men's wait for a wash basin (to use a dryer) | 12.4 minutes |
| A hotel's public bath (150 guests) | Four wash basins | Men's wait for a wash basin (to use a dryer) | 2.3 minutes |
| A hotel's public bath (150 guests) | Five wash basins | Men's wait for a wash basin (to use a dryer) | 0.4 minutes |
| A banquet's cloakroom (200 guests, 40% with a coat) | Two staff | Mean wait after the party | 11.3 minutes |
| A banquet's cloakroom (200 guests, 40% with a coat) | Three staff | Mean wait after the party | 5.9 minutes |
| A banquet's cloakroom (200 guests, 40% with a coat) | Four staff | Mean wait after the party | 3.2 minutes |
| A karaoke box's Friday night (10 rooms, 20% of groups stay three hours) | 4 groups an hour | Groups who gave up and left | 0.5 groups |
| A karaoke box's Friday night (10 rooms, 20% of groups stay three hours) | 6 groups an hour | Groups who gave up and left | 3.2 groups |
| A karaoke box's Friday night (10 rooms, 20% of groups stay three hours) | 6 groups an hour, a two-hour cap | Groups who gave up and left | 2.3 groups |
| An izakaya's all-you-can-drink (two hall staff) | Each guest orders every 20 minutes, one drink maker | Time for a drink to reach the table | 45.5 minutes |
| An izakaya's all-you-can-drink (two hall staff) | Each guest orders every 20 minutes, two drink makers | Time for a drink to reach the table | 1.7 minutes |
| An izakaya's all-you-can-drink (two hall staff) | Each guest orders every 30 minutes, one drink maker | Time for a drink to reach the table | 12.1 minutes |
2. What they show
- One more drink maker, cloakroom attendant or housekeeper. A second drink maker cuts the wait for a drink from 45.5 minutes to 1.7, a third cloakroom attendant cuts the cloakroom wait from 11.3 to 5.9, and a second housekeeper cuts the rooms' wait from 80.1 to 25.6.
- Rooms vacated at different times help even one housekeeper. With a quarter of the guests checking out late, a vacated room waits 44.9 minutes for one housekeeper instead of 80.1.
- Where the number of fittings decides the wait, add one at a time. At the bath the wait is 12.4 minutes with three wash basins, 2.3 with four and 0.4 with five.
- Cap how long people stay. With 6 groups an hour, a two-hour cap cuts the groups who give up and leave the karaoke box from 3.2 to 2.3.
3. The articles
- How many housekeepers for a 12-room hotel floor?
- What gets crowded at a hotel's public bath?
- How many cloakroom staff for a banquet?
- Are there enough rooms in the karaoke box?
- Are the all-you-can-drink drinks slow?
4. How to ask an AI
In this banquet hall (as drawn, 200 guests), with the 40% who left a coat collecting it after the party, compare the wait with two, three and four cloakroom staff, 20 runs each.
5. What this does not cover
- The numbers of people and groups, and the times to clean, bathe, hand over coats and make drinks, are each article's assumptions. Replace them with your own hotel's or shop's records.
