Importance of Front office

Front office term cover reception, concierge,

switchboard etc
It also ‘heart’ of the hotel
It also the only contact by the guest traveler at the
hotel
To ensure that guest’s contact with the front office
will be positive
It also as the communication centre of the hotel that
provide info to other dept.
It also about organizing and controlling people to
achieve objectives
Front office structure
Hotel size determine the structure of front office.
There are share features to every type of hotels.
Small hotel don’t have separate management post
like big hotel
The success of front office is the presence of work
ethics of the team
It also important to maintain positive working
relationship with other dept.
Reservations
This department is often part of the front desk.
The reservation procedure usually begins with an
inquiry by a potential guest about room
availability on specific day and period.
Small hotel and B&B may not able to afford
computerized system, so they used manual
backup procedure.
Computerized system usually offer greater
accessibility than manual ones. It can smooth
running of the front desk.
Confirmation of reservations is very important for
both the hotel and the guest. It show
professionalism, especially reservation made over
the phone or internet.
Confirmation is also important for the hotel bcoz
it is a way to double checking each reservation.
Overbooking is another important issue for
reservation.
Hotel overbook for 2 main reasons;
There is often a number of guest that do not have
guaranteed reservation
Guest with guaranteed reservation fail to show up.
The purpose of overbooking is to maximization
profit, but if the hotel in unfortunate situation, like
every guests show up, the hotel will have to find the
rooms for the guests that cannot be accommodated.
In some case, the hotel guests want to extend their
stay also may cause the hotel to overbooked.
CHECK-IN
Important task that front desk personnel have
to undertake.
Receptionists have to perform a multiple task.
They must be polite, put guest at ease & make
them feel welcome.
At the same time efficiently performing the following
duties:
Checking that the registration details on the card are
correct and legible.
Checking with the guest that details of the booking are
correct.
Verifying that the guest knows the room rate and what
it includes
Checking that the room is allocated and ready.
Checking for messages for he guest/ any other special
requests
Issuing the room key.
Registration
 Contains information required of the guest.
 2 distinct categories:
1. Information necessary for hotel to operate that hotel
is legally obligated to obtain
2. Keep for a certain period.
 Usually include the guests name, address,
nationality, passport number and signature
Other information usually required by the
hotel includes;
Date of arrival and departure
Time of arrival
Number of guests per room
Payment method and deposit information
Room number
Rate and what it includes
Who handled the guest's registration
CHECK OUT
The last contact with the hotel that a guest has on
any particular stay.
Principals functions of the check-out are therefore to
settle the guest’s bill/ accounts.
This account was opened at the check-in stage and
are certain principles that have to be followed
regarding guest’s accounts.
These are:
They must be always up to date and accurate.
Cash sales must be separately posted-hotel
accountant prepares the cash flow statement for the
hotel.
The system of records must be easy to operate and
economic in terms of time and maintenance costs.
Most hotel today use computerized systems.
Control procedures are integrated in these computer
packages.
These control producers include:
Goods in the form of cost control
Accommodation,
Telephones
Separately recorded cash transactions
Bad debts
Methods of payment are another consideration
during the check-out.
The most common methods of payment are:
Cash
Credit and debit cards
Bank transfers
Cheques
Vouchers
Bill sent to the company that made the reservation.
 Night Audit
Typical night audit shift – 11pm and 7pm
Also called as the ‘graveyard shift’
Function that night audit perform:-
Auditing the front office department and other revenue
generating department within the hotel
The main link between the front office and the account
department of the hotel
Every shift must balance up all payments received
before going off duty
Hospitality
Terms such as ‘hospitality’, ‘providing a service’,
and ‘accommodating the guest’s needs’ – to avoid
misunderstanding
Hospitality – the concept of anticipating and
satisfying all guest’s (reasonable) wants and needs.
terms ‘want’ and ‘needs’ cover both material
requirements as well as psychological benefits such
as making a guest feel welcome
Providing a service – the process of satisfying
guests need and it combines what is done and
how it is done
Quality of service provided is not measurable by
any hard criteria.
It is a matter of perception and accordingly varies
from guest to guest, deriving from guest’s prior
expectation and current state of mind.
Provision of service involves guest/hotel personal
interaction
The front office department is the most visible
department of the hotel
Guest look to front office personnel to answer
questions, provide direction, suggest restaurant and
etc.
The hotel relies heavily on front office personnel to
convince their guest about the quality of service that
the hotel is providing
 The following key area of activity that
involve to convince the guests
Good personal and uniform appearance is the key
to a positive first impression.
 Good personal appearance covers areas – grooming,
hairstyle, fingernails, jewellery
 Good uniform appearance means that the uniform
must be clean and properly pressed and shoes must
be coordinated with the uniform
Facial expression must communicate willingness
to offer assistance, emphasized by direct eye
contact and a warm smile.
Proper posture and body language – means of
visual communication at all times and particularly
during the first encounter, must convey alertness,
enthusiasm and the willingness of personal
Every guest must be addressed with a welcome
salutation, positive altitude and the guest’s name
must be used as often as possible
If the front office personnel are unable to help
with guest’s problem – volunteer to offer other
alternative before guest asks for it
 Examples on how to deal with difficult
guest relation situations
8 steps can be used when confronted with such a
situation
Listen carefully to what the guest is saying without
interrupting.
Filter through to the real problem by asking question
regarding the problem
Develop alternative situations
Act immediately
Never make a promise that you cannot keep
Refer problem that are beyond your authority or control
Give the guest your undivided attention
Always be pleasant
 PRICING
1. Pricing is one of the most important managerial aspects
of the front office department.
2. It is affects the volume of sales and profit maximization
for the hotel.
3. Two main approaches to pricing:
(a) Cost Based / Cost Plus Pricing
- Are based on the following general approaches.
- The cost related to one room rental are identified
and
then a fixed. rate of return is added to calculate the
selling price.
(b) Market Based
- Price follow-ship and prestige product pricing.
- Hotels will identified what the consumer is prepared
to
pay for a specific service.
- Trying to achieve the desired rate of return.
- Hotel can afford to do detailed market and
demographic analysis in order to determine this.
4. Some hotels however, use a combination of cost based
and market based.
5. The advantage of this strategy is that they remain
competitive.
6.The problem however is that chain can use this
behavior to heir advantage.
MARKET PENETRATION STRATEGY
1. By reducing their room price, hotel chain operators can
force independent operators out of business.
2. The chain’s profit will support the lost making hotel.
3. An independent hotel that does not make any profit will
go bankrupt, leaving a greater market share for the chain
operated hotel.
4. When the lager market has been secured and
competition reduced the chain operated hotel can then
increased room rates and become profitable again.
5. This strategy usually employed by new entrants to a
market, and is called market penetration strategy.
 PRICING POLICY
1.Determine by the characteristics of:
(a) The Guests Characteristics
- Length of stay and meal requirements.
- Alternative eating facilities in the hotels locale.
- Guest spending power.
- Price sensitivity.
- Homogeneity.
(b) Hotel Characteristics
- Grade, size, market position and marketing strategy.
2. That both independent as well as chain operated hotel must
considered in relation to their pricing strategy
(a) Price variations due to different room types.
(b) Number of occupants or room.
(c) Market segments or type of guest.
(d) Room rack rate
(e) Variety of other room rates.
(f) Contracts with tour operator, travel agencies and other.
 YIELD MANAGEMENT
1. Hotel companies have started using yield
management to try to maximize their profits.
2. Originally used by airline companies.
3. Based on the principle of supply and demand.
4. Concentrates on specific market segments and
time period.
5. Based on future bookings and booking forecast,
using the yield management the hotel operators
adjusts the hotel room price to achieve the
optimum balance between supply and demand
for the specific period.
CONTROL
 -the objectives;
 a)To establish specific targets
 b) To monitor the performance
• c) To take corrective action
- -a no. of areas can and must be controlled.
- -F.O manager must be able to choose the
- necessary information and report.
- -the report will see by, senior managers, head
office and every departmental manager.
 the report must be accurate as well as adapted to the needs of the
specific property & specific manager.
why? – to avoid the problem of information overload.

Typical set of reports Particular

Occupancy report  summarizes the previous day’s occupancy rate
and average room rate
 it can be broken down by room type ( manager can
see which room types and rates were popular during
a day/ period & which are not.
Revenue report  giving the total room revenue for the day
 give the average room rate for the day( total room
revenue ÷ total no. of room sold)
 The advantages of the report:
 Help the manager to see if the department is meeting the set budget
or if corrective action is needed.
 Manager can identify which are the most popular rate and plan
accordingly.
 Breaks down the total revenue figure by method of payment (cash,
credit card and vouchers)

Arrival list (the name of suggests, a detailed list of the

Detail list day’s arrivals)
Departure list (all the departures that are expected for
the day)
 The report will be generates by night shift include the night audit
team.
 The report, give an advantages to other department.
 For example, departure list that the housekeeping department can
use to organize personnel levels.
 - Overall, all the lists serve the purpose of manual back up in the
unfortunate case of a computer breakdown.

No Reports Particular

a.) VIP guest report -includes arrival & departure information of VIP guest that
arrive that day

b.) special request report -For all arriving guests

c.) room out of order - Listing all the hotel rooms that are out of order

d.) messages report -lists all the guests arriving that day & who have messages or
parcels waiting

e.) maintenance report -lists all maintenance work to be carried out during the day

f.) credit limit report -Lists the credit limits that the hotel’s credit controller has
allocated to each guest

g.) in-house guests report - List all the guests that are staying in the hotel

h.) vacant room report - lists all rooms that are vacant

i.) No shows report - Guests with reservations that failed to show up him previous
night
 -2 main purposes :-
a.) They act as backup in the case of a computer failure
b.) Hotel employees who do not work in an office such as maintenance
personnel do not have constant access to this information.

- Apart from cash and revenue is guest satisfaction.

- Hotel give guest satisfaction questionnaires for the purpose of
getting feedback on customer satisfaction.
- The questionnaires are left in the guest’s room and ask the guest to
grade.
 PERSONNEL
Providing a god quality and effective service in
front office.
Proper and continuous training in collaboration
with the previously mentioned control
procedures.
The characteristic:-
a.) appropriate personnel levels
b.) keeping the personnel motivated
c.) having welfare and appraisal systems in place
d.) ensuring career development possibilities
 IT & EQUIPMENT
 Technological advances have changed the ways hotels operate, & emerging
technologies will continue that trend such as:
a) sales force automation
b) seamless reservation systems
c) paperless mgkt
d) interactive services
 These systems integrate front office with all food & beverages outlets;
reservations; central reservation; the accounts department; conference and
banqueting; sales & mktg; & more.
 The services are more efficient and enable them to provide a better service to
hotel guests & not a replacement of traditional hospitality & personal contact
 But technological equipment and computes cannot make a guest feel
welcome.
 Summary
 This chapter briefly discussed the functions of hotel’s F.O department.
 The functions were grouped into 3 main categories:

Operational aspects social & psychological mgkt aspects

Of F.O of F.O mgkt

 The importance of the front office department stretches beyond

revenue generation and the communication centre of the hotel,
coordinating all the other departments aiming to provide the
hotel guests with a level of service that will meet, or even exceed, their
expectations.