Managing Front Office Operations in the Front Office of a Hotel - Essay Example

Managing Front Office Operations in the front office of a hotel INTRODUCTION Regardless of the type or of the hotel, thefront office department plays a role that is not only more visible but also essential. The reception desk functions as the central point of action within the front office and is often located in the Hotel’s front lobby. Here, the reception desk functions in dispensing the Hotel’s front –of-the-house activities. Front office department is the hub of communication in hotels that maintain huge guest contacts. Staffs of the front office usually portray the first image of the hotel since they are the ones who welcome guest for the first time and should thus depict great level of competency, efficiency, and good behavior. The reception docket performs different functions that include: sale of rooms, room assignments, guest registration, handling of guest requests, cashiering along with handling mail, maintenance of the guest accounts, and provision of information. Additionally, this docket handles financial tasks which include: receiving cash payments, verifying cheques, handling guest folios and handling credit cards and foreign currency. This works will detail the practice and procedures that a front office uses in a hotel FRONT OFFICE FUNCTIONS The front office functions primarily in the facilitation of the activities between the visitors and other Hotel departments. It additionally support and assist in the provision of services to the guests. The nature and type of Front office operation is greatly determined by number of transactions and interactions between the hotel and the guest during the visitors stay. The procedures involved during this process are simply outlined as: pre-arrival, arrival, occupancy, and departure. The different practices and procedures between the hotel and the guest depend on the stage of the visitor stay. The transactions are better understood by taking a look at the visitor’s cycle presented as: reservations, check-in and registration, mail and information, uniformed service and baggage handling, telephone calls and messages, handling guest accounts, and check-out and bill settlement. All the transactions and services handled by the front office docket can be categorized into two groups basing on the area where they are performed. These groups include those accomplished by the reception as front-of-the –house and the other performed as back-of –the –house operation. Front-of-the-House practice and procedures Front-of-the-house practice and procedures are termed so because they take place in the presence of the visitors. These operations may either reflect a direct interaction with the visitors or may entail an activity that is being carried out in front of the visitors. The front office practice and procedures begin from the moment a visitor sends in a request or calls for accommodation/ reservation. Staffs working on the front office department begin interacting with visitors by taking in visitor’s data and reservation request, ensuing in the acceptance of reservation and lastly to the handling of visitors on arrival and check in. The check-in practices is compulsory for both, a walk in visitor (without prior reservation) and a visitor with reservation. Because of the computerized system in place nowadays, reservation practice and procedures vary greatly depending on the hotel although the features are more or less the same. During the check-in procedures huge amount of data is collected. This follows the idea that the information collected should work to build the visitors record data and also function as a ready reckoner for cases where the visitor is involved in an emergency. Front office records guest’s information to help in future activities and also offer the guest information about the hotel and its many services, a factor that makes it a link connecting the guest to the hotel. The centrality of the front office with regard to its roles is apparent when considering its involvement in all the activities of guests visiting the hotel. Consequently, decision concerning selling of a room to specific guest, room availability and allocation, maintenance of guest accounts in collaboration with the housekeeping and room services remain entirely on front-of-the-house practices and procedures. Finally, account settlement or deciding when an account should be settled forms part of the check-out procedure, undertaken by the front office. Putting it is a simple way, front office can be said to be the first and last place in the whole procedure of guest interaction with the hotel. Back -of-the -House practice and procedures Just as the name imply, these practice and procedures entail the other activities not handled in front of the guests. As suggested earlier, front office practice and procedures begin the moment a request or enquiry regarding accommodation is placed. The response to this inquiry is made weighing the possibilities of making it a reservation request. While reservation may be taken a practice and procedure of front office, leading hotel chains/lines maintain a centralized reservation system, on standby 24/7 all year round. Any confirmed reservation is followed by browsing of information to find out if it is a repeat guest. In the case where the guest has ever been accommodated the personal data and preferences are taken into consideration. By using a guest’s previous data, front office department can help advance services with a personal touch. Front office procedures are in such a way that once a guest checks-in, his/her account is activated. This account tracks the guest’s record on his/her financial dealing with the hotel. The financial dealings handled here are room rent, beverage, food, and laundry advanced from the hotel’s outlet and any other facility within the hotel that is used by the guest during the stay. For example, these financial dealings may begin the time when the guest while waiting to be allocated a room begins making phone calls to inform the concerned persons of his arrival or when ordering for something. Daily night auditor usually plays an important role of helping the front office docket maintain the guest accounts. In some hotels, proper credit line arrangements are in place, and these services are extended to guests or even the companies they represent. In this case, the credit limit is preset and the guest is only allowed a full or partial payment once he/she accumulates the amount. In most instances the guests are required to present their credit card during check-in although some hotel insists on cash payment during checkout. Recent developments have seen the introduction of a new concept of property management system in which night auditors flash guest’s portfolio on a daily basis on a monitor provided saving much of their time during checkout. In coordination with the housekeeping and room sales, front office department practices and procedures goes as far as maintaining both the occupied and unoccupied rooms. Finally, the maintainance of guest’s data or individual’s information essentially falls under the procedures in the back-of-the-house activity. 1. THE RESERVATION PRACTICE AND PROCEDURES The term “reservation” as used in the Hotel industry, refers to one of the practices or procedures in the front office. This term refers to the booking of a room/ accommodation by a guest. Booking leads to allocation of a particular type of room to a particular visitor for a specified duration. Room reservation serves as a commitment made by the hotel on accepting a guest reservation request. Reservation procedure is often done using well developed computer systems that work to maximize the profits. Such is the case that these hotels pick on the systems that match their requirements. Today, most hotels use internet to allow people in far places make reservation inquiries. In this procedures, booking a reservation inquiries are made over internet by clicking on websites provided. Some advanced systems provide real time data on bookings and reservation but majority have the requests confirmed by staff via telephone or email prior to making official reservations. Accepting or Denying Reservation The practice and procedures of accepting reservations inquiry involves, verifying the availability of the requested room for the specified time. This is checked or confirmed through a computerized system, forecast board or reservation chart. In cases where the required room is available the request is confirmed or else it is declined immediately. Procedures for accepting or denying reservation are complicated and sometimes longer. Manual systems have been found to depict great complexity and take a longer time. Reservation procedures reflect the crucial decision by reservation staffs on whether to accept or reject the request made based on the information such as the kind of guest whether business traveler /VIP/tourist, credit position of the person/ company/ agency, the reason of the visit, duration of stay and other relevant information. Denial of reservation is a very sensitive procedure in the front office dealings since it carries the potential to permanently destroy the hotel image and sent away particular client. Denial of reservation should only be taken in the following circumstances: If the hotel is booked to its capacity; if the requested category of accommodation is not available; the guest or agent is blacklisted. The final role of the reservation docket is to compile reservation list for a day and forward it to the front office reception desk. This is provided alongside other important information like whether the guest is frequent visitor or has specific preferences with regard to room and services offered. This message is then sent to housekeeping to prepare the reserved room according to guest’s preferences for the day Generating Reservation Reports Reservation section mostly holds huge amount of information that require proper organization. Such is the case that once this information is gathered, folio of guests is created and updated with every new data received. Using this information the docket generates periodical reports, usually on a daily or weekly basis. The report generated may include: Room Availability Report, Expected Arrivals and Departure Lists, Group Status Report, Special Arrivals List, Turn Away Report, and Revenue Forecast. Most hotels front office procedures regarding reservation report generation require the front office manager to supervise the final stage of report preparation before sending it to the management team. Managing Reservations Management of the reservations include forecast of the rooms requirements based on the reservation reports. Forecast is done for a period of between 10 days to a number of months, especially when dealing with tour schedules. Here, the hotel reservation policy plays an important function. Such is the case that it should focus on criteria of sales channels that will prove profitable. 2. CHECK–IN PRACTICE AND PROCEDURES Check-in practices and procedure forms the other critical activities carried out by the front office. Here, just like in reservation huge amount of data is gathered and exchanged between the hotel staff and the guest. This works so irrespective of whether the process is carried out using computerized or manual system. In the case of the manual system, the process begins with the coming of the guest who may either be having a prior reservation or just coming for the first time. Depending on the room’s availability, the guest with prior reservation is assigned the room he/she has requested whereas the walk-in guest is assigned a room of his/her choice. The least data collected in manual registration include the guest’s name, the number of guests in the case of a group, the duration of stay and payment mode. Once this is collected, a bellboy or a porter carries the guest’s languages and leads the guest to his/her assigned room. While this is happening, the front desk goes ahead with processing an account for the guest for the specified period of stay. However, the practices and procedures involved in assigning rooms begin even before the guests arrive. It is usually the case that after any major check-out in any given day, the front office produces a report on the number of guests still maintaining their rooms. Using this information, the staff compares the day’s reservation request with the generated report and assigns the unoccupied rooms to new guests. When using a computerized Check-in procedure, only walk-in guests will be required to give their personal data. Guests with reservations only need to confirm the information they has earlier provided and stored in the front desk computer. In this case, the computer updates the guest’s information marking the assigned room as occupied for the entire time the guest will stay. Front office manager attention is often called in situation like over-booking. This refers to situations where more than one visitors place a request for the same room. Here, the manager has the option of either assigning another room to one of the guest or find away to up scale the available rooms. However, in cases where the manager is completely in affix, he/she may decide to refer the guest to a different hotel with similar standing. Regardless of the check-in method, the fundamental process and procedures of check-in revolves around the idea of gathering guest’s information and trying to simplify the operation while making it convenient, warm and friendly. 3. FRONT OFFICE ACCOUNTING PRACTICE AND PROCEDURES Throughout the day, hotels carry out many different transactions with its staying guests. These transactions ensue from the many services availed to the guests and may include laundry or room services. In most cases the guest costing for these services is not made immediately after the guest has been served and as such the cost is included on his/her bill. The practices and procedures of posting keep the billing up to date. This process can be accomplished manually or by using computer. Once posting is done, cross checking and rechecking the information follows just to ensure the amount posted is in the correct department and also in the right guest folio. This procedure is performed regularly since guests keep on checking in and out in a day and also guest’s transactions are repeatedly carried out in the course of the day. Front office section usually depicts a beehive of activities during the day but becomes less busy at night. It is during this night time that respective front office staffs do the tedious task of matching the receipts and the bills. Here, the night auditors confirm the posting of other department’s bills but more specifically the credit limit that can either be that of credit cards or a company’s account floor limit. Based on this procedure, resident guest’s accounts are maintained and thus ensure a speedy settlement of bills. 4. CHECK–OUT PROCESS PRACTICE AND PROCEDURES This is the last point where the guest makes contact with the hotel and as such the experiences of this point determine what impression he/she will carry home. Such is the case that if it depicts a smooth procedure, the guest carries home pleasant memories. The practices and procedures of this stage can be divided into three parts namely: vacating the room; settling the bill; and departing. The checking out practices and procedures vary from one hotel to another, however majority of the hotels have their checkout time set as 12noon. In some cases, the check-out time can be extended depending on the room availability and the type of guest on special request. Routine check out is very important for any hotel as it helps in housekeeping, particularly with regard to room preparation to receive the next guest. Still a small group of hotels offer their guests a flexi-check-out time. In such cases, the next guest that is to be allotted a room is required to wait in the lobby on grounds that the upkeep of the room requires some time. CONCLUSIONS Hotel Front office is a complicated department with many different practices and procedures that include reservation, checking in, front office accounting and checkout activities. Regardless of the type or class of the hotel, the front office department plays a role that is not only more visible but also essential. The reception desk functions as the central point of action within the front office and is often located in the Hotel’s front lobby. Managing this practices and procedures in the present competitive environment is increasingly becoming challenging. The said practices and procedures can be broadly classified into two categories namely: Front-of-the-house practice and procedures which carry the term because they take place in the presence of the visitors. The other is the Back -of-the -House practice and procedures that include all the activities handled far from the guest’s presence. Technological advancement has tried to make the practices simpler through provision of computerized systems, although much of the procedures and practices still remain complex. Front office represents the first and the last point where the guest makes contact with the hotel and as such the experiences of this point determine what impression the guest has regarding the hotel. Consequently, all the practices and procedures included in this department need utmost attention. Works Cited Karsavana, L.Michael. Managing Front Office Operations. Eight Edition ed. Kasavana: Pearson Education, 2013. Print. Read More