SECTIONS OF FRONT OFFICE

COMPILED BY MR.SUNIL KUMAR

LECTURER

PORTERS (CONCIERGE\LOBBY SERVICES)• The porters department comprises a large group of

uniformed staff, include:

1. Head hall porter(bell captain\lobby services manager).

2. Doorman.

3. Porters or pages(bellboys).

PORTERS (CONCIERGE\LOBBY SERVICES)

• Head hall porters is in charge of all of the uniformed staff in the front office and works from a desk in the main lobby.

• The duties and services which can conduct :

1. Control of the uniformed staff

2. Close liaison with the front office manager and other department.

3. Giving of information to guests concerning about the hotel service and local directions.

4. Message taking and issuing room key

5. Arranging the hire of hotel cars

6. The booking of theatre tickets and the conformation of airline passages.

7. Solving of the guest problems and queries about the local and recreational facilities.

PORTERS (CONCIERGE\LOBBY SERVICES)

The head hall porter, is the person who arranges anything a guest requires, even such things as a private airplane trip.

In some cases which there is not separate security staff, the security of the hotel lobby may become a duty of the uniformed staff.

MAIL AND INFORMATION

• It is found only in the large hotel and it is incorporate into reception department.

• The mail and information section comprises:

1. The mail and information supervisor

2. Mail and information clerks.

MAIL AND INFORMATION

• The mail and information supervisor is responsible for:

1. a team of main and information clerks who give out guests keys and deliver guests mail and messages.

2.Dealing with guest visitors3.Provide information on the hotel or

local attractions. 4.They would supply of local postage

stamps and stationery

TELEPHONE \OPERATOR• The staff in section include:

1. Telephone supervisor

2. Telephone operator : For day and night operator

• Which the process all income and outgoing calls through the hotel switchboard.

• The staff need good language and communication skills.

TELEPHONE \OPERATOR

The will give general information over the telephone .

They will place international calls and give wake-up calls as required by the guests.

They operate a hotel’s paging system which provide communication service to certain members of hotel staff and management by the nature of their job.

Act as the communication centre in the event of emergency.

GUEST RELATION OFFICE It is possible that the guest meet

the receptionists and porters and very little contact with other member of the staff.

This section (GROs) will create a more caring and personal hotel atmosphere.

GROs Located in the main lobby.

The main responsibility of GROs is make guests feel welcome and provide more personal service.

Handling guest problems and complains.

Handling guest needs as a doctor , simply feel unwell.

GUEST RELATION OFFICE

• The responsibility to care for VIPs and Frequent guest :

1. Checking their rooms are prepared

2. Escorting them on arrival

FRONT OFFICE CASHIER

• Staff include

1. The cashier supervisor

2. Cashiers

• The responsibilities of supervisor cashier for all the cash and methods of payment by the guest

• The front office cashier reported directly to the account manager rather than the front office manager.

FRONT OFFICE CASHIER

The front office cashier are responsible for the opening preparation and settlement of resident guest account.

Check to ensure that all charges are added to guest accounts’.

Safe deposit system of the hotel

Foreign currency exchange service.

RESERVATION

• We will describes typical in this chapter is the activities associated with the reservation process, these activates include:

1.Conducting the reservation inquiry.2.Determining room and rate

availabilities.3.Create the reservation record.4.Confirming the reservation record.5.Maintaining the reservation record.6.Producing reservation reports.7.Researching, planning, and monitoring

reservation.

RESERVATION

The outcome of reservation process is having a guest room ready and waiting when the guest arrives.

The room must meets the guest needs and expectation during the reservation process.

The hotel manager or owner have different objectives – highest occupancy and room revenue possible.

RESERVATION

To achieve these outcomes , hospitality operation must have efficient reservation process or procedures.

Reservation agent must be able to respond in a quick, accurate , and pleasant manner.

Process reservations involves matching room requests with room availabilities and rates; recording; confirming; and maintaining reservations ; finally producing management reports.

RESERVATION

Reservation information is useful in other front office function. (for example: finalize room assignments, create guest account, fulfill guest special needs).

At the same time, Achieve high occupancy and revenue and takes considerable research, planning , and monitoring. The person assigned these tasks is usually the reservation manager or supervisor. In some cases, the front office manager or rooms division manager or even GM may have these responsibilities.

RESERVATION

Selling rooms is very important role for the reservations department, deciding what rooms should be sold and the price to sell them.

RESERVATION AND SALES • Manually or before the computerization:

Reservation agents focused on basic room availability information. And they did not have an effective means by identify available rooms by rooms type. For example: non smoking room or room with certain bedding or view.

• Automation of the reservation process provides accurate and current room and rate information. For example specific room type, locations, special features and quickly confirmed as part of the reservation process.

• Reservation systems enable reservations agents to assign specific rooms.

RESERVATION AND SALES

Many lodging or hotel companies now view reservations as a part of sales department but the function is a part of room division. And they conduct sales training programmed with reservation agents.

Many reservation office have sales goals, include number of room nights, average room rate, and room revenue booked.

RESERVATION AND SALES

• The ability of the reservation department to:

1.Sell rooms.

2.Maximize revenue.

3.Inventory control.

4.Improve guest satisfaction.• Properties can more accurately forecast and

better react to business volumes with emphasis on sales and marketing technique.

• Gathering forecasted sales information and using it to determine pricing or room rate strategies is often referred to as revenue management.

RESERVATION AND SALES THE ROLE OF THE SALES DEPARTMENT IN RESERVATION • Sales department taken a more important

role in reservation, there are several reasons for this:

1.The sales department is a primary source of reservations for the hotel. (group sales manager or representatives create group reservations these are the most commonly corporations or trade associations holding important meetings).

2.The sales department is usually responsible for sales with other markets as well as groups. The sale department may have a specialist assigned to corporations for business traveler and travel agencies.

RESERVATION AND SALES (CON’T) THE ROLE OF THE SALES DEPARTMENT IN RESERVATION

• Sales objectives and incentives including promotions are tied to total revenue.

• By measuring total revenue, sales managers are encouraged to balance room nights with rates.

RESERVATION AND SALESTHE RESERVATION SALES PLANNING PROCESS

The reservation department can book business many month or year in advance.

Some hotels have group contract even future into the future,

Some hotel may have the majority of their group business booked in six month or less.

The sale department that starts the reservation and revenue management processes by focusing on committing rooms well into the future.

TYPES OF RESERVATIONS

• The majority of hotel guests making reservation.

• There are many forms of reservation:

1. Guaranteed reservation.

2. Non-guaranteed reservation.

GUARANTEED RESERVATION

A Guaranteed reservation assures the guest that the hotel will hold a room until a specific time of the day following the guest’s scheduled arrival date.

Guaranteed reservations provide some protection to the hotel’s revenue even in the case of a no-show,

No-show a situation in which the guest makes a reservation but does not register or cancel the reservation.

GUARANTEED RESERVATION

• There are variations of guaranteed reservations include the following:

1.Prepayment: prepayment guaranteed reservation requires that a payment in full be received prior to the guest's day of arrival. And this is the desirable form of guaranteed reservation. Example U.S.

2.Credit card: credit card guaranteed reservation which the hotels ensure to receive payment for no-shows through credit card company which developed this system for that.

GUARANTEED RESERVATION

Credit card guaranteed reservations are the most common form and customary in commercial hotels.

no-show reservation; most hotels charge one night’s rate plus tax. But in the Resort may charge more than one night’s because the staying period is longer than the hotels and it is more difficult to fill rooms.

GUARANTEED RESERVATION

3. Advance Deposit: the guest pay the hotel a specified amount of money before arrival and it should cove one night’s room rate and room tax. If the guest cancel the reservation before the time or arrival, the hotel may retain the deposit and cancel the reservation for the guest’s entire stay. This type of guaranteed is more common at destination resorts and convention center hotels.

GUARANTEED RESERVATION

4. Travel agent: travel agent guaranteed reservation used to be very common. travelers pay the travel agent in advance for their transportation and room charges. And the travel agent guarantees the client’s reservation. In no-show case the hotel bills the travel agency for payment and the travel agent must then collect from the guest. This is less common. The hotels accept travel agent guaranteed reservations from only the largest and most financially responsible agencies.

GUARANTEED RESERVATION

5. Voucher or MCO: another type of travel agent guarantee is the travel agency voucher or miscellaneous charge order (MCO). The MCO is the voucher issued by the airline reporting corporation and is controlled by many of the same travel agency regulations that control airline tickets.