Why Front Office Department are important to Hotel?

Why Front Office Department are important to Hotel?

The front office in hotel is operational department of hotel Responsible for the sales of Room through systematic process of reservation followed by Registration and assigning Room to customer. Front office department is the first and last point of contact for a guest. it is part of larger divison called accomodations. Accomodation department has many other services that support a guest stay such as bell desk , concierge, telecommunication e.t.c . This department is properly furnished and well designed as it is focal point for all guests. This department represent the whole property.

FUNCTIONS :-

• To sell Room

• To reserve rooms for guest before their arrival

• To register guest into hotel

• To assign room

• To provide in-house and external information to the guest.

• To maintain accurate room status information

• Check- in arriving guest

• Help in marketing and upselling

• To keep guest records

• Deal with mail , message of the guest

• Handle guest complaints

• Deal with accident and unusual events

• To maintain account of the guest

Organization chart of front office department

The front office department is lead by front office manager. Front office manager is assist by assistant front office manager. Below assistant front office manager, there are three section, reservation manager, front office supervisor and lobby manager are head of these sections. Reservation manager supervises reservation supervisor and reservation Assistant. Front office supervisor supervises telephone operator, receptionist, information assistant and front office cashier. Similarly, lobby manager supervises senior captain ,bell captain and bell boys. Guest relations executive reports to lobby manager while front office cashier report to night auditor.

A organization chart can be neatly drawn considering above information. We have to know who reports to whom and who supervises whom.

Co-ordinating department of front office 

Front office is the hub of hotel . No Department in hotel survive alone . It is not only the front office department working towards customer satisfaction. The friction between the departments should be minimum.

1. Food production department :-

Kitchen prepares meals as per the room plan for in - house guests which is communicated by front office department. Kitchen also prepare food items of menu as per order of guest , which is informed by front office department

2. Housekeeping department :-

They co - ordinate with each other for , to arrange room for VIP and group check in, to clear departure room, to prepare room report, to deal with guest laundry and verify guest with scanty baggage . Also , for clean uniform front office should co ordinate 

3. Food and beverage service department :-

The front office department coordinates with food and beverage department for following information :-

Setting up bar in VIP Rooms

Complimentary services and to inform about VIP guests, number of guest so setup can be done easily , function going to be held.

To provide food and drink in guest room

4. Bell desk :- 

• To carry guest luggage on arrival and departure
• To help paging the guest
• For correct verification of room information in case of room discrepancy
• To verify guest with scanty Baggage

5. Accounts department :-

• To collect guest bills for check out of guest
• To update guest bills and update them
• To calculate room rate
• To deal with city ledger

6. Telephone operations :-

• To handle incoming and outgoing calls
• Guest message handling
• To deal with wake up calls

7. Engineering department :-

They communicate with each other for maintenance service. front office staffs informs this Department for any work require in guest room. Engineering department should know occupancy status of room before performing their maintenanec tasks

8. Human resource department :-

Human resource department may ask front office to screen job candidates and also need co-ordination for hiring new employees, promotion, bonus ,transfer . Optimum co-ordination is crucial.

9. Purchase and store Department :-

It is the Department responsible for all activities related to purchase and store I'm hotel. Front office department co - ordinates with this Department for purchasing several Equipments and machine used in front office.

10. Security department :- 

The co - ordination is required for guest security and also security department provides emergency situation handling training to front office department and training to identify suspicious person, dealing with them initially.

Layout of front office department

The front office department of a hotel comprises of various sections depending on the size of hotel. It is divided into various sub- section which perform various roles and Function. The various sections within the front office department are reservation, reception, information desk , front office cash and bill section, bell desk, travel desk, telephone exchange operator, business centre , reception e.t.c 

Function of  layout/section of front office is :-

1. Reservation :- most hotel booking are made through reservation. Request for reservation of room comes from various sources and are received, proceed, documented and retrieved at appropriate time . The main function of this section is :-

 

• Handle all reservations requests politely and promptly without delay after receiving reservation request
• Update availability of room after each reservation transaction that is after confirmation, amendment and cancellation 
• Confirm reservation request
• Deal with various Booking charts

2. Reception :- It is the place where guest register themselves into the hotel . it is headed by front office supervisor and comprises team of receptionist and desk assistant. The basic roles of reception are:-

• Welcoming guest
• Registering the guest
• Assign room and rates
• Issue a room key
• Maintain guest bills and settle their account.

3. Information desk :- It provides various information to the guest .it is handled by information assistant. similarly it also :-

• Handle guest message
• Co-ordinate with guest mails, parcels
• Providing information to guest related to hotel facilities and about city
• Paging guest
• Maintain resident guest racks

4. Telephone operator :- It is another essential section of front office department located at backside handled by telephone operator. This area is not visible to guests 

• It performs Function like :-
• Answering incoming calls
• Directing calls to Guestroom through switchboard
• Answering inquiries about hotel facilities and events
• Processing guest wake up calls

5. Front office cash and bill section :- it is located within front desk. It record all monetary transaction of guest. It maintain guest folios and prepare guest bills to be collected by guest at the time of departure.

• Responsible for handling safe deposit locker
• Opening guest folio
• Posting charge in guest folio
• Recording credit charges
• Prepare bill
• Exchanging foreign currency

6. Business centre :- It is visible area in front desk with laptop, printers and computers. There are photocopy and fax machines as well. Function of business are is :-

• Fax can be done
• Laptop can be hired
• Typing and printing facility
• Photo copying facility
• Provide fast internet connection

7. Bell desk :- It is the small counter in lobby near main entrance of hotel situated on clear view of front desk , cashier and door man.some of its Function are :-

• Handling guest Luggage
• Escorting guest to their room upon arrival
• Posting guest mails
• Paging guest in public area of hotel
• Check and verify Discrepancy report

8. Concierge :- concierge provide personalized service like ticket for concert, dinner reservation, arranging anything they need. They also distribute newspaper early to the guest room. They also helps in hiring car, airplane ticket , transport facilities. 

Please refer to my next article for figure ; of layout

These are the section and layout within front office department and is nerve centre , heart of the hotel