FRONT OFFICE OPERATIONS

ALYSSA MAE H. ATUN

Instructor
Sorsogon State University
 MODULE 1:
OVERVIEW OF FRONT OFFICE
DEPARTMENT
CONTENT SUMMARY LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this module, the student
should be able to:
 This module covers an overview of the
Front Office Department in a hotel. It also 1. Draw and discuss the organizational set-
include topics about the organizational up of Front Office Department
structure, the staff, as well as their
responsibilities and the common 2. Describe the job description of the Front
terminologies used in this department. Office Staff.
The contribution of the Front Office 3. Discuss the importance of the Front
operations to the other hotel departments
Office Department to the entire hotel
will also be discussed.
operations.
INTRODUCTION
Every multi-departmental physical business needs to
have a front office or reception to receive the visitors.
Front Office Department is the face and as well as
the voice of a business. Regardless of the star rating
of the hotel or the hotel type, the hotel has a front
office as its most visible department. For a business
such as hospitality, the front office department
comes with an aspect of elevating customer
experience with the business.
Front Office department is a common link between
the customers and the business. Let us learn more
about it.
WHAT IS FRONT OFFICE DEPARTMENT?

 It is the one of the many departments of the hotel business which

directly interacts with the customers when they first arrive at the
hotel. The staff of this department is very visible to the guests.

 Front office staff handles the transactions between the hotel and its
guests. The staff receives the guests, handles their requests, and
strikes the first impression about the hotel into their minds.
IMPORTANCE OF FRONT OFFICE DEPARTMENT

 Traditional Front Office functions include reservation, registration, room and rate
assignment, guest services, room status, maintenance and settlement of the guest
account, and creation of guest history records.

 The Front Office develops and maintains a comprehensive database of guest

information, coordinates guest services, and ensures guest satisfaction. These
functions are accomplished by personal in diverse areas of Front Office Department.

 The front office is also known as the face of the hotel. It is the first guest contact area
and also the nerve center of the hotel. All the activities and areas of the front office
are geared towards supporting guest transaction and services.
FRONT OFFICE DEPARTMENT INCLUDES −

 Front Desk
 Uniformed Services
 Concierges
 Front Office Accounting System
 Private Branch Exchange (PBX)
BASIC RESPONSIBILITIES OF FRONT OFFICE DEPARTMENT

Following are the most basic responsibilities a front office can handle.

 Creating guest database

 Handling guest accounts
 Coordinating guest service
 Trying to sell a service
 Ensuring guest satisfaction
 Handling in-house communication through PBX
 TWO CATEGORIES OF FRONT OFFICE OPERATIONS
Front-House Operations Back-House Operations
 These operations are visible to the guests of the  Front Office staff conducts these operations in the
hotel. The guests can interact and see these absence of the guests or when the guest’s
operations, hence, the name Front-House involvement is not required. These operations
operations. Few of these operations include − involve activities such as −

 Interacting with the guests to handle request for an  Determining the type of guest (fresh/repeat) by
accommodation. checking the database.
 Checking accommodation availability and assigning  Ensuring preferences of the guest to give a personal
it to the guest. touch to the service.
 Collecting detail information about the guest.  Maintaining guest’s account with the accounting
system.
 Creating a guest’s account with the FO accounting
system.  Preparing the guest’s bill.
 Issuing accommodation keys to the guest.  Collecting the balance amount of guest bills.
 Settling guest payment at the time of check-out  Generating reports.
GUEST CYCLE IN HOTEL
 Generally, a guest’s interaction with the hotel is divided into the following four sequential phases −
PRE-ARRIVAL

 It is the stage when the customer is planning to avail

an accommodation in the hotel. In this first stage, the
customer or the prospective guest enquires about the
availability of the desired type of accommodation and
its amenities via telephone call or an e-mail. The
customer also tries to find out more information about
the hotel by visiting its website.

 At the hotel end, the front office accounting system

captures the guest’s information such as name, age,
contact numbers, probable duration of stay for room
reservation and so on.
ARRIVAL
 The front office reception staff receives the guest in
the reception. The porters bring in the guest luggage.
For the guest with confirmed reservation, the front
office clerk hands over a Guest Registration Card
(GRC) to the guest and requests the guest to fill in
personal information regarding the stay in the hotel.
The clerk then registers the guest in the database
thereby creating a guest record and a guest account
along with it. Later, the clerk hands over a welcome
kit and keys of the accommodation. After the
procedure of registration, the guest can start
occupying the room.
OCCUPANCY

 During occupancy, a front office accounting

system is responsible for tracking guest
charges against his/her purchases from the
hotel restaurants, room service, bar, or any
outgoing telephone calls made via the hotel’s
communication systems. The front office staff
is responsible to manage and issue the right
keys of the accommodations to the right
guests. On guests’ request, the staff also
makes arrangement for transportation,
babysitting, or local touring while the guest is
staying in the hotel.
DEPARTURE

 During guest departure, the front office

accounting system ensures payment for
goods and services provided. If a guest’s bill
is not completely paid, the balance is
transferred from guest to non-guest records.
When this occurs, collection becomes the
responsibility of the back office accounting
division.

 At the time of guest departure, the front office

staff thanks the guest for giving an
opportunity to serve and arrange for handling
luggage. In addition, if the guest requires
airport or other drop service, the front office
bell desk fulfills it.
FRONT OFFICE COMMUNICATION

 The front office staff needs to communicate

with the staff of the same as well as all other
departments of the hotel. This is termed as
internal communication. It mostly relies
upon the PBX or IP-PBX system.
 When the front office communicates with the
potential customers outside the hotel,
corporate offices, and other ancillary service
providers, then it is an external
communication.
OPERATIONAL STRUCTURE OF FRONT OFFICE

 There are lot of staff working

under front office manager. The
structure of the front office
department changes according to
the size of the hotel business,
physical size of the hotel, and the
hotel management policies.
Following is the general structure
of the front office department −
HOTEL FRONT OFFICE SECTIONS
 Guest Services − They are also known as
Front office department manager heads the Uniformed Services. It includes
team of staff working on various activities and personalized guest services such as −
responsibilities in the front office department.
Few prominent activities that the front office  Handling guest luggage.
staff is involved in are:  Handling guest mail.
 Delivering newspapers in
 Reservation − It includes handling request of accommodations.
customers for reserving accommodations.  Paging the guest inside the hotel (locating
 Reception − It includes receiving the guests the guest in the hotel).
according to the highest standards and  Arranging for a doctor in emergency.
registering them appropriately. It also includes
 Parking guest’s automobiles.
bidding the guests off.
 Arranging for reservations at the places of
entertainment outside the hotel.
Accounts − It mainly includes a Front Office Cashier and a Night Auditor.
❑ The cashier is responsible for handling guest payments. He typically
reports to the accounts manager rather than the front office manager.

❑ The night auditor performs the duties of front desk reception as well as
accounting partly during the night shift. He needs to report to the
heads of both departments, front office, and accounting.

Communication − It involves handling communication among various other

departments and guests of the hotel
RANKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Reservation Manager
Some important tasks a reservation manager is
responsible for are −
 Having knowledge about the reservation
systems.
 Providing and updating information on tours,
prices, and itineraries.
 Allocating daily tasks to the reservation staff.  Reviewing daily hotel reservations.
 Ensuring special deals with repeat guests,  Preparing occupancy forecast.
VIPs, or guest groups.
 Updating travel agent rates in the system.
 Training the staff under hand.
 Handling correspondence with outside
travel agencies.
RANKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Reception Manager • Filling registration cards for the guests with reserved
accommodation or help the guests to fill it up.
Following are some prominent roles and responsibilities
of the reception manager − • Arranging surprise gift for the guests on their special
days.
• Dealing with arrival and departure of the guests.
• Training of receptionists.
• Welcoming the guests, escorting them to the room,
and seeing them off. • Handling appraisals and performance rewards of the
staff.
• Ensuring professional greeting of clients, visitors,
and guests. • Reviewing current standards of front office services
and procedures, and implementing new practices if
• Coordination with housekeeping department for required.
cleaning rooms.
• Ensuring and Scheduling front office desk staff.
• Managing VIP functions and events taking place in the
hotel.
• Upgrading software if required.
• Updating backup database regularly.
RANKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Guest Services Manager
The responsibilities of the guest service manager
include −

▪ Handling guest mails, letters, and couriers.

▪ Ensuring guest messages are delivered at the
right time.
▪ Training the guest service staff such as
concierges, bell staff, wallet parking staff, and
porters.
▪ Maintaining guest service suggestion cards and
guest complaints.
▪ Scheduling and appraising guest service staff.
▪ Ensuring the staff delivers services, accurately
and timely.
RANKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Night Audit Manager

This manager works during the night hours. The
typical responsibilities of a night audit manager are :
 Posting accommodation charges, taxes, and other
paid services such as restaurant, Internet charges
to each guest's account accurately.
• Taking the responsibility as a duty manager for
night shift.
• Settling guest accounts if required.
• Authoring security of the hotel during night shift.
RANKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Communication Manager
• Keeping in check all communication facilities
such as PBX, facsimile, internet in the hotel.
• Training and scheduling telephone operators in
case of large hotels.
• Ensuring immediate delivery of fax to the
guests, if required.
• Appraising telephone operators.
• Changing the communication systems to the
latest technology for easy use.
FRONT OFFICE - STAFF QUALITIES AND COMPETENCIES

Being a part of the service industry, the front office staff needs
to have the following qualities and competencies. The front
office staff members are required to −
• Understand their respective roles and responsibilities in
the hotel and front office as an operation.
• Equip themselves with basic etiquettes and mannerism.
• Possess pleasant, polite, and cordial personality.
• Wear clean and neat uniform with same accessories and
footwear.
• Conduct themselves with professionalism, positive
attitude, and cooperative nature.
• Possess extraordinary communication skills.
• Be a team player.
• Possess the ability to tackle tricky situations.
 FRONT OFFICE TERMINOLOGY

 Walk-in - A guest who arrives at a hotel without a reservation.

 American Plan ( AP) - A billing arrangement under which
room charges include the guestroom and three meals, Also called as full  Due outs - Guests expected to check- out on a given day who have not
board / full pension. yet done so.
 European Plan (EP) - A billing arrangement under which meals are  Upselling - A sales technique whereby a guest is offered a more
priced separately or room only plan. expensive room than what he or she reserved or originally requested,
and then persuaded to rent the room based on the room's features,
 Modified American Plan (MAP) - A billing arrangement under which the benefits, and his or her needs.
daily rate is including room and two meals, generally Breakfast and
dinner.  Block - An agreed-upon number of rooms set aside for members of a
group planning to stay in a hotel.
 Continental Plan ( CP ) - One of the most common/preferred billing
arrangement which includes room and continental breakfast.  Book - To sell or reserve rooms ahead of time.
 Rack Rate - The published tariff for each room type/category in a hotel.  Confirmation Number - A code that provides a unique reference to a
reservation record and assures the guest that the reservation record
 Log Book - Located at reception containing instructions/information/ exists.
happenings/handover of the day to know of.
 Confirmed Booking - When Reservation is guaranteed with
 Reservation Status - An indicator of a room's long-term availability for a Credit card, Deposit, Company ,etc.
assignment.
 Tentative Booking - When the reservation is waiting for bookers
 Room Rate - The price of hotel charges for overnight accommodations. confirmation.
 Skipper - A guest who leaves with no intention of paying for the room.  Waitlisted Booking - Reservation kept on hold due to the hotel is
overbooked.
 Scanty Baggage - A guest who checks in to the hotel with very less or
no luggage.  Cut-off date - The date agreed upon between a group and a hotel after
which all unreserved rooms in the group's block will be released back to
the general availability.
FRONT OFFICE TERMINOLOGY

 Cancellation date - Indicates the date when the reservation was manually cancelled.
 No-Show - A guest who made a room reservation but did not register or Check-in
 Long Stay - A Guest who stays more than a certain number of days, Eg: More than 7 days etc.
 Overbooking - accepting more reservations than there are available rooms.
 Guest Cycle - A division of the flow of business through a hotel that identifies the physical contacts and financial exchanges between the guests and the
hotel
 Guest Folio - A form ( paper or electronic ) used to chart transactions on an account assigned to an individual person or guest room.
 Late Charge - A transaction requiring posting to a guest account that does not reach the front office for posting before the guest had checked out or done
the final settlement.
 Global Distribution System (GDS) - A distribution channel for reservations that provides worldwide distribution of hotel reservation information and allows
selling of hotel reservations around the world, usually accomplished by connecting the hotel reservation system with an airline reservation system ( Eg -
Amadeus, Saber, Galileo/Apollo or Worldspan )
 IDS - Internet Distribution System OR ADS - Alternate Distribution System - This refers to Online Travel Agents like Agoda, Booking . com, Expedia etc.
Additionally, your own hotel's booking engine also comes under IDS. Any Channel Manager Like TravelClick, Synxis, STAAH, Siteminder etc. is a tool which
can handle these IDS or ADS channels.
 POS - Point of Sale Systems ( Used in Restaurants / Outlets)
 TA - Travel Agent who receives the commission for the bookings.
 OTA - Online Travel Agents
FRONT OFFICE TERMINOLOGY
 Void - Reversal of Charges which was posted on the same day
 ACC - Accommodation Charges or Revenues related to Room.
 F&B - Food and Beverage Charges or Revenues generated from Food and Beverage Outlets.
 Misc. - Miscellaneous Charges, Like Paid out, Postage, Photo Copy, Medicine, Courier etc. come under
Miscellaneous charges.
 CONCIERGE – a front office section taking charge of guest inquiries, requests and complaints.
 Amenities – Personal toiletry items such as shampoo, toothpaste, mouthwash and electrical equipment
 Full house – 100 percent hotel occupancy; a hotel that has all its guest room occupied
 Full service – A level of service provided by a hotel with a wide range of conveniences for the guest.
 Hospitality – The generous and cordial provision of services to a guest
 Night Audit – the control process whereby the financial activity of guest’s accounts is maintained and balanced on a
daily basis
 Package Rate – Room rate that include goods and services in addition to rental of a room
 Understays – Guest who arrive on time but decide to leave before their predicted date of departure
ACTIVITY

 An activity will be posted on the LMS.

REFERENCES
 hotelterminology.wordpress.com
 setupmyhotel.com
 www.tutorialspoint.com
 3G E-Learning. 2019.Front Office Operations

 3G E-Learning LLC. 2020.A Visual Reference

to Front Office Management
 Bajao G. et al. 2020 Office Operations : A
Guide to Effective Customer Service