Limitation of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: Although the publisher and author have used their best efforts to prepare this book, they make no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a specific purpose. Front Office Role in Interdepartmental Communication 79 Front Office Interaction with Other Departments in the Hotel 79 FMTOC.indd Page v PM f-392.
Introduction to Hotel Management
Technological advances, including social media, guest room technology, IT infrastructure, surviving a tough economy with the help of technology and the demystification of Web 2.0 are now included in the list of technological advancements of the lodging industry. A section on the economic downturn of the late 2000s is included to encourage students to address this challenge as they face their future career and management horizons.
Hotel Organization and the Front Office Manager
Additional metrics allow students to maintain their currency in the accommodation market GOPPAR (Gross Operating Profit per Available Room).
Effective Interdepartmental Communications
Property Management Systems
Systemwide Reservations
Revenue Management
Guest Registration
Guest Checkout
Preparation and Review of the Night Audit
Managing Hospitality
Promoting In-House Sales
Security
Executive Housekeeping
- M. Statler
- Occupancy percentage is the number of rooms sold divided by the number of rooms available
- Average daily rate (ADR) is the total room revenue divided by the number of rooms sold
- Yield percentage, the effectiveness of a hotel at selling its rooms at the highest rate available to the most profitable guest, reveals a facility’s success in selling its
- Revenue per available room (RevPAR) is used to indicate the ability of each guest room to produce a profit. Once the daily sales opportunity has presented itself, it
- Gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR) is defined as total gross operating profit (GOP) per available room per day, where GOP equals total
- Revenue per available customer (RevPAC) reflects the customer as the fundamen- tal driver of value in the hospitality industry. Cline reports lodging entrepreneurs
- Name some of the hotels you have visited. What exciting things did you notice while you were a guest there?
- What are the major differences between chain and independent properties?
- Name a few hotel brands you are familiar with and look them up on the Internet
- Review a recent article in the Wall Street Journal that reports on growth in leisure time of the American worker, the me/pleasure concept, discretionary income, or
- Go to a current hospitality-related website such as hotel-online.com and research a trend in the hotel industry such as real estate investment trusts (REITs), extended-
- Go to the website of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (ahla.com) and determine how this professional trade association (formerly known as the Ameri-
- If you are employed in the hotel industry, sketch the organization chart of the property where you work. Have you seen this hierarchy change since you have
- If you have ever worked in the front office in a lodging property, summarize what you think the front office manager does. If you have not worked in a front office
- What resources are available to the front office manager? Rank the importance of these resources in providing service to guests and supervising employees
- How does the front office manager relate to other members of the hotel manage- ment staff? Give examples
- Why should a job analysis be performed prior to preparing a job description? Do you think this procedure is necessary? Why or why not?
- What are the four steps required in preparing a schedule?
- How do you think your supervisor developed his or her supervisory style? What do you think will be the basis in developing your supervisory style?
- What does the expression the art of supervision mean to you? Reflect on your answer and highlight which concepts are important to your future supervisory
- Why does trying to understand individual motivation help in supervising?
- What are some personality clashes you have noticed where you work? How did your supervisor handle them? Would you have handled them differently if you
- Generally speaking, what benefits can a well-trained front office person offer the front office manager?
- Give examples of how the front office is responsible for communication with other departments, with hotel guests, and with the public
As a result of his managerial abilities, "the hotel became one of the most popular in Europe and Cesar Ritz became one of the most respected hoteliers in Europe."6. The average daily rate (sometimes referred to as average room rate, or ADR) is also used to predict room revenue—the amount of room sales received—for a hotel.
Marketing and Sales Knows It All—But Didn’t Tell Us
Benton left no instructions on who will serve the party, and he didn't see any tulips in the walk-in. He should also have informed the front office manager of the Magnates' planned event, explained who they were, and asked to be summoned immediately upon their arrival. Weekly staff meetings can also provide an opportunity for the director of marketing and sales to give short summaries of who will be at the hotel for the coming week.
Peace and Harmony in 507
Sometimes a member of the management team does not communicate the details of an upcoming event. They are also responsible for getting to know the background of the people who stay in the hotel and about the associations and corporations that do business with it. Ishmael later said, "There must have been at least 45 people in the room and they invited me in to share peace and harmony."
I Know What You Said, and I Think I Know What You Mean
The most important aspect of total quality management in the context of the hotel industry is the interaction between frontline employees and their supervisors. Total quality management practices ensure that the front office checks with housekeeping to determine room availability in such a situation. The front office manager should discuss the situation with the convention representative and emphasize the benefits of total quality management.
End-of-Chapter Questions
- How do the communication efforts of front office employees help set the tone for a guest’s visit? Give examples
- Give examples of how the marketing and sales department and the front office communicate
- Communications between the front office and the housekeeping department revolve around room status. How can each department director ensure these
- How does the banquet department interact with the front office? Do you think any of these duties should be shifted to the banquet captain’s staff? Why or
- What does the controller expect of the front office every day? Why is this com- munication tool so important?
- What role does the front office play in communications between the guest and the maintenance department?
- How can the human resources department include the front office in the opera- tions and communications process?
- What does tracing and analyzing the lines of communication mean to you?
- Identify a problem area in your place of employment and develop a plan to use total quality management to resolve the issue. Whom would you place on the
What role does the front office play in communication between the guest and the maintenance department. How can the human resources department include the front office in the operational and communication process. The front office staff prepared 252 packages for guests who pre-registered for the Pet Owners of America Conference.
Margaret Chu: Look, guys, we have to focus on the customer right now; I think you both have lost track of who the customer is. Eric Jones (Food and Beverage Manager): It seems to me that we have too few customers. Margaret Chu: Eric, that's a good point you bring up, but we need to resolve Ana's problem first.
Analyze the flow of guests through the lodging property
Analyze the flow of information from other departments to the front office
Analyze the administrative paperwork produced in other departments
Review the information gathered in Steps 2, 3, and 4
Evaluate the identified needs—such as control reports, communication, and administrative paperwork produced in other departments—in terms of impor-
Combine needs to determine desired applications
The controller is usually aware of the specific costs in each department—the amount of overtime pay needed at the end of the month to produce the monthly inventory in the food and beverage department, the extra part-time help needed to staff the front desk for a busy checkout or check-in, the cost to produce a. Determining the payback period—the time required for the hotel to recoup purchase price, installation costs, financing fees, etc. through cost savings and increased guest satisfaction—will also help management decide whether or not to install a new computer system. The guest can collect a copy of the folio from the reception desk if desired.
When arranging equipment at the front desk, what factors should be con- sidered?
How would you go about verifying vendor claims when considering the purchase of a property management system?
How does a well-developed installation plan for a property management system assist hotel management?
Why should management be sure employees are properly trained to use a prop- erty management system?
If the power goes out in a 200-room lodging property for four hours, how would you preserve the data in the property management system?
Ana Chavarria, front office manager, and Lorraine DeSantes, director of marketing and sales, have just returned from a computer conference where they were able to look at the latest property management systems for hotels. Ana Chavarria, front office manager and chair of the committee, seeks consensus on whether the team should recommend purchasing a point of sale module for the restaurant industry or a guest history module for the marketing and sales department. Lorraine DeSantes, director of marketing and sales, says the purchase of the gas history module will increase business by 25 percent in the first year.
Discuss the purchase-versus-lease consideration in terms of financial profit- ability
What would you suggest they do before discussing this matter with Margaret Chu, general manager of The Times Hotel. Chu is willing to consider purchasing a PMS, as should Ana and Lorraine. The Times Hotel computer team is in the process of updating a computer needs analysis.
Review the computer applications described in this chapter. Explain how they are used to provide better service to the guest and to improve financial control in the
Ana is enthusiastic about updating and accepting front office applications for reservations, registration, room status, posting, call accounting, checkout and post audit. Lorraine is certain that the marketing and sales applications will help her department to be more efficient. If you work in a hotel, ask your front office manager if there is a maintenance agreement for the property management system.
What is an intranet? How might an intranet be used in a lodging property?
The systems used to fill rooms consist of the hotel's primary efforts (via marketing and sales and using their own branded reservation system), their toll-free number, global distribution systems (GDS), travel agents, and third-party sources such as wholesalers that fill rooms. buy from the hotel and resell it on the internet. This growth is mainly the result of the dramatic shift from the offline to online channel. Is the goal to improve the credibility and reputation of your brand or promotion of the week.
Social media should not be the anchor to your marketing plan
The corporate customer can also make the reservation through the chain organization's reservation/referral system. This process of projecting sales and related expenses is important to successful front office management (Figure 5-3). This information is important to the controller, the general manager and the hotel owner, who use it to manage the hotel's finances.
If a 200-room lodging property has 75 confirmed reservations with a 5 percent no-show factor in a particular category, 71 rooms can be predicted to be occu-
When these occupancy categories are tracked, the front office manager can more accurately predict the fight. The front office manager can obtain the data for this formula by reviewing the property management system (PMS) reservation module, which lists groups, corporate clients, and individual guests who have made reservations for a given period. Also, the front office manager should check for tourist activity in the area, business events scheduled at other hotels, and other special local events.
The hotel’s predicted number of stayovers at this time—based on historical records, with considerations for the season of the year, tourist attractions, nature
Hotel policy may not allow the sale of these 2 rooms. If the hotel knows of other hotels in the immediate vicinity that have rooms available for that night, the front office manager may be willing to move a guest with a guaranteed reservation to another hotel if all guests with guaranteed reservations arrive. The hotel's predicted number of nights at this time - based on historical records, with respect to the season, tourist attractions, nature.
The hotel’s predicted number of walk-ins for this period—using historical records and available information concerning tourist events, activity at other hotels,
To ensure the reliability of the room reservation, the hotel establishes a deposit or guarantee system that obligates the guest to purchase the accommodation. If the guest does not show up (without prior cancellation), the hotel can process a credit card voucher for payment. The reservation code must be designed to provide sufficient information to the hotel property to provide accommodation for the guest.
How does a well-organized reservation system meet the needs of travelers?
Consumers' growing reliance on the Internet and social media to make room reservations has impacted hotel profitability. Determining the sources of these reservations assists the front office manager in developing procedures to satisfy guest needs. The room forecast is used to communicate occupancy status with other departments in the hotel.
How does the lodging industry meet the need of travelers for assured reservations?
The traveler can use various means to make reservations, such as toll-free telephone numbers, fax numbers, the Internet and social media. Computerized reservation systems also help front office managers manage guest information databases, dates of arrival, lengths of stay, and so on. All elements discussed in this chapter combine to provide access methods for the guest and a technique for marketing rooms for the hotel.
What are the major sources of guest reservations? What information does this analysis reveal?
As computer reservation systems have grown in popularity, chains and referral accommodations have adopted them to meet the needs of travelers. Reservations ensure that business travelers, groups and leisure travelers have accommodation at their destination and ensure a constant flow of business to the hotel. Confirmed and guaranteed reservations provide the guest with accommodation upon arrival, with varying levels of assurance based on arrival time and willingness to pay in advance.
How can a lodging property use social media to communicate reservation offers?
Overbooking used to offset no-shows and understays can be carefully structured using an occupancy management formula.
Discuss which social media are appropriate for corporate clients, leisure traveler, and SMERF
Why are tour or meeting planners important to the hotel with regard to group res- ervations? What reservation access methods are available to group tour planners?
How do leisure travelers differ from corporate clients and group travelers? What reservation access methods are available to them?
If you have been or are currently employed at a front desk in a hotel, what do you think of the potential for repeat business from current guests? Does your hotel
Why is it necessary to prepare a rooms forecast? What are the components of this management tool? Besides the front office manager, who uses the room forecast?
What does overbooking mean? Discuss the legal and financial implications of this practice
What are the components of an aggressive occupancy management procedure?
What are the major steps involved in processing a guest reservation?
Briefly describe the method used to process a reservation with a computerized system
Design a reservation code for a computerized reservation system. Why did you choose the control features in your code?
Develop a cancellation code for a computerized reservation system. Why did you choose the control features in your code?
What does room blocking involve? Give examples
How do you think true integration of the central reservation system and a hotel’s property management system affect guest satisfaction and the hotel’s financial
Carol Verret, "The New 'Tipping Points' in the Planner's Decision Process - You May Be Surprised!" 2 June 2009, http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2009_. This chapter applies concepts of yield management to the demands of aggressive applications of earnings management. The airline industry introduced yield management after deregulation in the late 1970s.2 The airlines blocked periods of time when seats on flights were priced at certain levels; the potential passenger either booked the flight at the specified price or found another means of transport.
Monitor, analyze, and report on demand patterns, sales, and losses
The revenue manager's job is to oversee the room inventory and room rates offered throughout the year to groups and individuals and through the various channels: central reservation systems, global distribution systems, third-party reservation systems, toll-free reservation numbers, and so on.
Develop, implement daily, and improve sales strategies as needed
Analyze no-shows, cancellations, early departures, and unexpected stayover patterns
Direct weekly revenue meetings
Assist with product development and marketing of transient packaging
Adjust all rates and restrictions on property and through all transient channels
Provide weekly reports about business pace and changes in consumer behavior that affect revenue. 7
