The third edition of Hotel Front Office Management continues to address the demands of the hotel industry in the new millennium. This combination of Hotel Front Office Management 3rd Edition and Kline and Sullivan's simulation software will allow hospitality professors to provide their students with an optimal learning opportunity. A fully revised instructor's manual is available for the third edition to qualified adopters of the book.
A hospitality career fair is scheduled for the end of the week at your college or university. Effective communication – with guests, employees and other departments in the hotel – is paramount to projecting a hospitable image. A story about the founders of the hotel industry provides an opportunity to reflect on our heritage.
M. Statler
A working knowledge of the classifications used in the hotel industry is important to understanding its organization. Griffin, The Dimensions of the Hospitality Industry: An Introduction (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002), 56. Responsibility for serving food and beverages is an extension of the duties of the front office manager.
He or she can be one of the most valued assistants in the accommodation business. Success in providing effective control begins with a review of the resources available to the front office manager, such as em-. The functional role of the front office manager can be understood by preparing a job analysis and job description.
What do these two departments have to do with the overall success of the hotel? How does the front office manager relate to other members of the hotel's management staff?
Calculate Anticipated Payroll
They should also be active in developing procedures for the front office to share this information. The marketing and sales department relies on the front office to provide data on guest stories, details about each guest's visit. Front office staff must make every effort to keep this database current and accurate.
A database of available rooms is maintained in the property management system by the front office. When the guest finally arrives for the function, the first contact with the hotel is usually through the front office staff. Requests for service at meetings, seminars, banquets and the like are often made at the front office.
Housekeeping and the front office also communicate details of the potential number of houses (a report of the number of registered guests in the hotel), security concerns, and requests for amenities (personal toiletries such as shampoo, toothpaste, mouthwash, and electrical equipment). The front office staff, in turn, will report the issue to the appropriate internal or civilian authority. The supervisors in the food and beverage department rely on the forecast number of households prepared by the front office manager to schedule employees and forecast sales.
In some hotels, a front office employee contacts the marketing and sales department for the message. The banquet guest unfamiliar with the hotel property will ask the front office for directions. The controller relies on the front office staff to provide a daily summary of financial transactions through a well-prepared back audit.
Communication between the security department and the front office is very important to provide hospitality to the guest.
Marketing and Sales Knows It All—but Didn’t Tell Us
The HR department may also develop guidelines for the clerk to use in the initial screening of applicants. This information will help HR managers interview potential job candidates. This section is intended to review some of the situations in which communication between the front office and other departments plays an important role.
Magnate, he should have adjusted his work hours so he could be there for the party. He should also have informed the front office manager of the Magnates' planned event, explained who they were, and requested that he be summoned immediately upon their arrival. Benton should also have worked more closely with Andre´, the banquet manager, in scheduling employees and receiving and storing the flowers.
Gerard, the assistant general manager, would not normally be involved in the details of a party, in this case the VIP status of the guests would be a reason for him to be aware of the presence of the tycoons in the hotel. At times, a member of the management team will fail to communicate the details of an upcoming event. However, the front staff, the banquet manager and the assistant daily manager are responsible for reviewing the daily function board as well as the weekly function sheet.
They are also responsible for learning about the backgrounds of the people, associations and corporations that stay and do business with the hotel. First, the front office manager can ensure that the guest's initial contact will be professional by reviewing the job board with each front desk employee on each shift. The manager can then help the front office staff focus on the day's upcoming events.
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.
Why Can’t Those Room Attendants in
They tell him that there are no disturbing signs on the doors of most rooms. One of the guests told the supervisor on the second floor that he had permission to stay in the rooms until 2:30 p.m. When the housekeeper relays this information to the front office manager, an ugly exchange takes place between these two managers about the delivery of professional hospitality.
The food and beverage manager arrives and suggests to the front office manager that he informs the waiting guests of the availability of the hotel's cafeteria and lounge. The front office manager thinks this is a good idea, but with such chaos, no one would hear the announcement. The front office manager breathes a sigh of relief and happens to notice a gift box addressed to Samantha.
Samantha opens it and reads the card aloud: "Thank you extra for your kind consideration." The front office manager reminds Samantha that gifts from registered guests are not encouraged. At some point during the orientation and training of new employees, the front office manager must communicate policies, procedures, and limits of authority. An in-depth review of the approval procedure that the on-duty supervisor must follow will further help the new employee understand that the front office is not acting alone.
Consult with housekeeping to determine the effect of a delayed checkout time on the day-to-day operations of the housekeeping department. If requesting a late checkout time will conflict with another group's check-in time, but the situation warrants approval of the request, request food and beverage. When the front office manager takes the time to explain department policies and procedures, the new employee can think through situations instead of responding with a knee-jerk reaction.
Providing service in a hotel requires the employee to be able to meet the needs of guests by exercising his or her authority and taking responsibility for conveying an atmosphere of hospitality.
I Know What You Said, and I Think I Know What You Mean
The front office staff has prepared 252 packages for guests who have pre-registered for the Pet Owners of the Americas Conference. Each department, along with the front office, plays a role in serving the guest's needs—. It is the front office staff who coordinate the guest's communication, accounting, security and safety requirements.
The needs analysis should focus on the flow of the guests through the hotel and interdepartmental communication needs. 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 build the monthly inventory in the food and beverage department, the extra part-time help needed to man the front desk manning a busy checkout or check-in, the cost of producing a direct mail piece for the marketing and sales office, and the fee charged by the external accountant to prepare a monthly profit and loss statement. Determining the payback period—the time required for the hotel to recoup the purchase price, installation costs, financing fees, etc. through cost savings and increased guest satisfaction—will also help management decide whether to install computers.
If desired, the guest can pick up a copy of the folio at the front desk. This process of projecting sales and related expenses is very important to the successful management of the front office (Figure 5.3). If the reservations agent chose option 1, "guest information," the screen on the video terminal would look like Figure 5-4.
Booking data management allows the front office manager to organize hundreds of details into usable information - Figure 5-8. Blocking report. Determining the sources of these reservations assists the front office manager in developing procedures to satisfy the guest's needs. 6 The hotel controller has asked the front office manager to project room sales 45 days into the future.
The clerk mutters, "It's 4:00 p.m. and you'd think someone in the household would have vacated these rooms by now." The group leader comments: "What is holding up the process?". He gives the passenger a receipt for the received luggage and then escorts him to the main entrance of the hotel. The passenger arrives late for the presentation due to a delay at the hotel and heavy traffic.
