Chapter one
Introduction to front offic mangment
1.Overview: Hospitality;Hotel operation
1.1. How do you understand Hospitality?
Defining Hospitality is problematic because lack of general agreement.
1.1.1. Concept and definations of Hospitality
Sematic or Dictionary Defination indicated that Hospitality is the friendly,generous
reception and entertainment of guests or strangers or shortly kindness in
welcoming strangers or guests.i.e the relationship process b/n a customer and a
host.
Hospitality in a holistic manner and stated it as a
harmonious mixter of tangable (Beverage,beds,ambience
and environmnet) and intangable(Behavior Of staff)
componenets.
broadly speaking,Hospitality is the act of kindness in
welcoming strangers or guest.
it is he relationship between a customer and a host.
from the view of acadamic consideration of the nature
of hospitality two theme have been raised
1. hospitality as a means of social control( control of
stranger)
2. as a form of social and economic exchange
1.2. Who are guests or strangers?
strangers or gests are people who are essentially alien
(extrinsic) to a particular physical, economic and social
environment.
1.3. Hospitality and Hotel
the travel and tourism industry can be divided in to three
segments: transportation service, Hospitality service
and Destination Business.
Hospitality service: lodge, food and drinks as well as
entertainment supposed to be provided for guests.
Hospitality service
A. Commercial: is providing lodge and/or accomodations
including food services for people when they are away from
thier homes in response of payment. it begins with the
professional ability of inviting the clients and proffesional
ability of bidding the guests farewell.it involves hotel
process model. what is this process model?
I. Inviting hospitality: is the whole of marketing activities
undertaken to persude the client and guest as a customer
to take a decision about choosing and ordering the offer of
a specific hotel and restaurant.
II. Welcoming Hospitality
comprised of all activities and behaviour of service
personnel and managerial team of the specific hotel and
restaurant, which are related to the service of a guest's
arrival and reception at the hotel or restaurant starting from
the arrival and the checking-in as well as on his way to the
hotel room or other areas where the hospitality service is
provided.
III. Service hospitality
it is a complete and consistent standard and procedures of
guest service in the hotel it is recieved by the guest.e.g. in a
hotel,restaurant ,bar,conference room or in wellness & spa
area.
III. Fare welling Hospitality
these activities are also a smooth transition to re-inviting
guest to return to specific hotel and restaurant. it is an
opportunity of creating last impression.
B. Non- Commercial
these are welfare service industry established by the
government for different group like universties... and in
some cases by philanthropists to bring reliefs to certain
individuals in societies.
 it is part of any sensible government functions and
commitment to provide free health delivery system to the
society, hospitals and welfare homes are established
purposely not to make profit but to cater for the wellbieng
of the society.
the armed forces
university halls and residence
post primery school hostels
the welfare homes
The history of development in non-commercial industry is
alike to the same ways the commercial hospital developed.
1st “Hospitum” meaning the medieval time welcoming and
serving of guests/pilgrims,merchants and others in monastic
caves and changed to commercial business called Hospice
then hostel.finally become Hotel.
Hotel
Hotel is an establishment that provide paid lodging,usually
on short-term basis.further nowadays hotel service become
more sophesticated and the service becomes so much
extended.
Hotel operation
A. Back of the house operation and
B. front of the house operation
what is the major means of classifing hotel in this two
operations?is housekeeping department personel front
of the house or back of the house operation?and why?
1. Front Office – 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 front office as its most visible department. For
a business such as hospitality, the front office departmentcomes with an
aspect of elevating customer experience with the business.
Front Office department is a common link between the customers
and the business.
1.2. Front Office Department
1.2.1 Front Office Operations
is a place where guest and staff are first met as a service
provider and service taker.
The front office is the nerve centre or hub of a hotel. It is
the department that makes the first and last impression on
the guests, and the place that guests approach for
information and service throughout their stays.
The three main functions of the front office are as follows:
1. Selling rooms;
2. Maintaining balanced guest accounts; and
3. Providing services and information to guests.
1.3. Organization of front office department
1.3.1. Overview of hotel organisation
why is organisational structure important?organisational
structure helps the organisation to carry out its
mission,global and departmental goals and objectives by
depicting (portraying) heirarcy of managmnet,supervision
and employee levels.
it shows reporting relationships,span of managment and
staff/line function.
 dividing tasks into jobs.
 specifying the appropriate department for each job
 determining the optimum number of jobs in each
department
 delegating authority within and among departments.
 there are two types of relationships that might exist
between any two functions at any organization chart.
1. Solid Lines: this shows direct line accountablity. in this
structure “A” is responsible/ liable to “B” and “B” shall tell “A”
what to do when to do,and how to do it.
2. Dotted Lines
this knd of relationship entitlesboth positions linked with
dotted lines to have a high degree of cooperation and
communication but not direct line accountablity.
which type of reltionship is more relevant for
hotel front office operation?
1.3.2. Front office organization
front office organization chart shall be designed according
to functions. this approach helps to
A. Enhances the control in the front office operations.
B. provide guests with more specialized attention.
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.
Front office department includes:
Front Desk
Uniformed services
Concierges
Front Office Accounting System
Private Branch Exchange (PBX), a private telephone network used
within an organization
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
Front Office Operations
Front-House Operations :These operations are visible to the guests of the
hotel.
Interacting with the guests to handle request for an accommodation.
Checking accommodation availability and assigning it to the guest.
Collecting detail information while guest registration.
Creating a guest’s account with the FO accounting system.
Issuing accommodation keys to the guest.
Settling guest payment at the time of check-out.
Back-House Operations :Front Office staff conducts these operations in
the absence of the guests or when the guest’s involvement is not required.
These operations involve activities such as:
Determining the type of guest (fresh/repeat) by checking the
database.
Ensuring preferences of the guest to give a personal touch to the
service.
Maintaining guest’s account with the accounting system.
Preparing the guest’s bill.
Collecting the balance amount of guest bills.
Generating reports.
Front Office – Structure
Front office area is commonly termed as ‘Reception’, as it is the place
where the guests are received when they arrive at the hotel. It is the first
point of interaction between the hotel and the guests. Being the prime
interface between the hotel services and the guests, the front office is
located near the main entrance of the hotel.
The front office structure can be viewed in two ways: the physical setup
and the operational structure of the department.
Physical Setup of Front Office
The physical setup includes key-hanging boards, bell desk and guestmail handling register. The front desk is equipped with various
compartments, the computerized
property management system, and an in-house communication system.
Positioning the Front Desk
The front desk is where the guests temporarily await to find an
accommodation or to clear their bill. Hence, it needs to be positioned
appropriately such that the staff and the guests can use them
conveniently.
The front desk needs to be:
Positioned at an adequate height and reach.
An adequately lit-up area.
Aesthetically furnished.
Preferably near the hotel lobby and lift.
Preferably near the sitting area.
Wide enough to make the staff member communicate
with the guests across the desk.
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:
what is your ideal front office organisational structure
for you?
Front office
manager
Reservation
Reservation staff
Reception
Guest service
Accounts
Communication
Switch board
opertator
Reception staff
Cashier
Guest Staff
Concierage
Night Auditor
Bell staff
Elements of organizational structure
1. Work specialization: Delegating Jobs
2. Departmentalization: Group certain jobs in order
3. Patterns of authority: right to make a decision
4. Span of control: report to a manager
5. Methods of coordination: linking of the organization goal
in the form of pooled interdependance and sequential
interdependence.
what can determine the size of the
organizational chart of front office?
1. size of the hotel
2. standared of service: High class hotel
3. Types of hotel: Airport hotel/star level
4. Type of guest : Business people or
tourist
Front office department and function
i. Front Desk
ii. Reservation
iii. concierage
iv. Uniformed service
v. switch board Telephone
vi. cahier
I. Front Desk
. front office personnel have more contact with guests
than staffs in other departments.
. it is a focal point for guest requests regarding the hotel
service,engineering,information etc...
. it is a department where guests firs cheks in and finally
checks out of the hotel.
. thier responsblity is recieving the guest,registering of the
guest,assigning of room and room keys and remote.contol
and air conditioners.
. the front desk should also promote the warmth and
hospitality of the property. they are also a source of
information for government offices like police report.
. main communication, attraction and major revenue
generating center.
. it is a department equipped with staffs of good quality
and personality.
. information,mail,message,complaints and room
accounts are dealt with here.
. is a team is the key to an enjoyable and problem free
stay for the hotel guest.
Functions
 the main role of receptionists (GSA) are taking enquieries
and reservation request from walk in Visitors;preparing for
the arrival of guests;greating guests on arrival;checking
guests in(register them ,allocating suitable rooms and
checking and checking methods of payment) seling
facilities and services of the hotel,responding to guests
problems and queries,or refering them to other
departments that can do so; providing information about
guests to other front office units and departments of the
hotel and maintaining guest records.
1.4 Front office work shifts
• A small hotel or guest house may shut down its front
office over night, leaving an 'Out of Hours' or „Emergency‟
contact number (and/or front entrance intercom) for late
arrivals or guests with problems during the night.
• A large hotel, front office staff will be available to meet
guest needs 24 hours per day. Most back office
departments will operate normal or extended office hours:
reservations will tend to be concentrated within business
hours, and billing and cashiering activity in the early
morning (posting of last-minute charges), middle of the
day (lunchtime postings and banking of takings) and
evening (opening bills for new arrivals).
• However, certain significant front office roles (reception,
night audit, porter and switchboard) will have to be
covered overnight.
• The Front Office Manager shall schedule his/her
employees according to seasonality, business volume,
and available staff in hand
• The most commonly used scheduling is the Traditional
Scheduling, which assumes that every employee shall
work 40 Hours per Week. Moreover, the hotel shall
ensure 3 shifts per day, each of which lasts for 8 hours. A
possible example to traditional scheduling is shown
below:
•
Day Shift 7:00 AM – 3:00 PM
•
Evening Shift 3:00 PM – 11:00 PM
•
Night Shift 11:00 PM – 7:00 AM
• Sometimes, due to non-availability of staff, seasonality,
and volume business, the Front Office manager might be
forced to adopt an Alternative Scheduling, which might be
arranged under the following patterns:
• a) Flexible Work Hours or Flextime: This kind of
alternative scheduling entitles that employees might start
work, for example, one hour earlier, just to leave again
one hour earlier.
• b) Compressed Work Schedule: Employees, instead of
working 5 days per week, 8 hours per day, might work 4
days per week, 10 hours per day. Therefore, compressed
work-scheduling means working all the 40 hours per week
in less than the standard 5 days per week.
• c) Job Sharing: This kind of scheduling entitles that two
or more part-timers occupy the job of one full timer.
• Front Office managers shall carefully schedule their
employees in order to minimize conflicts that arise
between hotel and employee needs. In big hotels
operating under fully automated systems, some
scheduling software package programs might be installed
as to aid and help managers in effective scheduling.
Job Descriptions for Front Office roles
• Job description lists all tasks and subtasks that
compose a work position. Moreover, it may outline
reporting relationships, responsibilities, working
conditions, equipment and materials to be used. Job
descriptions might be used as: to evaluate job
performances, tools to conduct training or retraining and
determine appropriate staffing levels.
• Job specifications List the personal qualities, skills, and
traits a person needs to have in order to perform
successfully the tasks outlined in a job description. That is
why; departments shall first design job descriptions, and
later job specifications! Job specifications usually serve as
a basis for advertising job vacancies, and as a tool to
identify current employees for promotion purposes