The front office department is the nerve center of any hotel. It is the first view that the guest gets of the hotel and if this place does not create an impression on the guest, then nothing will. It is this department which welcomes the guest to the hotel and arranges for all the required facilities for the guest to make him comfortable. The front office department not only deals with accommodation facilities but also with guest relations. It also does up-selling of the hotel. Marketing is an important front office activity because the front office is a revenue earning department.
The front office is referred to as the brain of the hotel. It plays an important role in the working of the hotel. This department is responsible for the sale of rooms. The maximum revenue is got from the rooms than banquets. Hence it becomes an important responsibility for the front office manager to sell the maximum number of rooms in a day. The front office follows a systematic method of reservation followed by registration and assigning rooms to the customer and acts as continuous source of information to the guest during his stay in the hotel. The front office staff also makes sure that the guests who are in the hotel are given the standard service.
[...] A front office organization includes the front office reception and reservation headed by the front office manager, the concierge and bell desk, travel and information desk and the telephone department. The following are the functions and services provided by the Front Office Department: Ø Accepting reservation and making the necessary arrangements. Ø Assigning the rooms. Ø Accounting. Ø Handling mails Ø Provide custody for Guest Valuables. Ø Providing information. Ø Handling complaints. Ø Credit facilities. Ø Costing of room status reports. [...]
[...] In order to use one of these terminals, a guest typically must arrive at the hotel with an advance reservation and must posses a valid credit card. The guest initiates the self-registration process by inserting the credit card at the terminal. The terminal then prompts the guest to use a key and enter the necessary information. After collecting registration data, the terminal screen may display the room types and rates. Since most terminals are interfaced to a PMS room management module, automatic room and rate assignment is possible. [...]
[...] Multi-currency and Multi-language display available BACK OFFICE MANAGEMENT Ø Full control over room rates and allocation Ø Adjust rates easily and instantly Ø Reduces administration cost and paperwork Ø Saves Time Ø Eliminates time needed to create and email / fax invoices Ø Reports for Transactions, Check-Ins, etc Ø Training, Support and Guarantee Ø Help Manuals, CDs with Training Videos available Ø Online and Telephone Call-In Support available Ø Projects delivered on-time, consistently Ø Value for money Ø 30-day money back guarantee Ø Modules include Ø Hotel Room Reservation Ø Holiday Package Reservation Ø Custom Defined Payment Methods including Credit Card Integration Ø Multi - Language Display Ø Multiple Alerts for Reservations including SMS Ø B2C and B2B modules dramatically increase your distribution Ø Very powerful BackOffice Ø Turbo-charged Follow-up System Ø Custom defined System Reports Ø Export data to Excel WORKING OF THE RESERVATION SYSTEM: Reservation module 1. [...]
[...] The front office may receive complaints about the hotel's food and beverage operations; regardless of weather those operations are managed by the hotel. Unless the front office and food and beverage operator establishes procedures for referring to complaints, guest may continue to complain and the front office will continue to hear about the problem. The hotel and its revenue outlets should maintain close communications and develop procedures designed to satisfactorily resolve guest complaints. Organizational behavior researchers have found that just as customers do not like to complain, so staffs do not like to pass those complaints up the organizational hierarchy. [...]
[...] To improve its presentation in the GDSs, your hotel has several options: Ø Ensure it is open and available for sale in your hotel or representation company's central reservation system (CRS) since the GDSs reflect the availability and rate data in the CRS Ø Provide a full spectrum of public rates - rack, corporate, senior citizen, government / military, weekend and promotional Ø Participate in consortia and negotiated corporate rate programs Ø Ensure the room descriptions provided by the CRS to the GDSs are appealing, as well as accurate Ø Periodically review the GDS property description for your hotel The property description is frequently the only resource a travel agent reads prior to recommending a hotel to a client. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
