Introduction

Front office is the first department of hotel which comes in guest contact, at the time of guest arrival and the last department when they depart from the hotel. This department performs the various functions like reservation, reception, registration, room assignment and bills settlement of a resident guest. The guest remains in contact of front desk for information and any kind of help. Thus we can say that the Front Office is the hub of hotel operations. This unit is aimed to provide a good understanding on the part of Hotel Front office and Role in Hotel Revenue Generation, Preparing for Guest Services, Relationship & Coordination with Housekeeping and other Divisions, The Hotel Organization and the front office manager, Effective interdepartmental communications, and Front Office Structures, layouts Trends & Practices followed in hotel.

The term ‘front office’ is used in hotels worldwide and refers to workers interacting directly with the guests because it Office is the often a part of the is the initial point of contact for the arrivals. Room Division department and consists of Front office Various operational areas namely reception, reservations, guest relations, concierge, switchboard, dell service etc. Front office remains an extremely visible area and a vital data center for the guest and employees throughout the stay duration. The staff is primarily answerable for check-in and check-out of guest, making and processing reservation requests, maintaining guest accounts, responding to guests’ telephone calls and messages, helping guests and coordinating various services for the guest. The scope and nature of front desk tasks change from full service lodging facilities to smaller properties but it acts as the main point of contact between the guests and the hotel employees. As Front Office responsibilities can be either categorized into pre- arrival, arrival and departure activities or into Front of the house and Back of the house functions. Front-of-the-house tasks may include taking care of room reservations, registration of the guests, billing and settling visitor charges etc. Back of the house activities include overseeing visitor accounts, rate check, or preparing guest bills and reports.

A guest’s interaction with the hotel is divided into the following four successive stages:

· Pre-arrival

· Arrival

· Occupancy

· Departure

Pre-arrival:

This is when the client is planning to book an accommodation at a hotel thus the process starts with finding about information related to the hotel and its facilities. Therefore they look forward to the information available on the internet, websites, brochures, media, magazines, tourist portals etc. Then the enquiry is processed via a phone call or an email wherein the guest confirms the information with the hotel that has been selected by the guest for his/ her stay. When the guest interaction happens with the front desk employees the front office software records the guest’s information such as name, age, contact numbers, probable duration of stay for room reservation and so on.

Arrival: This stage is when the front desk staff receives the guests in the hotel at the hotel reception. The bell boys get the baggage from the porch to the main lobby and the receptionist then checks the whether the guest has a reservation or not. For guests with confirmed reservation the prefilled Guest Registration Card is presented to the guest for signatures and to fill any information that was not previously shared. For a guest with no reservation i.e. a walk in guest the receptionist presents the tariff card and then explains the types and facilities available, on confirmation the registration formality commences. Once the registration is complete the guest is handed over the welcome kit and the room keys and the bell boy or the executive takes the guests to the allocated room. At the same time the guest record is created in the hotel systems known as the guest folio or guest account where all the charges and payments are posted in the next stages.

Occupancy: The posting of various charges for services used by the guest, payments made, room bill, etc. are updated in the hotel system from different outlets takes place in occupancy stage. Any mails and messages received for the guest when he/she is away or not in the room are processed and delivered with confidentiality. The staff also ensures that the room keys are assigned to the correct individual by asking for key card every time the need arises. The services like booking a taxi, booking travel tickets, booking tickets for special events, babysitting, local sightseeing, etc. on request of the guest are also provided.

Departure: As the name suggests the departure stage includes the preparation of final bills, presentation of bills, receipt of payments and procession of payments for settlement apart from creation of guest history records. The bills which are not settled in full are processed with necessary documents collected from the departing guest for transeferring them to the accounts department for follow up. The guest record then gets changed to the non – guest record. The baggage is picked up and loaded into guest vehicle by the bell desk porters. And if any facility like a drop is needed to the airport of nearest transit point it is also provided.

Front of the House Operations

• Creation of guest database

• Harmonizing guest services

• Up-selling the services

• Preparation and management of guest accounts

• Ensuring guest satisfaction