Hospitality ServicesHotel Management

Front Desk Operation/Front Office

Key Vocabulary:

Guest Cycle - the step by step process a guest goes through during a hotel stay starting with Pre-Arrival, Arrival, Occupancy and then concluding with Departure

Property Management System (PMS)–a computerized system used to manage the operations of the front office. Reservations, guests’ check-in and check-out, cash/credit transactions of guests, housekeeping, night audits of guest folios, engineering and security departments all use one system. Departments throughout the hotel have PMS workstations specific to their needs but still connected to the overall hotel PMS.

Central Reservation Office (CRO)– the brand hotel’s central reservation office, EX. Calling “1 – 800- Holiday” to make a reservation in Topeka, KS when you are in Houston, TX

Registration Cycle- a nine step cycle that occurs in the Front office that helps to ensure a seamless guest experience

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) - Federal Laws that require properties to make reasonable accommodation for guests with special needs

Average Daily Rate (ADR)-an occupancy ratio derived by dividing net rooms revenue by the number of rooms sold

Revenue per available rooms (RevPAR)-a revenue management statistic that measures the revenue-generating capability of a hotel

Forecasting – the process used to predict the sales of guestrooms and the rate that should be charge for specific time of year. It helps front office managers to know when to raise or lower room rates to maximize sales.

Rack Rate – the dollar amount of renting a room, must be posted (usually on the back of each room’s door. To raise the rack rate the new rate must be posted for at least 30 days before the new rate can be used.

Room Rate – the actual amount charged to the guest; it may never exceed the Rack Rate unless extra amenities are tied to the rate such as a Honeymoon Package or Valentine’s Day Package.

Green Practices – environmentally friendly and ecologically responsible decisions and processes that guarantee natural resources will continue to be readily available in the future. These practices help to reduce waste, save water, reduce energy consumption, encourage recycling, and prevent pollution.

Payment Card Industry Compliance (PCI) – due to the large amount of guest transactions done with credit/debit cards, the front office manager must provide employees with required compliance training to protect sensitive payment card information from being illegally obtained and used for criminal purposes. The payment card industry can refuse to allow any business permission to accept credit or debits cards as a form of guest payment for failing to be in compliance with the industry’s required standards.

A green practice with PCI is proper shredding of sensitive documents and guest records before sending the materials for recycling.

The Command Center/HEART of the Hotel

The Front Deskacts as the heart of the hotel. All hallways in the hotel lead to the Front Desk!! It is the most frequently visited part of a hotel and is typically the first and last place a guest sees during a stay. It is referred to as a hotel’s command post because of the amount of business activities that happen in this department.

Special Functions of the Front Desk

Providing and processing guest comment cards – allowing both positive and negative feedback about the property, employees and guest service during a stay.

Maintaining the Reader Board – postings or closed circuit broadcast of daily events at a hotel; informs guests what, where, and when things are happening at the property that day

Special Needs Requests – accepts and processes special needs requests to the appropriate department for fulfilling, ex. champagne, chocolates and flowers in a honeymoon suite

Providing Guest Recovery – handles guest complaints by finding ways to recover the negative guest situation. The goal is to recover the guest’s dissatisfaction into satisfaction with the situation.

Front Office Manager

The Front Office Manager is responsible for the smooth functions of the Front Desk, bell services, concierge, and other front office operations. The four skills the front office manager must master are: planning, organizing, leading and evaluating all front office operational and financial areas. A manager with these skills can ensure not only a seamless guest experience but also a positive organized work environment for employees.

The Front Office manager’s responsibilities fall into several categories:

  • Guest service
  • People management
  • Leadership
  • Revenue management – a/k/a Yield Management – a system of maximizing revenues through adjusting room rates according to demand; the hotel wants to make money, the guest wants to save money-somewhere in between these two figures is the Room Rate. Hotels use various formulas to calculate their rates.

Hospitality Yield Management

Total available rooms 500

Rooms sold:450

Revenue$56,250.00

ADR:revenue / rooms sold = ADR

$56,250.00 / 450 = $125.00

OCC%: rooms sold / total available rooms = OCC%

450 / 500 = .90 or 90%

RevPAR: revenue / total available rooms = RevPAR

$56,250.00 / 500 = $112.50

  • Green practices
  • Disaster planning and management- fire, police and ambulance as well weather concerns

Qualities of a Great Front Office Employee

Because front office positions have the largest amount of direct guest contact, it is important the positions be filled with individuals who have the five qualities below. This will result in greater guest satisfaction as well as better teamwork among hotel employees.

  1. Enjoy working with people; 10/10!! Within 10 minutes the guest has created their impression or image of their stay; within 10 feet of the front desk the hotel employee should warmly greet an approaching guest
  2. Can work as a part of a team
  3. Can learn to use technology and computer systems
  4. Will use active listening skills
  5. Are good communicators

Front Office Positions

Front office manager is responsible for hiring, training, and supervising a variety of entry-level positions. Below are the most common positions in this department and a brief description of their jobs.

  • Front desk representative- assists guest throughout all stages of the guest cycle and acts as the main representative to guest for the property, maintains guest folios in the Property Management Systems (PMS), performs bill settlement, and provides guest service
  • Uniformed services – assists guests with curbside-baggage service, guest vehicle parking and guest transportation services. Includes positions such as bell attendant, door attendant, valet parking attendant, and transportation attendant. In some hotels, depending on the size the Concierge may also fall under this category.

They must also assist guests in getting luggage to their rooms; explain how to use the TV, movie selections, and phoneor other in-house electronics

  • Concierge (French word meaning “Caretaker”) – assists guest with arranging in-hotel activities and/or making reservations, providing information, giving directions, and obtaining transportation for offsite attractions, facilities, or services
  • Night auditor – checks front office accounting records for accuracy and, on a daily basis, summarizes and compiles reports about the various aspects of the hotel’s financial performance.
  • Reservationist – assists guest, travel agents, and third-party vendors with booking hotel guestrooms; creates and maintains reservation records and generates reservation numbers through some type of central reservation office (CRO)
  • Cashier – post revenue center charges to guest accounts, balances guest accounts, and performs a variety of banking services for guests; typically found only in large full-service properties and resorts.

Employee Relationships

Front Desk employees must balance the operational needs of the hotel with customer/guest services. Front desk employees must be organized and be able to give the ultimate in customer service. Front desk employees must also build strong relationships with employees in other departments that could be called upon to assist with guest’s needs and special requests. They must become familiar with local businesses (restaurants) and the local community (attractions, transportation, events) to recommend when guests request help.

Green Practices- Use of paper-less processes in the front office

Theduties of a Front Desk employee can be placed into 7 main categories:

  1. Reservations – guaranteed and non-guaranteed
  1. Guaranteed – a reservation that guarantees the hotel will hold a room until a specific time of day on the guest’s scheduled day of arrival, the guest guarantees payment for the room, even if it is not used unless the reservation is cancelled according to the hotel’s cancellation policy. Guaranteed reservations require one of the following: prepayment, credit/debit card on file, advance deposit, travel agent guarantee, corporate guarantee, voucher
  2. Non-guaranteed – reservations which occur when no form of prepayment, deposit, or voucher are received at the time of booking.

During this time a front desk employee must also be able to check guestroom availability, create a guest record/folio, provide the guest with confirmation of reservation, explain the property’s cancellation policy and provide updated reservations reports to management.

  1. Registration***
  2. Room and rate assignment – where in the property will the guest stay and what is the room rate for the guest?
  3. Guest services – a record of information is kept about the guest and each time they stay. Full service and Luxury hotels use this information to provide more personalized services to the guest
  4. Room status – is the room clean and available at the time of guest check-in?
  5. Record keeping in the PMS
  6. Bill settlement – check out can occur at the front desk or via Express Checkout where charges are automatically assigned to the guest’ credit card. A final bill is sled under the door by 4 AM for the guest to review before leaving the property.

Large properties will divide these tasks among employees. Smaller properties will utilize fewer employees to accomplish these tasks.

*** Registration Cycle – 9 steps are

  1. Preregistration – collects guest’s personal data, creates guest folio, room rate, guaranteed reservation deposit, and method of payment information
  2. Registration record – collects or confirms guest’s personal data, such as name, address, phone number, company name and e-mail address
  3. Room and Rate assignment – uses guest preference information along with current PMS data about room status, room rate, room location and reservation blocks
  4. Method of Payment – determines how the guest plans to pay at the end of the stay
  5. Post charges to guest folio - occurs for every night of the guest’s stay and when a purchase is charged back to the guest’s room to be paid during the bill settlement; ex. charges: on-property restaurant meals, Gift Shop purchases, on-property Business Center use – printing, etc.
  6. Verify guest’s identity – follow property policy for requesting a guest present a government authorized ID card that proves they are who they claim to be
  7. Issue key cards – issuing keys to guests, never say the guest room number outloud!!
  8. Fulfill special requests – a roll away bed or crib, a seeing eye dog, a handicapped accessible room are all examples of special requests
  9. Processing additional guest charges/fees – parking, Wi-Fi, resort fees

Front desk employees are responsible for:

  • welcoming guests to the property
  • providing check-in services to guests
  • registering guests and confirming room rates
  • establishing a method of payment for the guestroom and bill settlement
  • assigning guestrooms and issuing key cards
  • informing guest about their room location and special hotel facilities and answering questions about the property and the surrounding community
  • obtaining uniformed services for guests
  • acting as a cashier
  • providing concierge services
  • maintain guest folio information in the Property Management System (PMS)
  • providing guest assistance with special needs, valet/bell services, and other guest requests,
  • providing check-out services to guests
  • accepting final bill settlement from guests

Front office staff interacts with all other areas of the hotel such as:

Housekeeping – obtain room status updates, to communicate guest request or needs, and to report guestroom complaints needing correction

Green practices – reusing bathtowels and bed linens

Food and Beverage –to make dining reservations, assist with special dietary needs request, and to obtain changes to available dining options

Green practices – recycling of paper, aluminum and plastic

Security- to communicate security concerns and to assist during all types of emergency situations

Engineering – to request guestroom repairs, report emergency repair situations, or assist during severe weather, power failures or other emergency situations

Marketing and Sales – updates on special promotions and offers being communicated to or currently being booked by guests

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