Sections Of Front Office
Reservation
Reservation of the hotel accommodation is one of the important responsibilities of the front office department. A potential guest contacts a hotel for availability of the desired type of accommodation and any allied services that the hotel offers. The front office department needs to react to the enquiry of the guests.
Reception
front office receives and welcomes guests on their arrival in the hotel. A Receptionist
- Serves visitors by greeting, welcoming, and directing them appropriately.
- Notifies company personnel of visitor arrival.
- Maintains security and telecommunications system.
- Informs visitors by answering or referring inquiries.
- Directs visitors by maintaining employee and department directories.
Functions of Reception
The following functions are performed by the reception section of a hotel: Receiving and welcoming guests. Completing the registration formalities. Assigning the room. Sending arrival notification slips to the concerned departments
Information Desk
It provides a single (or multiple) point of contact for users to gain assistance in troubleshooting, get answers to questions, and solve known problems. A help desk generally manages its requests through the use of software such as issue tracking systems.
Functions of Information Desk
Maintaining resident guest rack. ◦ Handling guest room keys. ◦ Co-ordinating guest mails, telegrams, faxes, couriers, parcels, etc. ◦ Providing information to guests regarding hotel facilities and services, city information, etc. ◦ Handling guests messages.
Cash and Bills
Functions of Cash and Bills in hotels are
– Guest folio
. – Posting room charges in guest folios.
– Recording all credit charges in guest folios.
– Updating cash received from guests.
– Preparing bills @ c/o
– cash/TC/demand draft
– Handling credit/debit/charge cardsCu
Travel Desk
The travel desk takes care of travel arrangements of guest, like air-ticketing, railway reservation, sightseeing tours, airport or railway station pick up or drop etc. The hotel may operate the travel desk or it may be outsourced to an external travel agency.
Functions of Travel Desk
The travel desk performs the following tasks:
◦ Pickup and drop
◦ Providing vehicles on request
◦ Making travel arrangements like railway reservation/air- tickets
◦ Organizing half-day or full-day sightseeing
◦ Arranging for guides who can communicate in the guest’
Communication Section
Functions of Communication Desk
The duties of the telephone operator include:
– Answering incoming calls.
– Directing calls to guest rooms through the switchboard/EPABX
– Providing information on guest services
– Processing guest wake-up calls
– Answering inquiries about hotel facilities and events –
Uniformed Services
The uniformed services in the hotel include the bell desk team and the concierge. Bell Desk: The bell desk is located very close to the main entrance of the hotel. This section is headed by a bell captain, who leads a team of bell boy (also called bell hopes) and page boys.
Bell Desk
Bell desk is an extended arm of the front desk. There are many activities at the time of arrival, during the stay and at the time of departure of the guest which cannot be carried out from the front desk but are to be carried out essentially, in order to provide services to the guest.
Concierge
Functions of Concierge
Functions of concierge include the following :-
-Making reservations for dining in famous restaurants
– Obtaining tickets for theatres, musicals, sporting events
– Arranging for transportation by limousine, car, coaches, buses, airplanes, or trains.
– Providing information on cultural and social events like photo exhibitions, art shows et
