Tourism & Hospitality - e-PG Pathshala

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Tourism & Hospitality

Front Office Operations & Management

Front Office Coordination & Communication

Principal Investigator Prof. S. P. Bansal Vice chancellor

Indira Gandhi University, Meerpur, Rewari, Haryana

Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Prashant K. Gautam Director, UIHMT

Panjab University, Chandigarh

Paper Coordinator Dr. AnkushAmbardar Assistant Professor

Department of Tourism & Hotel Management

Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra

Content Writer Dr. Ankush Ambardar Assistant Professor,


Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra tel

Content Reviewer Prof. Manjula Chaudhary Professor


Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra

Module: 06, Front Office coordination & Communication

Paper: 07, Front Office Operations & Management

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Items Description of Module

Subject Name Tourism & Hotel Management

Paper Name Front Office Operations & Management

Module Title Front Office Coordination & Communication

Module Id Module no-6

Pre- Requisites Basic knowledge about tourism and hospitality

Objectives To study Importance of Coordination between front office &

Other Department of the Hotel

Keywords Front Office, Coordination, Communication, Liaising

QUADRANT-I

Module 6: Front Office Coordination & Communication

1. LEARNING OUTCOME

2. ROLE OF THE FRONT OFFICE IN INTERDEPARTMENTAL COMMUNICATION

3. FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT

4. FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH FOOD & BEVERAGE DEPARTMENT

5. FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH SALES & MARKETING DEPARTMENT

6. FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE

7. FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH SAFETY & SECURITY DEPARTMENT

8. FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT

9. FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT

10. SUMMARY

1. LEARNING OUTCOME

After completing this module students will be able to:

i. Understand the role of Coordination and Communication for efficient working in the

department

ii. The effective communication within front office department

iii. Understand the coordination of front office with other Department

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FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION & COMMUNICATION

2 ROLE OF FRONT OFFICE IN INTERDEPARTMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS

The Front Office could be called the control centre of the Rooms Division, providing 24 hours

attention towards the handling and service of all guest requirements and needs. The Front Office plays

a vital role in the creation of a positive first and final impression in the mind of guests. The impression

created must be one of quick and efficient service by friendly, courteous, informative and helpful

employees. Guests must have the feeling that they are being taken care of by people who are genuinely

interested in their well-being. The front office department is the most important section in hotel for

providing warm hospitality to the hotel guest. Each employee of front office department plays an

important role in fulfilling the guests’ requirements. This is most visible department of the hotel, it sets

the stage for a satisfied guest or dissatisfied guest.

Image-1

Source: https://www.slideshare.net/gentlemoro/coordination-62577607

Hospitality often begins with the doorman and carried forward and delivered by various sections of

front office such as reservation section, registration, concierge, bell desk and so on. But no individual

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section can work in isolation. An individual no matter how good he is at his work he will not be able to

give better result. This can be explained by comparing it with cricket team. An individual player may

through the best ball to the bats man but his team mates do not support him he may not be able to

convert it into a goal. It is all eleven players who have to play well and co-ordinate with each other to

have the satisfactory results and win the match. Like the cricket match the various departments of the

hotel are linked in a chain. In order to achieve guest satisfaction, it is imperative that all Front Office

employees develop a strong and positive working relationship with all other departments. It is the

individual responsibility of each and every employee to foster a close understanding of the roles of

their colleagues in other departments and to develop an empathy with the problems that they may be

encountering. All employees must have a full knowledge of all hotel facilities and services, as well as

being fully conversant with all aspects of the city/ area and its attractions ensure that all questions can

be answered immediately.

Image-2

Source: http://www.bngkolkata.com/web/front-office-coordination/

To work efficiently and effectively all the departments have to properly and systematically coordinate

with other departments. Proper coordination yields better results. Through proper coordination guests

can be made satisfied more easily e.g. at the time of room reservation, guest requested for extra

furniture in his room, accepting the guest request to hold a small meeting for ten persons or a small

cocktail party for ten in the evening. All the arrangements as per guest instructions will not only keep

the guest happy but will leave good impression about the hotel. Good co-ordination not only helps in

achieving guest satisfaction but also supports in increasing then sale. The housekeeping forwards the

room status report to front office to compare it with information rack. On the basis of two reports

discrepancy report is prepared by front office. The discrepancy report helps the front office department

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to know exactly which room is vacant and occupied. The co-ordination among departments help in

completing the job in a systematic way and much more efficiently. Better co-ordination reduces both

physical as well as mental burden of the staff. This department receives all the messages from various

departments, guests, from reservation department. Reservation department gets the reservation long

before the guest arrival. Until reservation departments shares the information of reservation with

reception or registration section, they will not able to make arrangements for the expected guest.

Further after the arrival of the guest, the reception department opens a bill and sends it to bills

department along with the billing instructions. This is how ultimate aim of guest satisfaction and

maximum revenue is achieved with proper co-ordination among all the departments of the hotel.

Front office department co-ordinates with the following departments.

Image-3

Source: http://www.aim.fr/en/page_career-options-after-aim

1. Housekeeping

2. Food & beverage department

3. Engineering& Maintenance

4. Accounts

5. Sales& Marketing

6. Human Resource Department

7. Safety & Security Department

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Front Office Coordination with other departments of Hotel

3 FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT

The most important and essential co-ordination can be established and recognized between front office

and housekeeping department. Co-ordination with the housekeeping is one of the critical features of

front office operations. The perfects co-ordination and efficiency of housekeeping and front office

department results in the better sales of the rooms. Particularly in peak season co-ordination is most

vital and helps in attaining 100% or more room occupancy if the housekeeping cleans and clears the

rooms instantly as information is received from front office department.

Image- 4

Front Office

Housekeeping

Sales & Marketing

Food & Beverage

Department

Engineering & MaintenanceAccounts

Human Resource

Ssfety & Security

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Source: http://www.hospitality-school.com/coordination-hotel-front-office-other-departments

Coordination between front office and housekeeping is required for following process

1. As soon as there are guest departures the Front Office rings the Housekeeping Desk and reports

the room numbers of rooms vacated so that Housekeeping can take them over to clean and

prepare for sale. Once a room is clean, the Housekeeping Floor Supervisor rings the Front

Office directly or through the Housekeeping Desk and hands over the room to front office for

sale. Rooms received by Housekeeping for cleaning are called “departure room” while cleaned

rooms handed to the Front Office for sale are called “clear rooms”. The precision with which

the above duty is done enables the Front Office to have rooms to sell to a waiting customer.

This is especially critical in hotels with high occupancies.

2. The automated systems in this world of technology have made the communication as well as

work faster & easier these days. However the employees ought to be trained to ensure that it

acts as a supporting tool. The cycle of communication between the two is at each stage when

the front desk provides the housekeeping department with a report called the Night Clerk’s

Room Report. The Purpose of the report is to inform housekeeping department very early in the

morning the status of all rooms in the property as it appears in the front desk records. The

nomenclature used varies from property to property but most common used abbreviations are

SO – Occupied stay over; OOO – Out of order; V – Vacant; C/O – Guest has/ Will Check out

3. Front office department must forward arrival and departure list to housekeeping department so

that rooms could be get ready for expected guest on time. On the basis of arrival and departure

of groups and VIP's list housekeeping make the duty roaster of its staff accordingly. The room

sales projections - a weekly report is shared by the front office manager that indicates the

number of departures, arrivals, walk - ins, stay overs, and no - shows - to schedule employees.

Executive housekeeper plans the employee leaves on the basis of room sales projections.

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Available Clean, or Ready room is ready to be occupied

Occupied guest or guests are already

occupying a room

Stay over guest will not be checking out

of a room on the current day

Dirty or On - Change guest has checked out of the

room, but the housekeeping

staff has not released the room

for occupancy

Out - of – Order room is not available for

occupancy because of a

mechanical malfunction

4. For small hotel arrival notification slips and departure intimation is sent to housekeeping

department manually where as in large hotel or chain hotels these slips and intimation of

departure are undated through property management system (PMS), but physical records are

still maintained for future reference. This helps the housekeeping in knowing that who all have

checked in or checked out from the hotel.

5. Housekeeping and front office communicates about the status of all rooms of the hotel.

Housekeeping prepares room status report during each shift. Room status report is prepared on

the basis of physical verification of each room. On the basis of physical verification, status of

each room is indicated in front of the room number. Floor supervisor signs this report and sends

to front office. After these reports are made they are tallied i.e. the status as per front office &

the status as per housekeeping in case of any discrepancy, the discrepancy Report is made &

front office is informed about that so as to solve the discrepancies if any.

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HOUSEKEEPING ROOM STATUS REPORT

Floor _____________________ Date _______________ AM PM

Room

Number

* Code Room

Number

* Code

01

03

05

07

09

11

13

15

17

19

21

23

Remarks :

CODE **

OOO - Out of order O - Occupied V - Vacant

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CO - Check out SO - Sleep out DL - Double locked

Maid’s Signature

Maid’s Room Status Report

6. Guests may request for extra amenities and guest room supplies and may sent request to

front desk. Front office needs to inform the housekeeping department about the request so that

housekeeping can promptly relay of requests for extra blankets, towels, soap and shampoo.

6. A VIP is a very important person to the hotel and is welcomed by the front manager on his

arrival. The House Keeping is informed so as to do his room in a better way and to the room

service information is given about the various additional amenities that are to be placed in his

room.

HOUSE KEEPING DISCREPANCY REPORT

TIME: HRS. DATE:

DND:#

12 Hrs. DND:#

Refused Service:#

12 Hrs. DND:#

Occupied No Luggage:#

Scanty Baggage:#

Double Lock:#

Extra Bed:#

HOUSEKEEPING:

DUTY MANAGER:

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4 FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH FOOD & BEVERAGE DEPARTMENT

Food & Beverage and Food & beverage production department are responsible for making the

provision of food and beverage production and service to the hotel guests. But the F & B department

would not able to work effectively and efficiently without establishing the coordination with front

office department. Following are the key areas for which a good coordination is required between front

office and food and beverage department.

Image- 5

Source:https://www.tutorialspoint.com/food_and_beverage_services/food_and_beverage_services_org

anization.htm

1. Food and beverage department need the status of occupancy and house count report to estimate

the total requirement of food and drinks for expected guest. So to make best provision of food

requirement front office sends arrival report and departure report to the food & beverage

department.

2. To control the guest credit food & beverage department needs confirmed arrival and departure

information. Food & Beverage department sends the information on food & drink charges of

the guest to front office department. Large hotels do have point- of- sale terminals or

computerized cash that interface with a property management system. Guest charges

information is posted automatically to a guest’s folio. Butif hotel does not have point - of - sale

terminals and follows the manual system, the cashier is responsible for posting accurate charges

on the guest folio and depends on transfer slips. The front office manager should coordinate

with the food and beverage director in establishing standard operating procedures and methods

to transfer of charges.

3. Food and beverage department depends on the predicted house count prepared by the front

office manager to schedule employees and predict sales. For example, the restaurant manager

would need to estimate that how many servers would be required to make provision for

breakfast service. So estimate this restaurant manager needs the information on how many

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guest will be in the hotel for breakfast. Timely and accurate communication is important for

staffing control and sales predictions.

4. Front office department may receive any enquiry related with booking of restaurant or booking

for a party. Front office department forwards the enquiry related with such things to the food &

beverage department.

5. Front office receives the payment for Food& Beverage transactions.

5 FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH SALES & MARKETING DEPARTMENT

Sale and marketing department form the marketing strategies to increase sale of the hotel rooms,

banquets and other important services of the hotel. Sales & marketing department also work in the area

of branding and image building of the hotel. Guest history is one of most important resource to form

right marketing strategy and promotional schemes for right customer. Following are the areas in which

coordination is required between front office & sales & marketing department

1. Guest registration information is used to understand types of customer hotel is receiving to

target marketing campaigns, launch promotional schemes, prepare mailing labels, and to select

suitable advertising media. The front office department makes every effort to keep guest related

database current, precise and accurate. So that whenever sales & marketing department asks for

guest data front office can provide the information on time.

2. Front office department supports the sales department in selling the room facilities and services.

Through cross selling and up selling front office employees sells the hotel facilities and

services.

3. Marketing and sales team launch new promotional schemes time to time. Front office also

needs information regarding current promotional schemes if applicable.

4. Sales department requires the information related with number and type of room available for

sale.

6 FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH ENGINEERING AND MAINTENANCE

DEPARTMENT

Engineering & maintenance department is responsible for maintenance of equipment’s and tools used

in the operations. Forfollowing operations coordination is must between front office & maintenance

department

1. Frontoffice department keep its track on the status of room under maintenance. Front office

department must update the out of order room as it got clearance from maintenance and

housekeeping department.

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2. Before attending the plumbing, airconditioning, heating problem maintenance department

confirms the room status from the front office department. Maintenance employees should

know the room status before attending any maintenance problems.

3. Sometime guest places the complaint at front desk regarding the issues such as heating,

ventilating, and air conditioning, leaking, poor signal in LED and other room furnishing. These

complaints should be communicated to the maintenance department immediately. The front

desk clerk must work on the repair schedule as per guest order for maintenance department.

4. Front office department must inform the guest that their complaint had been resolved by

engineering & maintenance department.

7 FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH SAFETY & SECURITY DEPARTMENT

Coordination between the security department and the front office is essential for the safety of guest

and employees. Front office department ensures the safe environment to all the guest which is not

possible without having strong coordination with security department so these departments work

together closely in maintaining guest safety & security. Security department is responsible for

patrolling of premises, monitoring the surveillance equipment’s, ensuring the guest and employees

safety, handling the safety and security incident or threats and liaising with police if required.

Following are the key areas for which coordination is required between these two departments

1. For routine check of guest security cooperation between both the departments is crucial.

2. Front office should alert the security department regarding any suspicious person or activity.

3. Coordination is required to deal with the problems such as guest locked out rooms.

4. Both the departments handle the lost property.

5. security department communicates and gives instructions to the front office department about

warning or emergency kind of situations

8 FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT

The human resource department is responsible for recruitment, selection of staff, training &

development of the employees, performance appraisal, and welfare of employees of the hotel. To hire

best employees for the department it is essential establish the coordination between both the

departments. Following are the key areas for which coordination is required.

1. Front office must inform the HR department for the requirement of front office employees.

2. Time to time HR department conduct training session for front office employees for updating

them on trends and new technologies.

3. Performance appraisal is done by HR department on the basis of feedback received by front

office manager for various employees working in the department.

4. During the selection procedure both managers coordinate for selection of employees for the

department. The human resources manager may ask the front office manager to conduct the

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screening of potential employees. If so, guidelines should be provided by HR department for

screening methods that should be used for the screening of employees.

9 FRONT OFFICE COORDINATION WITH ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT

The accounts department is responsible for monitoring, recording, keeping track, and reporting of all

financial activities in the hotel. These two departments coordinates with each other due to nature of job

as front office department receives all the payments in exchange of product and services used by the

guest. Accounts department receives all the transactional reports from front office department.

Following are the key areas where the liaising between front office and accounts department is

required.

1. Account department receives all the records of financial transactions done at front office.

2. Accounts department collects information regarding guest billing for credit control, to make

entry in main hotel account, and to make revenue report.

3. Front office also requires the applicable policy and method and consent from accounts

department for managing and recording of financial transaction

10 SUMMARY

Effective communication & effective coordination are essential for successful organisation. Teamwork

is the key to successful hotel operations. Front Office must work closely & not only with housekeeping

department but also with every other department in the hotel.

Image- 6

Source: https://possector.com/management/manage-restaurant-staff

Although General Manager is responsible for coordinating & implementing the teamwork philosophy

in each department & in every employee of the hotel. No one can work in isolation. Good coordination

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is required for effective and efficient operation of hotel and to provide satisfactory services to the

guests.

Documents

Tourism & Hospitality - e-PG Pathshala