Hotel Management: Front Office Operations

Introduction

• The hospitality industry is booming with many opportunities.
• This course covers hotel management aspects: food & beverage, front office, and sales.
• Aimed at building self-confidence and management skills.

Contents

1. Front Office Operations
2. Facilities and Services
3. Functions of the Front Office
4. Sales and Selling

Front Office Operations

• Rooms Categories:

  • Sleeping Accommodation:
    • Classified by bed type and bathroom facilities.
    • Standard abbreviations for coding.
    • Types include suites, family rooms (with sofa or pullout bed), and bedrooms with communicating doors.
  • Non-Sleeping Accommodation:
    • Rooms not used for sleeping but generate revenue.
    • Varieties depend on premises' age, location, and market catered for.

• Reasons for Classifying Accommodation:

  • Information for brochures and promotions.
  • Analysis for selling, reserving, and allocating rooms.
  • Identify usage and occupancy percentages for marketing, redecoration, extensions, and pricing.
  • Helps design front office systems.

Tariffs

• Types of tariffs and pricing structures:

  • Room Only: Only bedroom price is quoted.
  • Bed and Breakfast (B&B): Includes breakfast, charges for extras.
  • Half-Board: Includes breakfast and one other meal (lunch/dinner).
  • Full Board: Includes all meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon tea).
  • Inclusive Terms: Full board plus unlimited use of facilities.

• Prices influenced by:

  • Room type, convenience, number of occupants, market segment.
  • Competitors' prices and what the hotel needs to charge to break even or profit.
  • Seasonal demand and special event pricing.

Facilities and Services

• Varies based on hotel type, client type, needs, expectations, willingness to pay, hotel standard, location, premises layout, cost-effectiveness.

• Revenue-producing services should be promoted to avoid underuse.

• Revenue-Producing Services:

  • Types and volume of sales are monitored.
  • Performance and customer satisfaction are analyzed.
  • Effective control and accurate billing.

Functions of the Front Office

• Nerve Center of the Hotel:

  • Handles guest queries, registrations, room allocations, monitoring expenditures, and billing.

• Role of Front Office:

  • Vital public relations point.
  • Guests form early impressions of the hotel through front office interactions.

• Key Functions:

  1. Sales and selling
  2. Advance reservations
  3. Reception
  4. Accounting and checkout
  5. Information services
  6. Communications
  7. Security

• Guest Cycle:

  • Useful tool for monitoring, charting, and controlling guest transactions.
  • Divided into three sections: pre-arrival, arrival/check-in, checkout.

Sales and Selling

• Focus on in-house sales and guest spending.

• Everyone from doorman to manager is part of the sales effort.

• Sales Opportunities: Reservations, check-in, en route to the bedroom, in the room, and at check-out.

• Selling Effectively: Full knowledge of hotel premises, organizational structure, accommodation, facilities, services, house rules, prices/tariffs, and competitors.