Hotel departments and their functions in room division
1. Front Office
Front office has been described as the hub or nerve center of the hotel. It is the department that makes a first impression on the guest and one that the guest relies on throughout his or her stay for information and service. It’s duty is to enhance guest services by constantly developing services to meet guest needs. The function of front office are the followings:
To sell and up-sell rooms
The front office will hand over all the expected arrivals and available rooms after reservations office closed at 6:00p.m. The front office will try to sell out all the remaining rooms to call-in or walk-in guests to ensure 100%occupancy. Also,it should apply the yield management that is upselling the features of a larger room, a higher floor or a better view in higher price for someone booking a room with shortly notice when the demand of room is high.
To maintain balanced guest account
The office should make use of the property management systems(PMS) and point-of-safe terminals(POS) to open a guest account for each customer and post all charges from the departments. This means that guest charges from the various outlets are directly debited to the guest’s account and payment can be received on guest check out or transfered to the city ledger.
To offer service such as handing mails,faxes,messages and hotel information
Customers always approach the front dest with questions so the front dest employees should have enough knowledge about the hotel. The front desk is staffed throughout the twenty-four hours by three shift to provide service. Ever shift has different duties todo.Most likely, the front desk need to note things and check on the log book to see if there is some guests request for room switches, check on the room status, number of expected checkouts still to leave in order to update the forecast of the night’s occupancy and handle guest check-ins and take reservations.
2. Reservations
The reservation department is one first contact to the guest making the reservation for room. Since some guests may be shopping for the best value, it is essential to sell the hotel by emphasizing the hotel’s advantages. It’s main responsibility is to sell all of the hotel rooms for the maximum dollars and avoid guest resentment of being overcharged. The reservation can be done by a variety of sources such as telephone, corporate 1-800 numbers, travel agents, internet and walk-in. The central reservations system interfaces with the hotel’s inventory and simultaneously allows reservations by individual hotel reservation personnel. There are two types of reservation that the department need to consider.
Confirmed reservation
It is a reservation made with sufficient time for a comfirmation slip including confirmed dates,types of room booked, number of guests and so on.It is to return to the guests by mail or fax so that they can bring the slip to the hotel to verify the booking. If the guest arrive late, the hotel may have the right to cancel his or her reservation and sell the room to others.
Guaranteed reservation
The hotel will take the credit card number of the guest to ensure the payment of the room. The guest choose to have guaranteed reservation has the promise from the hotel to provide room even if the guest arrive late. However, if the guest does not show-up, the hotel will charge him for one night accommodation automatically.
3. Housekeeping
The four major areas of responsibilitys for the executive housekeeper are as follows:
Leadership of people, equipment, and supplies
Cleanliness and servicing th eguest rooms and public areas
Operating the department according to financial guidelines prescribed by the general manager
Keeping records of supplies and equipment to control inventory
4. Concierge
he concierge is a seperste department from the front office room clerks and cashiers. Concierges serve to elevate a property’s marketable value and its image. They provide the special touch services that can cater to a guest’s percise needs. They should not only have a detailed knowlege of the hotel and its service, but also of the city and even the international details. Also, they can speak several languages. They will assist the guests with a board range of service, such as restaurant reservation, advice on local activities, tickets to show or VIP’s messages and special request.
5. Guest service
The guest service department is responsible to give the guest positive first impressions. The staff consists of door attendant, bell person and concierge.
Door attendants are dressed in impressive uniforms. They greet guests at the hotel front door, assist in opening or closing automobile doors, removing luggage from the trunk, hailing taxis, keeping the door entrance clear of vehicles and giving guest infomation about the hotel and the local area in a courteous and friendly way.
Bell person is mainly to escort guests and transport luggage to their rooms. They also need to explains the service of the hotel and points out the features of the room to the guest. For example, the lighting, TV, air-conditioning, room service etc.
6. Security
Security department is providing guest protection and loss prevention. And it includes four elements.
Security officers make regular rounds of the hotel premises, observing the suspicious behavior and taking appropriate action, investigating incidents and cooperating with local law enforcement agencies.
Equipment includes two-way radios, closed-circuit television cameras, smoke detectors, fire alarms and electronic key cards etc. which can provide the guest more safeguard.
Safety procedures are some guidelines for the staffs and the guests to ensure their safety. For example, security officers should be able to gain access to guest room, store room and office all the times.
Identification procedure is to offer identification cards with photographs to all employees. The guests can contact with name-tagged employees that not only project a friendly image for the property, but also useful for security reasons.
7. Communication
The communication department will manage the in-house communication, guest communication and also the emergency center by CBX or PBX technologies. For example, the call billing system will charge the customer if the customer make a long-distance call placed from the guest room.
Also, communication department is a profit center. It is because hotels generally add a 50 percent charge to all long-distance phone calls
