REPORT ON
INTERNSHIP AT
TAJ RESORT AND
CONVENTION
CENTRE
NANDINI MAEWAL
GOA UNIVERSITY
IMBA TY- 1918
INDEX
Sr. No. Topic Pg. No.
1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 2
2. ABSTRACT 3
3. ABOUT THE HOTEL 4
4. HOTEL ORGANIZATIONAL CHART 11
5. FRONT OFFICE 12
6. CONCLUSION 43
1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I, Nandini Maewal, acknowledge the completion of my
training program at Taj Resort and convention Centre,
Dona Paula, Goa.
I am extremely grateful for the most exhilarating
experience of this internship, and all the values and
exposure it gave me.
I would like to extend my greatest appreciation to all my
professors for making me able to complete this internship
successfully.
I would also like to thank the entire staff of Taj Resort and
Convention Centre for their tremendous support,
encouragement and motivation. Their consistent direct and
indirect support assisted me to prepare for the industry and
skilfully handle the entire training.
Without each one’s guidance, I wouldn’t have been able to
grasp and learn so much throughout my training period.
2
ABSTRACT
The hotel industry stands tall when a number of departments
come together and work as a team.
A few of such departments are Human Resources, Finance,
Accounts, Learning and Development, Security, Sales, etc. with
Front Office, Food and Beverages, Food Production and
housekeeping being the core departments of the hotel.
Front Office is considered to be the face of the hotel and the
Front Office personnels are supposed to have the maximum
knowledge about the hotel, location, etc.
Keeping this in mind, I completed my internship training of two
months from 18th May, 2022 to 15th July, 2022 in the Front
Office department of Taj Resort and Convention Centre, Dona
Paula, Goa, India.
3
ABOUT THE HOTEL
TAJ Hotels were incorporated in the year 1899, by the founder
of Tata groups Mr. Jamshedji Tata. IHCL (Indian Hotel
Company Limited) opened the first hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace,
Bombay in the year 1903.
4
The Indian Hotels Company Limited is an Indian hospitality
company that manages a portfolio of hotels, resorts, jungle
safaris, palaces, spas and in-flight catering services. The
company is being managed by the Tata Group.
It’s South Asia’s largest hospitality focused enterprise.
The following are the most famous hospitality brands of IHCL
in India.
5
Taj Resort and Convention Centre, started in the year 2019, with
a forested hillside perch and gorgeous sea views.
It is owned by the FOMENTO Group, who also have expertise
in print media and education as well. TRCC stands tall next to
its sister property Cidade de Goa, which is also owned by Taj
Seleqtions.
It is at a 45 min drive from the Dabolim International Airport,
Goa, and 15 min drive from the capital city Panaji.
It’s a luxurious vertical resort in Goa with 299 rooms, with 17
themed suits, with a spa, BLD the multi cuisine restaurant which
means Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, The Banyan which is the
resort’s “EAT BAR”. They also have a speciality restaurant
called C2C which means Coast to Coast, a gym, a kids club, a
rooftop infinity swimming pool, another infinity pool at the UB
level, a banquette hall, multiple business meeting halls and
board rooms and a 40 seater cinema hall.
6
TATA Values:
✓ Integrity
✓ Excellence
✓ Pioneering
✓ Units
✓ Responsibility
PILLARS OF IHCL:
✓ Trust- Right Product & Information Transparency.
✓ Awareness- Strategies, Tactics, Perspectives.
✓ Joy- What we do? How we do? Good working
environment.
7
7 PILLARS OF TOURISM:
✓ Swagat- Welcome
✓ Soochana- Information
✓ Suvidha- Facilities
✓ Suraksha- Safety
✓ Sahyog- Cooperation
✓ Samrachanam- Infrastructure Development
✓ Safai- Cleanliness
8
There is a committee ‘POSH’ aka Prevention Of Sexual
Harassment. It is there to report any kind of verbal, visual or
physical conduct of sexual harassment. They raise
recommendations and punishments for the problems.
Safety is a huge matter of concern, and to prevent any kind of
occupational hazards, trainings are given in order to educate
people about the kind of safety hazards in the work area, for
example- slip and trip, machinery, radiation, electrical shock,
fire, etc.; and are also taught how and when to use the fire
extinguishers and how to follow the evacuation processes in
case of emergencies.
9
Maintaining proper hygiene and sanitation in the work area is
extremely important.
For male workers- Hair should be neatly cut, nails to be
trimmed, no jewellery or accessories to be worn except a decent
watch. Uniform should be prim and proper. It should be clean
and neatly ironed.
For female workers- Hair should be tied in a bun, nails to be
trimmed, only one pair of earrings to be worn. No access
jewellery or accessories except a decent watch. Uniform should
be prim and proper. It should be clean and neatly ironed.
Being punctual should be every hotelier’s pride.
Despite the challenges that may be faced by one caused due to
climatic conditions, etc., one should be on time, dressed in crisp
uniform, at the time allotted for the duty, respectively.
10
HOTEL ORGANIZATIONAL
CHART
11
FRONT OFFICE
ORGANIZATIONAL CHART
12
FRONT OFFICE
Front office is the first department of hotel which comes in
guest contact, at the time of guest arrival and the last department
when they depart from the hotel. This department performs the
various functions like reservation, reception, registration, room
assignment and bills settlement of a resident guest.
The main functions of this department is Reservation, Guest
Services, Check-in, Check-out, Telephone, Finance &
Cashiering, Foreign Exchange, Room Assignment, Inquiry,
Kids Club, etc.
The Front Office is also called the nerve centre of a hotel.
13
WHAT TO OBSERVE IN
FRONT OFFICE
There are certain shifts that are more important to be done in
order to learn the systems and procedures of the department.
One should make sure that they cover all shifts so as to
understand the department fully.
1. Greeting, meeting & escorting the guest.
2. Total capacity and tariffs of the rooms.
3. Location and role of status board, different types of status's
maintained.
4. Special rates and discounts applicable to groups, business
houses, airlines, VIPs etc.
5. Identification of kind, mode and type of reservation.
6. Filing systems and follow-up on reservations.
7. Types of plans and packages on offer.
8. Forms and formats used in the department.
9. Meaning of guaranteed, confirmed and waitlisted
reservations.
10. Reports taken out in the reservations department.
11. Procedure of taking a reservation.
12. Group reservations, discounts and correspondence.
14
13. How to receive and room a guest.
14. Room blockings.
15. Size, situations and general colour schemes of rooms and
suites.
16. Discounts available to travel agents, tour operators,
FHRAI members etc.
17. Co-ordination of reception with lobby, front office cash,
information, room service, housekeeping and telephones.
18. Guest registration, types of guest folios, arrival slips, c-
forms and their purposes.
19. How to take check-ins and check-outs on the computer.
20. Various reports prepared by reception.
21. Key check policy.
22. Mail & message handling procedures.
23. Departure control.
24. Percentage of no-shows to calculate safe over booking.
25. Group and crew rooming, pre-preparation and procedures.
26. Scanty baggage policy.
27. Housekeeping discrepancy – investigation.
15
28. Handling of room changes / rate amendments / date
amendments / joiners / one person departure / allowances /
paid outs and all formats accompanying them.
29. Requisitioning of operating supplies.
30. Handling of special situations pertaining to guest
grievances, requests, etc.
31. BELL DESK / CONCIERGE FUNCTIONS: Luggage
handling during check-in & check-out, left luggage
procedures, wake-up call procedures, scanty baggage
procedure, handling of group baggage, maintenance of
records, errands made, briefings etc.
32. TRAVEL DESK: coordination, booking, transfers etc.
16
CHECK- IN PROCEDURE
The hotel uses a system known as Opera. This system enables
any employee with an id to make bills, assign rooms, check
statuses, etc.
Meeting and greeting and receiving the guests is one of the
tasks. When a guests enters the lobby, the bell boys help them
with their baggage and tags the bags to avoid misplacing the
luggage. Welcome drinks are served to the guest whilst they
are seated and the check- in is in process.
After they are seated, we confirm the booking made in the
system.
We provide them with a registration-card to fill important
information for the hotels data base.
We ask for their photo ID to be scanned and saved in the
system, so that if he is a repeat guest he doesn't have to be
bothered again, we take his/ her signature and check if the
room is ready to receive a guest, if not we call housekeeping
and ask them assign a room for them.
The welcome drinks we served at TRCC were Kokum juice,
Lemonade, Orange Fizz and Panna. Each to be stocked
17
continuously from the bar, and kulhads to be washed and
counted after every use. It has to be made sure that every
guest is welcomed with a fresh drink, and clearance is done
right after they finish their drinks. VIP guests are often served
Champagne.
After this is done the guests are provided with the key card
along with the Wi-Fi access and few details about the hotel,
like the location of the pool, restaurant, the gym etc. and the
extension numbers. They are then escorted to the
room by the GRE and the luggage is taken up by the bell boy.
After which we had to enter the address, phone number,
email id, gender, nationality, passport and visa, arrival
information into the system.
And manually write in the AnD (arrival and departure) book.
In the case of a VIP guest, the GRE along with the manager
wait at the entrance of the hotel to welcome the guest with a
garland, he/ she is escorted to the room assigned to him/ her.
The GRE politely requests for the guest’s signature on the
reg-card and their photo ids, and leave them to unwind. We
then continue with the checking in procedure. And check that
all the departments are well aware of the presence of the VIP
in the house and try to make his/ her stay as pleasant as we
possibly can.
18
HOW TO HANDLE WALK- IN
GUESTS?
If the guest presents a conformation letter, verify the date and
the name of the hotel, the guest may have arrived on a
different date or at the wrong hotel.
Check with the guest if the reservation was made by another
person, it is possible that the reservation agent might have
entered the reservation under the booker / the person who
called. Re-verify the reservation by searching by the last
name, reservation number, mobile number, booker name,
travel agent etc. If the agent had booked from the travel agent
ask the guest to call up the travel agent and get more details
of the booking.
Ask the guest to reconfirm the arrival date and departure date
again. The guest may be arriving on a different date or it
is possible that this guest was a no-show for the previous
night.
If all the above checks and given negative results then after
checking the availability of the room in the hotel, the GRE
can take the guest for a show round and make a quotation. If
19
the guest is happy with the price, the GRE can make a new
reservation.
When the reservation is created for walk in guest the source
of the reservation should be tagged as "Walk-In".
20
TELEPHONE ETIQUETTES
An important task at the front office is to handle a call
professionally.
• In a hotel we can receive calls from within the hotel or
outside the hotel.
• Telephone operators should be well verse with all the
information which might be asked from him.
• The extension at TRCC is '0'.
• Guest make any sort of request here and this call should not
be forwarded to any other department. It should be resolved
then and there. The operator can receive calls from other
departments as well as from the guest.
Jargons used: Good morning/ afternoon/ evening. Guest
services, Nandini speaking, how may I assist you? (For
internal calls).
Thank you for calling Taj Resort and Convention Centre and
Cidade de Goa, how may I help you? (For external calls).
• A 'hot sheet' should always be maintained at operators to
take down guest requests and follow up. The operator should
respond promptly, identify themself clearly.
21
Go out of your way to help, hear carefully, terminate politely,
apologise if needed. This creates personalisation.
• Always address the guest by name.
22
SINGLE LADY TRAVELLER
During the time of reservation, the reservation is tagged
SLT - single lady traveller, so that the front office team is
aware of that. Once the reservation is processed under this
category the front office team assigns the room.
They have to ensure that the room has lady amenity kit,
Famine magazines, health magazines, health menu in IRD.
A female GRE should be there to welcome the single lady.
She should be thoroughly informed about the facilities in the
hotel, especially about the emergency preparedness plan. She
should ensure that there is an airport pick up, a female GRE
goes to pick her up. The chef has to call her room for
personalized service and order taking, rooms should be
served by female housekeeping attendants.
A fond farewell is a must.
23
SCANTY BAGGAGE
PROCEDURE
• Guest who are coming with minimum baggage are
considered scanty baggage guest.
• The bell boy should be vigilant enough to track the guest
during check-in only.
• Bell boy has to inform the reception and record in scanty
baggage register against room number, name of the guest,
duration of their stay.
Reception associates will have to collect 150% of room tariff
as incidentals.
• Put a no post flag if the guest has not given incidental part
and communicate to other point of sale like restaurant, IRD,
housekeeping for minibar, etc. so that they can also collect
the incidentals then and there from the guest.
One should be vigilant for these guest and proper reception
shift handover also to be given.
• Do not extend the stay of the guest without advance deposit.
24
WAKE UP CALL
PROCEDURE
> Good morning/ afternoon/ evening Mr. Joshi, this is
Nandini from the reception, how may I assist you?
> Certainly, please allow me to make a note of the wakeup
call.
> Mr. Joshi, what time would you want to have a wakeup
call?
> Certainly, do you want any reminder wakeup call?
> Would you care for tea coffee with your wakeup call?
> Would you like me to arrange transport to the airport for
you?
> Mr. Joshi, I have recorded your wake up call at 7:15 am
with a masala tea for room 1247.
> Would you care for any other assistance from our side?
> Thank you for calling Mr. Joshi, have a good night.
25
GIVING A WAKE UP CALL
> Good morning Mr. Joshi, this is your wake up call at
7:15am. Your masala tea will be there in the next 15
minutes.
> Do you want any other service from our side?
> Have a good day ahead!
Wakeup call is recorded in the wake up call register along
with additional requests of other departments.
26
SHOW ROUND OF THE
HOTEL
• There are instances where guest often come to the hotel for
property show around. They may want to have shown round
to see the room or banquet halls before booking.
• To give a show round of the hotel, the purpose should be
asked. It is always advisable that it is done after consulting
the duty manager and preferably done by the sales team, this
is done for security reason.
• When giving a show round of the hotel, staff should ensure
that all the facilities provided by the hotel are covered giving
a broader and clear picture to the guest.
• Staff should start from facilities in the lobby where
restaurant are generally located - cuisine plus timing should
be mentioned to the guest.
• Recreational facilities like gym, pool etc. timings should be
mentioned and their location to be shown.
• Other facility like board room, business centre etc. should
be covered.
27
• One room of each category to be shown, if vacant, to give a
broader picture to the guest.
• General inclusions should be mentioned to the guest.
Estimate tariff can be revealed if guest asks.
• Once the show around is completed, a feedback can be
obtained to know about the success of the tour.
28
VISITOR POLICY
• We should first enquire the visitors, whom they have to
meet, with their name as well.
• Visitors telling the room number should not be considered.
• Once the visitor tells the room number of the guest the
receptionist should enquire about the availability of the guest
in the room and whether the guest wants to meet the visitor in
the room or in the lobby.
• Accordingly we proceed.
• If the guest asks for the visitor to come to the room, we
should ask the visitor for a photo-id which we will scan or
take a copy and store in visitor's record file. We will also ask
the visitor to pen down his number and name and arrival
time. Once the details are obtained, the receptionist should
walk the visitor to the guest room and take his signature as
proof of the visitor's entry.
29
KEY CARD POLICY
The key check in policy, at the time of issuing a key to the
guest:
(a) If the guest has just checked in, we have to check in the
system if the room is clean, confirm it with housekeeping and
make the key and then issue it.
(b) If he/she is in-house guest, he has to check the room
number and name of the guest and confirm it with the system,
and only then issue the key.
30
GUEST COMPLAINT
HANDLING
• In an organisation, especially hotels, there are often
instances when guests are not happy with hotel’s services or
products. So as a result, they often tend to complain.
• As a front office personnel, it is an 'ART' to handle
complaints tactfully so as to solve it to the guest's satisfaction.
• First and foremost, whenever a guest is complaining we
should always hear what the guest is saying and immediately
apologise for the inconvenience.
• We should empathise with the guest whenever he is
complaining.
•.We need to analyse what made the guest complain.
• In the hotel industry, we might be critical to absurd
complaints from the guests, but despite of the kind of
complaint, it should be handled with utmost care.
• Wi-Fi related issues, TV signal issues, air-conditioning
issues in room, some food related issues, key card not
working issues, are just a few examples.
31
• Our aim should be to solve all the problems so that the guest
feel the worth of spending their money on our hotel.
32
CHECK- OUT PROCEDURE
The checkout procedure is done with caution to avoid any
billing mistakes. Early in the morning, the reg-cards of the
departure for the day are kept ready by the night shift
personnel in a file for the morning shift. When the morning
shift personnel arrives, they check the number of checkouts
for the day, and check the entire bill in the system. According
to the information provided they make note of the outstanding
payment to be made by the guest.
To cite some examples:
ENTIRE BTC (Entire Billed to Company) wherein we don't
collect any cash from the guest, just a signature on a bill for
the hotel.
ROOM BTC (only room is Billed To Company) wherein the
hotel bills for the room are paid by the company, but the
guest has to pay for the extras like the minibar, the food bills,
etc.
DP (direct payment) where the gest has to pay for everything,
the room, the food, the minibar etc.
33
When the guest come to check out we print the bill according
to his preference and collect the respective amount from the
guest. During the time of billing the GRE enquires the
feedback about the stay from the guest and listens to the
positive and negative feedback attentively.
They then see the guests off. The associates then file the bills
in the appropriate register and at the end of the day get the
bills signed from the GM and FOM.
Apart from these major tasks, we have to take charge of a lot
of other minor things like, when someone come to meet a
guest, we had to scan their ids and fill it, BTC registers to be
filled, medicine register, cycle register, wake up register, hot
sheets, etc.
34
REPORTS PREPARED IN THE
FRONT OFFICE
DEPARTMENT
1. Daily pick up report.
2. The materialisation report (closing of the night).
3. Room plan report.
4. Flash report.
5. Revenue report.
6. Trip adviser report.
7. Social media report.
8. GRE report.
9. Guest complaint report.
35
REGISTERS IN THE FRONT
OFFICE DEPARTMENT
1. Cycle Register
2. Medicine Register
3. AnD Register (Arrival and Departure)
4. Wakeup Call Register
5. Visitors File
6. Log Book
7. Hot Sheet
8. Amenities Voucher
9. Cashier Handover Book
10.Room Exchange Book
11.Duty Manager Check List
12.Encashment
13.BTC Register
14.Petty Cash Voucher
15.Kids Club Register
36
ROOM FACILITIES
1. Mini Bar
2. Safe Deposit
3. Cable TV
4. Wifi facility
5. Wardrobe
6. Full Length Mirror
7. Hair Dryer
8. Iron and Ironing Board
9. Shower Cubicle n Bath Tub
10.Toiletries
11.Bath Linen
12.Data Port
13.Tags like DND, Clean my room, Collect my laundry, etc.
37
TYPES OF MEAL PLANS
BB- Bed and Breakfast
AP- American Meal Plan
MAP- Modified American Plan
RO- Room Only
DND- Do Not Disturb
DBRT- Direct Billing Room and Taxes
EPO- Each Pay Own
38
HOTEL FACILITIES
1. Outgoing Calls
2. Concierge Services
3. Safe Deposit Lockers
4. Spa
5. Kids Club
6. Fitness Centre
7. In room dining
8. Laundry service
9. Sightseeing trips
10.Swimming pool
11.Differently abled guest facilities
12.Fire alarm flasher for hearing impaired individuals
13.Wi-Fi facility
14.Business Centre
39
MY OBSERVATIONS
On the Opera system, there is a lot to observe. I learned how
to block a room for a guest, how to create and update guest
IDs. I learnt about registrations, importance of reports and
folios.
I spent a few days in the welcome drinks area, and learned the
importance of teamwork and eye for detail.
I learned a lot about greeting, meeting & escorting the guests
to the rooms, the restaurant or help them out with any
problems they may be facing. Moreover, learned how to
interact with different types of guests.
Maintaining a poise is crucial.
Interacting with guests from different parts of the world was
ecstatic.
Making key ready for the guests, Printing welcome letters,
Filling the log book, Visitors file, Hot sheet, Cycle
register, Amenities register, Medicine book, BC register,
Attending to guests personally, Giving wakeup calls, Going
on show rounds, Printing Register cards, Checking the guests
into the system at the time of check-in, Guest management,
40
Filling the "AnD" book (Arrival N Departure), Filling the
reservation form, Printing emails, Stamping bills, Punching
and filling the reservations and Filing the reservations in
different folders according to the dates.
I spent a few weeks in the Kids Club area. I learned how to
take entries of the kids, maintain the area, make sure the pest
control is done, make sure the toys are clean, get cake pops
and other savoury items for the kids, and make sure the kids
are comfortable at all times.
Lastly, I spent time in the guest services. It was by far the
most crucial area as we had to attend and cater to all kinds of
guests, internal or external. Arranging call back from the
sales team, diverting calls to concerned departments,
resolving with issues personally, and professionally using the
proper jargons, is what I specifically learned in that area.
41
FEW SIGHTSEEING TRIPS
1. Churches of Old Goa
2. Temples around Ponda
3. Spice farms
4. Boat cruise (River Mandovi)
5. Floating Casinos
6. Night Clubs like Titos, Mambos, SinQ, Mojo's.
7. Beautiful beaches (North Goa) Anjuna, Vagator,
Calangute, Baga
8. Friday Market, Mapusa.
9. Wednesday Flea Market, Anjuna (seasonal - Nov - March)
10.Saturday Night Market, Arpora (seasonal - Nov - March)
11.Shopping in Panaji city
12.Visit to fashion houses like Sosa's Boutique at Rua de
Qurem, Panaji.
42
CONCLUSION
My training at Taj Resort and Convention Centre, Goa has
been nothing less than an amazing and most informative
exposure of my life. I find myself extremely lucky have had a
chance to work here amidst some of the most talented and
supportive staff. I don’t think I would have received any
better experience and exposure to the industry, other than
this, for it being my 1st internship ever.
This internship has not only given me the industrial
knowledge and practical experience but has also taught me
the most basic skills like better communication, management
skills, teamwork, time management, self motivation, etc.
I have overall developed a much better confidence in myself.
I, not only developed some great work relationships, but also
got mentored by some of the most successful people, who
have been doing great work for the industry. They taught me
a lot throughout the internship as well as made sure that our
training was well equipped, and enjoyable.
I have seen a great growth in myself which is ultimately
going to help me a lot in my future endeavours.
43
In review, a service related businesses, as in the hospitality
industry, the need of education and training cannot be
ignored.
Most importantly, the training enhanced my orientation to the
industrial scenario and its many challenges and subtleties.
The smooth functioning of an industry depends to a large
extent on the mutual cooperation among its different
departments.
Nevertheless, this internship has been an excellent and
rewarding experience. I am sure these learnings will be able
to help me with opportunities in the future.
44
A FEW PICTURES TAKEN BY
ME DURING THE TIME OF
MY INTERNSHIP
Taj Resort and Convention Centre.
45
Me, with my Family at TRCC.
46
TRCC’s trainee’s uniform.
47
Group check-in lobby.
Main lobby with a boat’s hull design on top, resembling the
clean beaches of Goa.
48
Rooftop deck with the stunning sea-view.
49
Internship certificate.
Taj appraisal form.
50
The opera system.
51
Glitch report.
Netma report (No one ever told me anything).
52
Kids area.
53
Kids club entry register.
Welcome drinks.
54
Yellow card for any hazardous problem area that needs to be
fixed.
Guest services register and key card machine.
55
Concierge team.
Paper bag making day.
56
Trainees.
57
