Chapter Two

Front Office Operations

 Introduction
• There are two categories of Front Office Operations:
• Front-House Operations
• These operations are visible to the guests of the hotel.
• The guests can interact and see these operations,
• hence, the name Front-House operations.
• Few of these operations include:
• Interacting with the guests to handle request for an
accommodation.
• Checking accommodation availability and assigning it to
the guest.
• Collecting detail information while guest registration.
• Creating a guest’s account with the FO accounting
system.
• Issuing accommodation keys to the guest.
• Settling guest payment at the time of checkout.
 • Back-House Operations
• Front Office staff conducts these operations
in the absence of the guests or when the
guest’s involvement is not required.
• These operations involve activities such as:
• Determining the type of guest (fresh/repeat) by checking
the database,
• Ensuring preferences of the guest to give a personal
touch to the service,
• Maintaining guest’s account with the accounting system,
Preparing the guest’s bill,
• Collecting the balance amount of guest bills,
• Generating reports
Guest Cycle
 Pre-arrival

• It is the stage when the customer is planning to avail an

accommodation in the hotel. In this first stage, the
customer or the prospective guest enquires about the
availability of the desired type of accommodation and its
amenities via telephonic call or an e-mail. The customer
also tries to find out more information about the hotel by
visiting its website.
• At the hotel end, the front office accounting system
captures the guest’s information such as name, age,
contact numbers, probable duration of stay for room
reservation and so on.
 Arrival
• The front office reception staff receives the guest in the
reception. The porters bring in the guest luggage.
• For the guest with confirmed reservation, the front office
clerk hands over a Guest Registration Card (GRC) to the
guest and requests the guest to fill in personal
information regarding the stay in the hotel.
• The clerk then registers the guest in the database thereby
creating a guest record and a guest account along with it.
• Later, the clerk hands over a welcome kit and keys of the
accommodation.
• After the procedure of registration, the guest can start
occupying the accommodation.
 Occupancy
• During occupancy, a front office accounting system is
responsible for tracking guest charges against his/her
purchases from the hotel restaurants, room service, bar,
or any outgoing telephone calls made via the hotel’s
communication systems.
• The front office staff is responsible to manage and issue
the right keys of the accommodations to the right guests.
• On guests’ request, the staff also makes arrangement for
transportation, babysitting, or local touring while the
guest is staying in the hotel.
 Departure
• During guest departure, the front office accounting system
ensures payment for goods and services provided. If a
guest’s bill is not completely paid, the balance is
transferred from guest to non-guest records. When this
occurs, collection becomes the responsibility of the back
office accounting division.
• At the time of guest departure, the front office staff thanks
the guest for giving an opportunity to serve and arrange for
handling luggage. In addition, if the guest requires airport
or other drop service, the front office bell desk fulfils it.
 Front Office System
• 1. Non-automated [manual] systems: This very system is the
one characterized by the sole usage of hands. In fact, all
formats, procedures, and different kinds of calculations are
done manually.
• 2. Semi-automated [Electro-mechanical] systems: This system
gets use of some Electro-mechanical equipment. In fact, under
the semi-automated system, each department might have its
own computer system under which it handles all its
operations
• 3. Fully automated [computer based] systems: That's the best
system ever used in the hotel industry. In fact, it is
characterized by the excessive use of departmental software
package programs integrated and connected to a main frame
or terminal situated at the front office department.
 Front Office Forms
• At different stages of the guest, cycle different forms are
used depending on which operating system a hotel
chooses.
• Below are some of the common forms used:
• 1. Pre-arrival activities:
• a) Reservation record or a reservation file
• b) Letter of confirmation
• c) Reservation rack and reservation rack slips
• 2. Arrival activities:
a) Registration card (or record) or registration file
b) Room rack and room rack slips
• 3. Occupancy activities:
• a) Guest folio: shall be of duplicate forms and pre-
numbered for cross-indexing control purposes
• b) Vouchers: support documents detailing facts of a
transaction, but does not replace the source document
(i.e. the invoice).
• Examples of vouchers might include charge vouchers,
allowance vouchers, paid-out voucher, and correction
vouchers…
• c) Information rack slips
• 4. Departure activities:
• a) Credit card vouchers
• b) Cash vouchers
• c) Personal check vouchers
• d) Transfer vouchers
• e) Guest history records
 Front Desk designed alternatives
a) Circular or semi-circular structure: this very structure
provides an effective service to more guests and appears more
modern and innovative but since guests will approach the
Front Desk from all angles, more staff is needed.
b) Traditional straight desk: Under this very design, fewer staff
is needed, but fewer guests can be served at the same time.
c) Desk less environment: Under this design, there is no Front
Desk at all. This is usually replaced by a hostess, or steward
welcoming the guest, seating him or her on a chair/sofa, and
conduct registration activities there while, for example, having
a cocktail or a drink