Animated slideshow for the teachers of Hotel Front Office, operations & Management

1. Welcome to a
new learning
session!
Knowledge is Money.

2. Inter-departmental
Communication & Co-Ordination

4. Communication & Co-Ordination
• Communication is the
imparting or
exchanging of
information by
speaking, writing, or
using some other
medium.
• Co-ordination is the
organization of the
many elements of a
complex organization,
or activity so as to
enable them to work
together effectively.

6. Word Origin of ‘ordinate’
• C16: from New Latin phrase
(linea) ordināte (applicāta) (line applied) in an
orderly manner, from ordināre to arrange in
order
Collins English Dictionary - Complete &
Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition

7. Remember coordinate geometry?
How on a graph paper, we could pin-point a
location in terms of X-coordinate & Y-
coordinate?
How about Geography?
Longitude & Latitude coordinates of a place on
the map or the globe?
Military needs the exact coordinates to
successfully carry out a strike, without killing
their own troops in the battlefield!

8. What would happen if their was
a slight error in measurement,
and communicating the exact
coordinates at the right time?!!!

9. Why coordination is needed in hotels?
Division of Labour concept: This system allots a limited
number of tasks to each employee. This helps
employee become highly specialized & produce more
work, of better quality.
Inter-dependence: all departments have their
specialized role but can’t perform all alone. They are
all working for a common goal, i.e. profit through
guest satisfaction.
Guest requires services and products that need the
contribution of more than one department. Any delay
or fault in service shall be viewed as a hotel failure
overall, not just personal or departmental failure.

10. Result of Non-coordination?
• Service breakdown
• Security & safety breakdown
• Conflict and finger pointing, low morale
• Guest not returning, loss in revenue
• Negative review on sites like TripAdvisor,
Booking.com, Hotels.com & Kayak.com.
• Negative reviews on social media
• Negative publicity in mass media
• Litigation from angry customers
• Government may interfere

12. Benefits of coordination
• The various departments of the hotel are linked in a chain.
The cycle of work is only complete if all the departments
function properly. The best run hotels emphasise on the
proper co-ordination, because a chain breaks at its weakest
link!
The advantages of co-ordination are listed below.
• Guest satisfaction
• Helps in increasing the sales
• Reduces burden on staff
• Improves employee morale

14. Departments which Front Office coordinates with, closely &
routinely.
1. Housekeeping
2. Sales & Marketing
3. Food & Beverage Service
4. Security
5. Bell desk
6. Engineering & Maintenance
7. Financial Controller
8. Human Resource
9. Purchase & Stores
10. Accounting
11. Banquets

16. What does Housekeeping provide to Front
Office:
• Room status up-date (of vacant, VIP, OOO, OOS &
ready rooms) for prompt room allotment.
• Report of security breach, violence, break-ins.
• Amenities in guest room against Amenities
Voucher issued by Reception.
• Special request items, like baby cot, hair dryer
etc.
• Housekeeper’s report after “Evening Turn Down
Service” which helps to detect “sleeper” rooms,
undisclosed joiners, exact house-count.

17. Housekeeping also provides to FO:
• Assistance during room change of guest.
• Accurate Mini Bar bills.
• VIP amenities in room.
• Clean uniform
• Cleaning of lobby and public areas

19. Sales & Marketing Provides to FO:
• Majority of room reservations
(Group/Corporate/Crew/Transient).
Sales & Marketing division designs special
packages and offers, so that hotel gets regular
business even during off-season.

20. FO Provides to Sales & Marketing:
• Accurate room availability for next 3/6/12 months.
• Closed dates (Zero room available, like house
full!!!)
• Total house count of the day.
• Guest History
• Reservation history
FO and Marketing & Sales are the two pillars of a
hotel’s profitability.

23. FO provides to Food & Beverage
Service:
• Arrivals & departures for the day
• Amenities voucher
• VIP & corporate guests in-house, special
arrangement instructions (VIP bar)
• Scanty baggage guests & APC instruction
• Group meals information
• Guests on meal package plan
With above information, F&B department can
plan their work & schedule staff accurately.

24. Metal Detector at Hotel Entrance
Security Check in Hotels

26. FO & Security Coordination:
• FO tackles any guest concerns on security and
safety.
• FO informs the guest about emergency
evacuation plans.
• All uniformed staff of FO observe and report
any suspicious person, activity or object.
• Drunken guests, armed guests and any
difficult situation are handled by security
when FO is unable to do so.

29. Bell Desk & FO Coordination
• Luggage assistance on arrival/departure
• Room change procedure
• Sundry errands (newspaper, medicine, wake-
up call)

31. Engineering & Maintenance
• This department is responsible for upkeep &
maintenance of hotel systems and equipment.
• Guest reports about any malfunction of room
equipment to FO.
• FO makes a “Work Order” and places with
maintenance.
• The expected time of repair is communicated to
FO which informs the guest accordingly.
• FO follows-up on guest satisfaction with repair
and may change guest room, if feedback is
unsatisfactory.

33. ?

34. Financial Controller
• Night Auditor sends the daily Flash Report,
High Balance Account & credit bills to the
Financial Controller.
• The report contains information on daily
revenue.
• Controller allocates resources for operations
accordingly.
• Recovery of unsettled bills, high balance
account is done by Financial Controller.

36. Human Resource
• Recruitment of staff for FO is the responsibility of HR
department.
• Employee training. Training of new employees,
refresher courses for existing ones and cross-training
needs are handled by HR. Remember cross-selling?
• Front Office Job Descriptions & Employee
Specifications are written by HR.
• Employee leave account and salary bill is maintained
by HR.

38. Purchase & Stores
• FO stationery & supplies are received from
Stores department, after getting a requisition
from FO.
• Purchase department makes “Standard
purchase Specification” to ensure right quality.
• Physical evidence, an element of hospitality
marketing, depends on the right kind of guest
supplies, amenities in the guest areas.
• Every employee expects quality material for
their work!

40. Accounting
• FO cashier belongs to this department.
• Night Auditor also comes under Accounting
department.
• Responsibility for all FO bills, that are not
settled at departure (credit card, corporate
executive, Travel Agent vouchers) are
transferred to Accounts.
• City ledger accounts are maintained by FO but
collected by Accounts.

41. Banquets

42. Marquee at the hotel entrance
A raised, canopy-like structure
at the entrance

43. Banquets & FO Coordination
• Banquets sends a copy of the “Function
Prospectus” to FO so that any inquiry that
comes to FO, can be promptly answered.
• Preparation of marquee and displayed
messages (welcome, congratulations etc.) are
handled by FO.
• Bulletin board and direction signage for
function is arranged by FO.
• Directions are given to local guests by FO.

47. Summary Statement below!

48. Man is a social animal?
• Can not stay alone.
• Can not stay together without…

49. Compilation & Presentation
Praveen Jha
Senior Faculty
IHM Hajipur
Vaishali, Bihar