Introduction to front office lesson 1 revisi

Front Office Department
in General
Lesson 1
© Ezzy Digital Learning 2020

Learning objectives
By the end of the lesson you will be able to know
about Front Office department in general and
specific roles that the Front Office department do to
support the overall hotel’s operation.

Working as part of a Front Office team at the hotel industry plays an important role to support other
departments in running the hotel’s day-to-day operations.
The Front Office staff must have its basic skill and knowledge in some points, such as:
Having good communication
Able to apply Standard Operation
Procedure (SOP) of the hotel they work for
Introduction
Building good engagements with guests Anticipating guests’ needs
Coordinating with other departmentsHaving good administration skills

Introduction
All sections in Front Office department should show good
coordination and communication within them in order to
provide an excellent service to the guests; besides, they
also have to work independently in each working area.

Sections in Front Office Department
All sections in Front Office department play equal important roles in running day-to-day
operations, such as the following:
 Reservation
 Reception
 Concierge or bellboy
 Guest relations
 Front office cashier
 Business center secretary / attendant
 Front office administration
 Supervisors
 Duty manager
 Assistant front office manager
 Front office manager

Sections in Front Office Department
All of the positions in Front Office department can be organized as in the organization chart
provided on the next slide.

Reservation
© www.freepik.com
Reservation is a section which is responsible for
handling room reservation, which means that the
responsibility is mostly handing pre-arrival
arrangement of guest stay.

Reservation
Reservation section in some hotels may also be called
as Booking section. Please bear in mind that this
section, in some different hotels, might be placed in
some different positions or departments, such as:
a. Reservation section that might be positioned as
one of the sections in Front Office department
b. Reservation that might be positioned
independently as a department in a hotel
c. Reservation section that might be positioned as
one of the sections in Sales and Marketing
department.
© www.workcompass.com

Reservation
As the technology becomes modern, the
reservation system may also change and
develop. Furthermore, the reservation is
nowadays changed into online system.
Electronic Commerce or popularly called e-
commerce has become a part of reservation in
handling online reservation system of the hotel.
© www.pxcom.media

Reception
Reception is a section which is responsible for
some tasks. For example:
• Handling guest check-in that may be done in
some different situations, such as check-in
without reservation.
• Assisting guests during their stay with various
kinds of services, such as assisting guests with
room change requests, extension stay
requests and providing services related to
other departments
© www.freepik.com

Reception
• Providing internal and external information to the
guests
• Handling guests check-out or billing and folio
assistance
Some of the hotels call this section in various
terminologies, such as Front Desk or Guest
Service Agent.
© www.freepik.com

Telephone operator
Telephone operator is a section which is
responsible for assisting guests with telephone-
related jobs, such as handling internal call,
handling external call, transferring call to the
guest room or other extension number and
assisting the guest in relation to telephone billing
system.
© www.freepik.com

Telephone operator
• Some hotels have changed the role and function
of Telephone Operator into wider range and
changed its title become At Your Services or
Communications as the staff also handles other
tasks, such as being the order taker of Food &
Beverage or Housekeeping department.
• Nowadays, a communication may not only be
done by using a telephone but also by internet, so
the duties of a Telephone Operator may also
provide services in relation to the internet usage
as a communication tool. This is usually called
VoIP or voice over internet protocol, means that
the call using internet facilities.

Concierge or bellboy
• Concierge or Bellboy is a section which is
responsible for handling guest luggage, providing
information and giving concierge services to the
guests.
• In some of higher category hotels, Concierge and
Bell person may work in different desks in Front
Office; however, in lower category hotels they work
at the same desk.© www.freepik.com

The services that they may be provided are
1. Handling guest luggage
• Handling the arrival guest luggage
• Handling the departure guest luggage
• Handling luggage storage
• Handling the guest luggage for room moving guest
© www.freepik.com

2. Providing Concierge Services
• Providing internal and external information
• Providing the information in relation to local
knowledge, such as places of interests, social
activities, cultural events and ceremony, etc.
• Assisting guests with Restaurant, Spa, Activities
booking and events and showing tickets
arrangements
• Handling flight tickets© www.freepik.com

Guest relations
• Guest Relations is a section which is responsible
for handling and assisting a special or VIP guest,
from pre-arrival into post-departure stage. In some
hotels there are some special room types with
special benefits and advantages, and a special
guest means those who stay in certain special
room type.
• The person who works in Guest Relation section is
normally called as a Guest Relation Officer.
© www.freepik.com

Guest relations
Some duties and responsibilities of Guest
Relation Officer are
• handling VIP guest check-in that is normally done
with a reservation
• assisting VIP guest during their stay with various
kind of services, such as assisting guests with
room change request, extension stay request and
providing services related with other departments
• providing internal and external information and
doing courtesy for VIP guest
• handling VIP guest check-out or billing and folio
assistance

Guest relations
The very important point that we need to
highlight is doing courtesy for VIP guests.
Courtesy means the basic level of polite actions and
close communication to other people or guests in
order to find out some information, preference,
satisfaction, dissatisfaction and/or their plan during
their stay. By doing courtesy we have created a
higher level of customer services especially for our
VIP guests.

Front office cashier
• Front Office Cashier is a section in Front Office
department which is responsible for handling guest
folio, posting transaction, and handling deposit and
payment.
© www.freepik.com

• Nowadays, most of the hotels have merged the
section of Reception or Front Desk with Front
Office Cashier. The Reception or Front Desk
have done all the tasks of Front Office Cashier;
however, there are some people who are legally
contracted as a Front Office Cashier in a hotel.
© www.tutorialspoint.com

Some tasks done by Reception or Front Desk as
a function of Front Office Cashier are
• Handling and posting guest deposit
• Posting the charges into the Guest Folio
• Doing correction or adjustment in Guest Folio for
any posting mistakes
• Transferring bill and splitting bill
• Assisting the guests with pre-payment
• Assisting the guests with folio settlement (for
Personal Account and City Ledger)
© www.freepik.com

Business center secretary / attendant
Business Centre Secretary/Attendant is one of the
sections in Front Office which has main duties and
responsibilities in assisting business guests, such as
• Arranging a meeting with businessmen
• Providing administration services to business guests,
such as sending faxes, translating, giving photo copy
service, and internet.© www.freepik.com

Business center secretary / attendant
• Responsible for managing all administration duties
in relation to Business Centre
• Providing internet services for business guests and
meeting business centre
• Working area of Business Centre
Secretary/Attendant in most of the hotels is very
close with meeting or function rooms.
• Please bear in mind that the Business Centre
Section does not always stand under Front Office
Department, yet in some hotels, it may be under
other departments, such as Sales and Marketing
(Meeting and Events or Banquet).
© www.hotelborobudur.com

Front office administration
Front Office Admin may also be called Front Office
Secretary in some hotels. It is the position which has
duties and responsibilities in assisting Front Office
Manager or Assistant Front Office Manager in doing
and preparing some Front Office Reports, Monthly
and Yearly costing and budgeting plan, including
daily and weekly Departmental consumption, such as
stationeries, etc.

Front office administration
• Front Office Admin or Secretary is not always
involved in planning and reporting, but as a back-
up in day-to-day operation in Front Office
• We may not call it as a section in Front Office as it
does not have a team to support the duties and
responsibilities, but the secretary assists the
department personally.
© www.jobs-safari.com

Supervisors
In some higher-level hotels, all sections in Front Office
will have its own Supervisor or captain. The Supervisor
or captain has more duties and responsibilities, such as
• Creating and controlling Duty Roster/Working
schedule of his/her team
• Preparing the daily working shift
• Delivering the task, controlling and assessing the jobs
of the team
• Conducting the daily briefing, making sure it happens
daily before starting the shift. This is important to
share information about the daily task, whether it has
been done or standing still.
© www.freepik.com

Supervisors
• Making sure the communication among the team
running very well, as well as with other
departments. Controlling the usage of
communication tools, such as Log Book, Notice
Board, e-mail, Property Management System
(PMS), etc. based on local policy.
• Handling guest complaint, directly from guest or
some issues escalated from the team.
© www.freepik.com

Supervisors
• Assisting Duty Managers or Assistant Front Office
Managers in solving any issues or completing
some tasks.
• Controlling the daily, weekly and monthly
departmental consumption to support the
operation, such as stationeries, tools, equipment,
cleaning tools, etc.
• Making sure the section and departmental meeting
is conducted very well in a regular basis.
© www.freepik.com

Duty manager
• All supervisors in Front Office are reporting to Duty
Manager(s). This is to ensure the hierarchy,
reporting, controlling and staff assessment function
running very well within the department. The Duty
manager(s) then reports to the Assistant Front
Office Managers or Front Office Manager.
• Besides assisting the Front Office Management,
Duty Manager also does back-up the Front office
team during day-to-day operation.
© www.youth.sg

Duty manager
• The Duty Manager is a part of Front Office organization chart; however, it has a very special role
in the daily operations as the Duty Manager has cross-department functions.
• One of the Duty Manager duties is handling guest complaint whether the complaint happens in
Front Office or other departments. Other staff in other department may call and communicate
about any issues and guest dissatisfaction to Duty Manager.
• Any issues whether it has been solved or standing still, will be logged into Complaint and
Incident Report daily. This Report will be read by Front Office manager, Assistant Front Office
Manager and the Executive Committee of the Hotel.
© www.bplawyers.co.id

Assistant front office manager
Assistant Front Office Manager is the direct report
of the Front Office Manager. He/she assists the Front
Office Manager in running the daily operation of Front
Office department and replacing the Front Office
Manager when he/she is not available, for example in
attending daily Department Head Briefing, Monthly
Meeting, other kind of Department Head meeting,
assisting Front Office Manager in preparing any kind
of Department Head Report, such as Profit and Loss
Report, etc.© www.freepik.com

some tasks.
is conducted very well in a regular basis.
• Beside assisting Front Office Manager, Assistant
Front Office Manager also back the Front Office
team up in daily operations. © www.freepik.com

Front Office Manager is responsible for all
operational sides in Front Office Department, to
make sure pre-arrival guests, guests during their
stay, and post departure guests in high level of
satisfaction.
Front Office manager should also make sure all the
sections, Front Office staff and the assistant manager
level, running their duties and responsibilities very
well based on Standard Operation Procedure (SOP),
and that the operation flow runs very well with
immediate and appropriate solved obstacles.
© www.memecomic.id

• Front Office Manager is responsible for preparing all
the Annual Budget Plan, Monthly Budget Plan, plan of
Profit and Loss (P&L) Report as well as attending the
P&L meeting, coordinating with all department heads,
especially Sales department in setting the standard or
published room rate, with Executive Housekeeper
about room set up, VIP set up and special set up,
Room Cost, etc.
© www.tuyu.es

• Front Office Manager is responsible for all the
departmental programs and duty rosters/working
schedule being set and implemented. Besides, Front
Office Manager is accountable to coordinate and
communicate with the hotel Executive Committee for
overall plan and operational.
© www.jurnal.id

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