The document outlines the structure and functions of various departments in a hotel front office, including reservation, reception, information desk, cash and bills, travel desk, communication, uniformed services, front office manager, lobby manager, and night auditor. Key responsibilities of each department are described such as receiving guests, completing registrations, handling payments, providing travel arrangements and information to guests, overseeing front office operations, and performing nightly audits. Qualities of effective front office personnel like salesmanship, problem solving, communication, and diplomacy are also summarized.

1. By:
Yogananda G K
I M B A (TTM)
F M K M C C
Madikeri

4. Structure Of Front Office

5. Front
Office
Reserva
tion
Recepti
on
Informa
tion
desk
Cash
and
Bills
Travel
desk
Commu
nication
Unifor
med
services
Front
Office
manage
r
Lobby
Manag
er
Night
Auditor

6. Reserva
tion

7. The reservation
section of the
front office
department of a
hotel receives

8. Functions of reservation system
• Receiving reservation requests through various means
like telephone, fax, e-mail, websites, sales
representatives or central reservation department.
• Processing reservation requests received from all
means of hotel property management system
• Depending upon the availability of desired room type
and projected sales during and around the requested
stay dates the reservation request may be confirmed
waitlisted or denied.

9. Reservation Assistant
Reservation assistants process the reservation
requests that reach the hotel by any mode
i.e. through telephone/ written/ online.

10. • Updating the room availability status after each
reservation transaction i.e. after each confirmation
amendment and cancellation.
• Maintaining and updating reservation records to
reflect accurate information about room status
• Preparation reservation reports for the
management

11. Reception

12. This section of the front office receives and
welcomes guests on their arrival in the hotel. It is
headed by a superior and comprises a team of
receptionists and front desk assistants. The personnel
of this section proceeds all the necessary information
about guest to complete Registration process.
After finishing the registration formalities , a
room is assigned to the guest and a bell boy carries
the luggage & escorts the guests to their room.
The entire process is carried out professionally in a
warm and friendly atmosphere.

13. Functions of Reception
• Receiving and welcoming the guest.
• Completing the registration formalities
• Assigning the rooms.
• Sending arrival notifications slips to the
concerned departments.
• Knowing how to recognize and respond to
suspicious and emergency situations that may
arise.

14. Information Desk

15. As the name suggests, the information desk
provides information to guests. It is manned by
an information assistant. The need for separate
information desk is felt in large hotels where
the traffic of guests is higher. The information
desk may be located next to the reception

16. Functions of Information Desk
• Maintaining resident guest rack
• Handling guest room keys
• Coordinating guest mails, telegrams, faxes,
couriers etc
• Providing information to guests regarding
hotel facilities & services
• Handling guest messages

17. Cash and Bills

18. The Cash & Bills section records all the
monetary transactions of guests. It
maintains guest folios and prepares the
guest bills to be settled by the guest at the
time of departure.
This section is headed by the cashier

19. Functions of Cash and Bills section
• Opening and maintaining of guest folios
• Posting room charges in guest folios
• Recording all credit charges in guest folios
• Maintaining a record of cash received from guests
• Preparing bills at the time of checkout
• Receiving cash/ cheque/ cards for account settlements
• Organizing foreign currency exchange for the
settlement of a guest account

21. The travel desk takes care of travel
arrangements of guests, like air ticketing,
railway reservations, sight seeing tours,
airport or railway station pickup / drop etc.
The hotels may operate the travel desk or
it may be outsourced to an external travel
agency.

22. Functions of Travel Desk
• Arranging pick up drop services for guests at the
time of their arrival & departure.
• Providing vehicles on requests at pre determined
rates.
• Making travel arrangements like railway
reservations/ cancellations / purchasing air
tickets for guests.
• Organizing half/ full day sight seeing tours.
• Arranging for guides who can communicate well.

23. Communication Section
The communication sections maintains the
communication network of the hotel
which is generally quite complex.

24. • Answering incoming calls
• Directing calls to guest rooms
• Providing information on guest service
• Answering inquiries about hotel facilities and
events
• Protecting guest priavacy
• Co coordinating emergency communication
Functions Of Communication Desk

25. Uniformed services

26. The uniformed services includes the
Bell desk and the Concierge
The Bell desk is located very close to
the main entrance of the hotel. This
section is headed by the bell captain,
who leads a team of bellboys and page
boys. They handle the guest luggage's
the bell desk person is the last
person who comes in contact with the
guests at the time of their departure

27. A concierge is a hotel employee who
provides the information and personalized
services to guests like dinner reservations tour
and travel arrangements.
The concept of concierges came from the
days of European Royalty. He was a castle
door keeper and was entitled to ensure all the
occupants were safe in their rooms at night

28. Front Office Manager
Front office manager is in charge of the
front office department and allocates the
available resources of the department to
achieve the goals of the department and the
organization

29. • Direct and co ordinate the activities of the front
office personnel
• Perform the function of a link between the
management and front office employees
• Plan the present and future needs of resources to
carry out the functions of the department
• Responsible for hiring, training, supervising and
disciplining all front desk reservation and guest
services staff members in order to maintain the
desired standards of service
Functions

30. • Prepare the budget for the front office
department
• Motivate the front office employees to work
in a team to attain the organisational
objectives
• Evaluate the job performance of each front
office employees
• Resolve guest problems quickly, efficiently and
courteously

31. Lobby Manager

32. Under the direction of the front office
manager and assistant front office manager, to
act on behalf of the hotel management, to
ensure maximum levels of guest service &
satisfaction are provided to continuously
monitor staff operations and reporting
deficiency to the management

33. • Responsible for the overall day today operation.
• Maintains the smooth operations of the front
office operations
• Handles any guest problems according to the
agreed policy
• Ensures special handling for V I P arrival
• Using duty manager checklist, ensures that every
single things are in the order
• Responsible for the master key

34. Night Auditor
A night auditor is a person who audits the
hotel accounts daily at night or at the time
when the business is relatively slow.
The audit term generally comprises of the
members of the accounts departments. The
number of people in the audit team depends
upon the size, location and products of the
hotel.

35. Functions
• Establishes the end of the day.
• Ensures the accuracy of front office accounting works and
balances them.
• Recognizes all the financial transaction between a hotel
and its guests.
• Calculates the total revenue generated during the day
• Verifies and validates the cashiers posting of charges in
the guest accounts
• Transfer the unpaid guest accounts to city ledger

36. Qualities Of A Front Office Personnel
• Ensure salesmanship
• As a problem solver
• A reference point
• As a coordinator
• As an image builder
• Self confidence
• Correct and clear communicator
• Personal hygiene
• Diplomacy

37. • Ensure salesmanship:
They motivate the guest to spend more on various hotel
facilities.
• As a problem solver:
Guest invariably approaches the front office for the help. In case
they have a problem or complaint, the staffs have to be diplomatic
and resourceful to solve the problem at the shortest possible time.
• A reference point :
Guest, who wants information or wants to pass information,
uses front office staff for these purposes. The front office staff should
have the excellent intra- communication skills to provide best
possible reference point for the guests.

38. • As a coordinator:
Since they are reference point, the front
office staffs are required to coordinate with other
departments, airlines, travel agencies and city
tour officers to give the guests personalized
services.
• As an image builder:
As an extension to their salesman’s role, front
office staff can certainly generate a good image
for the establishment in their manner of dress,
communication, personal conduct and efficiency.

39. • Self confidence:
This is necessary as front office personnel meet
guests of different countries, statuses and cultures.
These guests should be comfortable and feel at
ease in dealing with these people.
• Correct and clear communicator:
It is preferable that front office staff know more
than 1 language. It helps in communicating with
guests who cannot speak English or the local
language

40. • Diplomacy:
Diplomacy is the greatest attribute required. Very
often there are situations, where a guest is irate over
something; a diplomatic dealing helps in diffusing the
explosive moments. It is quite common for a busy hotel
to have no rooms to offer a guest who has come with a
confirmed booking. A diplomatic approach is the only
way by which the guest can be pacified.
• Personal hygiene :
This is imperative to front office personnel. As they
are constantly exposed to hotel guests, a clean
appearance helps to project a good image not only of
them but of the establishment as well.