Communication is essential for effective coordination and management in a hotel. Internal communication within departments and between different units allows for planning, delegation, and maintaining morale. External communication with various agencies also facilitates better sales and service. The front office must communicate regularly with other departments like housekeeping, food and beverage, accounts, engineering, and marketing to coordinate guest needs and services across the hotel such as room assignments, repairs, and special requests. Effective communication is important for operations and guest satisfaction in the hotel industry.

1. COMMUNICATION AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN FRONT OFFICE: COMMUNICATION means,
‘Imparting,conveyingor exchange of ideas or knowledge whether by speech,writing or signs’.In common
terms, two person communicate when they transfer information or exchange ideas, knowledge or emotions.
For communication to be effective, it is important that the information transferred is understood by the
receiver. The end result of communication is understanding and its main purpose is to motivate a response.
Importance of communication:
1)Communication is essential for planning & decision making: Since planning &decision making are
based on facts & information from various departments & that will come through communication only &
once plans & decision are formulated they are to be communicated.
2) Communication helps bring about coordination: Communication is essential to the process of
synchronizing individual activities to bring about unity of action.Group meeting is one way of
communicating.
3) Communication is essential for delegation & decentralization of authority: For duty allocation,
distribution of jobs & delegation, communication is essential. Similarly, for decentralization also
communication is essential.
4) Communication helps develop managerial skills: Managers also develop their skills when they
exchange knowledge, information& experience with each other.
5) Communication helps improve employee morale: Employee morale is greatly influenced by the extent
of understanding that exsist between the employees & the management. Communication as transfer
information & understanding is intended to create understanding is intended to create understanding &
confidence amongst different personnel in the organization.
6) Better understanding between the employee & employer: Communication is important for this factor.
7) Ensure greater job satisfaction: Good communication ensures workers what they are supposed to do,
what their authorities are & how their work can come upto the expectations of their superiors. This will
make the workers feel more satisfied in their job. This result in better efficiency & loyality.
8) Communication is essential for effective leadership: Communication is more closely related to
directing & helps creating understanding between different personnel in organization & thus helps bring
about cooperation between employees & management. Manager influences the behaviour and attitude of
subordinates by appeal to both logic & emotions & by creating understanding between them.
IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN HOTEL INDUSTRY: No hotel can develop
in the absence of effective communication – both internal as well as external communications.
Besides,communication skills of the employees are given high weightage at the of appointment & promotion
of employees.
1.Internal communication: It is basically communication within the hotel, i.e, transmitting information
within the organization, its departments, sections,etc. & between the units of the same chain. This is possible
only through an effective network of communication. It is important for maintaining coordination &
avoiding embarraising situations between the various departments & between the departments of the hotel &
the management. Effective communication creates an atmosphere of mutual trust & confidence,& also a
spirit of understanding & cooperation. The employees know what exactly is expected out of them & the
management is aware of the potentialities & limitations of the employees. It is of 3 types:
 Formal communication: This line of communication is meant for transmission of official messages
or information within or outside the organization. It may move vertically or horizontally. Vertical
communication is from supervisor to subordinate & vice versa. Horizontal communication flows
between employees of equal or comparable status.
 Vertical communication is of 2 types:
a. Downward communication: It means flow of information from top to lower levels. In
this instructions are passed to subordinates to do work. It can be in the form of
policies, rules, instructions, procedures, letters, posters,etc.
b. Upward communication: In such a case, the communication flows from lower levels
to the higher levels. It is generally in the form of performance reports, suggestions,
reviews, input, feedback, etc.
 Informal communication: In such a system official lines are not followed & there is free interaction
among the members of the organization. This communication is based on informal relations & it is

2. free from all organisatinal formalities. It is also called grapevine communication because there is
no definite channel of communication. Under it, some information passes through many individuals
& covers a long distance making its origin obscure.
 Consensus : When a number of people irrespective of the status sit & confer with one another to
arrive at a decision acceptable to all, it is called consensus. It is the process of arriving at an
agreement through consultation. The advantage of this is that the consensus decision is easy to accept
& preserves harmony, avoids conflicts & splits.
2. External communication: It is the communication of hotel with external sources & officers, which may
be government agencies & department licensing authorities, foreign trade offices, customs authorities, banks
& financial institutions, income tax, sales tax, post offices , transporters, etc. Other external agencies are
travel agents, suppliers etc. Organisations that can communicate better can also sell better.
DEPARTMENTS AND SECTIONS WITH WHICH FRONT OFFICE COMMUNICATES AND
COORDINATES:
1)LOBBY:
Arrivals: Informs bell desk of allotted room. Asks bellboy to escort the guest.
Departure: On guest intimation communicates to bell desk & cash.
Change of room: Informs bell desk.
Scanty baggage: Bellboy informs front desk.
Messages: Delivery through bell boy.
Paging: Front desk informs page boy.
2)ACCOUNTS & CASH:
Notifies arrivals & departures through notification slips & the guest folio is openedon the basis of guest
registeration card.
Night auditor: He audits & checks all guest transactions & bills made during the day & prepares the rooms
sales for the day.
3)FOOD & BEVERAGE:
Room service: Arrivals,change&departures.
4)TELEPHONES:
Arrivals, departures, change of rooms& location of guest.
5)ENGINEERING:
Repairs& faults, concerning air conditioner, electricity, power, etc.& also making of duplicate keys from key
blanks.
6)STORES:
Supply of stationery, forms & formats, etc
7)MARKETING & SALES:
For improving room sale during off -season. Sales department keeps front office informed with new
agreements with travel agents & airlines etc.
8) HOUSEKEEPING:
Coordination with the front office is one of the most important features of housekeeping. As soon as the
guest depart, the front office informs the housekeeping via telephone or computer and reports how many
rooms have been vacated, so that housekeeping can take over and clean and repair any furniture as may be
necessary. Once the rooms are cleaned, the housekeeping supervisor checks the rooms, calls the
housekeeping desk supervisor and hands over the clean rooms. The housekeeping desk supervisor then
informs the front office that the rooms are ready for new guests. The rooms received by housekeeping for
cleaning are called ‘departure room’, while the clean rooms handed over by the front office are called ‘clean
or ready or vacant rooms.
THE POINTS ON WHICH FRONT OFFICE COORDINATES WITH HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT:
 The front office informs housekeeping regarding all the rooms that have been vacated,so that they
can be prepared for sale.
 Rooms that need repairs are removed from circulation and given ‘out of order status’.
 Major renovations are coordinated with the front office based on the expected occupancy.
 The front office informs the housekeeping department if any VIP rooms are blocked.
 Any special requests from guests are conveyed by the front office on the guest’s arrival even prior to

3. that , housekeeping can comply with the requests.
 Group arrival are coordinated for a smooth check in.
 Rooms with a double lock are opened by the front office, so that the housekeeping department can
clean them.
 The front office is informed regarding any items that have been lost or found, so that have eproperty
can be returned to the guest.
 Housekeeping keeps a careful watch on the rooms in which guests have little or no luggage, &
informs the front office accordingly.
 The front office gives a forecast regarding occupancy to housekeeping, which enables housekeeping
to plan extra work or give holidays accordingly.