Outline the functions of Front Office

1. Enquiries
It is responsible for giving information about the Hotel or about the locality whenever required by the guest.
2. Reception
The staff in this section actually welcomes and receives the guest and assigns them a room after a few registration formalities.
3. Reservation
This section is the main centre of the department. All the reservation requests should be properly processed, documented, stored and received at the appropriate time. Basic Reservation Activities
? Receiving the enquiries
? Determining the room availability
? Accepting or denying the request for reservation
? Documenting reservation details
? Confirming the reservation
? Maintaining reservation record
? Compiling reservation report
Key points for reservation
? Anticipate early by how many rooms the hotel will be over booked. ? Check the Arrival list against the Room Status, Non Guaranteed reservation, Guaranteed reservation and possible No – Shows.
? Check with the House Keeper if any “OOO” rooms can be made available for sale.
? If guaranteed reservation arrives and if there is no room to offer to the guest, reserve rooms in the near by hotels or in the chain hotels.
? Arrange transportation to the new hotel.
4. Guest Relations
The main responsibility of this department is to make guests feel welcome and provide a more personal service by talking to guests who are travelling on their own and may be feeling lonely in a strange new town or city.
They also handle guest problems and complaints and become involved should the guests need a doctor.
They care for VIPs and frequent guests, checking that their rooms are prepared, and escorting them on arrival.
5. Security
Security can be defined as the protection and conservation of all aspects, which include:
· Hotel property
· Guests’ property
· Reputation of the hotel
Hotel have several different types of security problems which the Front Office staff should be aware of. According to the proprietors Act, hotel management is liable to the protection of guests’ property while they are resident. This includes providing safe deposit boxes to guests and good control system of handling guest keys.
6. Billing
As soon as a guest has registered, a guest account is opened. It will record throughout the stay all charges and credits pertaining to the guest use of the hotel’s facilities and services. They include: Room charge, Restaurant, Beverages, laundry, Valet, Paid out, Rebates and Paid.
7. Cashier
The front office cashiers are responsible for the opening, preparation and settlement of resident guest accounts. They check to ensure that all charges are added to guest bills and that the settlements are properly processed.
8. Switchboard.
A switchboard (also called a manual exchange) is a device used to connect a group of telephones manually to one another or to an outside connection, within and between telephone exchanges or private branch exchanges (PBXs). The user is known as an operator.
Medium-to-large organizations often employ switchboard operators—specialized staff who answer general telephone calls to the organization and usually maintain internal communication through telephones, and pagers.
Depending on the employment setting, the roles and level of responsibilities of a "Switchboard operator" can vary greatly, from performing wake-up calls in a hotel to coordinating emergency responses.

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Titany answered the question on September 10, 2021 at 08:43