Front office: Organizational Structure

Course Name- B.A.(V.S) Tourism Management, CBCS

Semester-VI Section- A

Name of the Paper- Business Tourism and Hospitality (SEC- 6.4)

Class Time-Tuesday: 10:30 to 11:30 A.M. 28thApril, 2020

Contents

Front office: Organizational Structure

Division of Structure of the Front office-

• Physical Setup of the Front Office

• Operational Structure of the Front Office

Functions of the Managers of the different Sections of the Front Office Department.

Important Terms and their Meaning

References and Suggested Readings

organizational Structure

Front office is often understood as ‘reception’. When a guest enters in a hotel, first of all he

interacts with the front office staff, and when he leave the hotel he also establishes his last

communication with the hotel, therefore the front desk is always positioned near the entrance

of the hotel. Being a prime interface of the hotel, it creates a first and last impression on the

customers.

Various functions of the front office is divided in to certain departmental sections. On the

basis of division of work, the hierarchy of the front office department is determined.

Division of Structure of the Front office

The structure of any front office department can be divided into two categories-

1. Physical Setup of the front office

2. Operational Structure of the Front office

Physical Setup of the front office

1. Physical Setup of Front Office- The front desk with various segments, electronic key board,

currency board, bell desk, PMS (Property Management System), and in house communication system

are the key components of the physical setup of any front office department.

• Positioning the Front Desk- The Front office department is considered as the backbone of

the hotel as it executes various key functions from hotel booking to check out of the guests. The

guests first interact with the front desk at the time of arrival. So it should be positioned at the most

appropriate and convenient place of the hotel so that both the employees and guests can access it

with ease. In most of the hotels, the front desk is placed near the main entrance of the hotel.

Physical Setup of the front office

Position of the Desk

The following guideline must be followed to determine the position of the front desk-

• Area of front desk must be very clean and aesthetically warm.

• Equipped with Information technology tools

• Near the main entrance of the hotel

• Adequate natural/artificial lighting

• Near the sitting area/lobby

• The height, width and the length of the desk should be accessible for both the employees and the guests.

Physical Setup of the front office

• Front Office Communication- There are two types of communication systems in a hotel,

the first one is-In-house communication system and the second is the external communication

system. The front office employees establish various communication within their own department,

apart from this intra-departmental communication, interdepartmental communication is also done

by the front office department for the coordination of various tasks, which are very necessary for the

smooth functioning of the hotel. In most of the hotels, communication is done through PBX or IP-

PBX systems. External Communication is done with outsiders like the clients, ancillary service

providers. and corporate customers. The emails and phone calls are used as a formal

communication mediums.

Operational Structure of Front Office

2. Operational Structure of Front Office- The structure of the front office

department may vary according to administrative policies, physical size and business of the

hotel. There could be a Front office Manager in the upper hierarchy of the front office

department, a front office manager directs and control a large group of subordinate employees,

working in various sections of the front office department. The departmental structure of the

front office may vary from one hotel to another hotel, therefore, there is not any universally

acceptable structure of hierarchy.

Operational Structure of Front Office

Source: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/front_office_management/images/operational_structure_of_front_office.jpg

Operational Structure of Front Office

Sections of the front office

The head Front office manager leads the whole department and ensures the smooth functioning of the various

sections of the front office department. He manages various activities of the different sections of the front office

department by assigning various responsibilities and tasks later he ensures the execution of various sectional

tasks of his department. The sections of the front office are as follows-

• Reservation- Responsibilities and tasks of the Reservation section are-handling reservation queries,

follow-up the queries, booking and assigning the rooms, cancellation and modifications.

• Reception- Welcoming the guests with generous and friendly behaviour and assisting them during the registration process.

• Guest Services − Guest services are also termed as unformed services, it includes the following services-

• Baggage handling of the guests

• Supply of the newspapers and magazines in the guest rooms

• Handling the mails of the guests

• Ensuring the availability of the guests in the hotel (Paging).

• Ensuring medical aid in case of any medical emergency

• Valet Parking

Operational Structure of Front Office

• Accounts- Account section takes care of all the financial transactions of the hotel, done with guests and the suppliers. The

front office cashier and a Night Auditor are the two important positions of this section. The cashier takes care of the guest

transactions and ensures the payment for the same and reports the same to the account manager. The account manager reports to

the front office manager. The night auditor takes care of the reception desk and the account transactions of the night shift, he

reports to the heads of both departments, front office, and accounting.

• Communication- It includes both in-house and external communication. In-house communication is done through IP-PBX

or PBX, while external communication is done through various means of communication like emails, SMS, and phone calls.

Responsibilities/Functions of Managers of Various Sections of the Front office Department

• Functions of the Reservation Manager-

• Functions of the Reception Manager-

• Functions of the Guest Services Manager-

• Functions of the Night Audit Manager-

• Functions of the Communication Manager-

(For all the functions of the various section managers - Refer to the e-content provided on 27th April 2020)

Important Terms and their Meaning

• GRC- Guest Registration Card,

• IP-PBX- Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange, PBX-Private Branch Exchange

• OHMS- Online Hotel Management System, a software system that manages all the operations of back-office a hotel.

• POS- Point of Sale

• SMERF- Social, Military, Educational, Religious, and Fraternal.

• No-show- A guest who has booked a room, neither he turns up nor cancels it.

• Rack rate-The price at which the hotel rooms are sold before applying discount.

• Uniformed services- Personalized services provided to the guests.

• Whitney System- An old reservation system for hotel accommodations.

Suggested Readings and References

• Front Office Training Manual – Sudhir Andrews. Publisher: Tata Mac Graw Hill

• Managing Front Office Operations – Kasavana & Brooks Educational Institution AHMA

• Front Office – Operations and Management – Ahmed Ismail (Thomson Delmar).

• Managing Computers in Hospitality Industry – Michael Kasavana & Cahell.

• Front Office Operations – Colin Dix & Chris Baird.

• Front office Operation Management- S.K Bhatnagar, Publisher: Frank Brothers

• Principles of Hotel Front Office Operations, Sue Baker & Jermy Huyton, Continum

• Check in Check out- Jerome Vallen

• Web Sources- https://www.tutorialspoint.com/front_office_management/front_office_management_structure.htm

• Hotel Front Office Management, 4th Edition by James Socrates Bardi; Wiley International.

• Web source-https://www.tutorialspoint.com/front_office_management/front_office_management_structure.htm