What is the role of a front office personnel?

Front office is the face of the hotel and it has all the responsibility to ensure that all the guest needs are full filed and the request of the guest are taken care off. The better coordination between the guest and the hotel is through Front office the GSS of the guest is always passed through the front office and the guest calls front desk and AYS for any assistance if needed. The front office staffs have the prime responsibility to up sell the rooms and to boost the revenue where possible.

To improve the ADR the front office has to do extensive up selling, it is being done but we at the front   have to increase it.

To set goals and targets for up selling and to see that they are been meet and if not where do we lack. The job knowledge and the product knowledge to be improved so the guest is guided properly.

The training to be done and different section in charges to be nominated to take care of the training and it should be hands on training.

The associate to be given chance in all the sections of front office and to see where the individual has potential to excel and where he is most suitable. Evaluation of staff at the supervisory level and then at the department head level, the feed back of all to be taken in consideration for better results.

Guest contact to be improved and to see where we can go an extra mile for the satisfaction of the guest.

To see that all associates are motivated and are taking interest in the hotel operation and are adding value to the guest services and if there is a problem it should be rectified immediately by counselling and training to be done if they are lacking in that aspect.

To see where are the weak points of hotel and where are the regular complaints generating from, is it due to man power, property related or any other reason and how to rectify, how to make it possible that this doesn’t happen again.

To apply the basics of this to have all the guest feel satisfied and to see that we have less complaints,  to give the guest what they need when ever possible.

Training of the staff as high turnover at the front desk to have every associate know the hotel and to know how to full fill guest requirement and who to contact for what problem/assistance.

One of the important revenue generating sections of Front Office is business centre. As name tells it all it is basically providing all the guest services relating to internet, fax service, secretarial service and these services are for every guest in house and out side. As the reason is of introducing the E-Floor rooms, the rise in usage of lap tops and the wi-fi system introduced in the hotels different public areas.

To have more display of the services offered in the business centre in all the public areas and guest concerned areas.

To have discounts on bulk business for guests (suggestion).

To have the operation of business centre running24 hrs a day.

The new Pentium4 computers in business centre.

The fast access to internet provided to all guest rooms.

Hiring of computer literate staff is being done and other staffs are being trained for the business centre.

The AYS (At Your Service) is the most essential and important section of front office. The entire guest related services and all the communication with in the hotel and outside of the hotel is done by the AYS. The AYS is the added facility to the guest and it is there to facilitate the guest for all their request and they the guest don’t have to find different button on the telephone for any service they need. All their requests and needs are one push button away.

The AYS staff and the manager AYS will be taking the complaints of the guest and will be registering those complaints. Following it up with the concerned department and getting it rectified.

Informing the guest if there is any progress on that or the complaint/request of the guest is done they have to follow up with the guest.

The suggestive selling part of the AYS needs improvements, the taste panels to work more efficiently and to be consistent so that the order taking person knows what the associate is suggesting to guest, There is a suggestion that if we can have incentive plan for the AYS staff the boost in the revenue is expected and that will give motivational boost to the associates. (Suggestion)

Accurate training of staff, making the training session more interesting and out of the box so that they can under stand and they learn more, having them have cross exposure in different department to have their knowledge increased in different areas so they can guide the guest more effectively and to boost their confidence.

To give them appreciation, incentive, promotion on their good work so that they have motivation.

To set targets for these individual and for them all as a section so that they can work as a team as well as individuals for the betterment of their section and the hotel.

Counselling them and guiding them where they lack and to improve those areas.

To train the staff for the right way of communicating and the accurate way of handling of calls and using the phrases properly and professionally. 

Take the keys from the system to see what are the accurate phrases to be used in the for the guest and the associates. 

Be a professional on the phone and to see that every one is giving their full input for the development of the staff.