Front Office Management

Hotel Front Office

Michelle Ayuso Wienke

HTT 250

January 9, 2011

Hotel Front Office

The front office of a hotel is one of the most important parts of the hotel operation. The front office employees are the first people the guests of the hotel speak with or see when they are interested in staying at the hotel or when they are checking in. The staff of the front office includes the front office manager, desk clerks, cashiers, reservation managers, concierge staff, the night auditor, switchboard operators, and the reservation clerks. Some hotels do not have a separate person for each of these positions. Many combine some of the positions together to lower payroll costs. At the same time some larger hotels will actually have people to fill all of the positions separately. The front office staff sets the initial tone of the guest’s experience of the hotel. It is very important for the staff to be on top of their game. The treatment that the guest receives from the front office staff can affect the guest’s impression of the property as well as the staff’s ability to meets the needs of the guest.

The most important department of the front office would be the reservations department. The reservation clerk is the first person that the potential guest will speak with. Since it is very common for a guest to call the hotel to make a reservation or visit a website to book a room the reservation clerk is the first person the guests speaks to. This position is responsible for not only making a reservation for the guest; they are also, responsible for taking care of any special requests for the room(s) and any special services that are wanted by the guest. The position also communicates with other members of the staff such as sales, marketing, desk clerks, cashiers as well as the night auditors. If there is a mistake in the reservation process it can cause some big problems. There can be overbooking as well as the guests could be upset if their reservation was not made...