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Chapter 3Front Office Operations

Managing Front Office Operations

Seventh Edition

(333TXT or 333CIN)

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1. Summarize front office operations during the four stages of the guest cycle.

2. Explain the evolution of front office record- keeping systems and describe front office documents.

3. Describe the front desk and its support devices, and describe the services and equipment of a hotel’s telecommunications area.

4. Identify and describe property management systems used by the front office.

Competencies forFront Office Operations

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The Guest Cycle

Pre-arrival

Arrival

Occupancy

Departure

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Room Status Terms Occupied

Complimentary

Stayover

On-change

Do not disturb

Sleep-out

Skipper

Sleeper

(continued)

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Room Status Terms

Vacant and ready

Out-of-order

Lock-out

DNCO

Due out

Check-out

Late check-out

(continued)

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Room Types

Single

Double

Triple

Quad

Queen

King

Twin

Double-double

Studio

Mini-suite or junior suite

Suite

Connecting rooms

Adjoining rooms

Adjacent rooms

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Non-Automated Front Office Systems Handwritten forms

Reservation index cards

Density board blocked reserved rooms

Registration cards—multiple copies

Time stamp

Room rack: housekeeping status of each room

Vouchers received from point-of-sale areas

Charges handwritten to folios

Adding machine tape attached at check-out

Night audit cross-checked folio charges to vouchers and verified settlement

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Semi-Automated Front Office Systems

Handwritten and machine-produced forms

National reservation networks

Pre-registration activities

Density board blocked reserved rooms

Registration cards—preprinted and multiple copies

Room rack: housekeeping status of each room

Vouchers received from point-of-sale areas

Posting machines recorded charges to guest folios

Night audit cross-checked folio charges to vouchers and verified settlement

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Property Management SystemsModules

Reservations

Rooms management

Guest account management

General management

Point-of-sale (POS) system

Magnetic strip readers

Credit cards

Debit cards

Smart cards

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Types of Telephone Calls Local Direct-dial long-distance Calling card Credit card Collect Third-party Person-to-person Billed-to-room International Toll-free 900 or premium-price

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Telecommunications Equipment

PBX system

Call accounting system

Guestroom phones

Pay phones

Pagers/cell phones

Automatic call dispensing system

Telephone/room status systems

Internet access

Call detection equipment

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Front Office Software Packages

Reservations management

Rooms management

Guest account management

General management

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Reservations Management Software

Availability/forecasting

Reservation records

Reservation confirmations

Room pricing

Revenue management

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Rooms Management Software

Room status

Registration

Room assignments

Room rate information

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Guest Account Management Software

Folio management

Credit monitoring

Transaction tracking

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General Management Software

Revenue analysis

Operating statistics

Financial analysis

Guest history

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Back Office Interfaces

General ledger accounting software

Accounts receivables

Accounts payables

Human resources software

Payroll accounting

Personnel recordkeeping

Labor scheduling(continued)

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Back Office Interfaces

Financial reporting software

Chart of accounts

Balance sheets

Income sheets

Transaction analysis

Inventory control software

Stock levels

Purchase order system

Stock rotation scheduling

(continued)

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System Interfaces

Non-Guest-Operated Interfaces

Point-of-sale system

Call accounting system

Electronic locking system

Energy management system

(continued)

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System Interfaces

Guest-Operated Interfaces

In-room folio review and check-out

In-room entertainment system

In-room vending machines

In-room fax machine

In-room Internet access

(continued)