Every business which has multi-departments should have a front office or a reception to receive the visitors. It is said that front office department is the face of the organization, as well as the voice of a business. Regardless of the rating of the hotel or the hotel type, the hotel has to have a front office as it is the most important and the first visible department of an organization.
For a business, especially in the hospitality industry, the front office department comes with an aspect of elevating customer experience with the business. Front Office department is considered as the most common link between the customers and the business.
So now, what is this Front Office Department?
As we already know, front office is the face of the company and it is one of the most important departments in the hospitality industry. It is one such a department of the hotel business which directly interacts with the customers when they first enter the hotel. The staff of this department should be very easily visible to the guests.
Front office department members/staff handle the transactions between the hotel and its guests. The staff receive the guests, see what the visitors requests are, and strike the first impression about the hotel into the minds of the customers.
Front Office Department's Responsibilities
Following are some of the basic responsibilities that a front office staff should handle:
Creating a database of the guests who have arrived
Maintaining proper guest accounts books
Coordinating with the guests by providing proper and best service
Trying to sell a service
Ensuring customer satisfaction
Handling in-house communication through PBX
These are some of the very basic responsibilities of the front off department.
Front office department includes the following:
Front Desk: A hotel's front desk agent is the one who represents the hotel as the first point of contact with guests and his journey goes as far as the guest's stay is scheduled. Hotel's front desk agent's duties involves registering/booking guests in and out of their rooms, while accommodating any special requests by the guests etc etc.
Uniformed services: Uniformed services adds more value to the hotel's experience by providing various personalized services for guests and these play a vital part in increasing the customer's satisfaction while at the hotel. These staffs include door persons, bell attendants, valet parking attendants, transportation drivers, and concierges.
Concierges: Hotel Concierge is a section under the front office that helps the guests in offering different services like booking reservations, booking transportation, arranging for a local visits, helping guests in sightseeing spots, etc., and other such services for enhancing customer satisfaction.
Front Office Accounting System: A front office accounting system is the most essential process that is designed to monitor and keep a track on the financial transactions of guests and non-guests at the hotel during each and every stage of the guest cycle in the hotel.
Private Branch Exchange (PBX): A private branch exchange (PBX) is a telephone system within an organisation which is used for switching calls between users on local lines, while enabling all users to share a certain number of external phone lines. In simple words, is a phone system that manages incoming and outgoing phone calls as well as all the organization’s internal communications.
These are some of the inclusions in the front office department.
Why Infimind for Hospitality Management?
We at Infimind Institute in association with Presidency College of Hotel Management are providing free of cost training, and also we provide placements at top hotels. If you are aged between 18 and 28 years, and a resident of Karnataka, based on your educational qualifications, we have a variety of courses to choose from!
We help our students evolve with the following support:
Help build their resume
Guide learners with walk throughs for interviews
Training session on Group Discussion and Personal Interview
In this way, you can build a successful career in the field of Hospitality management. With so many options available, one can choose in the field he is interested to work in. If you're someone who has a passion towards customer relations, here it is, the best possible field for you to fit it.