Table of Contents
The front office staff interacts with all departments of the hotel, including marketing and sales, housekeeping, food and beverage, banquet, controller, maintenance, security, and human resources. These departments view the front office as a communication liaison in providing guest services. Each of the departments has a unique communication link with the front office staff.
Marketing and Sales Department
- The marketing and sales department relies on the front office to provide data on guest histories, details concerning each guest’s visit. Some of the information gathered is based on zip code, frequency of visits, corporate affiliation, special needs, and reservations for sleeping rooms.
- It is also the front office’s job to make a good first impression on the public, to relay messages, and to meet the requests of guests who are using the hotel for meetings, seminars, and banquets.
- The guest history is a valuable resource for marketing and sales, which uses the guest registration information to target marketing campaigns, develop promotions, prepare mailing labels, and select appropriate advertising media.
Housekeeping
- The housekeeping department prepares an occupancy report, which is sent to the front office department where it is tallied with room status record of front desk.
- The housekeeping personnel should inform the front office about any unusual circumstances that may indicate a violation of security for the hotel guest.
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Guest may request for additional or special amenities during their stay like blanket, towel, soap, shampoo, etc. When such request is received at the front desk, they should be immediately conveyed to the housekeeping department.
Food & Beverage Department
- The front office department informs about the arrival & departure of guest which helps them to plan their work schedule and staff requirement.
- Setting up bars in VIP rooms, Special arrangements like cookies, fruit basket and assorted dry fruits.
Finance Controller
The front desk provides a daily summary of the financial transaction after night auditing to the finance controller. It helps in marketing budget and allocates resources for the current financial period.
Human Resources
The front desk informs the H.R department about its requirements of New Staff, Training requirements for new staff and Refreshers training for the existing staff.
Banquets
Coordinates with banquet for putting information on bulletin and placing directional signals for particular function. Receives the function prospectus so as to be updated what is going on in the hotel.
Security
When a guest has security concern like fire, robbery, theft, and any other emergency, the front desk should explain the emergency procedure to the guest while calling security personnel to resolve the problem.
Engineering & maintenance
- For proper upkeep of the equipments and system installed in the hotel.
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Inform the maintenance about any repair work required in guest room.