Front Office Management In Accommodation Industry

Types of Accommodation Services

Accommodation is the necessity of travellers. It is part of hospitality. Accommodation features luxurious hotels and lavish resorts. Accommodation management ensures quality and safety standards are met in the environment. It also deals with human resources, financial plan and inventory. It is hotel accommodation which can bring customers back for the next time (Merolla & Harman, 2016). Types of accommodation services are lodging, suites, resorts and boutique hotels. Accommodation management includes Front office management, Housekeeping management and Safety and security management. In this report, we have taken Front office management to investigate. It is the most important part of accommodation management. This department deals with guests. It is the link between hotel and customers. Role of front office affects the revenue of business (Fowler, Lindahl & Sköld, 2015). It also ensures that all the operations are run smoothly and contributes to employment and economic growth.

Whenever a customer visits a hotel, first interact at front office such as reception. It is situated near the entrance of hotels and interacts directly with customers. It obtains the information related to customers. Front office manages other departments such as housekeeping, accounts and online reservation departments. It also manages the check in and checks out of guests. It is also the prime duty of the department to forward important information to other departments (Ahmad & Scott, 2014). Front office also arranges and fixes meetings. Functions of front office management are:

• Register guests: It is the prime responsibility of front office to provide rooms to guests, with or without reservations. The front staffs provide the detail of available rooms and rates and handles cash payments. It ensures the smooth working of accommodation facilities and safety of guests (Micelotta, 2014). Front office believes in building and developing positive relationship with guests. It is also the duty of front office to check out of guests.

• Book keeping duties: The department also performs book keeping duties by balancing cash accounts. That’s why front office has usually close link and touch with accounts department. At the end of the day, staffs are supposed to checkout payments balance. It includes creating a report as per the accounting standards.

• Handle complaints and requests: Front office management deal with customers and handle their complaints. Problem can be anything related to their accommodation. It is the responsibility of front office to handle the request and complain of guests or contact to staff that can solve their problem.

• Scheduling of staff: Front office department includes scheduling the front office. There are special personnel for this task. They recruit housekeeping staff, receptionist, bellhop service and auditing staff. It also includes the training of front office team. Front office management keeps the hotel operating and profitable.

• Co-ordinate with other departments: Front office management coordinate with other departments such as sales and marketing team to ensure maximum sales of rooms of hotel. It also motivates and guides staff to achieve organisational objectives. 

 In the Front office management, the main focus has always been on creating positive customer experience and fulfilling their expectations. As their positive response can benefit a hotel in large extend. Any failure in meeting customer expectations can result in poor customer experience. Now a day hotels offers simplified procedure for check-ins. As customers want quick service and nobody wants to wait. It not only understands the need of new customers but also focuses on existing customers (Boella, 2017). Role of customer:

Delivering what was promised: It is always important to keep customers happy and engaged. To ensure visit of customers again, it is important to deliver what was promised. Exceeding expectations is always more beneficial to company.

Gaining customer loyalty: Certain travellers are loyal to brands. Improving customer experience improves customer loyalty towards them. Happy customers are the loyal customers, so the front office management needs to make extra efforts by providing additional items whenever possible. It can be made possible by contacting to other departments of accommodation management.

Functions of Front Office Management

Customer expectations: Travellers who visit for the first time expect staff members to be knowledgeable to that area. Travellers also want them to be known to attractions and sites. Visiting such places gives life time memories to travellers. The friendly attitude of front staff helps to win customers loyalty (Ivanov, 2014).

Complaints are opportunities: Complaints are the best opportunity to know about short comings and problem areas of front office management. Front office staff fixes the problem which puts positive impact on customers. 

Feedback is important: If a customer faces any bad experience, it should be made easy for them to express to hotel staff. The customers can fill feedback form at the time of check out at reception. The management communicate with customers and tries to fix the problem. Getting problems solved makes a customer satisfied.  

The need of customers can be understood from maintaining good relationship with them and survey can also be conducted. It has become necessary for hotels to provide best service and do something innovative to attract customers. Hotels give life time experience to customers so that customers like to visit often. It helps to achieve their loyalty towards hotel (Mohammed, Rashid & Tahir, 2014).  Front office understands the customer needs and on-line reservation and internet access are the technologies provided to them. So, that they do not face inconvenience. The need of customers can be understood from these points:

Safety: A hotel is a home away from home. So, the hotels focus on providing safety. It is shelter for travellers. Technology has a great role in providing safety. Still some people believe more in human touch.

Cleanliness: The front office management need to hold the highest standard of cleanliness. There should be high level of hygiene and clean public space, bedroom and bathrooms. If a room is not found clean, it is not only the job of housekeeping to keep room clean; employees should take an immediate action (Prayag & Hosany, 2015).

Authentic service: Good service is the top reason of satisfaction among guest of hotels. The guests expect front office management to take care of them. Quality service meets expectation of customers by fulfilling their needs. 

Good value: The price does not matter as long as the customer is getting worth. This is the reason people like to book expensive room. As it offers more value than the cheap ones (Ivanov & Ayas,  2017).

Customer Expectations for Front Office Management

Check-in and check-out: The front desk check-in and check-out experience is continuously developing. Mobile check-in and check-out stops standing in queue not more than fifteen minutes. According to a report, more than 30% customers prefer mobile check-in option. Now a day’s personalised i-pad check-in is also trending (McGill, 2015).  It provides clear direction, convenience and consistency.

Quality food: The quality of food also matters as well as stay. The quality of food varies from hotel to hotel. Five star hotels will have more options of food than a three star hotel. Hot and fresh breakfast is the basic thing which adds experience of guests. If any issue is found in food, than front office staff conveys it to the food and beverage section.

Accommodation manager makes all the possible efforts to meet the need of customers and is responsible for the efficient working of hotel:

• Accommodation manager ensures that all departments comply with hotel policies.
• Checks list of guests their check-in and check-outs.
• Ensures to keep accommodation cleaned and well maintained.
• Keeps detail of room occupancy and special needs.
• Conduct meeting and training for staff.
• Monitors the work performance of staff.

Outsourcing is an agreement in which a company provides service for another company. Another business is hired to perform some work activities. It is used to reduce cost and improve efficiency. Outsourcing can be domestic or foreign. Outsourcing is more feasible for front office management. As they cater to the needs of numerous units and are expert at work. Outsourced staff performs particular task so they are more efficient. There are so many outsourcing companies in the market; the problem is to choose right one. Advantages of outsourcing are: 

Quality manpower: The staffs of outsourcing are more groomed up and meet the expectation of hotel. They are well trained already which saves the time and cost of hotel. Their performance is more standardised.

Specialised services: Staff provided by outsourcing company usually has better understanding of front office management and are specialised in performing their duties. It reduces the repetition of instructions by higher authority, as they are already known to it (Torres, Fu& Lehto, 2014).

Consistent and focussed: The outsourcing staffs are well trained and programs are developed to groom them. The company also replaces the staff when required.

No investment for equipment: There is always availability of cash for other departments because there is no need to invest capital for equipment.

Outsourcing includes signing of contract and includes the following disadvantages:

Loyalty and ethics: Employees are not loyal when it comes to third party. They use cheap products and it may affect the cleaning environment. There work is also not ethical.

Absenteeism: Employees of outsourced companies are tending to more absent. They do not feel their duty towards organisation directly and are bound to perform duties which lead to absenteeism (Shamim, Cang & Yu, 2017). 

Outsourcing for Front Office Management in Accommodation Industry

Frequently changing staff: Outsourced staff usually kept on changing due to lack of loyalty. They also do not have authority to get their problem solved by front office department so it leads to drop their job.

A hotel can use outsource companies to perform it’s functions. Before hiring outsourcing services, a person need to sure that the outsourcing company is reliable. Outsourcing saves time, money and resources. It reduces the work load of front office and provides high quality service. The services provided in hospitality are more varied and are better in services. A hotel can also increase profitability without producing things. The front office management can focus in better way and can get better opportunities in the market (Vangen & Winchester, 2014). The department can conduct it’s activities with less staff and operational risk. It can increase the profitability of hotel as well as brand image.

Conclusion

From this report it can be concluded that accommodation management provides the best service to it’s customers from food to stay. The front office management takes charge of customers from their check-in to check-out. They provide every kind of services and solves problem of customers by resolving the situation. The front office departments also coordinate with other department of hotels to ensure better working of organisation. Outsourcing is a better method for the department to save time and reduce cost. It increases the efficiency of department by reducing their burden (Melián-González & Bulchand-Gidumal, 2016). 

References

Ahmad, R. and Scott, N., 2014. Managing the front office department: Staffing issues in Malaysian hotels. Anatolia, 25(1), pp.24-38.

Boella, M.J., 2017. Human resource management in the hotel and catering industry. Taylor & Francis.

Fowler, N., Lindahl, M. and Sköld, D., 2015. The projectification of university research: A study of resistance and accommodation of project management tools & techniques. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 8(1), pp.9-32.

Ivanov, S. and Ayas, Ç., 2017. Investigation of the revenue management practices of accommodation establishments in Turkey: An exploratory study. Tourism Management Perspectives, 22, pp.137-149.

Ivanov, S.H., 2014. Hotel revenue management: From theory to practice. Browser Download This Paper.

McGill, K., 2015. P-63 Improving hospice accommodation by applying strategic facilities management methodologies.

Melián-González, S. and Bulchand-Gidumal, J., 2016. A model that connects information technology and hotel performance. Tourism Management, 53, pp.30-37.

Merolla, A.J. and Harman, J.J., 2016. Relationship-specific hope and constructive conflict management in adult romantic relationships: Testing an accommodation framework. Communication Research, p.0093650215627484.

Micelotta, E.R., 2014, January. Institutional Maintenance as Accommodation of Change: Open Access in Higher Education Publishing. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2014, No. 1, p. 11742). Academy of Management.

Mohammed, A.A., Rashid, B.B. and Tahir, S.B., 2014. Customer relationship management (CRM) Technology and organization performance: is marketing capability a missing link? an empirical study in the malaysian hotel industry. Asian Social Science, 10(9), p.197.

Torres, E.N., Fu, X. and Lehto, X., 2014. Examining key drivers of customer delight in a hotel experience: A cross-cultural perspective. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 36, pp.255-262.

Vangen, S. and Winchester, N., 2014. Managing Cultural Diversity in Collaborations: A focus on management tensions. Public Management Review, 16(5), pp.686-707.