F.O Unit-1 Notes PDF

Unit-1 INTRODUCTION OF FRONT OFFICE Front office is the major department of the hotel. It is the major revenue generating department of the hotel. Front office is just like the heart of the hotel. When the guest first come into the hotel he or she directly contact or interact to the...

Unit-1 INTRODUCTION OF FRONT OFFICE Front office is the major department of the hotel. It is the major revenue generating department of the hotel. Front office is just like the heart of the hotel. When the guest first come into the hotel he or she directly contact or interact to the front office. Every activities going into the hotel or in the hotel passes away from front office. There are various kinds of functions of front office. Like as reservation, registration, room assigning, key making, and the room upselling. FUNCTIONS OF FRONT OFFICE BASICS FUNCTION OF FRONT OFFICE- the front office is a reception for area where guest visitor may arrive and first meet the staff. At a place of business front office start. The guest arrives at the counter and ask the question which he or she want to ask. When the guest first enter into the hotel he interact to the front office staff. The front office in the hotel is the department responsible for the sale of room through the systematic system of reservation Follow by registration. It is the center piece of the hotel operation. The front office is the first and last point of meeting to the customers it contributes 50% of revenue of the hotel the profit contribute from the room sale. It is the major function of the front office the growth of the hotel totally depends on room sale. Sales in the hotel industry means as selling of the room to the guest for stay the stay must be according to the guest duration. It is for the generation of more profit for the hotel and the time period is according to the room tariff. A room may be sold for half day as we are also able to sell the room for just some hours. BASIC FUNCTIONS OF FRONT OFFICE 1. To sell the room. 2. Reservation of the room for the guest before arrival. 3. Registration of the guest into the hotel. 4. Assigning of the room. 5. Coordination with other department. 6. To provide the house and external information to the guest. 7. To maintain the accurate room status information. 8. To maintain the guest account and settle the bills. SUB SECTIONS OF FRONT OFFICE LOBBY AREA- Hotel lobby represents the atmosphere, decors, staff and image of the hotel when a guest visit.Lobby should be spacious but not wasteful. The natural flow of the guest should be towards reception, cashier, and information counters, during guest arrival and departures. Sufficient space required to place the guest luggage. Lobby is the waiting area of the hotel.Lobby area includes bell desk, travel counter, cashier, elevators etc. Well-furnished seating arrangements. Lobby should be facing the clear view of guest entering. Front office staff takes care of lobby area in terms hygiene standards. Lobby manager and guest relation executive will be available 24 hrs.In large hotels. RECEPTION – a)Reception deals with daily arrival and departure of the guest. b)Blocking of rooms for expected arrivals in advance. c)To fill up all the necessary details in guest registration card for confirmed reservations. d)Receiving and welcoming guest. e)To check all the reservation correspondence. f)To co-ordinate with housekeeping department for cleaning of rooms.to keep a track on room status. g) To help the guest in filling up G.R.C. Registration- of guest is one of the important processes of check-in activity. It is a mandatory requirement that all guest above the age of 16 years whether ordinary or V.I.P, INDIAN OR FOREIGNER. The form should be duly filled and signed by the guest those who are staying in the hotel. For Foreigner guest C-form to be filled compulsorily. 2.BELL DESK-to handle guest arrival and departures. Take the guest baggage from the car in the porch/gate. To escort the guest to their rooms along with the luggage. Place the luggage in the luggage rack in guest rooms. Explain the operation of light control air condition, TV, safety locker in room etc. To handle guest room keys during departure. To shift guest luggage from one room to another. To help in packing of guest luggage. To distribute newspapers. To keep lobby area clean. To deliver guest message to their rooms. To report scanty baggage guest. To vend postal stamps and other stationeries. To page the guest in public area. To do small work outside the hotel to book movie tickets, to get medicine for guest etc. 3. Concierge- it is a French word it means door keeper/porter. It also refers to hospitality. The desk is located in the lobby.It is an extended arm of INFORMATION COUNTER and provide information to the guest where longer interaction with guest is needed, such as planning itineraries, planning and organizing tours etc.. 4. FRONT OFFICE CASHIER -He is responsible to post all guest charges and credit into their respective folios. Settle all guest bills during guest departure. Ancash foreign exchange as per regulations. Disburse petty cash to hotel staff and authorized paid outs. To have control on safety lockers. Receive and hold in safe custody all cash payments made by guests till the account is rendered. To maintain records and to prepare cashiers report. 5.NIGHT AUDITOR-to reconcile all revenue statements. To verify and validate front office cashiers vouchers/forms. To check guest folios Verify front office cashiers report. Prepare high balance report of guest who exceed their credit limit fixed by hotels. To prepare daily transcript. To verify room status report. To check the cancellation of reservations. Account for city ledger credit amounts. 5. TELEPHONE OPERATOR-to attend to all incoming and outgoing calls. To monitor guest calls and to prepare guest bills accordingly. To give wake up calls to guest. To transfer calls regarding room reservation. To speak politely and softly. To take guest messages and to inform to reception. To handle any kind of emergency situation. 6. BUISNESS CENTRE- this is a guest area where secretarial assistance to guest for conducting conference, seminars, and interviews is being offered. All necessary equipment’s fax, telex, internet facility ,photocopying, spiral binding, plastic folders, Are available in business center 7. RESERVATION- The term 'reservation' used in the context of a hotel, means the booking or reserving of a room (accommodation) by a guest. Reservations leads to reserving of a particular type of room for a particular guest for a given period of time. It also gives the guest the first impression of the hotel. 8. LEFT LUGGAGE ROOM (LLR) - The term 'Left Luggage room' refers to luggage left by a guest who checks out of the hotel but wishes to take his luggage later. The left luggage room has racks along the wall where the luggage is deposited. 9. GUEST SAFETY LOCKER – guest safety locker is a facility provided by hotels to the in-house guests to keep their valuables and important documents in safety during their stay at the hotel. Hotels may provide this facility with or without charges as per the policy.... So it takes the guest key and the cashier key to open the locker. 10.TRAVEL DESK –the guest should be able to plan their programs or trip outside the hotel with the help of the hotel of employee of the hotel who are familiar with the area outside the hotel and know about the all tourist attraction and destination activities and the same place. Travel desk is responsible for arranging the tickets passer or the nearby the areas or monuments and nearby attractions he or she arrange the taxis for the same place. FRONT OFFICE ABBRIVATIONS FIT- FREE INDEPENDENT TRAVELLER ( any individual traveller who is not in a group ) also called as free individual traveller FFIT- FOERIGN FREE INDEPENDENT TRAVELLER. DFIT- DOMESTIC FREE INDEPENDENT TRAVELLER. GIT- GROUP INCLUSIVE TOUR. OOO- OUT OF ORDER. DBR- DOUBLE BED ROOM. TBR- TWIN BED ROOM. ADR- AVERAGE DAILY RATES. BTC- BILL TO COMPANY. CRS-CENTRAL RESERVATION SYSTEM. ETA- EXPECTED TIME OF ARRIVAL. OS- OUT OF SERVICE. DND- DO NOT DISTURBE. GRC- GUEST REGISTRATION CARD. ETD- EXPECTED TIME OF DEPARTURE. POI- PLACE OF ISSUE. DOI- DATE OF ISSUE.  RPAR- REVENUE PER AVAILABLE ROOM. NB-NO BAGGAGES. ATM- ALL TAILOR MACHINE. EP- EUROPIAN PLAN. CP-CONTINENTAL PLAN. AP- AMERICAN PLAN. BP- BARMUDA PLAN. MAP- MODIFIED AMERICAN PLAN. APC- ALL PAYMENT IN CASH. FOC- FULL ON COMPLIMENTRY. OOS- OUT OF SERVICE. AI- ALL INCLUSIVE. SOP- STANDARED OPERATING PROCEDURE. MEAL PLANS American plan (AP): The American Plan means that the nightly rate quoted by a hotel or resort includes three meals a day, e.g., breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Continental Plan (C.P): The Continental Plan means that the quoted rate includes breakfast on the premises for every guest who occupies a room overnight. European Plan (EP) : The European Plan means that the quoted rate is strictly for lodging and does not include any meal Modified American Plan (MAP):it is the plan to consist of room rent breakfast and choices between lunch and dinner. FRONT OFFICE TERM- Arrival and departure report- a list of all the check-in and checkout of the day. APC-(all payment in cash)- the term is use when the guest has to decide to pay the bill in cash. Arrival date – it is the date when a guest expected to arrive in the hotel. Arrival time- The expected time of arrival of a guest ETA (expected time of arrival) –It’s the time when the guest is expected to arrive. ARR(AVERAGE ROOM RATE)- it is the average money collected by or from room for total no. of room for particular accounted period. 7. BACK OFFICE- it is the branch of front office of the hotel which is responsible for coordinating all the support service all the activities of front office and maintain the ongoing status of the business. 8. BACK TO BACK- it is the travel trade terms which refers to the sequence of continuous arrival of guest it may be a group or FIT, marriage, conference etc. 9. BALANCE SHEET- a statement of the financial position of the company at the financial year. 10. B&B HOTELS (BED AND BREAKFAST HOTEL) - these hotels are usually served breakfast along with the room. There no major meal plan to be serve. 11. BELL DESK- this desk is located in the lobby area usually in the contact with the cashier one of the main work his to transport the luggage.  12. BELL CART- this is a luggage tally use to carry the luggage from one place to another. 13. TIPS-[To improve the personalize service]. 14. BERMUDA PLAN- A type of meal plan where the room tariff includes along with room rate the American breakfast rate. 15. BLACK LISTED GUEST- this is usually the guest list of unwanted guest. These may be those guests who make a lot of fuss and create problems for the hotel ,who misbehave the staff. This type of guest are usually banded from the hotel. 16. BRUNCH- this is the meal served between the breakfast and lunch. 17. Supper- this is the meal served usually after the dinner or may be the midnight snacks. 18. HIGH TEA- the evening tea served with snacks is known as high tea. 19- GAURANTED RESERVATION- this is a type of reservation where in the hotel is sure to get the room rate from the guest or may be third party agent. 20. CONFIRM RESESRVATION- this is the type of reservation usually means the money for the room has been paid in advance. 21. TENTATIVE RESERVSTION- this is the type of reservation which means the booking is not confirm yet. 22. CABANA ROOM- they type of room which is near to the swimming pool is known as cabana room. 23. WAKEUP CALL SHEET- a sheet which contains the list of room along with no of the room and time for wakeup call to the guest and the details abound the purpose of wakeup call sheet. it may include meeting purpose, visit purpose, for regarding the breakfast, checkout , newspaper , early morning tea , key or any other request in the morning. 24. CANCELLATION- the process of cancelling the reservation by the guest before the date of expected of arrival. 25. MASTER KEY- this key is used as to unlock the room located at any floor. It is the key hendled by front office manager, bell captain or by the Hod’s. 26. CHARTER FLIGHT- the flight as a special arrangement which is book by airline for a flight from one place to another usually the particular person group of guest. They are normally much higher than regular flight. 27. AMMENITIES- these are the items which are supply to the guest for their personal comfort. EXAMPLE= shampoo, deodorant, body wash, bathroom sleepers, water bottles. HOUSE PHONE- telephone usually in the lobby area for the public area to from where the visitor can contact to the guest in the hotel. 28. COMPLIMENTRY- anything which is served as free of cost to the guest usually along with accommodation for business promotion or goodwill activity. 29. BELL CART- A luggage trolley used to carry luggage to and from the guest room by the bell boy. 30. LOG BOOK- A book/ register which is used to record activities and to communicate with the next shift. In the log book every shift has to give the handover to the next shift in return so that the next shift should be aware. 31. PLUS POSITION- it is an occupancy condition where number of expected of arrival are more than number of rooms in the hotel. 32. MINUS- it is an occupancy condition where expected arrival are less than the number of rooms in the hotel. 33. NO SHOW- it refers to the guest who does not arrive on the schedule date of arrival after making a confirm reservation. 35.ROOM DISCREPANCY REPORT- the report usually shows the discrepancy or vacancy between the housekeeping and front desk room status 36. RACK RATE- these are the normal public room rate mention on the tariff card. This is the highest rate on which front office staff can sale the room 37. BAR RATE- (best available room rate) - these are the lowest rate of the hotel on which front desk sale the room 38. LOST AND FOUND- this is basically a sub-sections where all the lost items which is found by staff or guest are submitted to the lost and found. It is the process the usually done for the guest where he/she valuable items- so later he/she found from the hotel. 39. ROOM RESERVATION- the total money generated by the total sale of the room for a particular time of period. 40.GUEST FOLIO- A statement of guest account settle bill or room history his being printed on the folio. 41.LATE CHECKOUT- A guest who checkout after the actual time of departure with the permission of the hotel staff, or by the manager it may be chargeable or may be not chargeable in the some cases. 42.EARLY CHECK-IN- A guest who check-in time with the permission of hotel staff it may be chargeable or may be not chargeable. 43. REGISTRATION- The process of complimenting of the process check-in after doing the formalities , where the guest sign the registration card and the person who is on reception take details of the guest along with the (I.D card must be government proof with address it may be Aadhaar card, voter card , passport. 44. SUITE ROOM- A combination of two or more rooms in which at least one is sitting room and one is bed room. 45. WALK IN GUEST- A guest who comes to the hotel without any reservation is known as walk-in guest. 46. SKIPPER- A guest who leaves the hotel without settling the bills is known as skipper. 47. DAY USE ROOM- A room usually used by a person for a particular day only for few hours in the day time.