Front Office Operations Management: Functions, Technology, Communication, Reservation, Revenue Management, Guest Experience

This report discusses the functions of front office operations, use of technology, importance of communication, reservation process, revenue management techniques, and guest experience in Intercontinental Hotel Group. It covers topics such as creating guest database, handling guest account, coordinating guest services, ensuring guest services, and trying to sell services. It also assesses the ways front office operations use technology to enhance the guest experience, evaluates the importance of interdepartmental communication, discusses the reservation process, assesses the importance of forecasting room availability and room revenue, and applies a range of yield (revenue) management techniques. Additionally, it analyzes front office operations during the four stages of guest experience journey and ways they optimize business operations and sales, and appraises benefits of digital technology and innovation on enhancing guest experience.

Front office operation
management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK .............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Analyse the functions of front office operations within a range of different accommodation
organisations...............................................................................................................................3
P2 Assess the ways front office operations use technology to enhance the guest experience
within a range of different accommodation organisations .........................................................4
P3 Evaluate the importance of interdepartmental communication between the front office and
the various departments within a specific accommodation organisations..................................5
P4 Discuss the reservation process for a range of different accommodation organisations.......6
P5 Assess the importance of forecasting room availability and room revenue for Front Office
Managers.....................................................................................................................................7
P6 Apply a range of yield (revenue) management techniques to a variety of scenarios.............7
P7. Analysing front office operations during the four stages of guest experience journey and
ways they optimise business operations and sales......................................................................8
P8. Appraise benefits of digital technology and innovation on enhancing guest experience.....8
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Front office operation management is related to those management of the hospitality organisation
which represents the organisation in front of customers. They should be proper training and
effective communication skills are present in front office managers because they are the face of
the organization (Aguirre and Rodriguez, 2017) . The first person which interact with the
customers are the front office manager. The organisation which is chosen here to demonstrate
this report is intercontinental hotel group. There are many function which the front office
manager perform in hotel are stated in this report. This report states use of technology in the
same and also importance of communication for the interrelation of front office management
with other departments. The reservation process and importance of forecasting related to room
availability are stated in this report. The brief discussion related to guest experience journey and
benefits of customers journey are stated in this report.
About the company
Intercontinental hotel group is a British multinational hotel organisation which has its
headquarter in Buckinghamshire, England. There are large number of hotels are managed by this
group which is around more than 5000 hotel. These hotels are spread in different countries of the
world.
TASK
P1 Analyse the functions of front office operations within a range of different accommodation
organisations
There are large number of function which the front office management of intercontinental hotel
perform in their business and the brief discussion related to these discussions are given below.
 Creating guest database :- Intercontinental hotel group operates more than 5000 hotels
which involves huge amount of customer data and information. It is required for the
management of hotel to stored this information safely because it helps the organisation in
their advertisement campaign. This function is performed by the front office
management.
 handling guest account :- When the customers booked a room in the hotel a separate
account on the name of customers are developed under which all the payment and
services issues are maintained and this function are performed by the front office

managers of intercontinental hotel group. This function requires specialised knowledge of
the field and account operating in the operation mangers.
 Coordinating guest services :- There are many services are provided by any hospitality
organisation such as food services, accommodation services and travel services (Al-
Aomar and Hussain, 2018). It is required to develop coordination between these for
customer satisfaction and proper management of work. The front office managers of
intercontinental hotel group develops effective communication between the different
services offered by the organisation.
 Ensuring guest services : One of the most important function of the Front office
management is to ensure in the organisation that all the services offered by the
organization are successfully given to customers. The main function in this section is to
ensure the effectiveness of the services promised by the organisation to their customers.
 Trying to sell a services :- There are many services which are different from the main
services of the organisation which guest of the company does not choose at the time of
booking. The front office management of Intercontinental hotel group influence their
customers to purchase these services by providing their merits.
P2 Assess the ways front office operations use technology to enhance the guest experience
within a range of different accommodation organisations
One of the most important aspect which is required to be present in the organisation is
technology because it eases the work and also attract the customers towards the organisation.
There are many ways under which the organisation can use the technology in their organization
and the brief discussion related to these ways are given below:
Use bio-metric lock for the rooms :- One of the most important technology which many
hospitality organisation used in their hotel is the biometric lock in their hotel room. Under this
technology the guest of the organisation can unlock their room with the help of their finger print
and card (Anand and Gray, 2017). This technology helps to promote the security and safety of
guest and their things. This technology also helps the organisation to attract the customers.
Use cloud services :- Intercontinental hotel group has huge number of customer which the
company has to maintain the large amount of information. It is important for the organisation to
develop the proper for the storage of this storage. Cloud services is one of the important method
which is used by many organisations for the storage of information. There are many companies

are present in the market which provides cloud services to the business organisation in exchange
of money.
Use of robot to serve the food :- It is related to the use of robots in the restaurant of the hotel. It
is one of the attractive process under which the robots are used by the company to serve the food
and other activities of the hotel. It attracts the customer of the company from the market.
P3 Evaluate the importance of interdepartmental communication between the front office and the
various departments within a specific accommodation organisations
Communication is one of the most important aspect of any organisation because it helps
the organisation to achieve the goals and objectives of a business effectively. It is required for
the organisation to develop effective communication channel between the front office staff and
other department of the Unilever (Chikasha, 2019). The brief discussion related to the
importance of interdepartmental communication in Intercontinental hotel group.
 It is required for the management of Intercontinental hotel group to develop effective
communication between the cleaning department and front office management because it
helps to aware the department about the cleaning of rooms.
 Communication helps the human resource department to coordinate with the front office
department and share the information related to the work force needed by the department
and also the training of the employees.
 It is essential for the effective coordination of marketing and front office staff that the
effective communication present between them. These communication helps the
marketing department tom deliver the information gathered from the market to the from
office department so the managers can contact with the potential customers and influence
them to purchase their services.
 It helps the organisation to successfully achieve the accuracy in the organisation. This
enables all the department of the organisation to successfully coordinate with other so
that each activity can be performed easily and effectively.
 Communication helps the front office operators to call the luggage personal quickly if
any of the guest arrive and enables them to move the luggage of the customer at their
rooms. This service of the organisation attract the customers and also helps to retain the
customers of the organisation.

P4 Discuss the reservation process for a range of different accommodation organisations
There are six stage of the reservation process in the hotel organisation. The brief
discussion related to these stages are given below.
Identification of the source of business
 Identification the source of the business :- All the hotel categorised all the reservation
into two parts such as free independent traveller and associated traveller. Free
independent traveller related to those traveller which reserves the room of the hotel for
family or some friends and associated traveller is refers to those traveller which reserves
the rooms for their large group of people. It is normally contains grooms space and other
programmes (Heyes, 2017). It is the duty of the managers of the intercontinental hotel
group tom manage the considerable space for both the groups.
 Communication with the hotel :- This section of reservation process is related to the
communication medium which is used by the customer of Intercontinental hotel group for
the reservation of their booking in the hotel taking information. There are many ways
under the customer can use for room booking and other services such as telephone,
messaging, social media and online booking. It is the duty of the managers the
organisation to aware the customers about the contact detail of the organisation.
 Formulation of the reservation request :- Under this stage of the reservation process,
the managers of the intercontinental hotel record all the information of the guest in one
place such as separate account of the guest. There are three main factors of this stage
such as the expected of arrival and departure, desired room type and number of rooms
required.
 Reservation acceptance :- When the management of the hotel check the availability of
rooms and services in the above process than the acceptance and rejection of the
customer booking are taken place in this section of the reservation process.
 Confirmation notification :- If the organisation accept the request of the guest in the
above stage then they send conformation message or notification of the booking. This
confirmation message also contains the payment details.
 Modification and pre arrival activity :- It is facility which many hotel organisation are
provided to their customers which enables their customers to modify the booking at

specific time. Under this customer can change time of departure and arrival, name,
number of customers.
P5 Assess the importance of forecasting room availability and room revenue for Front Office
Managers.
Forecasting room availability
It is related to forecast the number of rooms available with the hotel on any of the future
date. These forecasting helps the front office operation to aware about the number of rooms
available with the hotel in the future if any pre booking are taken place (Li, Bonn and Ye, 2019).
There are many importance of these forecasting and the brief discussion related to these
importance are given below:
 One of the most important advantage of the room availability is that it helps the
organisation to accept the future booking. This enables the Intercontinental hotel group
to book their hotel rooms if they know the availability of rooms at the future dates.
 Another importance of forecasting room availability is that it helps the organisation to
forecast the future revenue of the company because this process are done on the basis of
previous records and revenues.
 It also helps the organisation to make the provisions for the future. It is important for the
organisation to make measures for the future problems so that the organisation will not
face difficulty.
 It helps the organisation to make the decision related to the level of employees maintain
in the organisation. If the management of the Intercontinental hotel group forecast the
high workloads in future than they increase the hiring of the employees in the present.
P6 Apply a range of yield (revenue) management techniques to a variety of scenarios
There are many techniques and strategies of revenue management which the management
of the Intercontinental hotel group used in their process of business. The brief discussion related
to these strategies are given below:
Understand your market :- One of the most important strategy which helps the organisation
increase their revenue is the proper understanding of the market. The common mistake which
many organisation performed that they does not understand the market properly and positioned
their product. The result of this scenario is that the product become fail in the market.

Segmentation and price optimisation :- One of the common concept which many hotel
organisation uses in their business is the to provide the best room to the best customer in the
organisation. This concept of the organisation can be achieved by segmentation of customers.
P7. Analysing front office operations during the four stages of guest experience journey and
ways they optimise business operations and sales
Front office is a department which is located in lodge area and foyer region of a hotel.
This division of a hotel is generally visible for visitors, guest etc. so impacts in two third portion
of revenue generation for a hotel (Lin, Afshari and Azar, 2018). Analysing four stages of guest
experience in relation to front office operations of Intercontinental Hotel Group are as below:
 Pre-Arrival: This is an early step taken by a guest while choosing and reserving a room
in a hotel. Front office of Intercontinental Hotel Group helps guests in providing
information related facilities offered by them as well as completes registration activities
on guest approval. A proper information provides by front office over telephone or other
sites attracts more guests which results in growth for business.
 Arrival: On arrival of Guest, responsibility of front office is to welcome them, gets
proper documentation done as well as allotting room to guests. Front office of
Intercontinental Hotel Group gives a warm welcome to its guest, allots rooms according
to their preferences and does proper documentation of reservation procedures.
 Occupancy: Front office should be more alert while looking after the guest during
occupancy. Front office of Intercontinental Hotel Group looks after providing security to
their guest, their belongings, room service as well as looks after essential measure to
make their experience best.
 Departure: On departure of Guest, front office settles accounts with them, get backs the
keys. Front office of Intercontinental Hotel Group asks guest for their feedback regarding
their experience with them and after their departure they updates room availability status
on their respective sites, cleans as well sanitizes the rooms.
P8. Appraise benefits of digital technology and innovation on enhancing guest experience
With objective to provide enhancement in guest experience Intercontinental Hotel Group
has adapted latest digital technologies to provide convenience as well as comfort in their
customers on their stays with them. Such technologies adapted by Intercontinental Hotel Group
for improving its guest experience are as follow:

 AI concierge: AI concierge is a robotic employee of a hotel which provides services like
check-in, checkout, provides information related services etc. Intercontinental Hotel
Group provides check-in services with the help of a robot. This robot also helps in
providing information regarding bars, restaurant and their directions to reach saves time
of their guest.
 Technologies for smart room: Smart room is a room consist of digital inbuilt technologies
which provides convenience and comfort to its guests by providing touch assistant or
voice assistant. This technology helps in providing services by voice assistant.
Intercontinental Hotel Group has smart rooms assistant which provides comfort to its
guest on their bed like monitoring air conditioners, TV, lightings, windows etc. by voice
assistant.
 Chatbots: Chatbots is a digital messenger used by many companies to provide
information, resolve queries etc. via an application or on their personal websites.
Intercontinental Hotel Group has chatbots to provide services like ordering food,
reservations, asking queries etc. to their guest in their mobile phones (Ma, Fang and Liu,
2017). This process helps in augmenting satisfaction of its guest by offering service on
their fingertips.
 Virtual Reality: Visual reality is a technology used to provide real effect on fingertips.
Intercontinental Hotel Group is offering virtual reality of their room in form of pictures,
360 degree maps, online brochures etc. on their mobiles before their actual visit. This
helps customers to visualises their stay before their actual stay occurs.

P9 Review how front office operations can enhance the quality of service and how this can be
measured, applying the service quality model
The front office management plays a crucial role in development of quality in products as
well as services. Companies in the international and national market related to hospitality sector
use this approach to attract large number of customers from the marketplace. It is compulsory for
a company to chose best approach in developing quality for the products in order to gain
competitive advantage (Rodríguez-Algeciras and Talon-Ballestero, 2017). The Inter continental
group of hotels has given clear instructions related to rules and regulations followed by the front
office department for expansion and growth of the company. Also it important for hospitality
organisations to hire skilled and trained workers in the front office management for better
operations. Companies like Inter continental group of hotels select best and optimum strategy to
develop ethical operations in front office department. Companies also takes assistance of top
level management and strategic management in order to develop service quality models. The
companies in hospitality sector measures the service quality by taking feedback of different
customers. Many hotels also take into consideration hiring professionally trained workers in
major front office management. The front office manager of Inter continental group of
management also play a crucial role in developing effective supervision and control on different
operations for better service quality. The front office management in recent times, takes into
consideration development of a precise strategy to maintain optimum quality of production.
Front office management of Inter continental group of hotels should also use strategic planning
in order to satisfy different customers. In the era of stiff competition between different
companies in the hospitality sector, the quality management is the topmost priority of every
company. The customer satisfaction is achieved in a precise manner with the help of quality
management as it leads to development of products and services with total quality. The inter
continental group of hotels provides global standard quality services by deploying professional
management in production and operations management.
CONCLUSION
There are many function which the front office manager perform in hotel are concluded in this
report. This report concluded use of technology in the same and also importance of
communication for the interrelation of front office management with other departments. The
reservation process and importance of forecasting related to room availability are concluded in

this report (Whyte, 2018). The brief discussion related to guest experience journey and benefits
of customers journey are concluded in this report.

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