Importance of Front Office Area in Effective Management and Planning

Running Head: HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM
ROOMS DIVISION
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ROOMS DIVISION
Introduction
The Lowry Hotel is a 5-star hotel based in the United Kingdom. Specifically, it is located in
Manchester City on the banks of river Irwell. It is a well-furnished hotel that offers excellent
high-class accommodation services. The hotel has a bed capacity of 165, six suites, and
Charles Forte Presidential suite with is beautifully furnished floor and windows. All the
bedrooms have adequate space with super-king size beds or two single beds which are
beautifully covered with woolen blankets. The rooms also have bathrooms which are
constructed from Italian porcelain. The Hotel suite located at the Riverside has two entrances,
lounge and a dining hall (Winda, 2016). These can suite families which are in a longer stay
and for entertainment purposes because it can be interconnected to an additional room. The
lightly soaked first floor is reserved for the enjoyment of world-class services like massage,
facial care, and beauty therapy. The Lowry hotel is one of the scenic places in Manchester. It
gives a unique appearance from the fact that it is located at the riverside (Nagai,
Benckendorff & Kaczynski, 2018). You will certainly find a real meeting point away from
noise disturbance. With its intimate and quiet environment, it is suitable for meetings and
networking.
Accommodation and front office services for different organizations
Accommodation department is one of the most important areas in an organization that deals
room divisions. The front office is a department that also ‘markets' the rooms and hand it
over to the guest. More specifically, the front office is responsible for developing and
maintenance of up to date record on guest information, guest services and ensuring that
guests are satisfied with the kind of services offered in the hotel (Morris & Kazi, 2014). The
front office is headed by a front office manager whose responsibilities are mainly to
supervise, hire, and train employees. He is also responsible for the preparation of a budget,

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monitoring, and evaluation of employees and to ensure that all complaints are attended to.
Basically, front office and accommodation department and other departments should work
towards a common goal- to ensure the customers are satisfied. Reservation of hotel
accommodation is an important undertaking of any front office department in the hotel
industry (Kruger, van der Merwe, Saayman & Slabbert, 2017). A guest may contact a hotel
receptionist enquiring about the availability of room; thus the potential guest will have the
opportunity to listen to the front office receptionist explaining the types of rooms available.
This will enable the guest to make a choice on whether to visit the hotel or not. There are
many reservation systems that may be used in different hotel industries such as Whitney
system, central reservation system, bedroom journal among others (Santos, Veiga & Águas,
2016).
Analysis of the roles and responsibilities of accommodation and reception services staffs
Accommodation and reception services staffs play a crucial role in the entire management of
the hotel. They are the first line of people that the customers will always come across. In
ensuring that the guests are fully satisfied, these staffs must cooperate and work in a team.
Some of the leading staff in this department includes
i) Accommodation or front office manager
This is the boss of the department and he or she has a range of responsibilities that revolve
around the comfort of the guest. Some of the roles include coordinating all the operations of
the department (Feng, 2017). He or She is responsible for ensuring that the rooms are kept
clean as he supervises the workload during shifts. Generally, he is responsible for attending to
the guests' needs and allowing a favorable environment where guests can easily launch their
complaints and seek clarification. Finally, the manager is responsible for updating group
information besides relaying this information to the relevant officers.

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ii) Hotel receptionist
The hotel receptionist is responsible for providing efficient and unique services to many
people within and outside the hotel (Lazarovich, 2014). This individual is expected to have
the highest level of interpersonal skills and characteristics that will leave a guest with
appreciation and praises. Generally, the receptionist will be responsible for the welcoming of
guests, extending warm recognition to very important customers, providing an accurate and
efficient check in and check out of guests, helping customers during their stay with queries
and concerns. Generally, a hotel receptionist would always assist the front office manager
with smooth running of front office operations. Since, this is the first person that any guest
will always interact with, besides he or she is responsible for answering calls either from
partners or guests.
Discussion of legal and statutory requirements that are concerned with rooms
divisions in Lowry Hotel
The main roles of the accommodation department in hotels and other hospitality
organizations are connected to the sales of the rooms at the organization. The department
will ensure that the guests that visit the facility will be well-taken care and leave the
facility a satisfied lot. The following procedures and roles are prescribed by the room
division management within the hospitality industry by the relevant officers and the
stakeholders:
 The guest must be greeted warmly on arrival. After the rooms have been
allocated, the bellmen would carry the customer’s luggage along with helping the
customer to the room.
 Front office operator would be responsible for the client's related formal
procedures as well as taking care of their accounts.