Unit 7: Managing Accommodation Services

This report discusses the functions and roles of Front Office and Housekeeping Departments in managing accommodation services. It covers the importance of security, scheduling maintenance and forecasting of linen stock for adequate supply. The report is based on Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts, a multinational Hospitality company headquartered in Denham.

Unit 7: Managing
Accommodation
Services

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
Front Office ................................................................................................................................3
Functions of Front Office ...........................................................................................................3
Roles of front office desk ...........................................................................................................4
Operations of front office in meeting company's objectives and missions ................................5
Roles of Housekeeping Departments .........................................................................................6
Importance of forecasting of linen stock along with other guest supplies to ensure adequate
supply .........................................................................................................................................7
Interrelationships among housekeeping and other departments for providing quality service ..7
Importance of scheduling maintenance and repairing for purpose of minimising disruption of
guest............................................................................................................................................8
Importance of Security in organisation ......................................................................................8
Role of maintenance in accommodation services for enhancing guest satisfaction...................9
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Accommodation plays a crucial role in enhancing overall customer experience by rendering
quality service to its customers. It helps in longer staying period of customer by providing better
accommodation services. Tourism industry is one of the largest industry across the world which
provides employment and livelihood to millions of people. It encompasses with various aspects
of business such as facilitates foreign money transactions along with creation of employment
opportunities (Beaver and Zeevat, 2020). This sector provides more than tangible products such
as food, beds and guest rooms. All the staff of hotel contributes in enhancing customer
experience based on customer needs, expectations and preferences. This project report is based
on Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts, a multinational Hospitality company headquartered in
Denham. It will cover functions of front office along with key roles. Further it will cover how
front office contributes in meeting objectives and mission of company. In addition to that, it will
cover role of housekeeping and importance of line and stock in order to ensure supply for
meeting demand.
TASK
Front Office
The term front office may be referred to the workers who interact and communicate with
guest directly in their initial point of their arrival (Jiang, Law and Li, 2020).It is a sub part of
Room Division Department and engages in various operational areas such as reservations,
receptions and maintaining guest relation. It remains strongly visible area and act as a vital data
centre for employees and guest throughout stay duration. The staff is answerable for any query
for booking related issues and related to other concerns. The functions and roles of front office
starts before arrival of guest and continues till departure. Following are some functions of Front
Office on the basis of stages of customer arrival and departure.
Functions of Front Office
 Pre -Arrival -This starts when a customer starts searching for hotels and select hotel on
the basis of grading, reviews and price. Customer look forward to every available
information such as hotel's websites, media, magazines and brochures in order to get
information about hotel. An enquiry call is being processed for the confirmation that
customer have selected for staying in that hotel. There are various front desk software

which collects and stores customer information in their database in order to understand
customer needs and preference so that better service can be provided.
 Arrival -In this stage, the front office desk receives and welcomes guests at the reception.
It is the first time when customer is interacting with front desk. The bell boy takes
baggage from customers and porch them to main lobby in order to make convenient.
After this, the receptionist checks booking information about customer or not and for the
confirmed guests a prefilled reservations card is presented to the guest so that information
essential or personal information can be shared which was not filled earlier with duly
signature. For the non confirmed or walk in guest, front desk presents tariff card along
with giving information about facilities available, registration formalities and check out
timings. After successful completion of registration process at Intercontinental Hotels and
Resorts, a welcome kit is handed over to guest with room keys and bell boys takes
baggages and takes guest to allocated rooms. At that time, record of guest is creates in
system in form of guest account or folio in which all charges and expenses are posed in
that section (Wood, 2017).
 Occupancy -All the expenses incur by guest are recorded and recorded in guest section
such as room bill, meal bill and other additional service charges. The front desk ensures
that keys are allotted correctly or not. Apart from communicating with guest, its is the
key function of front desk to resolve every query of customer in order to provide better
service experience. There are various facilities rendered by front desk such as taxi
booking, ticket booking tickets for special events and local sightseeing on the guest
request.
 Departure -At the time of departure of guest, front desk takes feedback about overall
experience along with giving bills, receipts of payments for settlement of guest history
record. The baggage is taken to taxi or vehicle by bell boys. In case of any service needed
of transportation to nearest station or airport is also provided by front office desk
department.
Roles of front office desk
There are various roles and responsibilities performed by front desk office department and are
most crucial worker of management which engages with customers. They have to perform
various duties while working in company. In case of Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts, the

front desk office plays an important role in influencing customer's decision. The key roles of
front office is to assist customers with their luggage along with necessary documentation such as
passport and visa. The roles of front office are discussed below.
 Managing administration – It is the responsibility of front office to coordinate with every
department so that it can enhance customer service experience by meeting their demands.
It is important to understand customer demand and based on that provides service so that
expectation can be fulfilled. Day to day administration services are involved in front
office roles (Birinci, Berezina and Cobanoglu, 2018).
 Facilitates customer satisfaction -It is important to make customer satisfied by rendering
better quality services. In case of Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts, it focus on making
customer journey better by rendering premium and unique service experience. It will help
hotel in generating more profit as many people are attracted towards service of hotel.
 Establishing relation with guest- It is crucial for company to establish a healthy
relationship with guest. By communicating with guest, it acts as a bridge between
customer and hotel management. It is highly impacted by good behaviour of front desk
staff.
 Managing formalities -It is the duty of front office to manage all documentation
formalities prior to booking and at time of departure. It involves documentation
formalities, recording of all expenses on base charge and for additional services opted by
customers. It undertakes function of documentation formalities and recording of expenses
incur by guest. (Shin, Perdue and Kang, 2019).
 Establishing coordination – Every hospitality company wants to make their customers
satisfied by rendering quality services. In order to fulfil guest's expectation not only one
department is responsible and it is needed to have coordination among various
departments in so that they can deliver better customer service experience. All the
departments are coordinated by internal intercom for effective communication.
Operations of front office in meeting company's objectives and missions
There are various sets of objectives that every company wants to attain within provided
time. It is important to use resources optimally in order to make management process smoother.
Objectives of Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts is to make company one of the largest and well

known brand across the world. In addition to that, there are small objectives which eventually
coordinates to attainment of objectives. The core purpose of every business is to render quality
service at reasonable price. The front office plays an important role which contributes its efforts
towards accomplishment of company's objectives as it considers various factors which are
needed to be taken into consideration. The long run objectives are needed to be consider for
efficient operation of Hotel. All the functions of front office are monitored and controlled by
management in order to ensure that all functions are duly performed by them or not. If the
analysis are not up to mark, then management takes corrective actions so as to make it correct for
accomplishment of both short term and long term objectives. It is needed to formulate effective
strategy so that it can guide front desk and other workforce about their roles and responsibilities
that they have to perform. It is important to align objectives with front office operations while
framing operational plans in order to achieve objectives (Melián-González, and Bulchand-
Gidumal, 2017). In case of Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts, it focus on making customer
satisfied by greeting with warm welcome along with assisting in a decent and polite manner. It
leads to better customer satisfaction.
Roles of Housekeeping Departments
The Housekeeping department takes care of customer clean and comfortable so as to provide
home like experience. It is the aim for all accommodation to provide better staying service with
clean, comfortable, attractive and welcoming environment which offers value for money.
Cleanliness sends a stronger message in hospitality industry. By making rooms tidy and clean
attracts and catches customer's attention and leads to customer satisfaction. It is the duty of both
customer and management to keep room clean and tidy.
Housekeeping may be referred as the provision of comfortable, clean and safe
environment. Every staff of hotel is concerned with provision of housekeeping of their own
department. Following are essential roles of housekeeping department
 Housekeeping department facilitates in attaining maximisation efficiency by ensuring
care and comfort of guest for smooth functioning of department.
 It also helps in creating welcoming atmosphere so as to provide reliable service to various
departments as well as to customers.
 It ensures high standard quality cleanliness of various untidy areas within premises.

 It facilitates in providing and maintaining inventory to hotel management.
 It is responsible for catering laundry requirements for staff uniform and guest clothing.
 To maintain and provide floral decoration along with maintaining landscape area.
 It also deals with found and lost articles of customers.
 It ensures training and development needs along with control and supervision of staff.
 It is also responsible for maintaining healthy relationship with other departments.
 It assure all safety and security regulations made known to staff.
Importance of forecasting of linen stock along with other guest supplies to ensure adequate
supply
In accordance to hotel industry reports, it is important to have adequate supplies in order to
enhance customer satisfaction. In case of International hotel management, it helps in determining
level of satisfaction. The forecasting of supplies in advance is critically important in order to
evaluate customer satisfaction (Reilly, 2018). It is highly depend on adequacy of guest supplies.
In case of Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts, it updates and replenish its stock on daily basis so
that it would not face shortage in case of high demand. It focuses on providing better customer
satisfaction by processing supplies regularly.
Interrelationships among housekeeping and other departments for providing quality service
It is important to have proper coordination among housekeeping and other department which
enhances services and quality provisions. It plays an important role in hospitality industry as
along with providing lavish facilities but not providing hygiene makes customer dissatisfied. It
helps in establishing sustainable business environment. The front office shares crucial
information to housekeeping department at time of guest arrival and departure. On the basis of
received information, they makes and prepares room for next customer. In additional to that, it is
needed to have interrelationships among various departments with housekeeping department
such as security, maintenance and food in order to establish professional approach in its
operations.
The front office maintains and keeps an eye on check in and check out time and
effectively communicates with housekeeping departments as it will keep rooms clean and
hygiene. The maintenance department takes care of engineering facilities of entire hotel in order
to ensure comfortability of guest. The housekeeping department is dependent on information

passed by former department. Further, the housekeeping staff maintains safety standards of hotel
in order to maintain strong bond with security department (Chowdhury, 2021). The hotels
premises highly depends on housekeeping staff and only becomes possible by this department.
Importance of scheduling maintenance and repairing for purpose of minimising disruption of
guest
Hotel must set priorities to the maintenance of existing facilities and to repair issues so that
customers do not face any disruption during stay period. In case of Intercontinental Hotels and
Resorts, it have periodic maintenance policies so as to eliminate sudden breakdown of system. It
is done to maintain comfort level along with providing positive staying environment. By
conducting maintenance on a periodic basis will help hotel in mitigating cost related to repairing
in case of breakdown. In addition to that, it also enhances existing facilities along with working
lives and lesser reserved fund is requires which can be used in other operational activities of
hotel. It also helps hotel in preventing from major issue before occurrence. It can be minimised
by taking essential steps prior to occurrence.
Importance of Security in organisation
Security is one of the most crucial things which attracts guest attention in hospitality
industry. Every customer comes in hotel with minimum expectation that his valuables and
belongings will be safe and secure during stay in that hotel. Apart from safety of valuables,
management of Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts have CCTV camera for surveillance of every
moment in order to keep an eye on assets. A strong and effective security system is important in
establishing and securing interest of guests valuables, antiques, assets and staff along with other
physical resources like costly appliances and building. It keeps the belongings safe and secure by
CCTV cameras. It can also use to mitigate risk while fulfilling responsibilities and regularly
monitoring activities of staff and guest to avoid any security breach. Intercontinental Hotels and
Resorts is less with high tech cameras which 24/7 monitors activities in order to provide safety to
both customer belongings and hotel property. It helps in creating a trust among guest that their
belongings are safe in hotel premises. Every customer needs safety of his valuables and will opt
that hotel which is safe and secure in every aspect. It can be used in finding culprit in case ODF
any theft in hotel premises. Thus, from the above statement it is cleared that safety and security

for both guest and his belongings are crucial in hospitality and Intercontinental Hotels and
Resorts provide in every security aspect. Hotel can prevents its antiques from theft if it have
CCTV cameras.
Role of maintenance in accommodation services for enhancing guest satisfaction
It is important to make customer satisfied by rendering quality services with minimum price. It
facilitates in enhancing overall customer experience in accommodation industry. Maintenance of
Hotel plays an important role in promotion for sustainable operating process. It has been
analysed that effective maintenance aids in providing another dimension in business process. By
the implication of frequent maintenance helps hotel in avoiding extra cost of repairing and
maintenance along with enhancing working lives of customers. It helps in enhancing overall
customer journey. Company can prevent big loss by frequent maintenance (Jain, 2020) . It helps
in elevating customer satisfaction. It is needed to have effective accommodation service to
customers so as to deliver quality service. It gives hassle free and convenient experience to
customer and may result in loner staying period. As a result of this, it will help customers in
getting quality service experience. In case of Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts, it have
maintenance policies and on a periodic basis checks all operations such as checking of electricity
appliance, taking precaution related to gas appliances. It focus on delivering better service
experience by maintaining its resources. It includes water and sewage facilities, electricity
appliances maintenance, alarms and space management. It eliminates downtime along with
ensures room availability in which all appliances are working. There are tons of benefits of
maintenance as it reduces operational cost, enhance customer satisfaction along with increased
assets lifespan. It also oversees infrastructure of hotel in order to ensure safety and functionality.
The maintenance of hotel plays an important role in enhancing staying period who performs
various roles and responsibilities related to organizing repair, working on renovation projects and
installation of newly appliances.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it was concluded that accommodation services plays important
role in making customers satisfied. It is important to provide quality services in order t capture
larger customer base. There are various departments in hotels and it is needed to maintain
coordination and align resources towards enhancing overall customer experience. There are

various duties of front office as it is the first person to whom guest communicates. It performs
various roles and responsibilities such as documentation formalities along with pre and on arrival
duties. The housekeeping department is responsible for cleanliness and hygiene of hotel. It keeps
room and hotel premises clean and hygiene. Along with providing lavish facilities, it is important
to keep premises safe and hygiene. Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts regularly conducts
maintenance so as to avoid extra cost and to deliver better quality service. It is responsibility of
hotel management to keep premises safe and secure and to provide safety to guest's valuables
and belongings.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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experience quality in the hotel industry. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 28(7),
pp.833-861.
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pp.503-536.
Birinci, H., Berezina, K. and Cobanoglu, C., 2018. Comparing customer perceptions of hotel and
peer-to-peer accommodation advantages and disadvantages. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Chowdhury, R.A., 2021. Lead to Cash: Front Office Process Tower. In Building a Salesforce-
Powered Front Office (pp. 1-25). Apress, Berkeley, CA.
Jain, D., 2020. Would hotel industry have to redo the rooms/housekeeping standards post
COVID? Instilling greater confidence to bring back the customers. Instilling Greater Confidence
to Bring Back the Customers (April 28, 2020).
Jiang, N., Law, R. and Li, L., 2020. Impacts of peer-to-peer accommodation on the hotel
industry: Hoteliers’ perspectives. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 88,
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Melián-González, S. and Bulchand-Gidumal, J., 2017. Information technology and front office
employees’ performance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Reilly, P., 2018. Building customer centricity in the hospitality sector: the role of talent
management. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes.
Shin, H., Perdue, R.R. and Kang, J., 2019. Front desk technology innovation in hotels: A
managerial perspective. Tourism Management, 74, pp.310-318.
Wood, R.C. ed., 2017. Hotel accommodation management. Routledge.