Importance of Front Office Operation in Hotel

This report discusses the importance of front office operation in a hotel, the operational role of the front office manager and night auditor, communication between the front office and other departments, and the analysis by the hotel to ensure effective communication.

PROJECT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Part 1 A)...........................................................................................................................................3
Importance of front office operation in hotel.........................................................................3
Part 1 B)...........................................................................................................................................4
Operational role of..................................................................................................................4
Part 2 A)...........................................................................................................................................5
Communication between front office and another department of hotel.................................5
Part 2 B)...........................................................................................................................................6
Analysis by hotel to ensure that communication is effective in the hotel..............................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The front office operations department is the department which is responsible for dealing
with the consumers and to make sure that the consumers are satisfied with the services of the
hotel (TRIWANIT and Teeranuson, 2018). The present report is based on the hotel Marriott.
This is a multinational company dealing within the hospitality sector and manages a big chain of
hotels and lodging facilities.
The present assignment will start by discussing the importance of the front office
operation within the hotel. Further it will discuss about the operational role of the front office
manager and the night auditor in maintaining the growth of the hotel. Next it will focus on
outlining the communication between the front office and other different department within the
hotel. In the end the report will highlight that how effective communication leads to effective
hotel operations.
MAIN BODY
Part 1 A)
Importance of front office operation in hotel
In accordance with the thoughts of Melián-González and Bulchand-Gidumal, (2017) the
front office department of the hotel is the one which is responsible for interacting with the
consumers coming to the hotel. This department is also known as the face of the hotel. The
reason underlying this fact is that when the customer comes to the hotel the first place where it
interacts is the front office operation. Therefore, for Marriott hotel it is very necessary to have
efficient and effective front office operation. But Nguyen, (2019) articulates that this department
is very necessary for the success of the hotel because this is the only place where the consumers
can go and talk in the hotel. No other department has the authority to deal or interact with the
consumers. Thus, it is very important and necessary for Marriott to manage and maintain a good
and efficient front office operation.
In the words of Faisal, (2018) front office operation is important for the hotel because this
is the department which interacts with the consumers and this is the duty of the front office
department to understand the needs and requirements of the customers and to pass this
information to the further department so that the hotel can provide the consumers with exactly
what they are intending to receive. But on the other hand, Shin, Perdue and Kang, (2019) argues

that if this department will not be efficient in working that this will impact on the profitability
and goodwill of the hotel.
This is majorly because of the reason that this department is the intermediary or the
bridge between the consumers and the other department of the hotel. It is so because the front
office desk interacts with the consumers and understands their requirement and then transfers
this information to the other department which actually work in order to provide the products and
services to the consumers. Now in this situation if the front office operation is not their than how
the information will be passed in further. In the views of Quarshie and Amenumey, (2018) also,
this department is the intermediary between the top management and the workers making the
products and services. The front office takes the information form the top management and then
passes on this to the operational staff and takes the problem and suggestions to the top
management.
Part 1 B)
Operational role of
Front office manager
This is the individual who is responsible for managing the front office of the hotel
Marriott. He is the person who is liable and accountable for maintaining professional working
environment and supervising and managing all the work going on within the hotel. The first and
foremost role of the front office manager is to make sure that the consumers are getting what
they need. This is majorly because of the reason that if the consumer will not be satisfied with
the services of the hotel then they will not like the place and will not come again to the place.
Therefore, it is the duty of the front office manager to understand the needs and preferences of
the consumers and convey it to the production department so that the goods and services can be
made in accordance with those requirements.
Another tole of front office manager is to distribute or allocate the work according to the
requirements. This is majorly because of the reason that front office manager is the person who
knows the actual need of the consumer (Rabea, Saad and Abdel-Aleem, 2018). Therefore, the
front office manager can easily distribute the work among the operational staff that who will
perform which task to satisfy the needs of the consumers.

Night auditor
This is the person who works in the hotel at the night on the reception or the front office
desk. This is the person who is responsible for managing both the front office desk and the
maintenance of the accounts of the hotel Marriott (Wahyanti, Rahardjo and Dewi, 2018). The
major role of the night auditor within Marriott hotel is of recording and analysing and then
evaluating all the daily financial transaction. Also, this person performs the role of checking the
guests and answering to all the queries of the consumers and also to review the different reports
like housekeeping, cashiers, production and others in order to evaluate the cost incurred by them
and the profits earned.
Part 2 A)
Communication between front office and another department of hotel
For the hotel to b successful the first and foremost thing is that there must be clear and
effective communication between the staff and all the different departments of the hotel. For
Marriott also, it is very necessary to spread good and effective communication so that every
department knows that what the other department is doing. For maintaining the communication
within the hotel, the manager and other staff needs to use different tools and techniques. There
are many different types of tools and methods of improving the communication among the staff
and other department.
For instance, the hotel Marriott uses the PMS that is Property Management System which
helps the administration department to use this system for making reservation, rooms
availability, managing the occupancy and many other related tasks. Therefore, this system
manages all these tasks in electronic form and the person managing this system just has to
communicate this information to further people and departments which needs this information.
Also, it is very necessary to have effective communication between the front office
department and other department. This is due to the reason that if suppose the front office
department got to know that social media marketing is the latest trend going on in attracting the
consumers and if this information is communicated to the marketing department of hotel
Marriott then the consumers will be decreased as the hotel is not using the latest trends (SAYIN
and KARAMAN, 2019). Now if in this situation the communication was effective that is the
front office conveyed the information to the marketing department then they will start using this
strategy. Then this will attract more of the consumers.

Part 2 B)
Analysis by hotel to ensure that communication is effective in the hotel
For the effective working within the hotel it is very necessary to be effective
communication. This is necessary because of the reason that if the communication is not proper
then there will be confusion of work and also there may be chances that there can be repetition of
work. therefore, it is very necessary to maintain proper and efficient communication within the
hotel and also, with the external parties and consumers. For this Marriott hotel is using the
system of reporting that is making the report for every task. This is done because of the reason
that in this report all the information is recorded and this can be used to communicate it to other
department which need this information. These reports are the records detailing every work done
and it can be made for every department within the hotel (Amelia, 2018).
The different reports are like housekeeping report, records of financial data, food and
beverages report, reservation report and many other different types of reports. For example, if
there is a new consumer at the front office desk inquiring about their room number and at that
time the front office manager is not present at the desk. Then the other person can also address
the query by just checking in the records. This reporting system helped the person in
communicating the correct information to the consumer even if the front office manager was not
there. This was possible because of the records which are maintained in the form of reports.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it is concluded that for the hotel to be successful it is very
necessary for the hotel to have a good and effective front office operation. The underlying reason
behind this fact is that this is the first and last place where the customer can interact. From the
above study it was outlined that the front office operation is very important for the hotel as it
helps in maintaining good relation with the consumers and understanding their needs and
transferring this information to others.
Further it discussed the role of front office manager and night auditor and it was
concluded that both of them plays a crucial role in success of the hotel. In the end the
effectiveness of the communication in maintaining clarity of work and success of hotel was
highlighted.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Amelia, R., 2018. THE DIFFICULTIES FACED BY BUSINESS ENGLISH APPRENTICES IN
CHARGE AT FRONT OFFICE DEPARTMENT (Doctoral dissertation, University of
Muhammadiyah Malang).
Faisal, M., 2018. How to increase efficiency of Front Desk using holistic approach: Case: Hotel
X.
Melián-González, S. and Bulchand-Gidumal, J., 2017. Information technology and front office
employees’ performance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management. 29(8). pp.2159-2177.
Nguyen, H.H.M., 2019. Optimizing the role of hotel front office staff in modern-day revenue
management.
Quarshie, J.M. and Amenumey, E.K., 2018. Utilisation of information and communication
technologies in hotel operations in the central region of Ghana. Journal of Hospitality
Management and Tourism. 9(1). pp.1-13.
Rabea, A., Saad, H. and Abdel-Aleem, M., 2018. The Impact of Property Management System
Practical Training on Graduates’ Skills Development: An Analytical study on Faculties
of Tourism and Hotels in Egypt. International Journal of Heritage, Tourism, and
Hospitality. 12(1/2).
SAYIN, Ö.G.K. and KARAMAN, A., 2019. Communication and Productivity with Guests at
Front Office; A Qualitative Study on Hotels. Journal of International Management and
Social Researches. 6(11). pp.186-196.
Shin, H., Perdue, R.R. and Kang, J., 2019. Front desk technology innovation in hotels: A
managerial perspective. Tourism Management. 74. pp.310-318.
TRIWANIT, N. and Teeranuson, P., 2018. Front Office Turnover in Hotel Industry. Case study:
Five star hotel in tourism area of Bangkok Thailand (Doctoral dissertation, Silpakorn
University).
Wahyanti, C.T., Rahardjo, O.S. and Dewi, Y.E.P., 2018. CEFR-based Front-desk Staff’s English
Skills: A Case in Indonesian Hotels. Theory and Practice in Language Studies. 8(12).
pp.1671-1678.