Comparative Analysis: Front Office Roles Capabilities and Competencies

This report provides a detailed analysis of three key job roles within the front office department of Waiwo Dive Resort: assistant front office manager, night auditor, and reservation manager. The report outlines the responsibilities, capabilities, and required competencies for each role, including communication, management, and problem-solving skills. It compares and contrasts these roles, highlighting similarities such as the need for strong customer service skills and a background in hotel and hospitality management. The report also emphasizes the differences in competencies, such as the night auditor's need for software proficiency and the reservation manager's understanding of international hotel systems. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, underscoring the importance of effective communication and management skills across all three roles, and emphasizing the unique demands of each position within the hotel's operational structure. The report utilizes several academic sources to support its analysis and findings.

Hotel and
Hospitality
Management
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
The three different job roles in front office department of the organization...............................3
Comparison and contrast of capabilities and competencies of three job roles............................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
In the modern era, the competition among businesses operating in hotel and hospitality
industry has become highly intense. Furthermore, it is no longer easy for a company to attract
new customers and retain the old ones (Ruetzler et al. 2014). Nowadays, organizations are
required to adopt effective management practices to carry out the smooth functioning of all
operations and business activities.
The present study includes comparison and contrast of the capabilities and competencies
required for three different job roles in front office department of Waiwo Dive Resort, Indonesia.
The three different roles selected are night auditor, reservation manager, and assistant front
office manager.
The three different job roles in front office department of the organization
1. Assistant front office manager- The person employed in this job role is also termed as deputy
front office manager and reports to either general manager or to the front office manager (Bowen
2016). Furthermore, assistant front office manager plays a very important role in the absence of
the front office manager in Waiwo Dive Resort, Indonesia. The assistant front office manager is
responsible for ensuring the higher degree of satisfaction among clients or guest in the hotel. In
addition to this, the manager also plays the vital role in managing proper coordination between
back office and front office department within Waiwo Dive Resort, Indonesia. The manager is
responsible for increasing sales and profitability of the business. In addition to this, assistant
front office manager also is also responsible for dealing with issues linked to employee and
customers (Albayrak & Caber 2015). Overall management and motivation of employees working
in Waiwo Dive Resort, Indonesia is also taken care by the manager.
2. Night Auditor – Front manager of the hotel is considered as the reporting authority of night
auditor in the hotel. A person working on this position is required to carry out activities such as
preparing Waiwo Dive Resort’s cash summary, examining the overall accounting data and
records of the hotel, tracking the financial records on a daily basis, etc. Posting of taxes and room
charges in the account of guest staying in the hotel is also the key responsibility of night auditor
(Andrews 2013). Assigning charges to their respective departments and cross checking the front
office transaction with document evidence are also some important responsibilities which need to
be accomplished by night auditor. Taking out the print and filling up of next day reservations in
Waiwo Dive Resort, are some other roles associated with the position of night auditor in the
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hotel. Effective organizing skills are mandatory for a person working on job role of night auditor
as these skills supports in managing the database and other essential reports in the best possible
manner (Robinson et al. 2014).
3. Reservation manager – The reservation manager reports to front office manager of the hotel.
Furthermore, the reservation manager is required to deliver fast, effective and adequate
reservation services. It helps in achieving the higher degree of satisfaction among guests and thus
contributes to the overall growth of hotel (Kang et al. 2015). The reservation manager works
closely with the front office department of Waiwo Dive Resort, with an objective to developed
and implement different working policies. The manager is also responsible for assigning the day
to day task and activities to reservation staff working in the hotel. Other than this, the manager is
responsible for enhancing the skill set and knowledge base of the reservation staff by carrying
out different training programs. These training programs help employees to enhance their overall
competencies and become more productive in terms of delivering fast, accurate and satisfactory
services to all the hotel guests (Rao & Sahu 2013). Comparison and contrast of capabilities and
competencies of three job roles
Comparison and contrast of capabilities and competencies of three job roles
Job Role Capabilities Competencies
Assistant front
office manager
 Welcoming guest and
encouraging higher degree
of customer loyalty
 Developing long term
relation with hotel guest
 Dealing with issues and
grievances of hotel
client’s or guest
 Understanding and
satisfying the
need/demand of customers
 Developing monthly and
daily report
 Strong communication skills
 Effective management skills
 Problem solving abilities
 Result oriented
 Ability to develop strong bond
and relation with customers
 Diploma in hotel and hospitality
management
 Capable of developing pricing
strategy
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Night Auditor  Posting all charges
 Verification of the charges
posted
 Auditing the charges
posted and balance
available
 Maintaining records of
revenue generated through
rooms, restaurant and
calculating the occupancy
percentage
 Attending the early
morning calls
 Effective organizational skills
 Strong management skills
 Computer skills
 Ability to work on different
software
 Generation of audit reports
 Satisfactory customer service
Reservation
manager
 Setting up rates by
working with the sales
team
 Revenue stream
forecasting
 Managing the reservation
staff
 Increasing the rate of
customer guest
satisfaction
 Knowledge about the
international system of hotel
 Management of staff and hotel
records
 Training skills
 Policy development
 Hotel management graduate from
recognized university
From the above-mentioned table, it has been analyzed that the capabilities and
competencies for three different job roles have some similarities and differences. It can be stated
that the selected three job positions in front office department require effective communication
and management skills. Here, the management skills are essential because it helps employees to
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carry out the smooth flow of all operations and activities (Quintana, Park & Cabrera 2015). In
addition to this, management skills also support in accomplishing the targets of sales and profits
of Waiwo Dive Resort. Another common capability required in the mentioned- above three roles
is that all the selected roles focus on attaining the higher degree of customer satisfaction by
meeting the need and demand of hotel guest. However, it can be critically argued that in certain
competencies the selected roles contrast each other. For example job role such as assistant office
manager demands competencies such as resulted oriented and problem-solving skills.
A person working as an assistant office manager should be able to deal with issues and queries of
the hotel guest, and at the same time, he/she should be capable enough to resolve the same in the
best possible manner (W O’Neill & McGinley 2014). In addition to this, assistant office manager
should be capable enough to develop the overall pricing strategy of Waiwo Dive Resort, and this
competency is not required in job roles such as night auditor and reservation manager.
On the other side of this, the role such as night auditor also require some other
competencies which are not demanded by other selected job roles. It can be justified by the
example that a night auditor needs to be competent enough to work on various software and at
the same time he/she should be able to generate various audit report (Gummesson 2014). The job
role of reservation manager demands competencies such as knowledge and understanding about
international hotel system and this competency is not mandatory for job roles such as assistant
front office manger and night auditor.
However, it can be expressed that the similarity between the selected three job roles in
Waiwo Dive Resort, is that all these roles demand a minimum qualification i.e. graduation in
hotel and hospitality management from a recognized college or university. Apart from this, work
experience is also required to get the position of night auditor, reservation manager and assistant
front office manager in Waiwo Dive Resort, Indonesia.
CONCLUSION
From the above carried out study, it can be concluded that the job roles such as night
auditor, reservation manager, and assistant front office manager in the front office department
have certain similarities and differences. Furthermore, management and communication skills
are the core and common competencies required to accomplish the selected three different job
roles.
REFERENCES
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Albayrak, T & Caber, M 2015, 'Prioritisation of the hotel attributes according to their influence
on satisfaction: A comparison of two techniques', Tourism Management, vol 46, pp. 43-50.
Andrews, S 2013, Hotel front office: A training manual., Tata McGraw-Hill Education, New
York.
Bowen, DE 2016, 'The changing role of employees in service theory and practice: An
interdisciplinary view', Human Resource Management Review, vol 26, no. 1, pp. 4-13.
Gummesson, E 2014, 'Productivity, quality and relationship marketing in service operations: A
revisit in a new service paradigm', International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, vol 26, no. 5, pp. 656-662.
Kang, JS, Chiang, CF, Huangthanapan, K & Downing, S 2015, 'Corporate social responsibility
and sustainability balanced scorecard: The case study of family-owned hotel', International
Journal of Hospitality Management, vol 48, pp. 124-134.
Quintana, TA, Park, S & Cabrera, YA 2015, 'Assessing the effects of leadership styles on
employees’ outcomes in international luxury hotels', Journal of Business ethics, vol 129, no. 2,
pp. 469-489.
Rao, PS & Sahu, PC 2013, 'Impact of service quality on customer satisfaction in hotel industry.',
Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol 18, no. 5, pp. 39-44.
Robinson, RN, Kralj, A, Solnet, DJ, Goh, E & Callan, V 2014, 'Thinking job embeddedness not
turnover: Towards a better understanding of frontline hotel worker retention', International
Journal of Hospitality Management, vol 36, pp. 101-109.
Ruetzler, T, Baker, W, Reynolds, D, Taylor, J & Allen, B 2014, 'Perceptions of technical skills
required for successful management in the hospitality industry—An exploratory study using
conjoint analysis', International Journal of Hospitality Management, vol 39, no. 2, pp. 57-164.
W O’Neill, J & McGinley, S 2014, ' Operations research from 1913 to 2013: The Ford assembly
line to hospitality industry innovation.', International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, vol 26, no. 5, pp. 663-678.
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