Report on Hotel Administration and Front Desk Operations - M4X0 Module

This report provides an analysis of various hotel department operations, with a specific focus on the interconnectedness of the front office with departments such as housekeeping, the kitchen and restaurant, management, and accounting. The report identifies communication breakdowns and inefficiencies that can arise due to human error and lack of technological integration. It suggests practical solutions, such as using communication applications for better coordination between front office and housekeeping, Google Sheets for kitchen and restaurant data management, and written communication for management. The report emphasizes the importance of clear communication, timely information sharing, and the use of technology to improve overall operational efficiency and enhance the guest experience. The study highlights the significance of the front office in hotel operations and provides recommendations to address potential conflicts and streamline processes across different departments.

Cover page
Name:
Student number:
Module title: M4X0
Title: Hotel administration and front desk operation
Lecturer name:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Main body........................................................................................................................................1
Housekeeping department...........................................................................................................1
Kitchen and restaurant.................................................................................................................2
Management................................................................................................................................3
Accounting..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
In the present research study varied hotel department operations are analysed and
interconnection between them is examined. It is identified that due to human error or negligence
better coordination is not developed between departments. In order to solve such kind of problem
managers can take a lot of steps and must use technology so that work can be made easier. In
present report issues that arise between front office and other departments are identified and
solutions are given to solve them. In this way entire research work is carried out.
Main body
Housekeeping department
In the hotel there are multiple departments and one of them is front office. Usually, in any
hotel there are two sort of jobs front office and back office. In the hotel industry front office job
is very important. This is because anyone that is employed in the front office department is
usually responsible for the reservation of the guests in any hotel or train etc, performing sales
and marketing operations for the hotel, look after housekeeping and performing concierge
facilities.
Housekeeping is the one of the most important departments of the hotel. This is because
in this department entire focus is on room cleaning and arranging all furniture and other items in
systematic manner (Lam, C. G.K and Law, 2015). Front office employee and housekeeping
employee’s work in liaison to each other. When any guest enters in to the hotel and ask query
then it is solved by the front office employee and after doing reservation it establish contact with
the housekeeping department employees and communicate them about the room which they have
to clean. It is possible that room may be clean but then also housekeeper is instructed to look at
the room so that if there is any dust it can be removed.
Many time during all this process communication problem or mistake happened and
conflict arise in the floor. Sometimes front office employee communicates wrong room number
or housekeeper listen wrong room number and due to this reason wrong room get cleaned
(Nieves and Segarra-Ciprés, 2015). Ultimately, guests when reach to their room they identify
that room is not clean properly and complaint about it to the front office. Ultimately, front office
and housekeeper get engaged in the conflict as they both state themselves right. Thus, it is very
important to make communication better between both entities. This is because if same will not
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be done then in that case guest will face a lot of problem. In order to solve such kind of problems
simply front office manager can use any application that is used in communication like
WhatsApp or any other social media platform. All instructions can be given on that application.
Whenever, front office manager places any information on these applications he must call
housekeeper to view message and work accordingly. By doing so problem can be solved to great
extent.
Many times it happened that front office employee assign room cleaning responsibility to
the specific individual but that individual pass that responsibility to some one else. In such
situation one does not care on few occasions whether responsibility he entrusts to someone is
fulfilled by other one (Molina-Azorín and et.al., 2015). Due to lot of work other housekeeper
forget to clean room and due to this reason service delivered late to the guests which negatively
affect hotel image in the eyes of the customers. In order to solve such kind of problems front
office manager on social media platform where group is formed must post job and name of the
housekeeper who will perform it. In case that job is passed to any other person that person name
must be updated on mobile app so that it remains clear to everyone that who will do work. Thus,
it can be said that time to time manager must evaluate housekeeping operations and must
conduct a meeting with the relevant employees so as to ensure that all operations are performed
in proper manner at the workplace.
Kitchen and restaurant
There is a separate department of restaurant in the hotels. It also includes kitchen
department of the hotel. It can be observed that on daily basis number of guests change and
sometime number of guest may increase and sometime number of guest may decline by higher
percentage. Thus, kitchen chef and other individuals working in kitchen and restaurant
department needed number of people who will take lunch and dinner in the restaurant. It is not
necessary that all those that are in the hotel that lunch and dinner in the restaurant. Thus, hotel
kitchen department employees needed information to make decision. Front office employee has
entire record and he make available relevant information to the kitchen department employees,
so as to help them to decide quantity they must produce to meet need of the guests (Hwang and
et.al., 2015). Sometime front office employee failed to provide up to date information to the
kitchen department employees because of busy schedule or human error etc and due to this
reason wrong decisions are made by the kitchen department employees. In order to solve this
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problem and make communication between both department better entire data related to the
guest check in and check out must be recorded in the Google sheet. In this sheet formula must be
inserted which will automatically calculated that for how many days one need restaurant food.
Moreover, there may be someone who do not want hotel food or any specific day does not want
to hotel food. In such kind of case front desk employee can manually record value in the Google
sheet. Automatically, Google sheet will calculate final number of people for which food need to
be prepared. By doing so communication between kitchen staff and front office employee can be
made better (Abrat and Viglia, 2016). However, in such situation also there is slight chance of
mistake that front office employee can forget to pass message to kitchen staff. In such kind of
case to avoid miscommunication in a room in kitchen computer can be installed and from there
kitchen staff can view entire requirement and can make decisions. So, it can be said that time to
time lots of issues come on floor but by taking action on time that problem can be solved to great
extent by the front office employee at the workplace.
Management
Front office employee has direct contact with the management team and he communicate
information related to the service quality to the management. If everything gone fine then in that
case there is no problem but if there is any issue in quality of service then in that case it is the
front office employee who is liable to communicate that issue effectively to the employees. In
this regard instead of using oral communication written communication must be used. This is
because in the written communication one can clearly and concisely can explain situation and by
reading lines multiple times can identify loophole in the message. In oral communication many
times one failed to provide relevant information to the managers and misunderstanding
happened. Problem remain as it is and even increase in size (Kim, Kim. and Heo, 2016). Use of
written communication can solve this problem to great extent.
Accounting
Accounting department needed lots of information about expenditure made in the
business from the front desk employees. It is observed that when any guest comes its entry is
done by the front office employee. Thus, all information about revenue is received by accounts
department from the front office employees (Dos Santos, Méxas and Meiriño,, 2017). Apart from
this, guest sometime also order multiple services from the front desk employee. Expense in
respect to that thing is also available to the front desk employee. All these facts are passed to the
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accounts department by the front desk employee. Many time any information not passed to
accountant due to error or information wrongly passed. In order to make communication
effective front desk officer must record every transaction immediately or in a gap of two to three
hours. By doing so it can be ensured that right information is passed on right time to the
accountants (Hannah., 2017). Such kind of practice make communication effective at the
workplace. It can be said that accounting department is very important department for the hotels
and accurate availability of all information is necessary so that they can make available report on
time with right facts to the senior managers.
CONCLUSION
On basis of above discussion, it is concluded that front office employee is involved in all
hotel activities more or less as he gives instruction to the housekeepers to clean rooms. Many
times, due to miscommunication service is not made available on time to the guest. Thus, in
order to solve this problem social media platform must be used and message must be placed on it
so that miscommunication can be avoided at the workplace. More and more use of technology
must be happened so that relevant information can be made available to all stakeholders. This
will ensure that right decision will be taken on right time at the workplace.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Lam, C., Ho, G.K. and Law, R., 2015. How can Asian hotel companies remain internationally
competitive?. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 27(5).
pp.827-852.
Nieves, J. and Segarra-Ciprés, M., 2015. Management innovation in the hotel industry. Tourism
Management. 46. pp.51-58.
Molina-Azorín, J.F and et.al., 2015. The effects of quality and environmental management on
competitive advantage: A mixed methods study in the hotel industry. Tourism
Management. 50. pp.41-54.
Hwang, S.Y. and et.al., 2015. The identification of noteworthy hotel reviews for hotel
management. Pacific Asia Journal of the Association for Information Systems. 6(4).
Abrate, G. and Viglia, G., 2016. Strategic and tactical price decisions in hotel revenue
management. Tourism Management. 55. pp.123-132.
Kim, B., Kim, S. and Heo, C.Y., 2016. Analysis of satisfiers and dissatisfiers in online hotel
reviews on social media. International journal of contemporary hospitality
management. 28(9). pp.1915-1936.
Dos Santos, R.A., Méxas, M.P. and Meiriño, M.J., 2017. Sustainability and hotel business:
criteria for holistic, integrated and participative development. Journal of cleaner
production. 142. pp.217-224.
Online
Hannah., 2017. [Online]. 7 key operational areas of hotel management. Available through:<
https://www.gourmetmarketing.net/7-key-operational-areas-hotel-management/>.
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