FULLY PAID RESERVATION

To ensure that guest’s full payment during the

stay, guest is asked to guarantee his or her
reservation on either way:
 1. PREPAYMENT- The guest is asked to fully
pay his or her reservation in advance that is
usually charged on any modes of payment
such as bank transfer and credit card.
2. DEPOSIT OR INITIAL PAYMENT-The guest will pay
a partial payment for the room charge upon booking
to make the reservation guaranteed through credit
card, bank transfer, or voucher.
3. CREDIT CARD PAYMENT-No charges will be
imposed on the credit card upon booking yet
providing the card number to the front desk officer to
make the reservation guaranteed.
❖ If the reservations are done through online
or third-party websites such as Expedia,
Orbitz, Hotwire, etc., the reservation fees
are immediately charged to the credit card
upon booking.
❖ In case, that the reservation is handled by
the hotel through their own websites or toll-
free lines, charges must be fully paid during
their stay.
In the event that the guest may decide to change his or
her reservation from non-guaranteed to guarantee prior
to arrival, the front desk officer may perform the
following steps:
1. Retrieve the original guest reservation on the system.
2. Record the name of the caller or guest, contact
number, date and time you receive the amendments.
3. Ask the guest on how he or she wants to make the
reservation guaranteed
4. Declare the amount of the entire stay to the guest
5. Explain the company policies on the guaranteed
reservation including required initial payment the
discounted rates for pre-payment and billing
procedure.
6. Ask the amount of initial payment to the guest and
update the records on the system.
7. Recap the details of changed reservation to the
guest and send him or her confirmation of the billing.
8. Thank the guest for calling.
 FRONT OFFICE
RESPONSIBILITIES
 ROLES OF THE FRONT OFFICE DEPARTMENT

As the nerve center of hotel industry, the general roles of

the front office department are as follows:
 maintain smooth interpersonal communication to the guests by
immediately addressing their needs for accommodation,
telephone, cashier, and others;
 communicate the details of the guest reservations to every
concerned department;
 maximize hotel revenues through suggestive selling of
different hotel amenities and services to the guests;
 compile records and billings of guests for settlement; and
 prepare statistics of the hotel performance in a given period
of time as well as sales forecasts for future reservations
 Organizational Structure of Front Office
Department
FRONT OFFICER MANAGER

ASSISTANCE FRONT OFFICER

MANAGER

RESERVATION SENIOR CONCIERGE NIGHT AUDITOR

OFFICER RECEPTIONIST

RECEPTIONIST CASHIER

BELL STAFF VALET

 DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF FRONT OFFICE
PERSONNEL

FRONT OFFICE MANAGER

❖ The primary duty of the front office manager is to supervise the operations
of the front office department and report to the hotel general manager
The front office manager also does the specific tasks:
 Conducts meetings and trainings of front office subordinates.
 Represents the hotel in negotiating with travel agencies and tour operators and
help them coordinate with the department concerns if needed.
 Welcomes VI Ps upon their arrival to the hotel and escort them to their rooms.
 Keeps aware of the market trends and competitions through periodic market
analysis.
 Resolves issues for overbooking and ensures all turn away guests are roomed
accordingly.
 Deals with guest complaints that cannot be addressed by the down line front
office personnel.
 Reviews all reports submitted by all every section of the department
 ASSISTANT FRONT OFFICE MANAGER

❖ Coordinates with the front office manager and observes direct supervision of
the different front office department sections.
The assistant front office manager also does the specific tasks:
 Updated with the current situations in the front office department such as peak or
off-peak booking season reports, incidence of overbooking, and guest complaints.
 Ensures submission of accurate reports by different front office sections on
its day-to-day operations.
 Charge with the responsibilities of the front office manager in case of his
or her absence especially concerning VIP guest relations and departmental
meetings.
 Personally, inspects rooms of VIPs prior to their arrival.
 Masters all standard operating procedures to implement them effectively
with his or her subordinates.
 Assists the front office manager in holding department meetings and
trainings.
 RESERVATION OFFICER

❖ The one responsible for receiving and processing

reservation through telephone, mail, e-mail, or fax
❖ The reservation officers have good salesmanship ability
to generate more revenues from the reservation
The reservation officer also does the following tasks:
 Keeps complete records of the reservation and
accomplishes the reservation form
 Processes reservations and informs the other departments
about the details of reservations
 Communicates the details of reservation with the guest
through sending confirmation letters via e-mail, telephone,
or fax
 Prepares expected list of arrivals and departures every
day
 RECEPTIONIST

❖ The one who is in-charge of attending to guest inquiries

and greets newly arrived guests in the front desk
The receptionist also does the following tasks:
 Confirms reservation of guests from the records
 Processes the check-in-and checkout of guests.
 Checks the availability of rooms and uses upselling
techniques to promote high-end rooms and amenities to
walk-in guests.
 Informs housekeeping for late or early check-outs, and
takes note of special requests of guests.
 Calls the bell staff to escort and carry guest's luggage to
his or her room.
 Receives and handles guest mails and parcel in the front
desk.
 BELL STAFF

❖ As the living instrument of the hotel to let every guest

feel the warmness of hospitality
The bell staff also does the following tasks:
 Escorts guests to their rooms and familiarizes them on how
to use the facilities and amenities inside.
 Carries guests' luggage to their rooms and collects them
upon checkout
 Delivers messages and packages of the guests received
from the front desk.
 Serves other errands like purchasing items, buying tickets,
or posting of mails outside of the hotel for the guests.
CONCIERGE

❖ The one who provides information to guests

and assists them in arranging tours, booking
tickets, giving directions, among others
◼ He or she also promotes the hotel's
products and services. The concierge is
situated in a separate area but also near
the front desk to address guests' inquiries
easily.
NIGHT AUDITOR

❖ The one who must understand accounting principles in order

to audit the daily financial transactions of the hotel by what
is called "end of the day" or night shift
The night auditor does the following tasks:
 Prepares reports of occupancy percentages, room
revenues, and other hotel performance statistics.
 Summarizes all transactions settled at the front desk for
the particular day in terms of cash, credit card, debit
card, check, gift certificates, among others.
 Resolves all financial discrepancies from the audit and
prepare the necessary reports.
Here are some of the reasons that lead to denying of
reservations
1. The guest is in the block list- means that guest has bad
records previously in terms of paying hotel bills or
committing actions that led to security hazards
2. The request room type is not available- the front desk
officer may recommend an alternative category of
available rooms and expensive room categories to
generate more revenues
3. The hotel is fully booked- if there are no available rooms
for the incoming guest, the front desk officer must offer
alternative rooms from their affiliated hotels or else gently
explain the denying reservation
OVERBOOKING
➢ If the number of reservations exceeds with the
number of available rooms in the hotel
Overbooking usually happens for two reasons:
 Inefficient tracking and control of reservation
transactions from the records and
 Inability to effectively forecasts future reservations
Coping with Overbooking Problem

Here are some of ways to cope with overbooking

problems:
1. Do suggestive selling or upselling
 Suggestive Selling- recommending alternative room types
in the event that the room being requested is unavailable
 Upselling- it means if the front desk officer, offers a room
that suits to the needs of the guest at much higher rate
❖ This can be done by mentioning some of the desirable
facilities and amenities, unique features, and
affordability of the hotel’s products
2. Keep track of previous records- guest history records
are used as basis for forecasting the peak and off-peak
reservation seasons.
The following should be kept, processed, and continuously
updated by the front desk officer for the future reference:
 Number of reserved rooms for a specific date
 Number of rooms occupied by stayovers
 Number of out of order rooms for a specific date
 Percentage of cancellation
 Percentage of no-show
 Percentage of overstays
 Percentage of understays
3. Implement an effective tracking system for room
availability- the number of available rooms against
the number of reservations is quite easier now as
compared because of various computer applications
and system. Computer Reservation System (CRS) may
be used to manage the forecast reservations.
Manual Tracking Of Room Availability And Reservations

a. Control books- the columnar log of room

reservations with cells assigned for each day for a
year
➢ Once a cell is marked by the reservation officers,

the room is reserved to a guest for that particular

day. If two or more cells are marked, then these
determine the guest’s length of stay.
b. Reservation chart- a customized chart created to
notify the front office department about the details of
reservations and the availability of rooms
c. Reservation record- a logbook that contains
personal information, reservation details, and
financial transactions of guest
RESERVATION REQUESTS TO
OTHER DEPARTMENT
Generally, people avail of accommodation services
for two reasons:
1. Business purposes- Guests are looking for
facilities and services that will fit to their needs
for work.
2. Leisure purposes- Guests need facilities and
amenities where they can be relaxed, enjoy
moments with friends and love ones, and shortly
escape from their busy routines.
Common Special Requests of Guests
1. Housekeeping Department
➢ This department is responsible for ensuring the comfort
of guests in their room during their stay. However, some
requests like extra linens, beddings, and cots are
charged with a specific amount.
Here are some other guest requests in the housekeeping
department:
 Late check-in or check-out time
 Kitchenware and utensils
 Complimentary items such as flowers. wine, basket of fruits,
among others
 Care giving services
2. Food and Beverage Department
➢ All food and drink requests via room service to
guest rooms are forwarded to the hotel's food and
beverage department.
Here are some food requests
 dietary meals
 foods specific for religious and cultural
requirements
 group meals
3. Sales and Marketing Department
➢ Responsible in holding special functions and events of
corporate establishments that require specific materials
and equipment in their activities.
Here are some requests in the sales and marketing
department:
 audio-visual equipment
 business equipment and services
 additional tables and chairs
4. Bell Desk
➢ Providing assistance to guests in the bell desk

department would mean carrying guests' luggage,

escorting guests to their rooms, doing other errand
tasks, among others.
Some of the requests to bell desk are the following:
 deliveryand collection of luggage to guest rooms
 storage of luggage to the hotel storage facility
5. Concierge
➢ Provide significant information about the hotel
facilities and major landmarks and attraction
nearby.
Some request to the concierge department includes
the following:
 transportation pickup services or car hires
 restaurant booking reservations to theater, concert, and
Other entertainment facilities
 reservation to affiliated tours