INTERDEPARTMENTAL CO-ORDINATION

Co-ordination of Front office with other Departments

          

 Introduction:

Like a player in a football match, the front office alone cannot perform the Hotel business .The front office staff interacts with all departments of the hotel, including marketing and sales, housekeeping, food and beverage, banquet, controller, maintenance, security, and human resources to reach to the desired business results . These departments view the front office as a liaison point of communication in providing guest services. Each of the departments has a unique communication link with the front office staff.    

 Advantages of co-ordination with other departments:-

·        By the proper co-ordination, level of guest satisfaction increases.

·        It helps in increasing the sale.

·        It reduces burden on staff.

·        Helps in completing departmental objectives.

·        Departments are able to understand the problems of each other.

·        Helps in team-building

·        Improves the overall efficiency of the hotel

Co-ordination of Front office with other departments of the         

      hotel           

                        
1- Marketing and Sales Department       

                            
The marketing and sales department relies on the front office to provide data on guest histories, details concerning each guest’s visit. Some of the information gathered is based on pin code, frequency of visits, corporate affiliation, special needs, and reservations for sleeping rooms. It is also the front office’s job to make a good first impression on the public, to relay messages, and to meet the requests of guests who are using the hotel for meetings, seminars, and banquets.   

                                    
The guest history is a valuable resource for marketing and sales, which use the guest registration information to target marketing campaigns, develop promotions, prepare mailing labels, and select appropriate advertising media. The front office staff must make every effort to keep this database current and accurate.  

                                    
The process of completing the booking of a special function (such as a wedding reception, convention, or seminar) depends on the availability of rooms for guests. The marketing and sales executives may have to check the lists of available rooms three, six, or even twelve months in the future to be sure the hotel can accommodate the expected number of guests. A database of available rooms is maintained in the property management system by the front office.    

                               
At first guest contacts with the marketing and sales department, usually through the hotel’s switchboard. A competent switchboard operator who is friendly and knowledgeable about hotel operations and personnel will make a good first impression, conveying to the prospective client that this hotel is competent. Messages for the marketing and sales department must be relayed completely, accurately, and quickly.

2- Housekeeping Department            

Housekeeping and the front office communicate with each other about housekeeping room status, the report on the availability of the rooms for immediate guest occupancy. Housekeeping room status can be described in the following communication terms:     

                
• Available Clean, or Ready—room is ready to be occupied

• Occupied—guest or guests are already occupying a room

• Stay over—guest will not be checking out of a room on the current day

• Dirty or On-Change—guest has checked out of the room, but the housekeeping staff has not released the room for occupancy

 • Out-of-Order—room is not available for occupancy because of a mechanical malfunction    

Any difference in the occupancy status provided by House keeping and in the record f front office needs to be sorted out on an immediate basis. This is known as ‘discrepancy’ and the report containing the details of the same is known as discrepancy report.

                    

Housekeeping and the front office also communicate on the details of potential house count (a report of the number of guests registered in the hotel), security concerns, and requests for amenities (personal toiletry items such as shampoo, toothpaste, mouthwash, and electrical equipment). These issues are of immediate concern to the guest as well as to supervisors in the hotel.       

                         
Reporting of room status is handled on a face-to-face basis in a hotel that does not use a property management system (PMS). The bi hourly or hourly visits of the house- keeper to the front desk clerk are a familiar scene in such a hotel. The official reporting of room status at the end of the day is accomplished with a housekeeper’s room report (a report prepared by the housekeeper that lists the guest room occupancy status as vacant, occupied, or out-of-order). Any discrepancy in the status given by front office and housekeeping is sorted out at this stage . The report prepared for this purpose is known as room discrepancy report. Sometimes even regular reporting of room status is not adequate, as guests may be anxiously awaiting the opportunity to occupy a room. On these occasions, the front desk clerk will have to telephone the floor supervisor to determine when the servicing of a room will be completed.                       

     
The housekeeper relies on the room sales projections—a weekly report prepared and distributed by the front office manager that indicates the number of departures, arrivals, walk-ins, stayovers, and no-shows—to schedule employees. Timely distribution of the room sales projections assists the executive housekeeper in planning employee personal leaves and vacation days.       

                          
The front desk also relies on housekeeping personnel to report any unusual circumstances that may indicate a violation of security for the guests. For example, if a maid or houseman notices obviously non-registered guests on a floor, a fire exit that has been propped open, or sounds of a domestic disturbance in a guest room, he or she must report these potential security violations to the front office. The front office staff, in turn, will relay the problem to the proper in-house or civil authority. The front office manager may want to direct the front desk clerks and switchboard operators to call floor supervisors on a regular basis to check activity on the guest floors.       

                         
Guest requests for additional or special amenities and guest room supplies may be initiated at the front desk. The prompt relay of requests for extra blankets, towels, soap, and shampoo to housekeeping is essential. 

3 - Food and Beverage Department (service and production)

Communication between the food and beverage department and the front office is also essential. Some of this communication is conveyed by relaying messages and providing accurate information on transfers, which are forms used to communicate a charge to a guest's account. Communication activities also include reporting predicted house counts, an estimate of the number of guests expected to register based on previous occupancy activities, and processing requests for paid-outs, forms used to indicate the amounts of money paid out of the cashier's drawer on behalf of a guest or an employee of the hotel. These vital services help an overworked food and beverage manager, restaurant manager, or banquet captain meet the demands of the guest.

Incoming messages for the food and beverage manager and executive chef from vendors and other industry representatives are important to the business operation of the food and beverage department. Telephone operator of the front office department is sensitized to understand the importance f these calls and top priority is accorded to the messages taken for the in case of their non-availability in the office.

In a hotel that has point-of-sale terminals, computerized cash registers that interface with a property management system, information on guest charges is automatically posted to a guest's folio, his or her record of charges and payments. When a hotel does not have point-of-sale terminals that interface with PMS point-of-sale terminals, the desk clerk is responsible for posting accurate charges on the guest folio . The front office manager should work with the food and beverage manager in developing standard operating procedures and methods to complete the transfer of charges.

The supervisors in the food and beverage department rely on the predicted house count prepared by the front office manager to schedule employees and predict sales. For example, the restaurant supervisor working the breakfast shift will want to know how many guests will be in the hotel so he or she can determine how many servers to schedule for breakfast service. Timely and accurate preparation of this communication tool assists in staffing control and sales predictions.

Authorized members of the food and beverage department will occasionally ask the front office for cash, in the form of IOU, to purchase last-minute items for a banquet, the lounge, or the restaurant or to take advantage of other unplanned opportunities to promote hospitality. Specific guidelines concerning cash limits, turnaround time, prior approval, authorized signatures, and purchase receipts are developed by the general manager and front office manager. These guidelines help to maintain control of these paid-outs.

5 – Accounts

The accounts or controller relies on the front office staff to provide a daily summary of financial transactions through a well-prepared night audit report. This information is also used to measure management ability to meet budget targets. Since the front office provides the controller with financial data for billing and maintenance of ledgers, these two departments must relay payments and charges through the posting machine or property management system.

6 - Maintenance or Engineering Department

The maintenance or engineering department and front office communicate on room status and requests for maintenance service. Maintenance employees must know the occupancy status of a room before attending to plumbing, heating, or air-conditioning problems. If the room is reserved, the two departments will work out a time frame so the guest will be able to enter the room or be assigned to another room. Cooperative efforts produce the best solutions to sometimes seemingly impossible situations. Likewise, the requests from guests for the repair of heating, ventilating, and air- conditioning units; plumbing; televisions; and other room furnishings are directed to the front desk. These requests are then communicated to the maintenance department. The front desk clerk must keep track of the repair schedule, as guests want to be informed of when the repair will be made.

7 - Security Department

Communications between the security department and the front office are very important in providing hospitality to the guest. These departments work together very closely in maintaining guest security. Fire safety measures and emergency communication systems as well as procedures for routine investigation of guest security concerns require the cooperation of these departments.

8 - Human Resources Management Department

The recruitment, induction, training, appraisals and promotion of front office employees as well as all their personnel maters are handled by HR department of a hotel.

The human resources management department may rely on the front office staff to act as an initial point of contact for potential employees in all departments. Some managers of human resources management depend on the front office to distribute application forms and other personnel-related information to job applicants. The potential employee may ask for directions to the personnel office at the front desk.

Let us sum up

Hotel is a business unit in which several departments work in close coordination to create a great experience for the guest. Front office department can not work in isolation as its nature of work is such that it’s dependent on all other departments to closely co-ordinate and communicate with it. House keeping prepares the rooms which are sold by Front office. They closely coordinate with each other regarding the status of rooms. Food and Beverage is dependent upon front office for promotion of its product and for information regarding business forecast to plan their activities. Sales and marketing thrives on the basis of information, database and feed back given by front office to them. Security and Accounts also has close functional relationship with the front office department.