MAIL & MESSAGE
HANDLING
Introduction
Mail
handling is a very important activity of the front office department of the
hotel. When guests are away from their homes because of any reason may be
business, official, personal or any they need a contact address where they can
receive their urgent mails, couriers, fax, parcels etc. Very often guests travelling
and staying at hotels need to be contacted by their family or their
colleagues of their office. Thus, they may receive letters, parcels and packets
at the hotel address. The guest might also want to communicate with them. The
hotel in such cases acts as an agent for receiving or forwarding such mail or
messages. All the mails addressed to the hotel are received by the front office
and depending upon the hotel customs handled by the front desk, bell desk or
information desk. The way the mail is handled by the front office shows the
efficiency and attitude of the hotel staff. It is a vital duty of the front
office department to hand over all mails to the respective guest without any
delay. Any delay and carelessness shown by the staff may result in great
dissatisfaction.
Following
are some of the sources of mails and messages
·
Fax
·
Emails
·
Telegrams
·
Telex
·
Letters and Parcels
Mail
Handling
The
term “mail handling” covers up both incoming and outgoing mail. The mails
received at the bell desk counter are date and time stamped and then these are
sorted out at the counter itself. The mails are sorted as guest mails or hotel
mails and then they are arranged in an alphabetical order. The hotel mails are
further divided into official mails and employee mails.
1) Incoming mail: Mail that is coming from
various destinations to the hotel is called “Incoming Mail”. Incoming
mail is stamped with the date and time of receipt and details like senders
name, date of receipt, time of receipt, receivers name etc. are entered in a
register called the “Mail and Message Register” for future record. The mail is
then sorted and arranged alphabetically
Sorting
Incoming mail: Incoming mail is sorted into “Guest Mail and Hotel
Mail”. The “Hotel Mail” is again divided into “Official Mails” and “Employee
Mails”.
- Guest mail: The incoming guest mail is sorted in three categories i.e. mail for the
a)
In-house guests or Present guests
b)
Checked-out guests or Departure/Past guests
c)
Expected arrival guests or Future guests
a)
In-house
guests: The guest mail is first arranged in ALPHABETICAL ORDER and then
checked against the INFORMATION RACK to identify the present guests. Wherever
applicable the room no is entered with the help of pencil on the letters and the
guest mails are delivered in the guest rooms by the bell boy. If a guest is not
in his room, in that case the mail is placed in the appropriate room no pigeon
hole in the mail and message rack and is handed over to him when he comes to
the bell desk/information counter to deposit or collect his keys.
b)
Checked-out
guests: Sometime the hotel receives mail for the guests who have already
departed from the hotel after having stayed for some period. If a guest is
expecting mail or parcels to arrive at the hotel post his departure,
the hotel to avoid any embarrassment as to what to do with such mail and how to
hand it over to the guest quickly, ask the departing guests to leave their contact
details or forwarding address and for how long they would want their mail to be
redirected to that address at the time of leaving. In other situations when
there is no forwarding address mentioned the contact details on the
Registration card are used to forward guest mails.
A mail
is forwarded to the past guest with the help of a special card called “Mail
Forwarding Card”. Many hotels keep these cards in the stationery folder in the
room while others keep these cards at the Front Desk and give them to the guest
at the time of departure. This card contains the address to which and the
dates/period till by which the guest would like all the mails received by the
hotel after his departure to be forwarded. Employee who is forwarding the mail
makes sure an appropriate entry is made in the Mail Forwarding Card. These
cards are filed alphabetically and when the expiry date is reached they are
cleared out systematically. Any letter received after the expiry date is either
returned back to the sender or in case the permanent address of the guest is
available, is redirected to him at his permanent address. The remaining mail is
still in alphabetical order and checked against the Mail Forwarding Cards and
where applicable they are redirected. Details of mail redirected are entered on
the reverse of the Mail Forwarding Card.
c)
Expected
arrival guests: Before receiving mails of these guests it must be verified
thoroughly that they have a guaranteed reservation with the hotel. General mail
for guests yet to arrive is marked with the date of arrival and kept in the
back office in the alphabetically marked pigeon holes of “hold mail” rack. An
indication is made in the reservation record about this awaited mail i.e., in
case of Whitney system the words “Awaited Mail” is written on the Whitney slip.
In case of diary system it is recorded in the diary against his name in remarks
column and in case of Computer system it is updated in the computer. The
information is then marked on advance reservation slip/movement list. On the
night before the arrival date, the expected arrival guest mail along with the
reservation record is sent to the front desk and is kept with the receptionist
in special slot on the day of arrival of the guest and when the guest arrives,
the receptionist hands over the mail to the guest at the time of registration.
Incoming guest mails may further classified
into two categories:
a)
Ordinary
guest mail
b)
Registered
guest mail
a)
Ordinary
guest mail: The mails whose delivery record is not maintained by the
delivering agency are known as ordinary mails. But, hotel still keeps a record
of all received mails at the mail receiving desk in a mail log book to avoid
any kind of future discrepancy.
b)
Registered
guest mail: The mails whose delivery record is maintained by the delivering
agency are known as registered mails. The postman maintains the record of
delivery by asking the addressee to sign the delivery report as a token of
receipt of the mail. It is advisable not to accept tampered registered mails.
When registered mails are received, they are recorded in the mail log book and
the guest’s signature is taken at the time of delivery.
ii.
Hotel
Mail: The incoming hotel mail is
sorted in two categories i.e. mail for the hotel official purpose or for the
employees of the hotel.
a)
Official Mails
b)
Employee Mails
a)
Official
Mails: The official mails are sent to the concerned and respective
departments.
b)
Employee
Mails: The Employee mails are sent to the time office
to be placed in the mail display board, from where the employees may collect
their mails.
2)
Outgoing
mail: Outgoing mail of the hotel includes mail of the hotel and guest. It
is classified as:
a)
Hotel Mail
b)
Guest Mail
a)
Hotel
Mail: Outgoing hotel mail is handled by the individual departments. The
various departments have their own record keeping staff who maintains record of
all outgoing mails. Large hotels use Franking Machine for postage. If the
volume of mail is high the use of Franking Machine saves lot of time. A record
needs to be kept of the quantity and costs of the mail being sent out.
b)
Guest
Mail: Besides the outgoing mail of Hotel, the hotel also provides the
facility or service to the guests staying at the hotel such as posting their letters,
sending parcels etc. to their desired destination. Generally the bell desk
keeps stamps, envelopes, letter and parcels scale. The stamp folder is used to
prevent the stamps from getting lost. The folder contains separate divisions
for various denominations. The stamp folder should be kept under lock and key. Any
letter or parcels posted for guests must be weighed by using the letter and
parcel scale to ensure that correct amount of postage is affixed and a voucher
of the charges is sent to the cashiers desk. Here the hotel needs to
ensure that the correct and complete address of the receiver as well as the
contact details of the sender are mentioned clearly on the mail or parcel and
the required charges be paid in advance to the hotel.
Some
hotels use a book called postage book to keep the record of postage used. All
mail for dispatch if franked by a franking machine or if the stamps are used
should be entered into postage book.
The
procedure of sending ordinary mail for guest is simple. The guest leaves his
mail (to be posted) at the Bell Desk where it is weighed and then the necessary
stamps are affixed and posted. In case of Registered mail the mail is sent to
post office, which issues a special official receipt. These receipts are
retained as they are required to be produced in case a claim for clarification
from the guest.
Message Handling
Receiving
messages for guests in their absence, recording them and communicating them to
the guests as soon as possible is an important function of the front desk
staff. A message can be received either by phone or in person. The need for
receiving message for the in-house guest is when the guest is not in the room.
He may be out of the hotel on work or for any reason. Very often people come
over to the hotel to meet the guest in person or people related with the guests
might want to leave a message or talk to the guest over the telephone. When the
guest is not available in the hotel then a MESSAGE needs to be taken on his
behalf and then communicated to him or her. The recording of guest messages can
be done manually or by computer. In case of manual message recording system “Message
Slip” needs to be filled out. Usually hotels prepare the slip in
triplicate. The top one or the original
copy is placed in the key and mail rack and is delivered to the guest when he
comes to collect his room key, the second is slipped under his room door, and
the third remains in the message book for reference called book copy. A Message
Slip should be filled out completely and the complete details, name and contact
details of the visitor/caller should be noted so that the guest can be informed
of the same. The message noted should be repeated and confirmed in order to
ensure that the message noted is correct and complete.
Hotels
using computers have automated systems for delivering messages to guests. The telephone in the guest room has a
message indicator that can be switched on by the front desk in case any message
is waiting for a guest. The message light will flash on the telephone
instrument in the guest room. This prompts the guest that there is a message for
him and he may call the front desk to receive it. In some hotels the message
details may also be fed into computer and the guest may view it on the
television screen in his room.
Sometimes
hotel also receives message for the guests who are expected to arrive or have
already departed. Guests who are expected to arrive in future will have their
messages filed in alphabetical order and a note is attached to their
reservation file to remind the receptionist on the pending message and messages
received for guests who are expected to arrive at a hotel on a particular day
should be attached to their registration cards at the front desk. Message for
the guest who has checked out will be checked against mail forwarding record
and if necessary redirected.
The
accurate handling of messages and their delivery is very essential. In case a
message is received, and if not promptly given to the guest concerned may cause
problems or embarrassment which could result in a strong complaint.
Message Record Slip
HOTEL XYZ
To: _____________ Room No: __________
To: _____________ Room No: __________
Date: ____________ Time:
_____________
During your absence
Mr. /Ms._______________________
from__________________________
Called by telephone Came in person
Will call again Please call back
Will meet you at Waiting
for you
Please meet him/her Urgent
Message:
Message:
________________________________________
________________________________________
_________________________________________
Information Assistant signature: _____________________