ADHM 360 Lecture 3: Ch.3 The Front Office
20 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
The guest cycle
Pre-arrival - Reservation
○
Arrival - Registration
○
Occupancy- Services
○
Departure- Check-out and history
○
•
Reservation
One of the major functions within the front office department
○
The first point of contact between prospective guests and the hotel
○
Contributes to maximizing hotel revenue by aiming to sell all available
rooms at maximum rates
The selling function is getting more important as revenue
management concept is prevalent
§
○
Major responsibilities
Receiving and processing reservation requests
§
Generating reservation records
§
Confirming the reservation records
§
Maintaining up-to-date room availability and rate information
§
Producing reservation and forecast reports etc.
§
○
•
Types of reservations
Guaranteed reservations
Prepayment guaranteed- requires payment in full prior to the day of
arrival
§
Payment card guaranteed- puts ahold of some $ amount on the
guest's payment card
§
Advance deposit -requires payment of a specific amount of money
prior to arrival
§
Voucher or miscellaneous charge order (MCO) travel agent
guarantee
§
Corporate- a corporations payment agreement
§
○
Miscellaneous charge order (MCO)
An accountable IATA (International Air Transport Association)
document, similar to an old-style airline ticket, used to process
§
○
Non-Guaranteed reservation
The hotel agrees to hold a room for the guest until a stated
reservation cancellation hour on the day of arrival
§
Not guarantee that the hotel will receive payment for no-shows
§
Hotels planning on full occupancy can accept only guaranteed
reservation
§
○
Reservation channels
The more channels, the more opportunities
Property reservations department
Telephone, email, website
®
Reservation staff sales process
Greet the caller
◊
Identify the callers needs
◊
Provide an overview of the hotels features and
benefits
◊
Make a room recommendation
◊
Close the sale
◊
Gather the reservation information and then
thank the caller
◊
®
□
§
Central reservation systems
Maintain a room availabity inventory for each property
participating in the system
□
Affiliate reservation network-chain hotels reservation
network
All franchisees are contractually relates
®
□
Non-affiliate reservation network- a subscription system
designed to connect independent or non-cahin properties
□
§
Global distribution system (GDS)
Connected to the central reservation system and travel
agency terminals
□
Provide automated reservation service for the hotel and
travel agencies
□
SABRE, Galileo, Amadeus, WorldSpan□
§
○
Group Reservation
Made by sales and marketing department
§
Meet accommodation needs of corporate meetings, association
conference and convention, and special event groups
§
Most hotels allocate a certain number of rooms to the sales
department for group sales
§
Some terminologies
Transient guests- non group guests□
Block-rooms set aside for a group□
Booked -rooms within a block reserved for specific guests in
the group
□
Wash down- reducing a block based on the groups history □
§
○
•
Registrations
Pre-registration
Produces a registration document in advance of guest arrival
Creation of a guest account□
Room and rate assignment□
Helps facilitate the registration process□
Helps provide more sophisticated services□
Some hotels limit pre-registration only to VIP guests or groups□
§
Creating registration record
Collecting important guest info
Verify personal data and other info (eligibility for
discount or tax exempt)
®
Confirm payment method
Incorrect payment method set up is a common
service failure
◊
Ex) failure to verify direct billing application,
charge to incorrect credit cards, incorrect billing
address
◊
®
□
Obtaining guest's signature to indicate acceptance of the
room rate and date of departure
□
§
○
Assigning guest room and rate
Involves identifying and allocating an available room in specific
room category to a guest
§
Room status
Occupied□
Vacant□
On-change□
Out-of-order□
V/O- vacant and on-charge□
V/C- vacant and cleaned□
V/I- Vacant and inspected□
O/C- Occupied and cleaned□
§
Room status discrepancies
Sleeper- guest has settled his or her account and left the
hotel, but the hotel has failed to properly update the room's
status
□
Skipper- guest left hotel without settling their account, office
still shows room as occupied
□
§
Room rates
Typically confirmed as part of reservation process□
Assigning rates for walk-in guest the responsibility of front
desk staff
□
§
Type of rates
Rack rate- standard rate□
Seasonal rate□
American plan, (AP), European Plan (EP), and all inclusive rate□
Corporate rates, group rates, day rates, frequent traveler
rates, etc.
□
§
○
Establishing payment method
Cash- pay during registration in advance
§
Personal checks- some won't accept
§
Credit/debit- check expiration date and location validation, and
then validate payment cards (through online authorization
approval) and put a hold of specified amount on guest's card
§
Direct billing- bill the guest or guest's company direction based on
agreement made in advance. Guest is only responsible for
incidental charges
§
Payment issues for groups
Guests room and tax charges are direct-billed to a group
master account
□
Other charges may be the guest's responsibility (incidental
charges)
□
Credit for incidental charges needs to established for each
member of the group
□
§
○
Verifying identity
Many hotels require positive identification- ask for photo
identification
§
Common in Europe and Asia, especially for international guests
§
Become common at u.s hotels after 9/11
§
○
Issuing the room key
Complete the registration process by issuing a room key
§
Should never announce the room number when handing a
guestroom key to a guest for security reasons
§
Arrange bell attendant service if requested
§
○
Filing special requests
Acknowledge and act on special requests that guests make.
§
Some specials requests that may involve guest
Locations□
Amenities□
§
○
Registrations options
Registering group guests or VIPs at special location
§
Registering off-site such as airports and shuttle vans, allowing
guests to check in without being present at the front desk
§
Self check-in
§
Self check-in kiosks
§
Self check-in apps
§
○
•
Front office communications
Transaction file (also called concierge file or log book)
A chronological journal that lists unusual events, guest complaints
or requests
§
Should detail what happened, why, when, and the final action taken
to solve the issue
§
○
Information Directory
Contains information to give answer guest questions
Common guest questions involving;
Local restaurant recommendations
®
Contracting transportation companies
®
Directions to local attractions, a business, a shopping
center, a bank, etc.
®
□
§
Front office communications
Reader board
Displays information regarding daily events
Names of groups, meeting rooms, agenda items
and meeting times
◊
Todays reader board is interactive and serves as
information directory
◊
®
□
§
○
Mail and message handling
Procedures:
Incoming mail- sort guest and hotel mail□
Guest mails are time-stamped and sorted in a mail rack□
For registered guests- notify the guest by using an in-room
telephone or by delivering a form
□
For guests who has not registered-placed with note on the
reservation record
□
For departed guests- be time-stamped a second time, then
sent to the guest's forwarding address or returned to its
sender
□
Special mail □
§
○
Telecommunication services
Telephone skills
Smile□
Sit or stand up straight□
Use a low voice pitch□
Match your speaking rate to the caller□
Avoid extremes in volume□
Avoid expressions such as yeah□
§
Taking a message
Date□
Time of call□
Name□
Affiliation□
Time zone□
Number□
Message□
§
○
Account
Collection of all transactions incurred by guest
Guest account
A record of financial transactions that occur between a
guest and hotel
®
Created when a guest guarantees their reservation
®
□
§
Non-guest account
An account assigned to non-guest businesses□
A hotel may extend charge privileges to local businesses or
groups
□
Created when a guest does not settle his or her account in full
by cash at time of departure
□
§
Folios
Statement of transactions affecting the balance of a single
account
Guest folios, master folios, non-guest folios, room
folios(A), and incidental folios (B)
®
□
§
Posting
The process of recording transactions□
§
Vouchers
Detail a single transaction to be posted to a front office
account
□
§
○
Point of sales
Describe the physical location at which goods and services are
purchased
§
Enables remote terminals at the point of sales to communicate
directly with the front office system
§
○
Ledgers
Summary grouping of accounts
Guest ledger
A set of guest accounts that corresponds to registered
hotel guests
®
□
City ledger
Collection of all non-guest accounts (credit card
account, direct billing account)
®
□
§
○
•
Creation and maintenance of accounts
Charge privileges
Enables a guest to make charge purchases at hotel point of sale
§
Require a payment card or direct billing authorization at time of
registration
§
Guests who use cash or debit cards to pay at registration are
typically not extended charge purchase privileges (No-post status)
and are called "paid-in-advance or PIA guests"
§
○
Credit monitoring
Must monitor guest accounts to ensure they remain within
acceptable credit limits
Floor limit is the amount of money above which credit card
transactions must be authorized by the issuing credit card
company.
□
A house limit
Amount limit on the amount the guests can charge to
their accounts without partial settlement
High balance accounts - an account that
approaches its credit limit
◊
®
□
§
○
Tracking transactions
Cash- at front desk it is posted as credits and decreases the balance
of account
§
Charge purchase
Deferred payment transactions, which increases outstanding
balance of account
□
Must be communicated to front desk for proper folio posting
through means of a charge voucher
□
§
Account correction
Resolves a posting error on folio through means of a
correction voucer
□
Made on same day error is made before the night audit□
§
Account allowance
Used to decrease a folio balance for compensation for poor
service or rebates for coupon discounts
□
Used to correct a posting error detected after the night audit □
§
Account transfer
The charge is transferred from one account to another□
§
Cash advance
Cash paid by the cashier on behalf of the guest for some
expense
□
Considered as debit transactions□
§
○
Internal control
Cash banks
Amount of cash assigned to a cashier so that he or she can
handle the various transactions that occur during a shift
□
§
Net cash receipts
Amount of cash and checks in cashiers drawer- the amount of
initial cash bank + the cash paid out
Overage- occurs when cashier returns less cash to guest
than required
®
Shortage- occurs when cashier returns more cash to
guest than required.
®
□
§
Night auditor
Verifies posted entries for guest and non-guest accounts
Post all transactions from other revenue
®
Checks accurate posting to designated account
®
□
Balances all front offices accounts□
Resolves room status discrepancies
Bucket check: cross check room status system with the
guest registration cards in the buckets
®
Produce management reports
®
□
§
○
•
Ch.3 The Front Office
Thursday, February 1, 2018
11:00 AM
The guest cycle
Pre-arrival - Reservation
○
Arrival - Registration
○
Occupancy- Services
○
Departure- Check-out and history
○
•
Reservation
One of the major functions within the front office department
○
The first point of contact between prospective guests and the hotel
○
Contributes to maximizing hotel revenue by aiming to sell all available
rooms at maximum rates
The selling function is getting more important as revenue
management concept is prevalent
§
○
Major responsibilities
Receiving and processing reservation requests
§
Generating reservation records
§
Confirming the reservation records
§
Maintaining up-to-date room availability and rate information
§
Producing reservation and forecast reports etc.
§
○
•
Types of reservations
Guaranteed reservations
Prepayment guaranteed- requires payment in full prior to the day of
arrival
§
Payment card guaranteed- puts ahold of some $ amount on the
guest's payment card
§
Advance deposit -requires payment of a specific amount of money
prior to arrival
§
Voucher or miscellaneous charge order (MCO) travel agent
guarantee
§
Corporate- a corporations payment agreement
§
○
Miscellaneous charge order (MCO)
An accountable IATA (International Air Transport Association)
document, similar to an old-style airline ticket, used to process
§
○
Non-Guaranteed reservation
The hotel agrees to hold a room for the guest until a stated
reservation cancellation hour on the day of arrival
§
Not guarantee that the hotel will receive payment for no-shows
§
Hotels planning on full occupancy can accept only guaranteed
reservation
§
○
Reservation channels
The more channels, the more opportunities
Property reservations department
Telephone, email, website
®
Reservation staff sales process
Greet the caller
◊
Identify the callers needs
◊
Provide an overview of the hotels features and
benefits
◊
Make a room recommendation
◊
Close the sale
◊
Gather the reservation information and then
thank the caller
◊
®
□
§
Central reservation systems
Maintain a room availabity inventory for each property
participating in the system
□
Affiliate reservation network-chain hotels reservation
network
All franchisees are contractually relates
®
□
Non-affiliate reservation network- a subscription system
designed to connect independent or non-cahin properties
□
§
Global distribution system (GDS)
Connected to the central reservation system and travel
agency terminals
□
Provide automated reservation service for the hotel and
travel agencies
□
SABRE, Galileo, Amadeus, WorldSpan□
§
○
Group Reservation
Made by sales and marketing department
§
Meet accommodation needs of corporate meetings, association
conference and convention, and special event groups
§
Most hotels allocate a certain number of rooms to the sales
department for group sales
§
Some terminologies
Transient guests- non group guests□
Block-rooms set aside for a group□
Booked -rooms within a block reserved for specific guests in
the group
□
Wash down- reducing a block based on the groups history □
§
○
•
Registrations
Pre-registration
Produces a registration document in advance of guest arrival
Creation of a guest account□
Room and rate assignment□
Helps facilitate the registration process□
Helps provide more sophisticated services□
Some hotels limit pre-registration only to VIP guests or groups□
§
Creating registration record
Collecting important guest info
Verify personal data and other info (eligibility for
discount or tax exempt)
®
Confirm payment method
Incorrect payment method set up is a common
service failure
◊
Ex) failure to verify direct billing application,
charge to incorrect credit cards, incorrect billing
address
◊
®
□
Obtaining guest's signature to indicate acceptance of the
room rate and date of departure
□
§
○
Assigning guest room and rate
Involves identifying and allocating an available room in specific
room category to a guest
§
Room status
Occupied□
Vacant□
On-change□
Out-of-order□
V/O- vacant and on-charge□
V/C- vacant and cleaned□
V/I- Vacant and inspected□
O/C- Occupied and cleaned□
§
Room status discrepancies
Sleeper- guest has settled his or her account and left the
hotel, but the hotel has failed to properly update the room's
status
□
Skipper- guest left hotel without settling their account, office
still shows room as occupied
□
§
Room rates
Typically confirmed as part of reservation process□
Assigning rates for walk-in guest the responsibility of front
desk staff
□
§
Type of rates
Rack rate- standard rate□
Seasonal rate□
American plan, (AP), European Plan (EP), and all inclusive rate□
Corporate rates, group rates, day rates, frequent traveler
rates, etc.
□
§
○
Establishing payment method
Cash- pay during registration in advance
§
Personal checks- some won't accept
§
Credit/debit- check expiration date and location validation, and
then validate payment cards (through online authorization
approval) and put a hold of specified amount on guest's card
§
Direct billing- bill the guest or guest's company direction based on
agreement made in advance. Guest is only responsible for
incidental charges
§
Payment issues for groups
Guests room and tax charges are direct-billed to a group
master account
□
Other charges may be the guest's responsibility (incidental
charges)
□
Credit for incidental charges needs to established for each
member of the group
□
§
○
Verifying identity
Many hotels require positive identification- ask for photo
identification
§
Common in Europe and Asia, especially for international guests
§
Become common at u.s hotels after 9/11
§
○
Issuing the room key
Complete the registration process by issuing a room key
§
Should never announce the room number when handing a
guestroom key to a guest for security reasons
§
Arrange bell attendant service if requested
§
○
Filing special requests
Acknowledge and act on special requests that guests make.
§
Some specials requests that may involve guest
Locations□
Amenities□
§
○
Registrations options
Registering group guests or VIPs at special location
§
Registering off-site such as airports and shuttle vans, allowing
guests to check in without being present at the front desk
§
Self check-in
§
Self check-in kiosks
§
Self check-in apps
§
○
•
Front office communications
Transaction file (also called concierge file or log book)
A chronological journal that lists unusual events, guest complaints
or requests
§
Should detail what happened, why, when, and the final action taken
to solve the issue
§
○
Information Directory
Contains information to give answer guest questions
Common guest questions involving;
Local restaurant recommendations
®
Contracting transportation companies
®
Directions to local attractions, a business, a shopping
center, a bank, etc.
®
□
§
Front office communications
Reader board
Displays information regarding daily events
Names of groups, meeting rooms, agenda items
and meeting times
◊
Todays reader board is interactive and serves as
information directory
◊
®
□
§
○
Mail and message handling
Procedures:
Incoming mail- sort guest and hotel mail□
Guest mails are time-stamped and sorted in a mail rack□
For registered guests- notify the guest by using an in-room
telephone or by delivering a form
□
For guests who has not registered-placed with note on the
reservation record
□
For departed guests- be time-stamped a second time, then
sent to the guest's forwarding address or returned to its
sender
□
Special mail □
§
○
Telecommunication services
Telephone skills
Smile□
Sit or stand up straight□
Use a low voice pitch□
Match your speaking rate to the caller□
Avoid extremes in volume□
Avoid expressions such as yeah□
§
Taking a message
Date□
Time of call□
Name□
Affiliation□
Time zone□
Number□
Message□
§
○
Account
Collection of all transactions incurred by guest
Guest account
A record of financial transactions that occur between a
guest and hotel
®
Created when a guest guarantees their reservation
®
□
§
Non-guest account
An account assigned to non-guest businesses□
A hotel may extend charge privileges to local businesses or
groups
□
Created when a guest does not settle his or her account in full
by cash at time of departure
□
§
Folios
Statement of transactions affecting the balance of a single
account
Guest folios, master folios, non-guest folios, room
folios(A), and incidental folios (B)
®
□
§
Posting
The process of recording transactions□
§
Vouchers
Detail a single transaction to be posted to a front office
account
□
§
○
Point of sales
Describe the physical location at which goods and services are
purchased
§
Enables remote terminals at the point of sales to communicate
directly with the front office system
§
○
Ledgers
Summary grouping of accounts
Guest ledger
A set of guest accounts that corresponds to registered
hotel guests
®
□
City ledger
Collection of all non-guest accounts (credit card
account, direct billing account)
®
□
§
○
•
Creation and maintenance of accounts
Charge privileges
Enables a guest to make charge purchases at hotel point of sale
§
Require a payment card or direct billing authorization at time of
registration
§
Guests who use cash or debit cards to pay at registration are
typically not extended charge purchase privileges (No-post status)
and are called "paid-in-advance or PIA guests"
§
○
Credit monitoring
Must monitor guest accounts to ensure they remain within
acceptable credit limits
Floor limit is the amount of money above which credit card
transactions must be authorized by the issuing credit card
company.
□
A house limit
Amount limit on the amount the guests can charge to
their accounts without partial settlement
High balance accounts - an account that
approaches its credit limit
◊
®
□
§
○
Tracking transactions
Cash- at front desk it is posted as credits and decreases the balance
of account
§
Charge purchase
Deferred payment transactions, which increases outstanding
balance of account
□
Must be communicated to front desk for proper folio posting
through means of a charge voucher
□
§
Account correction
Resolves a posting error on folio through means of a
correction voucer
□
Made on same day error is made before the night audit□
§
Account allowance
Used to decrease a folio balance for compensation for poor
service or rebates for coupon discounts
□
Used to correct a posting error detected after the night audit □
§
Account transfer
The charge is transferred from one account to another□
§
Cash advance
Cash paid by the cashier on behalf of the guest for some
expense
□
Considered as debit transactions□
§
○
Internal control
Cash banks
Amount of cash assigned to a cashier so that he or she can
handle the various transactions that occur during a shift
□
§
Net cash receipts
Amount of cash and checks in cashiers drawer- the amount of
initial cash bank + the cash paid out
Overage- occurs when cashier returns less cash to guest
than required
®
Shortage- occurs when cashier returns more cash to
guest than required.
®
□
§
Night auditor
Verifies posted entries for guest and non-guest accounts
Post all transactions from other revenue
®
Checks accurate posting to designated account
®
□
Balances all front offices accounts□
Resolves room status discrepancies
Bucket check: cross check room status system with the
guest registration cards in the buckets
®
Produce management reports
®
□
§
○
•
Ch.3 The Front Office
Thursday, February 1, 2018
11:00 AM
The guest cycle
Pre-arrival - Reservation
○
Arrival - Registration
○
Occupancy- Services
○
Departure- Check-out and history
○
•
Reservation
One of the major functions within the front office department
○
The first point of contact between prospective guests and the hotel
○
Contributes to maximizing hotel revenue by aiming to sell all available
rooms at maximum rates
The selling function is getting more important as revenue
management concept is prevalent
§
○
Major responsibilities
Receiving and processing reservation requests
§
Generating reservation records
§
Confirming the reservation records
§
Maintaining up-to-date room availability and rate information
§
Producing reservation and forecast reports etc.
§
○
•
Types of reservations
Guaranteed reservations
Prepayment guaranteed- requires payment in full prior to the day of
arrival
§
Payment card guaranteed- puts ahold of some $ amount on the
guest's payment card
§
Advance deposit -requires payment of a specific amount of money
prior to arrival
§
Voucher or miscellaneous charge order (MCO) travel agent
guarantee
§
Corporate- a corporations payment agreement
§
○
Miscellaneous charge order (MCO)
An accountable IATA (International Air Transport Association)
document, similar to an old-style airline ticket, used to process
§
○
Non-Guaranteed reservation
The hotel agrees to hold a room for the guest until a stated
reservation cancellation hour on the day of arrival
§
Not guarantee that the hotel will receive payment for no-shows
§
Hotels planning on full occupancy can accept only guaranteed
reservation
§
○
Reservation channels
The more channels, the more opportunities
Property reservations department
Telephone, email, website
®
Reservation staff sales process
Greet the caller
◊
Identify the callers needs
◊
Provide an overview of the hotels features and
benefits
◊
Make a room recommendation
◊
Close the sale
◊
Gather the reservation information and then
thank the caller
◊
®
□
§
Central reservation systems
Maintain a room availabity inventory for each property
participating in the system
□
Affiliate reservation network-chain hotels reservation
network
All franchisees are contractually relates
®
□
Non-affiliate reservation network- a subscription system
designed to connect independent or non-cahin properties
□
§
Global distribution system (GDS)
Connected to the central reservation system and travel
agency terminals
□
Provide automated reservation service for the hotel and
travel agencies
□
SABRE, Galileo, Amadeus, WorldSpan
□
§
○
Group Reservation
Made by sales and marketing department
§
Meet accommodation needs of corporate meetings, association
conference and convention, and special event groups
§
Most hotels allocate a certain number of rooms to the sales
department for group sales
§
Some terminologies
Transient guests- non group guests□
Block-rooms set aside for a group□
Booked -rooms within a block reserved for specific guests in
the group
□
Wash down- reducing a block based on the groups history □
§
○
•
Registrations
Pre-registration
Produces a registration document in advance of guest arrival
Creation of a guest account□
Room and rate assignment□
Helps facilitate the registration process□
Helps provide more sophisticated services□
Some hotels limit pre-registration only to VIP guests or groups□
§
Creating registration record
Collecting important guest info
Verify personal data and other info (eligibility for
discount or tax exempt)
®
Confirm payment method
Incorrect payment method set up is a common
service failure
◊
Ex) failure to verify direct billing application,
charge to incorrect credit cards, incorrect billing
address
◊
®
□
Obtaining guest's signature to indicate acceptance of the
room rate and date of departure
□
§
○
Assigning guest room and rate
Involves identifying and allocating an available room in specific
room category to a guest
§
Room status
Occupied□
Vacant□
On-change□
Out-of-order□
V/O- vacant and on-charge□
V/C- vacant and cleaned□
V/I- Vacant and inspected□
O/C- Occupied and cleaned□
§
Room status discrepancies
Sleeper- guest has settled his or her account and left the
hotel, but the hotel has failed to properly update the room's
status
□
Skipper- guest left hotel without settling their account, office
still shows room as occupied
□
§
Room rates
Typically confirmed as part of reservation process□
Assigning rates for walk-in guest the responsibility of front
desk staff
□
§
Type of rates
Rack rate- standard rate□
Seasonal rate□
American plan, (AP), European Plan (EP), and all inclusive rate□
Corporate rates, group rates, day rates, frequent traveler
rates, etc.
□
§
○
Establishing payment method
Cash- pay during registration in advance
§
Personal checks- some won't accept
§
Credit/debit- check expiration date and location validation, and
then validate payment cards (through online authorization
approval) and put a hold of specified amount on guest's card
§
Direct billing- bill the guest or guest's company direction based on
agreement made in advance. Guest is only responsible for
incidental charges
§
Payment issues for groups
Guests room and tax charges are direct-billed to a group
master account
□
Other charges may be the guest's responsibility (incidental
charges)
□
Credit for incidental charges needs to established for each
member of the group
□
§
○
Verifying identity
Many hotels require positive identification- ask for photo
identification
§
Common in Europe and Asia, especially for international guests
§
Become common at u.s hotels after 9/11
§
○
Issuing the room key
Complete the registration process by issuing a room key
§
Should never announce the room number when handing a
guestroom key to a guest for security reasons
§
Arrange bell attendant service if requested
§
○
Filing special requests
Acknowledge and act on special requests that guests make.
§
Some specials requests that may involve guest
Locations□
Amenities□
§
○
Registrations options
Registering group guests or VIPs at special location
§
Registering off-site such as airports and shuttle vans, allowing
guests to check in without being present at the front desk
§
Self check-in
§
Self check-in kiosks
§
Self check-in apps
§
○
•
Front office communications
Transaction file (also called concierge file or log book)
A chronological journal that lists unusual events, guest complaints
or requests
§
Should detail what happened, why, when, and the final action taken
to solve the issue
§
○
Information Directory
Contains information to give answer guest questions
Common guest questions involving;
Local restaurant recommendations
®
Contracting transportation companies
®
Directions to local attractions, a business, a shopping
center, a bank, etc.
®
□
§
Front office communications
Reader board
Displays information regarding daily events
Names of groups, meeting rooms, agenda items
and meeting times
◊
Todays reader board is interactive and serves as
information directory
◊
®
□
§
○
Mail and message handling
Procedures:
Incoming mail- sort guest and hotel mail□
Guest mails are time-stamped and sorted in a mail rack□
For registered guests- notify the guest by using an in-room
telephone or by delivering a form
□
For guests who has not registered-placed with note on the
reservation record
□
For departed guests- be time-stamped a second time, then
sent to the guest's forwarding address or returned to its
sender
□
Special mail □
§
○
Telecommunication services
Telephone skills
Smile□
Sit or stand up straight□
Use a low voice pitch□
Match your speaking rate to the caller□
Avoid extremes in volume□
Avoid expressions such as yeah□
§
Taking a message
Date□
Time of call□
Name□
Affiliation□
Time zone□
Number□
Message□
§
○
Account
Collection of all transactions incurred by guest
Guest account
A record of financial transactions that occur between a
guest and hotel
®
Created when a guest guarantees their reservation
®
□
§
Non-guest account
An account assigned to non-guest businesses□
A hotel may extend charge privileges to local businesses or
groups
□
Created when a guest does not settle his or her account in full
by cash at time of departure
□
§
Folios
Statement of transactions affecting the balance of a single
account
Guest folios, master folios, non-guest folios, room
folios(A), and incidental folios (B)
®
□
§
Posting
The process of recording transactions□
§
Vouchers
Detail a single transaction to be posted to a front office
account
□
§
○
Point of sales
Describe the physical location at which goods and services are
purchased
§
Enables remote terminals at the point of sales to communicate
directly with the front office system
§
○
Ledgers
Summary grouping of accounts
Guest ledger
A set of guest accounts that corresponds to registered
hotel guests
®
□
City ledger
Collection of all non-guest accounts (credit card
account, direct billing account)
®
□
§
○
•
Creation and maintenance of accounts
Charge privileges
Enables a guest to make charge purchases at hotel point of sale
§
Require a payment card or direct billing authorization at time of
registration
§
Guests who use cash or debit cards to pay at registration are
typically not extended charge purchase privileges (No-post status)
and are called "paid-in-advance or PIA guests"
§
○
Credit monitoring
Must monitor guest accounts to ensure they remain within
acceptable credit limits
Floor limit is the amount of money above which credit card
transactions must be authorized by the issuing credit card
company.
□
A house limit
Amount limit on the amount the guests can charge to
their accounts without partial settlement
High balance accounts - an account that
approaches its credit limit
◊
®
□
§
○
Tracking transactions
Cash- at front desk it is posted as credits and decreases the balance
of account
§
Charge purchase
Deferred payment transactions, which increases outstanding
balance of account
□
Must be communicated to front desk for proper folio posting
through means of a charge voucher
□
§
Account correction
Resolves a posting error on folio through means of a
correction voucer
□
Made on same day error is made before the night audit□
§
Account allowance
Used to decrease a folio balance for compensation for poor
service or rebates for coupon discounts
□
Used to correct a posting error detected after the night audit □
§
Account transfer
The charge is transferred from one account to another□
§
Cash advance
Cash paid by the cashier on behalf of the guest for some
expense
□
Considered as debit transactions□
§
○
Internal control
Cash banks
Amount of cash assigned to a cashier so that he or she can
handle the various transactions that occur during a shift
□
§
Net cash receipts
Amount of cash and checks in cashiers drawer- the amount of
initial cash bank + the cash paid out
Overage- occurs when cashier returns less cash to guest
than required
®
Shortage- occurs when cashier returns more cash to
guest than required.
®
□
§
Night auditor
Verifies posted entries for guest and non-guest accounts
Post all transactions from other revenue
®
Checks accurate posting to designated account
®
□
Balances all front offices accounts□
Resolves room status discrepancies
Bucket check: cross check room status system with the
guest registration cards in the buckets
®
Produce management reports
®
□
§
○
•
Ch.3 The Front Office
Thursday, February 1, 2018 11:00 AM
Document Summary
One of the major functions within the front office department. The first point of contact between prospective guests and the hotel. Contributes to maximizing hotel revenue by aiming to sell all available rooms at maximum rates. The selling function is getting more important as revenue management concept is prevalent. Prepayment guaranteed- requires payment in full prior to the day of arrival. Payment card guaranteed- puts ahold of some $ amount on the guest"s payment card. Advance deposit -requires payment of a specific amount of money prior to arrival. Voucher or miscellaneous charge order (mco) travel agent guarantee. An accountable iata (international air transport association) document, similar to an old-style airline ticket, used to process document, similar to an old-style airline ticket, used to process. The hotel agrees to hold a room for the guest until a stated reservation cancellation hour on the day of arrival. Not guarantee that the hotel will receive payment for no-shows.
