Chapter 3 Front Office Operations

Managing Front Office Operations Seventh Edition (333TXT or 333CIN)

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Competencies for Front Office Operations

1. Summarize front office operations during the four stages of the guest cycle. 2. Explain the evolution of front office recordkeeping systems and describe front office documents. 3. Describe the front desk and its support devices, and describe the services and equipment of a hotels telecommunications area. 4. Identify and describe property management systems used by the front office.
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The Guest Cycle

Pre-arrival
Arrival

Occupancy
Departure

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Room Status Terms

Occupied

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Complimentary
Stayover On-change Do not disturb Sleep-out Skipper Sleeper
(continued)
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Room Status Terms

(continued)

Vacant and ready

Out-of-order

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Lock-out
DNCO

Due out
Check-out Late check-out
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Room Types

Single

Double-double Studio Mini-suite or junior suite Suite Connecting rooms Adjoining rooms Adjacent rooms
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Double
Triple

Quad
Queen

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King
Twin

Non-Automated Front Office Systems

Handwritten forms Reservation index cards Density board blocked reserved rooms Registration cardsmultiple copies Time stamp Room rack: housekeeping status of each room Vouchers received from point-of-sale areas Charges handwritten to folios Adding machine tape attached at check-out Night audit cross-checked folio charges to vouchers and verified settlement
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Semi-Automated Front Office Systems

Handwritten and machine-produced forms National reservation networks Pre-registration activities Density board blocked reserved rooms Registration cardspreprinted and multiple copies Room rack: housekeeping status of each room Vouchers received from point-of-sale areas Posting machines recorded charges to guest folios Night audit cross-checked folio charges to vouchers and verified settlement
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Property Management Systems

Modules Reservations Rooms management Guest account management General management Point-of-sale (POS) system Magnetic strip readers Credit cards Debit cards Smart cards
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Types of Telephone Calls

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Local Direct-dial long-distance Calling card Credit card Collect Third-party Person-to-person Billed-to-room International Toll-free 900 or premium-price
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Telecommunications Equipment

PBX system

Call accounting system

Guestroom phones Pay phones

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Pagers/cell phones
Automatic call dispensing system

Telephone/room status systems

Internet access Call detection equipment
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Front Office Software Packages

Reservations management
Rooms management

Guest account management

General management

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Reservations Management Software

Availability/forecasting
Reservation records

Reservation confirmations
Room pricing Revenue management

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Rooms Management Software

Room status
Registration

Room assignments
Room rate information

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Guest Account Management Software

Folio management
Credit monitoring

Transaction tracking

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General Management Software

Revenue analysis
Operating statistics

Financial analysis
Guest history

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Back Office Interfaces

General ledger accounting software

Accounts receivables Accounts payables

Human resources software

Payroll accounting

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Personnel recordkeeping
Labor scheduling
(continued)
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Back Office Interfaces

(continued)

Financial reporting software

Chart of accounts
Balance sheets Income sheets Transaction analysis

Inventory control software

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Stock levels
Purchase order system

Stock rotation scheduling

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System Interfaces
Non-Guest-Operated Interfaces

Point-of-sale system

Call accounting system

Electronic locking system

Energy management system

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(continued)

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System Interfaces
(continued)

Guest-Operated Interfaces

In-room folio review and check-out

In-room entertainment system

In-room vending machines

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In-room fax machine

In-room Internet access
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