you will read a brief introduction about working in Front Office Department of the hotel, some sections available in Front Office Department and general description about those sections. Each section has its own duties and responsibilities in providing services to the guest

2. Front Office Department
in General
Lesson 1

3. Learning objectives
By the end of the lesson you will be able to know about Front
Office department in general and specific roles that the Front
Office department do to support the overall hotel’s operation.

4. Introduction
Working as part of a Front Office team at the hotel industry plays
an important role to support other departments in running the
hotel’s day-to-day operations. The Front Office staff must have its
basic skill and knowledge in some points, such as having good
communication, applying Standard Operation Procedure (SOP)
of the hotel you work for, building engagement with guests,
anticipating guests’ needs, coordinating with other departments,
having good administration skills, managing and producing
records and reporting related with Front Office departments.

5. Introduction
All sections in Front Office department should show good
coordination and communication within them in order to provide
an excellent service to the guests; besides, they also have to
work independently in each working area.

6. Sections in Front Office Department
All sections in Front Office
department play equal important
roles in running day-to-day
operations, such as the following:
1. Reservation
2. Reception
3. Telephone operator
4. Concierge or Bellboy
5. Guest relations
6. Front Office cashier
7. Business Centre
Secretary/Attendant
8. Front Office
Administration
9. Supervisors
10. Duty Manager
11. Assistant Front
Office Manager
12. Front Office
Manager

7. Sections in Front Office Department
All of the positions in Front Office department can be organized
as in the organization chart provided on the next slide.

9. Reservation
Reservation is a section which is
responsible for handling room
reservation, which means that the
responsibility is mostly handing pre-
arrival arrangement of guest stay.

10. Reservation
Reservation section in some hotels may also be called as
Booking section. Please bear in mind that this section, in some
different hotels, might be placed in some different positions or
departments, such as:
a. Reservation section that might be positioned as one of
the sections in Front Office department
b. Reservation that might be positioned independently as
a department in a hotel
c. Reservation section that might be positioned as one of
the sections in Sales and Marketing department.

11. Reservation
As the technology becomes modern, the reservation system may
also change and develop. Furthermore, the reservation is
nowadays changed into online system. Electronic Commerce or
popularly called e-commerce has become a part of reservation
in handling online reservation system of the hotel.

12. Reception
Reception is a section which is
responsible for some tasks, such as
the following:
• Handling guest check-in that may
be done in some different
situations, such as check-in without
reservation
• Assisting guests during their stay
with various kinds of services, such
as assisting guests with room
change requests, extension stay
requests and providing services
related to other departments

13. Reception
• Providing internal and external
information to the guests
• Handling guests check-out or billing
and folio assistance
Some of the hotels call this section in
various terminologies, such as Front
Desk or Guest Service Agent.

14. Telephone operator
Telephone operator is a section which
is responsible for assisting guests
with telephone-related jobs, such as
handling internal call, handling
external call, transferring call to the
guest room or other extension
number and assisting the guest in
relation to telephone billing system.

15. Telephone operator
• Some hotels have changed the role and function of Telephone
Operator into wider range and changed its title become At Your
Services or Communications as the staff also handles other
tasks, such as being the order taker of Food & Beverage or
Housekeeping department.
• Nowadays, a communication may not only be done by using a
telephone but also by internet, so the duties of a Telephone
Operator may also provide services in relation to the internet
usage as a communication tool. This is usually called VoIP or
voice over internet protocol, means that the call using
internet facilities.

16. Concierge or bellboy
• Concierge or Bellboy is a section
which is responsible for handling
guest luggage, providing information
and giving concierge services to the
guests.
• In some of higher category hotels,
Concierge and Bell person may
work in different desks in Front
Office; however, in lower category
hotels they work at the same desk.

17. Concierge or bellboy
The services that they may be provided are
1. Handling guest luggage
• Handling the arrival guest luggage
• Handling the departure guest luggage
• Handling luggage storage
• Handling the guest luggage for room moving guest

18. Concierge or bellboy
2. Providing Concierge Services
• Providing internal and external information
• Providing the information in relation to local knowledge, such as
places of interests, social activities, cultural events and
ceremony, etc.
• Assisting guests with Restaurant, Spa, Activities booking and
events and showing tickets arrangements
• Handling flight tickets

19. Guest relations
• Guest Relations is a section which
is responsible for handling and
assisting a special or VIP guest,
from pre-arrival into post-departure
stage. In some hotels there are
some special room types with
special benefits and advantages,
and a special guest means those
who stay in certain special room
type.
• The person who works in Guest
Relation section is normally called
as a Guest Relation Officer.

20. Guest relations
Some duties and responsibilities of Guest Relation Officer are
• handling VIP guest check-in that is normally done with a
reservation
• assisting VIP guest during their stay with various kind of
services, such as assisting guests with room change request,
extension stay request and providing services related with other
departments
• providing internal and external information and doing courtesy
for VIP guest
• handling VIP guest check-out or billing and folio assistance

21. Guest relations
The very important point that we need to highlight is doing
courtesy for VIP guests. Courtesy means the basic level of polite
actions and close communication to other people or guests in
order to find out some information, preference, satisfaction,
dissatisfaction and/or their plan during their stay. By doing
courtesy we have created a higher level of customer services
especially for our VIP guests.

22. Front office cashier
• Front Office Cashier is a section in
Front Office department which is
responsible for handling guest folio,
posting transaction, and handling
deposit and payment.
• Nowadays, most of the hotels have
merged the section of Reception or
Front Desk with Front Office
Cashier. The Reception or Front
Desk have done all the tasks of
Front Office Cashier; however, there
are some people who are legally
contracted as a Front Office Cashier
in a hotel.

23. Front office cashier
Some tasks done by Reception or Front Desk as a function of
Front Office Cashier are
• Handling and posting guest deposit
• Posting the charges into the Guest Folio
• Doing correction or adjustment in Guest Folio for any posting
mistakes
• Transferring bill and splitting bill
• Assisting the guests with pre-payment
• Assisting the guests with folio settlement (for Personal Account
and City Ledger)

24. Business centre
secretary/attendant
Business Centre Secretary/Attendant
is one of the sections in Front Office
which has main duties and
responsibilities in assisting business
guests, such as
• Arranging a meeting with businessmen
• Providing administration services to
business guests, such as sending
faxes, translating, giving photo copy
service, and internet.
• Responsible for managing all
administration duties in relation to
Business Centre
• Providing internet services for business
guests and meeting business centre
are

25. • Working area of Business Centre Secretary/Attendant in most
of the hotels is very close with meeting or function rooms.
• Please bear in mind that the Business Centre Section does not
always stand under Front Office Department, yet in some
hotels, it may be under other departments, such as Sales and
Marketing (Meeting and Events or Banquet).
Business centre
secretary/attendant

26. Front office administration
Front Office Admin may also be
called Front Office Secretary in
some hotels. It is the position which
has duties and responsibilities in
assisting Front Office Manager or
Assistant Front Office Manager in
doing and preparing some Front
Office Reports, Monthly and Yearly
costing and budgeting plan, including
daily and weekly Departmental
consumption, such as stationeries,
etc.

27. Front office administration
• Front Office Admin or Secretary is not always involved in
planning and reporting, but as a back-up in day-to-day
operation in Front Office
• We may not call it as a section in Front Office as it does not
have a team to support the duties and responsibilities, but the
secretary assists the department personally.

28. Supervisors
In some higher-level hotels, all sections in
Front Office will have its own Supervisor or
captain. The Supervisor or captain has more
duties and responsibilities, such as
• Creating and controlling Duty
Roster/Working schedule of his/her team
• Preparing the daily working shift
• Delivering the task, controlling and
assessing the jobs of the team
• Conducting the daily briefing, making sure
it happens daily before starting the shift.
This is important to share information
about the daily task, whether it has been
done or standing still.

29. Supervisors
• Making sure the communication among the team running very well,
as well as with other departments. Controlling the usage of
communication tools, such as Log Book, Notice Board, e-mail,
Property Management System (PMS), etc. based on local policy.
• Handling guest complaint, directly from guest or some issues
escalated from the team.
• Assisting Duty Managers or Assistant Front Office Managers in
solving any issues or completing some tasks.
• Controlling the daily, weekly and monthly departmental consumption
to support the operation, such as stationeries, tools, equipment,
cleaning tools, etc.
• Making sure the section and departmental meeting is conducted very
well in a regular basis.

30. Duty manager
• All supervisors in Front Office are
reporting to Duty Manager(s). This
is to ensure the hierarchy, reporting,
controlling and staff assessment
function running very well within the
department. The Duty manager(s)
then reports to the Assistant Front
Office Managers or Front Office
Manager.
• Besides assisting the Front Office
Management, Duty Manager also
does back-up the Front office team
during day-to-day operation.

31. Duty manager
• The Duty Manager is a part of Front Office organization chart;
however, it has a very special role in the daily operations as the
Duty Manager has cross-department functions. One of the Duty
Manager duties is handling guest complaint whether the
complaint happens in Front Office or other departments. Other
staff in other department may call and communicate about any
issues and guest dissatisfaction to Duty Manager. Any issues
whether it has been solved or standing still, will be logged into
Complaint and Incident Report daily. This Report will be read
by Front Office manager, Assistant Front Office Manager and
the Executive Committee of the Hotel.

32. Assistant Front Office Manager
Assistant Front Office Manager is the
direct report of the Front Office Manager.
He/she assists the Front Office Manager
in running the daily operation of Front
Office department and replacing the
Front Office Manager when he/she is not
available, for example in attending daily
Department Head Briefing, attending
Monthly Meeting, attending other kind of
Department Head meeting, assisting
Front Office Manager in preparing any
kind of Department Head Report, such
as Profit and Loss Report, etc.

33. Assistant Front Office Manager
• Beside assisting Front Office Manager, Assistant Front
Office Manager also back the Front Office team up in daily
operations.

34. Front Office Manager
Front Office Manager is responsible for
all operational sides in Front Office
Department, to make sure pre-arrival
guests, guests during their stay, and post
departure guests in high level of
satisfaction.
Front Office manager should also make
sure all the sections, Front Office staff
and the assistant manager level, running
their duties and responsibilities very well
based on Standard Operation Procedure
(SOP), and that the operation flow runs
very well with immediate and appropriate
solved obstacles.

35. Front Office Manager
• Front Office Manager is responsible for preparing all the Annual
Budget Plan, Monthly Budget Plan, plan of Profit and Loss
(P&L) Report as well as attending the P&L meeting,
coordinating with all department heads, especially Sales
department in setting the standard or published room rate, with
Executive Housekeeper about room set up, VIP set up and
special set up, Room Cost, etc.
• Front Office Manager is responsible for all the departmental
programs and duty rosters/working schedule being set and
implemented. Besides, Front Office Manager is accountable to
coordinate and communicate with the hotel Executive
Committee for overall plan and operational.