Showing posts with label Front Office. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Front Office. Show all posts

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Front Office Sells!!!

Sales people spend hours on the phone trying to get a lead. They send hundreds of emails daily trying to get the meetings’ planners to the hotel. They invite travel agents for lunch and Fam Trips. They send gift cards to the corp travel agents.

They do all the hard parts and don’t do the easy ones!

In every hotel, there is a guest who walks into the hotel for different reasons; resturant, bar, visiting, or attending a conference.
Some of these walk in guests stop by the front desk looking to see a room. Front desk usually calls sales if anyone can show the room, but 99.9% the sales coordinator says: all of the sales managers are busy!

So the front desk agent goes up with the walk in guests to show them the room.

Front desk agents are not trained enough to be sales persons. They don’t know the right questions to ask in order to get the sales lead. As result of this, the hotel lose a potential business because no one from the front office team will follow up with the guest. On the other hand, sales people ask hundreds questions about the business, where did the guest stay before and so on.

Sales team should scheduel a manger everyday to cover all walk in guests. They can create a walk in calendar and every sales manger covers it one day. You can not afford to turn down any kind of business!!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Assistant Front Office Manager: AFOM

Position Purpose:
Assist the Assistant Director of Rooms in directing and supervising the operational activities of the hotel’s front office within corporate and hotel guidelines to provide the highest standards of courteous service while permitting acceptable profit levels. Provide daily supervision of Front Office Agents to ensure The Waldorf Astoria’s high standards of quality are met. Handle guest problems/concerns as they occur throughout the day. Produce daily Occupancy Analysis Report.



EXAMPLE OF DUTIES:

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Average
Percent
of Time

80
%
Operation Management

§ Direct, control, and manage 3 supervisors and 19 line professionals
§ Manage all front desk functions heavily focused on daily arrival and departure process
§ Participates and conducts quarterly and annual reviews
§ Creates and delivers daily pre-shifts and training topics
§ Sets inventory and analyzes same day booking and cancellation activity to manage day of sellouts. Determines same day pricing strategy
§ Handles any customer complaint. Participates in hotel quality forum focusing on continuous operation improvement.
§ Administers and oversees Front Office upsell program
§ Full participation in Front Office business plan
§ Interviews and helps recruit new team members
§ Coordinates and conducts individual and team training and development sessions
§ Maintains a professional environment for team ensuring high morale and job satisfaction
§ Analyzes daily arrival figures. Coordinates room assignments and blocking to ensure customer satisfaction. Manages Customer Relationship Management program across desk.
§ Manages lobby traffic influencing arrival and departure patterns. Makes staffing adjustments based on activity.
§ Develops individual and team agendas focusing on operational efficiency, quality improvement, and/or financial benefits

20
%
Financial Management

§ Manages daily Front Desk payroll. Approves overtime. Analyzes productivity reports and makes staffing decisions based on changing arrival/departure patterns.
§ Accurate forecasting and management of labor and expenses to meet Rooms Department margins
§ Responsible for forecasting of weekly, monthly, and annual periods
§ Manages day of pricing and inventory controls to ensure maximum occupancy and revenue
§ Maintains cash bank up to $10,000
§ Participates in ordering of weekly departmental supplies
§ Analyzes and approves daily room allowances. Implements programs to reduce such expense.
§ Executes Travel Agent Commission report
§ Analyzes and administers automated coupon program. Runs reports, which give detail of reason for expense.



SUPPORTIVE FUNCTIONS

In addition to performance of the essential functions, this position may be required to perform a combination of the following supportive functions, with the percentage of time performing each function to be solely determined by the supervisor based upon the particular requirements of the company.

· Participate in AOD Program
· Perform check-in/out as part of operational role


PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

List the physical requirements for standard performance of this job. Include only those physical requirements which are either very important or essential to the performance of the job and required on a regular basis. This includes, but should not be limited to, physical activities such as lifting, pushing, pulling, climbing, walking, hearing,driving, sight, travel, etc.

Frequency Key: Never – 0 hours; Rare – up to 1 hour; Occasional – 1-3 hours; Frequent – 3-6 Hours; Constant – 6-8 hours



Physical Activity Frequency
Sitting Frequent
Walking Frequent
Climbing stairs Occasional
Crouching/Bending/Stooping Frequent
Reaching Frequent
Grasping Frequent
Pushing/Pulling Occasional
Near Vision Constant
Far Vision Constant
Hearing Constant
Talking Constant
Smell Occasional
Lifting/Carrying(# lbs) Frequent up to 15 lbs.
Travel Rare





OTHER DUTIES


Assimilate into The Hilton Family PRIDE/CARE culture through understanding, supporting and participating in all elements of PRIDE/CARE. Demonstrate working knowledge of the service standards.

Regular attendance in conformance with the standards, which may be established by Hilton from time to time, is essential to the successful performance of this position.



SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

OSHA laws require the use of the following Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when performing work duties that have the potential of risk to your health or safety:
X None

Team members will be trained in the proper use and care of assigned PPE. The hotel provides the required PPE. It is your responsibility to report defective, damaged or lost PPE, or equipment that does not fit properly, to your Manager.


ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Positions directly reporting to this position (titles):

· Front Office Supervisor



SPECIFIC JOB KNOWLEDGE, SKILL AND ABILITY

The individual must possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities and be able to explain and demonstrate that he or she can perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation.

§ Ability to effectively deal with guests, some of whom will require high levels of patience, tact and diplomacy to defuse anger and collect accurate information and resolve conflicts.
§ Ability to access, analyze and interpret complex information required to perform the job.
§ Ability to instruct subordinates and accomplish goals on a timely basis.
§ Ability to read, listen, communicate, and follow written and/or verbal information and instructions effectively in English.
§ Working knowledge of all operations departments of the hotel.
§ Extensive knowledge of hotel guest rooms, public space and hotel facilities.
§ Ability to effectively deal with internal and external customers.
§ Basic operation knowledge of computer system.
§ Considerable skill in the use of calculator to prepare moderately complex mathematical calculations without error.
§ Manual dexterity necessary for typing.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Check in & Out

Front office staff is the most important department of the hotel. They are the image of your hotel. They are the first people to make contact with your guests. And they are the last people to say good bye to your guests. When arriving to a hotel, you should be greeted by the doormen, and from this moment you can tell whether you will have a good stay or not. Door staff will open the car door for you, welcome you to the hotel, and assist you with your luggage. That will make you happy already. Door staff will direct you to the front desk to check in. You must have enough front desk agents all the time. All guests heat waiting on line to check in. If your guests wait on line to check in, they will ask themselves hundred questions about the service level. One of these questions is “if I am waiting all this time to check in, how long it will take to get my luggage or my room service order?" By letting your guests wait on line to check in, you give them the chance to doubt your service and they will wait for a mistake so they complaints. Front office staff should have people and problem solving skills. They should be friendly and know how to smile if the guests have problem with the room, they will call the front desk. If they food is late or not good, they will call the front desk. If the bill has some errors, they will call the front desk. If the laundry is not done, they will call the front desk. I remember in one of my jobs, we tried to encourage the guests to call the right department when they have concerns or questions so we can take some of the pressure of the front desk, but it did not work. It did not matter how many notes we put by the phones or in the rooms. Guests still call the front desk for every thing. Basically, the front desk cleans all the mess. They can make your guests happy and they can make them miserable. It does not matter how hard your sales team works to get business to the hotel. The front desk team is the one who will make you have a repeat business or who will drive every guest out and never come back Choose the right people for the front desk