HMPE 3107 FRONT OFFICE OPERATIONS

MODULE 1 INFORMATION IN THE HOTEL

FRONT OFFICE OPERATIONS

 This module deals with the knowledge, skills and

attitude required to a person who supervises or
manages hotel front office operations. It reflects
the role of the front office, specific functions of
the functions of the front office personnel and
staff and its organizational structure including the
front office activities
Introduction

 When people stay at a hotel, little do they realize how

much goes on after they’ve checked in and when they’re
asleep. Most of this work is performed by the hotel front
office, the team that keeps the hotel operating and
profitable. The hotel front office is busy working before a
guest arrives, while the guest is there, and even after the
guest has checked out. In this lesson, you’ll learn what
kinds of work the hotel office performs on a daily basis.
 The Front Office Department is the major
department in a hotel which is situated at
the front of the part of the hotel and is
responsible of the sale of the hotel’s rooms
through the systematic method of
reservation, followed by registration and
assigning rooms to the guests.
 In other words, it is the “showcase window” of a hotel
which reflects the image of the hotel. It is the backbone
as well as the “Nerve center” of a hotel from where all
information and messages are communicated to the
different department or personnel. The front office in a
hotel holds prime importance in a view of the basic nature
of a business of a hotel, i.e. to sell the rooms. Revenue
collected from the sale of rooms contributed to more than
50% of the hotel’s total sales.
 Role of the Front Office
 RESERVE, RECEIVE, REGISTER, and
allocate rooms to the guest; and acts
as a continuous source of information
to the guest during their stay at the
hotel.
 Other functions of this department includes settlement of
of guest account, providing guest services, preparation of
guest history card, luggage handling, airport pick-up etc.
 The front office department develops and maintains up to
date records based on guest information, guest service
and ensures guest’s satisfaction.
 The front office is also responsible for welcoming the
guests, greeting the guest and handling the guest
complaints
FUNCTIONS OF THE HOTEL FRONT OFFICE
DEPARTMENT

 The primary activities of the hotel front office

department are as follows:
 Deals with room reservation
 Check-in arriving Guests
 Prepare guests arrival and departure list
 Receive guests and help them to complete registration
formalities
 Help in marketing and selling promotion process
 Deals with the various inquiries and information
of in-house and outside activities
 Deal with mail, messages and paging of the guest
 Deal with deposit for safe custody
 Produce daily report and statistics
 Deal with accidents and unusual events
 In small hotels, the front office might be staffed by one person who
does everything. But in larger hotels, the front office is divided into
several sections that each take care of a function, such as:
 Reservations
 Reception
 Communications
 Concierge
 Bellhop Service
 Auditing
In large Hotel organization the
front office department belongs
to the Room Division.
 The Room Division consists of the following:
 Housekeeping
 Reservations
 Front Office
 Uniformed Service ( Bell Captain includes: Bellstaff, valet parking, personnel
door persons)
 Transportation
 Private Branch Exchange (PBX)- switchboard/telephone operator
 Concierge (making reservation on airline, arrange for a babysitter, any other
services out of the hotel which can help the guest).
 The structure of the Room Division will vary from a hotel to a
hotel and the variations come from the differences in the:


 The size of the hotel

 Type of the service and level of the service provided by different
hotels
 The geographic location
 Local workforce skill levels
 The organization preferences of management
 Three Major sub-departments in the Room
division:
 SECURITY, FRONT OFFICE, HOUSEKEEPING
 These sub-department come under the control
of the room division manager.
SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF
THE HOTEL FRONT OFFICE PERSONNEL

 Front Office Manager

 The Front Office Manager is responsible for all duties of the front desk
operation which includes: staff training, inter-department
communications, and staff scheduling. The FOM usually works a
regularly scheduled front desk shift and must be available to work any
shift as needed. The Front Office Manager should possess strong
communication skills and demonstrate leadership abilities.
Sample Hotel Front Organizational
Structure
 Front Desk Agent

 Toassist guests in all front office- related

functions in an efficient, courteous, and
professional manner that maintains high
standards of service and hospitality
Reservation Agent
To handle all future reservations,
matching the needs of the guests
with the hotel
Switchboard Operator
Receives and directs incoming calls
to individual guests, staffs, or
departments.
 Front office Cashier
 To perform tasks relating to guests check-in and
check-out and sending guest accounts.
 Uniformed bell Service
 To work closely with the front desk staff, room
service, employees, and other hotel personnel in
providing guest assistance with luggage,
transportation, and miscellaneous need.
 Concierge
 To serve as the guest liaison with both hotel and non-hotel
attractions, facilities, services, and activities

 Night Auditor
 To ensure the accuracy and balance of front office
accounting records and prepares summaries of financial
data on a daily basis.
 Importance of the Front office Department
 The front office department is the first
impression clients have of an office. They need to
be friendly, warm and professional. They also
perform many important duties such as answering
the phone, greeting clients and providing a front
line of security.
 The Following Information should take
into considerations:
 Most important department in the hotel
 Nerve center for hotel operation
 interface between a hotel and its guest
 2. Guests makes first contact with hotel
front office department
3. First place that makes guest develop an
impression about the level of service,
standard,facilities and hospitality of the
hotel.
 4. Communication and Accounting are the most
important functions of the front desk operation
5. Accounting Procedure involve
 settlement of the guest bills
 accepted advance booking of hotel rooms
 settle bills at the time of check-out
 4. Communication and Accounting are the most important
functions of the front desk operation
5. Accounting Procedure involve
 settlement of the guest bills
 accepted advance booking of hotel rooms
 settle bills at the time of check-out
 6. Effective Communication with
 guest processing the guest reservation
 handling the guest reception
 fulfill the guest inquiry usage in the hotel such as internet
facilities, safe deposit
 check-in and check-out the guest
 other departments of the hotel
 maintaining the room status
7. Hotel Front Office operates 24 hours a day
8. Three main shifts in Hotel Front Office Department
Morning- 7:00a.m.- 3:00p.m.
Day- evening shift- 3:00p.m.-11:00pm
Night Shift- 11:00p.m - 7:00p.m.
 The Hotel Front Office Department is to take full
account and responsibility on the following five areas:
 PMS and its Management
 Money and Reservation
 Guest
 Records and Data
 Services
Role of the hotel Front Office Department

 The Prime role of the Hotel Front office is

to manage and secure the following:

 its workplace
 Guests
 Records
 The Front Office Department also communicates
with the following departments of the hotel:

 The Front Office Department also communicates with the

following departments of the hotel:
 Housekeeping
 Food and beverage
 Banquets
 Marketing and sales
 Human resources management
 Maintenance
 Controller
 Security
 SECTIONS OF THE HOTEL FRONT OFFICE
DEPARTMENT

 Reception/ Registration
 Reservation
 Information
 Telephone Exchange/ Telephone operator
 Cashier
 BellService
 Concierge/ Guest Relations Assistance
 Airport/Transport Assistance
 Business Center
 Reception/Registration

This section is located in the

lobby. The person of the section is
called receptionist GSA (Guest
Service officer) has direct contact
guest.
Functions:
 Warmly receive and welcome all arriving guests
 Deal with daily arrival and departure guests
 Blocking of rooms for expected arrivals
 Complete registration formalities and perform
guest check-in. Perform pre-registration
formalities for groups, VIP’s and disabled guest
 Coordinate closely with bell desk for luggage
handling and room’s keys
 Serves as communication information center
 Keep track on room status
 Reservation

means booking in advance. It basically

blocks/reserve the room as per guest
request or specified data. Headed by
the reservation manager with its people
called the reservationists or reservation
agent.
 Functions:
 All request of room reservations are received and processed by this
section
 Handles all cancellations and revisits as reservation made by the guest
from different source and modes.
 Keep out reservation correspondence complete and systematic
 Process and confirm reservation request
 Forecast future room reservation status
 Update room availability
 Request for reservations may come from letters, fax, telephone,
internet, central reservation office, or direct personal contact.
 Information
located at the front desk and responsible for
handling mail and messages with room keys.
Provides information regarding outside and
inside of hotel’s rules and regulation,
facilities, services. Handles e-mail,fax,
copier machine, cable through the business
center
 Telephone Exchange/ Telephone
Operator

 Thissection is a “one-stop shop” at a

click of your finger. Handles calls from
external and internal guests. Handled
by a telephone operator and it is
located at the back office.
 Functions:
 Call handling
 Wake up Calls
 Guests Requests
 Answers Guest query
 Screen calls
 Facilitates Long distance call
 Prepares Guest Telephone Bills accordingly
 Cashier
 it is located at front desk and handled by front
office cashier.
 Functions:
 To secure payment from the guest arrival
 To update posting of charges to guest folio
 To change foreign currency as per rules and
regulation of the hotel
 To manage safety deposit locker
 To settle guest account while check-out
 Functions:

 To balance cash at the close of shift

 To complete the guest check-out procedure
 To disburse petty cash to hotel staff and
authorized paid outs
 To maintain records of guests and prepare
cashiers report
 Bell Service

 Itis located at either side of lobby

needed by bell captain and followed
by bell boys. This desk is responsible
for handling the guest luggage during
arrival and departure.
 Functions:
 Paying, deliver guest mail and messages to the concerned
guest room
 Handle guest arrival and departure
 Responsible for escorting guest during check-in and check-
out
 Attends to guest luggages
 Endorses guest to their rooms and does orientation on
light control,air condition,tv, safety deposit box
 Does selling of hotel services ,i.e. laundry
 Does errands for the front desk
 There are three most common personalities in this
section namely:
 Bellman is responsible in bringing guest’s luggage up
to their rooms and down when checking-out, also
handles errands such as delivery of newspaper, mails
and parcels to the rooms.
 Valet Parker is responsible in parking and retrieving
guest’s vehicles.
 Doorman is responsible welcoming the guests and
opening the doors of the car and/ or entrance doors if
there is
 Concierge
 Headed by the Chief concierge who is responsible in
making sure the over-all operation of the section.
 Called as the Guest Services Officer. Handles guest
queries, complaints and other task related such as:
 Itineraries of guest, organizing tours and side trips,
 Provides all types of tour and travel assistance, directions
to points of interest
 Confirmation of tickets and other services of the same
nature, booking of movie and theatre tickets
 Airport/Transport Assistance
 Handle the transport of guest to and
from the airport and other transport
terminals.
 The airport representative is
responsible in welcoming guests at the
airport, offer assistance with their
luggage and transportation
 Business Center

 Responsible in receiving delivered mails and parcels from

courier service before endorsing.
 Offers secretarial assistance to hotel guests
 Handles all transactions including computer services, fax,
email, Xerox,etc
 All necessary equipment needed by a business traveler
can be found in this section such as computers or laptops,
internet services, fax, Xerox copying machine and
telephone
MODULE 1 INFORMATION IN THE HOTEL FRONT OFFICE OPERATIONS

This module deals with the knowledge, skills and attitude required to a person who supervises or
manages hotel front office operations. It reflects the role of the front office, specific functions of the
functions of the front office personnel and staff and its organizational structure including the front office
activities

Introduction

When people stay at a hotel, little do they realize how much goes on after they’ve checked in and when
they’re asleep. Most of this work is performed by the hotel front office, the team that keeps the hotel
operating and profitable. The hotel front office is busy working before a guest arrives, while the guest is
there, and even after the guest has checked out. In this lesson, you’ll learn what kinds of work the hotel
office performs on a daily basis.

The Front Office Department is the major department in a hotel which is situated at the front of the part
of the hotel and is responsible of the sale of the hotel’s rooms through the systematic method of
reservation, followed by registration and assigning rooms to the guests.

In other words, it is the “showcase window” of a hotel which reflects the image of the hotel. It is the
backbone as well as the “Nerve center” of a hotel from where all information and messages are
communicated to the different department or personnel. The front office in a hotel holds prime
importance in a view of the basic nature of a business of a hotel, i.e. to sell the rooms. Revenue
collected from the sale of rooms contributed to more than 50% of the hotel’s total sales.

Role of the Front Office

RESERVE, RECEIVE, REGISTER, and allocate rooms to the guest; and acts as a continuous source of
information to the guest during their stay at the hotel.

Other functions of this department includes settlement of of guest account, providing guest services,
preparation of guest history card, luggage handling, airport pick-up etc.

The front office department develops and maintains up to date records based on guest information,
guest service and ensures guest’s satisfaction.

The front office is also responsible for welcoming the guests, greeting the guest and handling the guest
complaints.

FUNCTIONS OF THE HOTEL FRONT OFFICE DEPARTMENT

The primary activities of the hotel front office department are as follows:

• Deals with room reservation

• Check-in arriving Guests
• Prepare guests arrival and departure list
• Receive guests and help them to complete registration formalities
• Help in marketing and selling promotion process
• Deals with the various inquiries and information of in-house and outside activities
• Deal with mail, messages and paging of the guest
 • Deal with deposit for safe custody
• Produce daily report and statistics
• Deal with accidents and unusual events

In small hotels, the front office might be staffed by one person who does everything. But in larger hotels,
the front office is divided into several sections that each take care of a function, such as:

1. Reservations
2. Reception
3. Communications
4. Concierge
5. Bellhop Service
6. Auditing

In large Hotel organization the front office department belongs to the Room Division.

The Room Division consists of the following:

1. Housekeeping
2. Reservations
3. Front Office
4. Uniformed Service ( Bell Captain includes: Bellstaff, valet parking, personnel door persons)
5. Transportation
6. Private Branch Exchange (PBX)- switchboard/telephone operator
7. Concierge (making reservation on airline, arrange for a babysitter, any other services out of the
hotel which can help the guest).

The structure of the Room Division will vary from a hotel to a hotel and the variations come
from the differences in the:

1. The size of the hotel

2. Type of the service and level of the service provided by different hotels
3. The geographic location
4. Local workforce skill levels
5. The organization preferences of management

Three Major sub-departments in the Room division:

SECURITY, FRONT OFFICE, HOUSEKEEPING

These sub-department come under the control of the room division manager.
SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE HOTEL FRONT OFFICE PERSONNEL

Front Office Manager

The Front Office Manager is responsible for all duties of the front desk operation which includes:
staff training, inter-department communications, and staff scheduling. The FOM usually works a
regularly scheduled front desk shift and must be available to work any shift as needed. The Front
Office Manager should possess strong communication skills and demonstrate leadership abilities.

Front Desk Agent

To assist guests in all front office- related functions in an efficient, courteous, and professional
manner that maintains high standards of service and hospitality

Reservation Agent
To handle all future reservations, matching the needs of the guests with the hotel

Switchboard Operator
Receives and directs incoming calls to individual guests, staffs, or departments.
Front office Cashier
To perform tasks relating to guests check-in and check-out and sending guest accounts.
Uniformed bell Service
To work closely with the front desk staff, room service, employees, and other hotel personnel in
providing guest assistance with luggage, transportation, and miscellaneous need.

Concierge
To serve as the guest liaison with both hotel and non-hotel attractions, facilities, services, and
activities

Night Auditor
To ensure the accuracy and balance of front office accounting records and prepares summaries
of financial data on a daily basis.
 Sample Hotel Front Office Organizational Structure

Importance of the Front office Department

The front office department is the first impression clients have of an office. They need to be
friendly, warm and professional. They also perform many important duties such as answering the
phone, greeting clients and providing a front line of security.

The Following Information should take into considerations:

1. Most important department in the hotel
• Nerve center for hotel operation
• interface between a hotel and its guest

2. Guests makes first contact with hotel front office department

3. First place that makes guest develop an impression about the level of service, standard,facilities

and hospitality of the hotel.

4. Communication and Accounting are the most important functions of the front desk operation

5. Accounting Procedure involve

• settlement of the guest bills

• accepted advance booking of hotel rooms
• settle bills at the time of check-out

6. Effective Communication with

• guest processing the guest reservation

• handling the guest reception
• fulfill the guest inquiry usage in the hotel such as internet facilities, safe deposit
• check-in and check-out the guest
 • other departments of the hotel
• maintaining the room status

7. Hotel Front Office operates 24 hours a day

8. Three main shifts in Hotel Front Office Department

Morning- 7:00a.m.- 3:00p.m.

Day- evening shift- 3:00p.m.- 11:00pm

Night Shift- 11:00p.m - 7:00p.m.

The Hotel Front Office Department is to take full account and responsibility on the following five areas:

1. PMS and its Management

2. Money and Reservation
3. Guest
4. Records and Data
5. Services

Role of the hotel Front Office Department

The Prime role of the Hotel Front office is to manage and secure the following:

• its workplace
• Guests
• Records
The Front Office Department also communicates with the following departments of the
hotel:
• Housekeeping
• Food and beverage
• Banquets
• Marketing and sales
• Human resources management
• Maintenance
• Controller
• Security
SECTIONS OF THE HOTEL FRONT OFFICE DEPARTMENT

1. Reception/ Registration
2. Reservation
3. Information
4. Telephone Exchange/ Telephone operator
5. Cashier
6. Bell Service
7. Concierge/ Guest Relations Assistance
8. Airport/Transport Assistance
9. Business Center

RECEPTION/REGISTRATION - This section is located in the lobby. The person of the section is called
receptionist GSA (Guest Service officer) has direct contact guest.

Functions:

• Warmly receive and welcome all arriving guests

• Deal with daily arrival and departure guests
• Blocking of rooms for expected arrivals
• Complete registration formalities and perform guest check-in. Perform pre-registration formalities
for groups, VIP’s and disabled guest
• Coordinate closely with bell desk for luggage handling and room’s keys
• Serves as communication information center
• Keep track on room status

RESERVATION- means booking in advance. It basically blocks/reserve the room as per guest request or
specified data. Headed by the reservation manager with its people called the reservationists or reservation
agent.

Functions:

• All request of room reservations are received and processed by this section
• Handles all cancellations and revisits as reservation made by the guest from different source
and modes.
• Keep out reservation correspondence complete and systematic
• Process and confirm reservation request
• Forecast future room reservation status
• Update room availability
• Request for reservations may come from letters, fax, telephone, internet, central reservation
office, or direct personal contact
 INFORMATION- located at the front desk and responsible for handling mail and messages with
room keys. Provides information regarding outside and inside of hotel’s rules and regulation,
facilities, services. Handles e-mail,fax, copier machine, cable through the business center.

TELEPHONE EXCHANGE/ TELEPHONE OPERATOR

This section is a “one-stop shop” at a click of your finger. Handles calls from external and
internal guests. Handled by a telephone operator and it is located at the back office.

Functions:

• Call handling
• Wake up Calls
• Guests Requests
• Answers Guest query
• Screen calls
• Facilitates Long distance call
• Prepares Guest Telephone Bills accordingly

CASHIER- it is located at front desk and handled by front office cashier.

Functions:

• To secure payment from the guest arrival

• To update posting of charges to guest folio
• To change foreign currency as per rules and regulation of the hotel
• To manage safety deposit locker
• To settle guest account while check-out
• To balance cash at the close of shift
• To complete the guest check-out procedure
• To disburse petty cash to hotel staff and authorized paid outs
• To maintain records of guests and prepare cashiers report

BELL SERVICE –It is located at either side of lobby needed by bell captain and followed by bell boys. This
desk is responsible for handling the guest luggage during arrival and departure.

Functions:

• Paying, deliver guest mail and messages to the concerned guest room
• Handle guest arrival and departure
• Responsible for escorting guest during check-in and check-out
• Attends to guest luggages
• Endorses guest to their rooms and does orientation on light control,air condition,tv, safety deposit
box
• Does selling of hotel services ,i.e. laundry
 • Does errands for the front desk

There are three most common personalities in this section namely:

Bellman is responsible in bringing guest’s luggage up to their rooms and down when checking-out,
also handles errands such as delivery of newspaper, mails and parcels to the rooms.
Valet Parker is responsible in parking and retrieving guest’s vehicles.
Doorman is responsible welcoming the guests and opening the doors of the car and/ or entrance
doors if there is

CONCIERGE/GUEST RELATIONS ASSISTANCE-

Headed by the Chief concierge who is responsible in making sure the over-all operation of the section.

Called as the Guest Services Officer. Handles guest queries, complaints and other task related such as:

• Itineraries of guest, organizing tours and side trips,

• Provides all types of tour and travel assistance, directions to points of interest
• Confirmation of tickets and other services of the same nature, booking of movie and theatre
tickets

AIRPORT/TRANSPORT ASSISTANCE-

Handle the transport of guest to and from the airport and other transport terminals.The airport
representative is responsible in welcoming guests at the airport, offer assistance with their luggage and
transportation

BUSINESS CENTER

Responsible in receiving delivered mails and parcels from courier service before endorsing.

• Offers secretarial assistance to hotel guests

• Handles all transactions including computer services, fax, email, Xerox,etc
• All necessary equipment needed by a business traveler can be found in this section such as
computers or laptops, internet services, fax, Xerox copying machine and telephone
 Sample Organization of Front Office in Small Lodging Establishment

Front Office
Supervisor

Senior Sales and Guest Front Office

Desk Clerk Relations Officer Cashier

Bellboy
Telephone
Sales and Operator
Desk Reservation
Clerk Clerk
Driver /
Airpoort
Reprenstative
Business Center
Clerk
 Front Office Organization for Large Hotels

Front Office
Manager

Front Desk Reservations Bell Chief Chief Airport / Chief

Supervisor Supervisor Captain Telephone Transport Concierge /
Exchange Assistance Guest
Relations

Desk / Info Reservations Doorman Telephone Airport / Concierge

Clerk Clerk Operator Transport Clerk
Representative

Bellboy Business
Center
Clerk
MODULE 2 EFFECTIVE CUSTOMER / GUEST SERVICE

This module deals with the knowledge, skills and attitude

required in providing effective customer service. It includes
greeting customer, identifying customer’s needs, delivering
service to customer, handling queries through use of common
business tools and technology and handling complaints,
evaluation and recommendation
 Greet Customers/Guest
• Customer/Guest service is the provision of service to customers before,
during and after purchase.
• According to Turban et al(2002) “Customer Service is a series of activities
designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction- that is, the feeling
that a product or service has met the customer expectation.”
• Customer Service- refer to the culture of an organization- the priority
the organization assigns to customer service relative to other
components, such as product innovation or low price.
• Specific skills that every support employee can master to “WOW” the Customers that they
interact with on a certain basis.
• PATIENCE
• ATTENTIVENESS
• CLEAR COMMUNICATION SKILLS
• KNOWLEDGE OF THE PRODUCT
• ABILITY TO USE “POSITIVE LANGUAGE’’
• ACTING SKILLS
• TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS
• ABILITY TO “READ” CUSTOMERS
• A CALMING PRESENCE
• GOAL ORIENTED FOCUS
• ABILITY TO HANDLE SURPRISES
• PERSUATION SKILLS
• TENACITY
• CLOSING ABILITY
• WILLINGNESS TO LEARN
Tips on how to greet Customers

• Smile with your greeting

• Stop what you are doing
• Show, don’t tell
• Ask questions
• Dress professionally
 Identify Customer/ guest

Should have a solid handle on what exactly an ideal customer is. Your ideal
customer is someone who benefits from your product or Service. But its
also defined as someone you want to target with your marketing and
promotion based on your current business situation
Steps in Identifying Customer’s Need

1. Know your Product

2. Determine your Goals
3. Analyze past interactions
4.Build a Customer Profile
 Deliver Service to Customer/Guest

• Good customer service is essential for success. And it is

one of the biggest factors in a company’s success. Poor
customer’s service turns people away to competitors,
while good service creates brand loyalty and relationships
with customers, increasing customer retention and
revenue
• The best customer service doesn’t want for problems to occur or big issues
to arise. Instead good customer service is Proactive, working towards solving
problems before they occur as well as actively fostering positive relationships
with your customer.

• To improve your business, don’t ask how to deliver good customer Service.
Instead ask yourself hoe to deliver amazing customer service that separates
you from competitors.
 TIPS FOR DELIVERING EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE

• 1.Respond quickly
• 2. Use the right employees
• 3. Listen
• 4. Exceed Customers
• 5. Respect your customers
• 6. Don’t ignore the little things
 Benefits of Good Customer Service
• Customer Loyalty
• Word-of-mouth Advertising
• Business Reputation growth
• Product /Service Evaluation
• Successful Business Strategies
• Reduced Risk of Business failure
• Reduced Employee turnover
• Improved employee Morale
• Increased Efficiency
 Handle queries through use of common
business tools and technology

Hospitality industry
is using technology to handle customer service in an efficient and cost-effective
way. It can help use data management and analytics and insight-driven
marketing to improve your customer care systems.
• The quality of that service will either enhance or degrade customer
loyalty to your brand and your business.
 It’s important to understand how new technologies can
help you anticipate customer needs, tailor business
processes to best serve customers, and ultimately improve
the efficiency of your business.
•
CUSTOMER SERVICE TECHNOLOGY-

• Websites
• E-mail
• Communications
• Software
The Goal of the Hospitality business in terms of its Customer
Service of its customer interactions is the generate loyalty.
• Hospitality Business nowadays want to use technology to raise the quality of
their customer Service focus on the following:
• Data Management Analytics- Using data collected from customer to analyze their
preferences.
• Insight-driven marketing- Gaining insights into your business from customer data so
you can more effectively target marketing.
• Marketing automation- Streamlining and automating business processes to improve
efficiency and keep costs low.
•
• Self-service optimization- finding ways for customers to interact with your business
when they want.
• Workforce effectiveness- Encouraging your staff to embrace new ways improving
customer treatment by providing tools and training to deliver better service.
 Handle complaints/Conflict Situations,
Evaluation and Recommendations

• In a service industry like tourism it’s inevitable that a guest will lodge a complaint.
How a business handles guest complaints separates professionals from amateurs.
Complaints must be viewed as valuable sources on intelligence about possible issues
that may need attention. They must always be acknowledged and dealt with
effectively. By developing an efficient system, complaints can be resolved quickly
and easily.
 Why do Guests complain?
Guests are dissatisfied, expectations weren’t met.
• Why are expectations sometimes greater than reality?
• Because of the subjective or unrealistic promises made in advertising
material
• Because the price is high compared to similar properties
• Because while expectations are realistic, the product is poorly presented.
• The product was “talked up” by other users
 Steps in taking Complaint

• When a customer first makes a complaint, make a step back, an emotional response
will only serve to irritate the customer further.
• Give your customer full attention and listen to the whole problem before
responding
• Don’t jump the gun. Treat your customer as an important individual by listening to
their problem in full.
• Try to understand
• Always use your initiative when dealing with complaints
 TIPS IN DEALING WITH COMPLAINTS

• Be calm
• Complaints should always be resolved as quickly as possible
• Keep comprehensive records of all customer complaints
• All customer-facing staff members should be trained to deal complaints
 Finding a Solution

• Once the customer has aired their grievance, you should immediately give
sincere apology.
• Excuses are made after you’ve listened to their complaint and made an
apology
• Sometimes a complaint will be followed by a request for compensation
typically a refund or a voucher.Ask the customer for desired outcome.This
makes them feel both involved and valued