Chapter – 1 Planning for Front Office Operations

1.1 Standard Operating Procedures:- Importance

• Guest registration
• Rooming a guest
• HWC – Handle with care
• Differently abled guest
• Guest booking through Travel agent
• Crew check-in
• Single lady traveler
• Luggage handling
• Check out
1.2 Requirement for SOP
1.3 Benefits of using SOP

Introduction
SOPs A Standard Operating Procedure is a set of written instructions that are documented which
are in the form of policies, standards, and procedures. SOP’s are Step-by-step instructions or
procedures that act as guidelines for employee work processes.
Requirement / Need of SOP
The need of SOP is to maintain quality, consistency of service and standard’s in hotel. The
development and use of SOPs are an integral part of a successful quality system as it provides
individuals with the information to perform a job properly, and facilitates consistency in the quality
and integrity of a product. It is a must that all newly recruited hotel staff and should be given
training on hotels SOP. In addition, the hotels training or HR department should maintain and
document department wise.
Importance :
(SOPs) are essential for the efficient and effective running of any business. Each and every
business has its own different SOPs, every businessman has his/her own way of leadership style,
and every industry has its own best practices. Developing SOPs is essential for the growth and
sustainability of the organization.
SOPs either make or break the successful operation because every aspect of operations requires a
specific routine to meet the various demands.
Importance and Benefits of SOP’s
1. Ensured business continuity
Whenever an employee is absent or not present at the office due to some reason, the work of the
organization should not stop. With the help of SOP, any other employee shall take over and
complete the pending urgent tasks at the targeted time. Whenever any employee is on leave or not
present at the office due to any reason, the work should not stop, by attributing the SOPs. When a

Dr. Honey Tyagi

key staff member is on leave or not in the office for some reason, work does not have to stand still.
By referring to the designed SOPs, any other employee can take over the urgent tasks and do them
correctly the first time

2. Save on Training Costs and time.

Depending on the complexity of the task and the experience of employees, SOPs may not
completely substitute for training. Documented procedures are a valuable component of the new-
hire toolkit, and can reduce training time. They act as reference guides and allow new employees
to work independently without excessive reliance on supervisors.
3. Increase Productivity
By having SOPs in place; employees will have a clear understanding of just what is expected of
them. Knowing the specific expectations and how to achieve them, the likelihood that productivity
will increase due to SOPs is very high. It also helps in Reduction in errors in every department.
More time can be spent focusing on other important aspects of the operation rather than
“retraining” employees since they will learn the SOPs during their initial training.
4. Safety
Whether it is dealing with guests, handling situations or food storage or even proper cleaning
methods, SOPs help minimize or eliminate any potential situations that could be dangerous to
employees or guests. Having a thorough system of SOPs in place will give your employees the
knowledge and tools on how to handle any potentially dangerous situation.
5. Consistency/Quality Control
Gaining loyal customers can be difficult to obtain and very easy to lose. One of the easiest ways
to lose a customer’s loyalty is by providing inconsistent service or food/drinks. SOPs are an
excellent way to ensure that each employee is providing the same level of service or quality of
product that customers will expect each time they visit.
6. Employee Performance Measurement
Without SOPs and a way to measure quality, accuracy, and performance, employee reviews are
left up to the subjective decision of management. As mentioned above, when employees have a
clear understanding of what is expected of them, productivity and performance often increase.
When all employees follow the same processes, it’s an easy matter to measure them against the
same standards. Performance can be fairly appraised.

How to Write a Hotel Standard Operating Procedure?

Unfortunately, SOPs are often overlooked and not prioritized until it’s too late. In many cases, it
only becomes apparent that an SOP is needed after a dangerous, embarrassing, or costly

Dr. Honey Tyagi

incident has already occurred. So don’t wait to get started on writing your hotel standard operating
procedures! It’s worth the investment.
 The first step is to identify specific areas that could benefit from a standardized procedure.
In smaller independent properties and hotels, there may be less distinction between
departments, so this process could be broken down by either role or function. It could also
simply be divided by front-of-house and back-of-house.
 For each department, follow these steps to identify areas, roles, or tasks that could benefit
from SOPs:
 Ask staff for their input. As employees knows better than anyone which processes could
benefit from more clarity and consistency.
 Make a list of common routines. Look for repetitive tasks that require precision and
safety/legal processes that should follow a set step-by-step procedure.
 Prioritize by impact. You want to start with the areas that are high visibility, high-impact.
These are usually the areas that directly impact the guest experience (like the front desk),
as well as staff safety, crisis communications and disaster preparedness.
 You should end up with a list of at least 2-3 key processes for each department that reflects
the most often-repeated and highest-visibility tasks.

For each SOP, you’ll want to consider the following:

 Who’s the audience? Put the end-user first so that the procedure is accurate, relevant, and
easy-to-use. This is especially important when it comes to safety-related SOPs that may be
used under difficult circumstances, for example, an injury or natural disaster.
 Are there any language barriers? If so, consider using images alongside the text, for
example, use a map with arrows pointing to exits for fire escape routes. SOPs are useless
if the end-user can’t understand them!
 Is this SOP a new way to work or simply documenting an existing process? When
introducing new work procedures or tasks, you’ll want to schedule additional training and
implementation time.
 Finally, it’s time to document the procedure. The easiest way to begin is to talk to staff and
observe how a task is currently being done. Then, write down the specific steps and modify
them, if necessary, before finalizing the steps into a shareable SOP. The observation
process encourages staff involvement and offers a direct view of how employees do their
work. A collaborative process makes it more likely that staff will find the SOPs useful.
As far as formatting your hotel standard operating procedures, some may be simple checklists,
while others are numbered steps or bulleted lists, or even made up of multiple components and
paragraphs of instructions. As a general rule, try to make the SOPs visual and not too word heavy,
so that they’re easy to read and use. In the case of more intricate SOPs, you may consider using a
flowchart to help staff quickly assess the right path to take.
The SOP format really depends on the complexity of the procedure, as well as how staff will be
accessing it (e.g. paper versus tablet or mobile). And, even though having digital copies of SOPs

Dr. Honey Tyagi

is useful and helps with widespread accessibility, it’s also recommended that you have several
laminated SOP printouts around the property in case the power goes out.
When in doubt, test it out. Put your SOP in the hands of a new staff member to see if it’s written
in a way that can be easily understood and implemented.

The following topics will be discussed in classroom and role play in practical sessions.
 Guest registration
• Rooming a guest
• HWC – Handle with care
• Differently abled guest
• Guest booking through Travel agent
• Crew check-in
• Single lady traveler
• Luggage handling
• Check out

References:
Read more at: https://yourstory.com/mystory/ee00a6f6df-importance-of-sop-for
https://www.glimpsecorp.com/
https://www.cloudbeds.com/articles/hotel-standard-operating-procedure/

Dr. Honey Tyagi