CH.3 Rooms Division Operations - Front desk, reservation, cashier, concierge, housekeeping and laundry departments

There are many different departments within a hotel in order to handle different daily issues.

Front desk

• Front desk, where the guests have the most interaction with staff. It welcomes guests to the accommodation section: The front office has to meet and greet customers once they arrived, staff will sell and up-sell rooms to customers. Also, it has to allocate the “check in and out”, issue keys and handle guests’ luggage etc. Sometimes, it may be required to offer the mail, fax or message services.

• Reservation, it is usually the first contact point between hotel and the potential customers. It aims to process the reservation requests, control the room availability, and the most important thing is maximizing room sales through yield management or forecasting etc.

Cashier

• Cashier, it is a department deal with the money that customers had spent. Staff need to post charges to guest accounts or receive the payments made by guests at check-out. On the other hand, it may provide a variety of banking services, for example, the currency exchange. At night, there are night auditors to close the daily books and generate a report based on the data obtained in that day.

Concierge

• Concierges aim to raise the value of the hotel itself. It needs to assist guests with basically everything. This is a kind of broad statement, staff are expected to help with anything from seat reservation arrangement to pointing directions. Therefore the staff are required to have knowledge about the city and able to speak fluently with customers who are in need.

• Housekeeping is the largest labor department in a hotel. It maintains a good hygiene and high standards living environment in the hotel. Staff will clean the rooms, facilities etc. Also, it controls the room supplies and equipment inventory in the hotel.

Laundry

• Laundry, it may under the housekeeping department. Staff are required to do sorting, washing and drying towels, clothes etc. The services outcome should meet the highest possible standards.

 

          References: http://www.cnn.hk/2010/LIVING/10/11/cb.hotel.concierge/index.html

                                http://www.setupmyhotel.com/