Chapter 3 Front Office Operations

Managing Front Office Operations Eighth Edition (333TXT or 333CIN)

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Competencies for Front Office Operations

1. Summarize front office operations during the four stages of the guest cycle. 2. Explain the evolution of front office recordkeeping systems and describe front office documents. 3. Describe the front desk and its support devices, and describe the services and equipment of a hotels telecommunications area. 4. Identify and describe property management systems used by the front office.
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The Guest Cycle

Pre-arrival Arrival Occupancy Departure

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Room Status Terms

Occupied Complimentary Stayover On-change Do not disturb Sleep-out Skipper Sleeper Vacant and ready Out-of-order Lock-out DNCO Due out Check-out Late check-out

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Room Types

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Single Double Triple Quad Queen King Twin Double-double

Studio Mini-suite or junior suite Suite Connecting rooms Adjoining rooms Adjacent rooms

Types of Telephone Calls

Local Direct-dial long-distance Calling card Credit card Collect Third-party Person-to-person Billed-to-room International Toll-free 900 or premium-price Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP)

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Telecommunications Equipment

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PBX system Call accounting system Guestroom phones Pay phones Pagers/cell phones Automatic call dispensing system Telephone/room status systems Internet access Call detection equipment
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Property Management Systems

Software Packages Reservations management Rooms management Guest account management General management Back office interfaces System interfaces Sales automation systems
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Front Office Software Packages

Reservations management Rooms management Guest account management General management

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Reservations Management Software

Availability/forecasting Reservation records Reservation confirmations Room pricing Revenue management

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Rooms Management Software

Room status Registration Room assignments Room rate information

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Guest Account Management Software

Folio management Credit monitoring Transaction tracking

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General Management Software

Revenue analysis Operating statistics Financial analysis Guest history

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Back Office Interfaces

General ledger accounting software Accounts receivable Accounts payable Human resources software Payroll accounting Personnel recordkeeping Labor scheduling

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(continued)

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Back Office Interfaces

(continued)

Financial reporting software Chart of accounts Balance sheets Income statements Transaction analysis Inventory control software Stock levels Purchase order system Stock rotation scheduling
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System Interfaces
Non-Guest-Operated Interfaces Point-of-sale system Call accounting system Electronic locking system Energy management system Guest-Operated Interfaces In-room folio review and check-out In-room entertainment system In-room vending machines In-room fax machine Centralized printer/server High-speed Internet access
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