Report on Effective Interdepartmental Communications

  In this chapter, at the start, it has been explained that a pivotal role is played by the front office in delivering hospitality. It seems to set the stage for either an unpleasant or a pleasant visit. Often in an unfamiliar setting, guests are eager to learn where, how, when, what, and who of their new environment. In addition to it, requests for information generally begin with the cashier, clerk, front desk, and switchboard operator because these workers are the most visible to the visitor or the guest. Moving on, it has been explained that the staff of front office interacts with every department of the hotel including human resources, security, maintenance, controller, banquet, food and beverage, housekeeping, sales, and marketing. The front office is viewed by these departments as a communication liaison in offering different guest services.

            It is determined that each department has a specific and unique communication link with the staff of front office. In any kind of lodging property, the front office provides the voice and face of hospitality for the firm around the clock. The front office staffs are more likely to be approached by guests for connections to staff present in other departments. It is important for the front office member to know to whom they can direct inquiries of guests for assistance. This is learnt by them by the means of detailed training programmes in the firm for providing hospitality to guests.

            It has been explained in the chapter that engineering or maintenance department and front office tend to communication on requests and room status for maintenance service. In general, maintenance employees should know and be aware of the status of a room before attending to different problems such as air-conditioning, heating, or plumbing. If rooms are reserved, the two departments usually work out a time frame so that guests can enter the room on their arrival to other rooms. The best solutions to different types of situations are produced by cooperative thinking. Similarly, requests from all the guests for room furnishings, televisions, plumbing, air conditioning, and repair of ventilating and heating are directed specifically to the front desk.

            It has been further explained in the chapter that communications between the front office and the security department are quite critical in offering hospitality to guests. After all, these departments tend to work closely for ensuring the maintenance of guest security. Emergency communication systems and fire safety measures along with procedures for the investigation of concerns of guest security need the cooperation and collaboration of these departments. Ever since the incident of 2011, in general, the nature of security offered by hotels has changed.

            Moving on, it has been explained that the department of human resources management might rely on the staff of front office as an initial contact point for potential workers in every department. The department might even ask the front office to invest efforts in screening job candidates. If this seems to occur, training and guidelines for screening methods have to be offered. In general, some human resource directors rely on the front office for distributing application forms along with other types of personnel-related information to applicants of job. Potential employees might ask for directions to the human resources office at the front desk. Thus, the HR department might also develop guidelines for the clerk at front desk to be utilised in screening candidates. These guidelines might seemingly cover concerns about citizenship status, experience, education requirements, and completion of an application. Normally, this information assists executives in the HR department to consult and interview potential candidates.

            It has been explained that TQM or total quality management is a technique that helps and encourages managers in looking at processes with a critical eye that are utilised for delivering services and products. Front-line supervisors and employees should be asked by managers to question every step in the methods that they utilise for providing hospitality to all visitors and guests. For instance, questions should be asked such as: Why are guests getting upset when their rooms are not prepared on check-ins? Why those guests are saying that our table service is not thorough? Then, managers along with their employees should look for answers to these questions. In the context of hotels, the key aspect of TQM is the communication between supervisors and front-line employees. In fact, practices of TQM ensure that the front office checks with other areas such as housekeeping for determining the availability of room in any situation.

Chapter 4 - Property Management Systems

            In this chapter, the main focus is on the property management system, which means that how positioning, as well as, the physical structure of the front desk should be managed, and to do so, the selection of an appropriate property management system (PMS). In earlier chapters, the focus was very much related to the planning, but this chapter is very much related to the essence of the operational aspects of the business. It has been explained that computer applications have a pivotal role to play with regards to front office operations. If there is a modern model with the latest facilities, then computer applications can be instrumental to the cause of providing those facilities. There are a variety of hotels’ operational tasks that are operated through computers such as taking reservations, doing bookings, registrations of guests, and data of guests regarding their stay, food, and other charges. Everything is managed through the computer application rather than using any manual methods. So, it is vital for anyone, who is working or looking to work in this industry that they should understand how to operate these computers with relevant applications and programs.

            The first and foremost important thing in this regard is the positioning and physical structure of the front desk. Here is one figure provided in the chapter to show the layout of a front office, which is computerized:

Figure 4.1

  In terms of lodging operations management, the front desk will always have central importance in so many ways. Every guest, who is going to enter the premises of the hotel, will see this place as the first point of contact. If it has great management with appropriate ambiance, then the first impression of the guest will be created with this thing. There are various elements that can play a vital part in increasing the better impressions of guests regarding the hotel such as professionalism, quality, attractiveness, orderliness, and neatness. There are 8 important parts of the front desk’s layout, and each element has its own importance. The physical equipment of the hotel should be made with the workable layout so that guests don’t have to face any inconveniences, and the employees are also able to work more efficiently to serve the needs of guests.

            The front desk’s positioning is very important, and it should be managed in a way that staff working at the front desk should be able to see who is coming in, and who is going out. They should easily see the guests, who are entering the hotel lobby from the entry points. To make this environment safer, the hotel should plan to adopt measures for the safety of staff and guests. The elevators should always be adjusted with the entrance point of a hotel, so that front desk staff has a clear view of things. The second important element explained in this chapter is regarding the selection of an appropriate property management system. The first important thing in this regard is to measure all of the operational needs. So, a proper need analysis should be done first by looking at needs of the teams, analysing the guests flow, analysis of administrative paperwork, analysis of the flow of information, evaluation of the identified needs, as well as, combining all these needs to see which applications will do the job. This step is important because if the wrong software will be selected, then it will not be able to meet all the requirements. There are a variety of software programs available for the property management system, and they have different features, but the hotel should select one, which can meet all its needs without causing any issues.

            It is vital to keep in mind that hardware is also going to be selected very carefully; however, this task is less difficult as compared to the selection of software. So, the best combination should be made in this regard to get things in the right manner to achieve goals and objectives. The other important part of this chapter is regarding the selection and consideration of other PMS related elements. One of the first ones in this regard is vendor claims. Enough information should be collected to get information on programs being sued by other users. The hardware installation is another key area to manage properly, otherwise, the efficiency of the employees will be less. For instance, placing a printer at some other place away from the front desk will cause delays in the process. Moreover, the staff should be well trained to do their job, which is relevant to using this hardware and software. The financial considerations should also be kept in mind. The security, staffing, food, maintenance, back-office work, housekeeping, night audits, reports, marketing, and sales are some factors, which should be planned accordingly to avoid any issues.

Chapter 5 - Systemwide Reservations

            The next important thing, which is going to be discussed in this chapter, is reservations, which are done Systemwide. It is important for both hotels and travellers to understand that reservation is critical for them to avoid any kind of inconvenience. So, it is critical for a hotel to have a proper reservation system, which can handle all tasks related to reservations. If there will be no proper reservation system, then things will get complex to manage because a hotel may be involved in overbooking, or many guests may have to leave without getting rooms, which is not a good impression on any customers. That’s why a proper reservation system is essential so that data is properly managed to avoid any kind of inconvenience. The below figure shows that a front desk staff member is taking reservation on the phone, which means they will avoid many potential issues:

Keeping these facts in view, it is evident that the reservation system is indispensable for the company to keep going in the right direction. When there will be a proper reservation system, it will allow a hotel to manage its flow and handling of guests in a proper manner where no one has to face any hassles. The chapter has started the discussion with a great example of Choice Hotels International. This hotel is having its presence across 30 countries with more than 5900 franchises, and the company has been able to earn great revenues and profits by using a proper reservation system. The second example is given for Hilton Hotels. They have a presence in more than 74 countries and has a number of 3000 hotels all around the world. They have used a home-based reservation system to come up with a new approach, and this approach has helped them to earn so much success. Marriott International is another example given in the chapter, and the number of lodging properties just in the USA for the Marriot is 3200. All of these hotels have been managed to earn great recognition and success over the period of time, due to their great reservation systems. It is also important to understand the internet’s role in the processes of reservations. The people are using the internet more than any previous era, and they tend to look for hotel reservations and information through the internet. The vice president of TravelCLICK International, Jerome Wise has said that “According to Google™, networking is going to be the second-most-popular online activity by 2012, overtaking shopping and surpassing both communication—such as email—and entertainment.”

            The internet is pivotal for the hotel industry as its role is increasing with the passage of time. The internet has formed great competition amongst hotels all around the world, and now they are competing on pricing. They also use third party sites to get cheap and affordable hotel reservations and bookings, even before their time of the visit. Social media is another vital element for the hotel industry. Social media platforms can be used for digital marketing to reach more potential customers who are looking for hotel reservations. The presence on social media can also help to develop a good brand name. It has also been explained in the chapter that there are a variety of reservation systems, which are adopted by hotels. The first type is a franchise in this regard, which is owned and operated by a franchisee, which purchased this franchise from the actual company. The referral member is another reservation system, which is based on referrals. In addition, there are so many sources of doing reservations. Each source has its own importance for the hotels in different ways because they can all help to earn more revenues. The beauty of the reservation system is that it really helps in forecasting reservations, which keeps things on the right track. In short, there will be always a need to have a proper reservation system to avoid any possible issues.

Conclusion of Effective Interdepartmental Communications

            After summarising all three chapters in this paper, it can be said that all chapters are very informative and important for the people and stakeholders of the hotel industry. The 3rd chapter was very much relevant to the conceptual idea of the business like it was dealing with the planning and strategy. But chapter 4 and 5 have been relevant to the practical aspects of business, like how physical structure should be managed, and how the reservation system should be managed.