The Front Desk

By Prabhash Bhatnagar

In the hospitality business the front desk plays a crucial role, it is the center of all information flow.

Front desks are usually the first line of customer service for a lodging property. The registration of arriving guests, assigning of rooms, and checking out guests are a small part of what happens here. They also keep records of room assignments and other registration-related information plus process payments.

Front Desk personnel answer questions about services, checkout times, the local community, or other matters of public interest. In larger hotels or in larger cities, desk clerks may refer queries about area attractions to a concierge and may direct more complicated questions to the appropriate manager. They report problems with guest rooms or public facilities to members of the housekeeping or maintenance staff and at times perform the work of a bookkeeper, advance reservation agent, cashier, laundry attendant, and telephone switchboard operator.

Automation of The Front Desk

Traditionally all these jobs of the Front Desk were done manually and service inconsistency were very common at the front desk as there were so many intricate details to look after.

The advent of the Front Desk software or Hotel Management Software have smoothened the front desk operations providing better work process and customer satisfaction. Since most operations like registrations, room maintenance, checkout facilities have become nearly error free.

The mark of a good Front Desk software would be that personnel should be able to access all functionality associated with the day-to-day front desk operations including spa and group management.

Front Desk software system should be user-friendly, uncluttered and compact that automate the operation and management of a hotel. The software should seamlessly integrate the Front Desk operations like reservation, billing, payment, reports, bookkeeping linking to Online & Offline Reservations, Housekeeping, and POS functions on a single platform.

Checklist of Front Desk Software

To be able to properly automate the functions of the Front Desk a software should have ;

Status - available/reserved/checked-in/out/blocked - along with guest's last name is available.

Guest's details :

• reservation details
• new reservation assignment

Create a new guest :

• name
• address
• credit card(s)
• references attributes

Create a reservation :

• Assigns a guest to a specific room(s)
• Sets a period of continuous dates
• Notes method of arrival (car, bus, taxi etc)
• Prints guest check-in card

Access report :

• of guests scheduled to arrive/depart for a specific date
• Print check-in cards for all/selected guest for a specific date

Check-in guests as they arrive

Edit reservations: past, present and future - change dates, rooms etc.

• Re-assign guests to a different room
• Split reservations: account for people who may change rooms during a single visit

Add charges to the rooms including gift shop, spa and restaurant charges :

Check-out guests including form of payment(s) including checks, traveler's checks and credit cards. For non-cash payments a reference number is collected (check number, authorization code etc). :

Receive transaction data from a credit card swipe machine :

Work Shift :

Booking for the spa will be made according to following specifications :

• Treatments/space categories each with their own attributes
• Treatments booked for a specific time period on a day
• Spa charges can be charged to the guest's rooms or settled at the spa at the time of the treatment

Make group reservations for two or more rooms reserved under one name.

Prabhash Bhatnagar is Manager of Sales & Marketing, maker of hotel management system and hotel front desk software handles the key aspects of the running of client's business, including bookings & reservations, Housekeeping, Spa, POS and generating reports.

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