Hospitality and Accommodation II: The Front Office (Duties of Staff, Reservation and Registration, Types of Room and Bedding, Meal Plans, Room Assignment, Check-In, Methods of Payment, Types of Guest, Room Pricing, Occupancy, ADR and RevPAR) and Housekeeping (Functions, Liaison, Room Supplies, Bed Making and Service, Hierarchy and Duties)
1. The front office and the duties of its staff; reservation and registration
| Front office position | Duties and responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Front office manager | Heads the department; plans staffing, sets room rates with revenue management, handles VIPs and escalated complaints, and coordinates with other departments |
| Reservation agent | Takes and records bookings from all channels, manages availability, confirms, amends and cancels reservations |
| Receptionist (front desk agent) | Greets, registers and assigns rooms to guests, issues keys, gives information and handles check-out |
| Front office cashier | Maintains guest accounts (folios), posts charges, exchanges foreign currency where authorised and settles bills |
| Concierge and bell desk | The concierge arranges tickets, tours, restaurant bookings and special requests; the bell captain and bell staff handle luggage, escort guests to rooms and run errands |
| Guest relations executive, telephone operator and night auditor | Guest relations welcome VIPs and resolve problems; the operator handles calls and wake-up calls; the night auditor checks and balances the day's postings and closes the business day |
Reservations arrive directly (phone, e-mail, the hotel website, walk-in), through the chain's central reservation system, through travel agents and tour operators, through GDSs and through online travel agencies. A guaranteed reservation is one the guest has secured by credit card, advance deposit, prepayment or a company or travel agent's guarantee, so the hotel holds the room all night and may charge a no-show; a non-guaranteed reservation is held only until a release time, commonly 6 pm, after which the room may be resold. Hotels overbook slightly to offset no-shows and cancellations, and when overbooking goes wrong must "walk" the guest to another hotel of equal standard at their own cost. Registration records the guest's identity and stay on a registration card: name, address, nationality, arrival and departure dates, room, rate, method of payment and signature, with identity documents verified. For a foreign guest the passport and visa details are recorded and reported to the immigration authorities in the prescribed form (known as Form C).
2. Types of room and bedding, meal plans, room assignment and room status
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Single, double, twin, triple, quad | A room for one; a room with one double bed for two; a room with two single beds; rooms for three and four |
| Suite, junior suite, studio, duplex | A living room with one or more bedrooms; a large room with a separate sitting area; a room with a sofa that converts into a bed; a suite on two levels |
| Cabana, lanai | A room beside the pool or beach, sometimes with beds; a room with a balcony or patio overlooking a garden or water |
| Connecting and adjoining rooms | Connecting rooms have a private door between them, suiting families; adjoining rooms share a wall but have no connecting door |
| Bedding types | Single, double, queen and king beds; twin beds; the Hollywood twin (two single beds joined under one headboard); sofa bed; rollaway (extra) bed; crib or cot for infants |
| Meal plan | What the room rate includes |
|---|---|
| European Plan (EP) | Room only |
| Continental Plan (CP) | Room and continental breakfast |
| Bermuda Plan | Room and a full (American) breakfast |
| Modified American Plan (MAP) | Room, breakfast and one main meal (lunch or dinner) |
| American Plan (AP) | Room and all three meals |
| All-inclusive (AI) | Room, all meals, drinks and many activities |
Room assignment matches an available, clean and inspected room to the guest's reservation and preferences (smoking or non-smoking, floor, view, bed type, accessibility), while spreading wear across rooms and keeping groups together. It depends on accurate room status, which the front office and housekeeping share: occupied; vacant ready (clean and inspected); vacant dirty; on change (guest has left and the room is being cleaned); out of order (not saleable because of repairs); do not disturb; due out; and the discrepancies revealed when the two departments compare records, a sleeper (a room shown as occupied that is in fact vacant, so it is lost to sale) and a skipper (a guest who has left without settling the bill).
3. Check-in, methods of payment, types of guest and the price of accommodation
Check-in follows a set sequence: greet the guest, locate the reservation (or handle a walk-in), complete registration and verify identity, establish the method of payment (for a card, a pre-authorisation is taken to cover the expected bill), assign the room and issue the key card, explain the hotel's facilities, and have the bell staff escort the guest. Methods of payment are cash; credit and debit cards and digital payments; bill to company (BTC) for approved corporate accounts; travel agent or tour operator vouchers, where the agency pays the hotel; foreign currency, where the hotel is authorised to exchange it; and prepayment online. The types of hotel guest are the free independent traveller (FIT), the group (GIT) and crew, the corporate or business guest, the leisure guest, the VIP or VVIP and the commercially important person (CIP), the walk-in (arriving without a reservation), the repeat guest, the long-staying guest and guests with special needs.
The price of accommodation depends on the hotel's location, star category and facilities; the season and the level of demand, including the day of the week and city events; the room's type, size and view; the meal plan; the length of stay and volume (corporate and group rates); the booking channel and its commission; the competition; and the hotel's cost of operation and the return its investors require, which the Hubbart formula converts into a required average room rate. The published full rate is the rack rate; most rooms are sold below it. Three measures judge room performance. Occupancy = rooms sold ÷ rooms available × 100. The average daily rate (ADR) = room revenue ÷ rooms sold. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) = room revenue ÷ rooms available, which equals ADR × occupancy. For a 200-room hotel that sells 150 rooms for ₹9,00,000, occupancy is 75 per cent, ADR is ₹6,000 and RevPAR is ₹4,500.
4. Housekeeping: functions, liaison, room supplies, bed making and types of service
Housekeeping is responsible for the cleanliness, maintenance and appearance of guest rooms and public areas, and is usually the largest department by staff. Its functions are cleaning and servicing guest rooms, corridors, lobbies and back areas; managing linen and uniforms and running or supervising the laundry; supplying guest amenities; handling lost and found property; pest control; flower arrangement, horticulture and interior decoration; control of room keys issued to its staff; and meeting guest requests for extra items. Its liaison with other departments is constant: with the front office through the housekeeping room status report and the discrepancy check that catches sleepers and skippers; with engineering for repairs, out-of-order rooms and preventive maintenance; with food and beverage for linen, banquet set-ups and room service trays; with security for lost property and suspicious incidents; and with purchase and stores for supplies.
| Item | Content |
|---|---|
| Room supplies | Guest supplies (consumed or taken: toiletries, stationery, tea and coffee sachets, slippers), guest amenities (items that improve the stay), guest loan items given on request (irons, adaptors, extra blankets) and the fixed room furnishings and linen |
| Bed making | Stripping and remaking the bed with clean linen in a set sequence, with tight mitred (hospital) corners, the sheets and cover smooth and the pillows placed to standard; checked by the supervisor on inspection |
| Types of service | Daily servicing of occupied rooms; cleaning of departure rooms for resale; the evening turn-down service (the bed turned down, curtains drawn, lights set, amenities placed); second service; periodic deep (spring) cleaning |
5. The housekeeping department: hierarchy, duties and responsibilities
| Position | Duties and responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Executive housekeeper | Heads the department; plans staffing and budgets, sets standards and procedures, purchases supplies and linen, trains staff and reports to the rooms division or general manager |
| Deputy or assistant housekeeper | Runs daily operations, allocates work, handles VIP rooms and deputises for the executive housekeeper |
| Floor, public area and linen room supervisors | Inspect rooms and areas, release rooms to the front office as vacant ready, supervise attendants and control stock |
| Room attendants and housemen | Clean and service a set quota of rooms per shift; housemen do heavy work, move furniture and clean public areas |
| Linen room and laundry staff, florist, tailor | Issue and receive linen and uniforms, run the laundry, arrange flowers and repair linen and uniforms |
The duties are organised by shifts, a morning shift that services occupied and departure rooms, an afternoon shift for public areas and turn-downs, and a night shift for public areas, and by work quotas, the number of rooms an attendant can clean to standard in a shift, which varies with room size and hotel category. Every room released as vacant ready must have been cleaned by an attendant and inspected by a supervisor, because the front office sells rooms on housekeeping's word. Housekeeping also carries responsibility for guests' safety and privacy in rooms: attendants must follow key control, knock and announce themselves, respect "do not disturb" signs and report anything unusual to security.
Key takeaways
- The front office sells rooms and is the hotel's nerve centre: manager, reservations, reception, cashier, concierge and bell desk, guest relations, operator and night auditor; guaranteed reservations are secured by card, deposit or guarantee, non-guaranteed ones released at about 6 pm; foreign guests are reported in Form C.
- Rooms are single, double, twin, triple, suite, studio, cabana, lanai; connecting rooms have a door, adjoining rooms do not; a Hollywood twin is two singles under one headboard; meal plans run EP (room only), CP, Bermuda, MAP (breakfast plus one meal), AP (all meals) and AI.
- Room status runs from occupied and vacant ready to out of order; a sleeper is a vacant room shown occupied, a skipper a guest who leaves without paying; payment is by cash, card, BTC, voucher, forex or prepayment; guests are FIT, GIT, corporate, VIP, CIP, walk-in and repeat.
- Price depends on location, category, season, room type, meal plan, length of stay, channel, competition and required return (Hubbart); occupancy = sold ÷ available, ADR = revenue ÷ sold, RevPAR = revenue ÷ available = ADR × occupancy (₹4,500 in the example).
- Housekeeping cleans rooms and public areas, runs linen and laundry, supplies amenities, handles lost and found and liaises with front office, engineering, F&B and security; bed making uses mitred corners and the evening turn-down; the executive housekeeper heads supervisors, room attendants, housemen and linen staff.
Practice questions (10)
Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.
A room rate that includes the room, breakfast and one main meal (lunch or dinner) is sold on the
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Answer: D — Modified American Plan (MAP)
MAP is breakfast plus one main meal. AP includes all three meals, CP only a continental breakfast, and EP the room alone.A family wants two rooms with a private door between them. The front office should assign
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Answer: C — connecting rooms
Connecting rooms have an internal door between them. Adjoining rooms share a wall but have no connecting door, and rooms across the corridor are merely near each other.A 200-room hotel sells 150 rooms tonight for a total room revenue of ₹9,00,000. What is its revenue per available room (RevPAR), in rupees?
Numerical answer — type the value.
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Answer: 4500
RevPAR = room revenue ÷ rooms available = 9,00,000 ÷ 200 = ₹4,500. It equals ADR (9,00,000 ÷ 150 = ₹6,000) × occupancy (150 ÷ 200 = 75 per cent). Dividing by rooms sold gives the ADR, not RevPAR.In front office terminology, a guest who leaves the hotel without settling the bill is called a
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Answer: D — skipper
A skipper leaves without paying. A sleeper is a room wrongly shown as occupied although the guest has gone; a walk-in arrives without a reservation; a no-show does not arrive for a reservation.Which of the following make a hotel reservation "guaranteed", so that the room is held all night and a no-show may be charged? Select all that apply.
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Answer: B — A written guarantee from the guest's company or travel agent; C — The guest's credit card details, authorised by the hotel; D — An advance deposit or prepayment
A reservation is guaranteed when payment is secured by card, deposit, prepayment or a company or agent's guarantee. A booking held only until 6 pm with no security is non-guaranteed and can be released.Two single beds placed side by side under a common headboard are known as a
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Answer: D — Hollywood twin
A Hollywood twin can be used as two singles or pushed together as a large bed. A rollaway is an extra folding bed, and a murphy bed folds into the wall.The front office employee who, at the end of the business day, checks and balances all charges posted to guest accounts and closes the day is the
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Answer: A — night auditor
The night auditor verifies the day's postings, room revenue and cashier balances and runs the end-of-day reports. The concierge arranges guest requests, the bell captain handles luggage and the reservation agent takes bookings.Assertion (A): Housekeeping sends a room status report to the front office every day. Reason (R): Comparing the two departments' records reveals rooms wrongly shown as occupied or vacant, such as sleepers, and guests who have skipped.
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Answer: A — Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
Both are true and R explains A: the report exists so that discrepancies are caught, a sleeper that could be sold, or a skipper whose bill must be pursued, and so that the front office sells only rooms that are really vacant and ready.Which of the following are functions of the housekeeping department? Select all that apply.
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Answer: C — Managing linen and uniforms; D — The evening turn-down service
Turn-down service and linen management belong to housekeeping, along with cleaning, laundry, amenities and lost and found. Registration and posting charges are front office tasks.A hotel raises its average daily rate from ₹6,000 to ₹6,600 but its occupancy falls from 75 per cent to 65 per cent. What happens to its RevPAR?
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Answer: A — It falls from ₹4,500 to ₹4,290
RevPAR = ADR × occupancy: before, 6,000 × 0.75 = ₹4,500; after, 6,600 × 0.65 = ₹4,290. The higher rate did not make up for the rooms lost, which is why hotels judge pricing by RevPAR rather than by ADR alone.