Front And Back Office Executives In Hotel Operations Manage Various Tasks.

Research report for the course accommodation management.

It further elucidates that how front and back office executives play a major role in providing services and products to the customers around the globe.

Characteristics of the Accommodation Sector

The primary aim of this task is to summarize the articles which provide ample of information about hotel operations. It further elucidates that how front and back office executives play a major role in providing services and products to the customers around the globe.

There are various characteristics of accommodation sector that have been discussed below.

• Comfortable and clean rooms attached with toilet, bathrooms and fully equipment with effective supplies.
• This sector further focuses on intangible sector. The accommodation sector sells an experience or a feeling that is effective and desirable.
• This sector is perishable and dynamic. The accommodation sector is 24 hours a day, seven day a week.
• Heavily and unique dependent on the customer satisfaction. The accommodation sector is rendering services and products to the customers with extra time and cash on their hands.
• Top management and managers of the protection and security and 24 hours maintenance amenities.
• Clinic facilities with skilled and qualified nurses, doctors and essential supplies.
• Accommodation sector further helps in improving customer satisfaction globally as it also helps in maintaining sustainability in the environment and workplace as well (Lee & Way, 2010).

At hotels, the front and back office staff play a major role in servicing clients effectively and successfully. The front office refers to the reception, front office and core operations departments of the hotel. This includes sales, front desk, reservations, housekeeping, marketing and concierge. The front office is a place where clients go when they appear at the hotel. On the other hand, the back office is a portion of a firm made up of administration and support personnel who are not guests facing. The back office operations include record maintenance, settlements, clearances, IT services, regulatory compliance and accounting. The back office staff is liable to conduct day to day business activities and operations. The back office staff helps in offering innovative and unique services to the guests in the global market (Clarisse, 2011). The difference between the front and back of house operations has been discussed below.

The front office and back office executives maintain coordination and cooperation to work together for providing satisfaction to the customers across the globe. These executives provide 24*7 hours services to the customers across the globe. Guests or clients are not the only market that hotels consider and focus in their sustainability campaign or program but also help the hotel sector to boost profitability and outcomes. The sustainability programs are held by back office executives to provide guest satisfaction in the global market. In this way, they help in creating customer satisfaction outcomes globally (Vila, Enz & Costa, 2012).

It is elucidated from the various studies that ample of activities and operations are done by hotel sector to beat the competitors and maximize the profitability in the global market. There are various practices and equipments appear to have become efficiently and effectively standards (e.g., supporting local charities, buying green products and towel reuse programs). There are various examples in hotel industry that create value for customers. For example, the hotel sector is offering ample of sustainable programs and campaigns that increase guest or client satisfaction. Apart from this, controlling and monitoring for three satisfaction indexes such as food and beverage satisfaction, guest room satisfaction and hotel facilities satisfaction help in maximizing value for the customers. Responding to customer feedback and reviews is further example that can also helps in creating dynamic and unique value for the customers (Siteminder, 2018).

The hotel industry consists various departments that are responsible to deliver better guests services in the market (Thomas, Kitterlin-Lynch & Lorenzo Del Valle, 2015). Some of the departments and their roles have been detailed below.

Room division: The room division entails three primary areas such as uniformed services, housekeeping and front office. The front office is responsible for serving clients and maximizing profitability and the other areas are staff functions (Berezan, Raab, Yoo & Love, 2013).

Define Front and Back of House Operations and How They Work Together

The food and beverage division: This department in a hotel largely depending on the numbers of outlets that food and beverage division manages and operates.

Sales and marketing division: It is one of the fundamental departments of hotel sector that help in advertising and promoting the services and products of the hotels internationally.

Maintenance departments: One of the key and effective roles of a general manager is the upkeep and maintenance of the hotel. The general manager is responsible for preserving and protecting the assets and resources.

Human resource management: The HRM is accountable for hiring the capabilities, potential and skilled front office and back office candidates for performing tasks and duties in a hassle free manner.

General Manager: The general manager of the asset is a multi-talented and skilled individual who shows many interests and values. They are further liable to maintain unique code of conducts and ethics at the workplace.

Although, hotel industry is worked towards the achievement of goals and objectives by providing innovative services to them but some reasons that increases dissatisfaction among the people in the organization (Siguaw, Enz, Kimes, Verma & Walsh, 2009). Some of the causes of customer dissatisfaction of hotel operations have been drawn below.

• There is no free WI-FI in rooms and hotel.
• The behavior and attitudes of employees are not acceptable as it can affect the satisfaction level of the customers.
• Poor and ineffective customer service and rude staff lead dissatisfaction among the guests in hotel industry.
• Not listening to key target audience and hidden ample of information, facts and costs also affect the moral and loyalty of the customers (Yang, 2010).
• Inaccessibility, low quality of goods and services. No Omni-channel customer service also may put direct impact on the satisfaction of the customers.

Servicing a client is a part of every hotel as it also helps in making good and strong dynamic image in the minds of the guests. For example, respect is one of the significant factors that help in putting positive impact among the customers in hotel sector. The front office and back office executives respect customers or clients that mean they are serving effective and attractive services to them. It helps in making happy the clients. Apart from this, familiar experience is also provided by the staff in hotel sector to attain high level of customer satisfaction. Customer loyalty is complex and tougher to analyze than customer satisfaction. Loyalty can be analyzed when identifying and observing the actual behavior and action of a client. It will further help to contribute in measuring overall customer satisfaction internationally (Enz, 2012).

Excellent customer service is unique and effective in hotel operations. The good quality of service entails three dimensions including materials, physical facilities and employees. Excellent customer service is first point of contact between for example the executives and guest in the hotel. Effective and unique customer service helps in attracting and impressing maximum clients globally (Lo, Stalcup & Lee, 2010). The strong and excellent customer service is directly related to the business operations because it helps in making strong and open relationship between clients and hotel representatives. Unique and dynamic customer service further helps in getting good referrals in the competitive market. Sustainability also helps in improving and enhancing customer loyalty and trust. It is recommended that hotel industry should focus on the choices, trends and preferences of the guests to make happy them while functioning in the workplace. They must also focus on the advertisement and promotion for encouraging the services internationally (Vila, Enz & Costa, 2012).

                        (Source: https://www.serviceperformance.com/the-5-service-dimensions-all-customers-care-about/)

Conclusion: 

It is concluded from the various studies that effective and unique hotel operations are needed to serve customers or clients in the international market. It further helps to cope up with rivals and to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the front office and back office executives.

References: 

Berezan, O., Raab, C., Yoo, M., & Love, C. (2013). Sustainable hotel practices and nationality: The impact on guest satisfaction and guest intention to return. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 34, 227-233.

Bruns-Smith, A., Choy, V., Chong, H., &Verma, R. (2015). Environmental sustainability in the hospitality industry: Best practices, guest participation, and customer satisfaction. Cornell Hospitality Report, 15(3), 6-16, Retrieved from https://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1199&context=chrpubs 

Clarisse.,(2011). Difference between front office and back office [Online], Retrieved from https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-front-office-and-vs-back-office/

Enz, C. (2012). Strategies for the implementation of service innovations.Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 53(3), 187-195.

Lee, C., & Way, K. (2010). Individual employment characteristics of hotel employees that play a role in employee satisfaction and work retention. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 29(3), 344-353.

Lo, A. S., Stalcup, L. D., & Lee, A. (2010). Customer relationship management for hotels in Hong Kong. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 22(2), 139-159.

Siguaw, J., Enz, C., Kimes, S., Verma, R., & Walsh, K. (2009). Cases in innovative practices in hospitality and related services: Set 1. Cornell Hospitality Report, 9(17), 6-31, Retrieved from https://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1123&context=chrpubs

Siteminder.,(2018). 4 Simple ways to improve guest services in your hotel [Online], Retrieved from https://www.siteminder.com/r/trends-advice/hotel-management/ways-improve-guest-services-hotel/ 

Thomas, J.H., Kitterlin-Lynch, M., & Lorenzo Del Valle, D. (2015). Cuba’s future hospitality and tourism business: Opportunities and obstacles. Cornell Hospitality Reports, 15(11), 6-16. Retrieved fromhttps://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1207&context=chrpubs

Vila, M., Enz, C., & Costa, G. (2012). Innovative practices in the Spanish hotel industry. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 53(1), 75-85.

Yang, J. T. (2010). Antecedents and consequences of job satisfaction in the hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 29(4), 609-619.