Accommodation Management And Front Office Department In Accor Hotels

Front Office Department in the Hospitality Industry

Accommodation is one among the basic needs of the international as well as domestic travelers. It plays a very important role in overall experience of a traveler’s visiting a place and with the same, it is the biggest component of his expenditure. Hence, accommodation management is the crucial aspect of tourism or hotel industry. Accor is one of the most famous hotel chains in the world (Kimes & Ho, 2017). It was established in the year 1967 by Gerard Pelisson and Dubrule. At those times, when no single man in France used to belief in the business model of the hotels but their own creativity and effectiveness, these two men pushed the boundaries of their hotel ever further and the outcome is unknown to none. Accor has over 4,100 hotels in 95 different countries and with more than 2,50,000 hospitality experts who shares same passion to take care of millions and millions of guests throughout the world.  They have a list of over 20 brands to meet the desires of every guest type. They ranges from the luxury brands like the Raffles and Banyan Tree etc to the economy brands like the Mama and Novotel.  If one goes through their official website, it is specifically mentioned in a section under the tag “AccorHotels Overview” that Accor considers its guests as unique and that its promises to meet each of their demands.  

The front office/desk department of a hotel plays an important role in the overall success of every hotel and its operations. The quality of service and the guest satisfaction as well differs according to the efficiency of the front office department. It is regarded as the most noticeable departments in every hotel (Bardi 2013). Reception desk is the focal point of activities within the department of front office (Schipper et al. 2013). It is the generally the communication centre and the place where the visitors receives the initial impression of the hotel. 

There are several segments of guests arrives in the section of Accor. There are some people who visit with families in the hotel with the primary purpose to spent holidays. The others include an international visitor who comes to attend their business meetings and also there are some international tourists who spent their most of the time socializing (Diaz and Koutra 2013). These sectors of hotel guests are from diverse entities, which have diverse needs, requirements and patterns of travelling.

Accor Hotels: The Leading Hotel Chain in the World

The front office department is mainly responsible for performing and managing three important areas and they are guest services, the property management system or PMS, data management and guest accounting.

1. The PMSinclude the back-up system and the central reservations system (CRS). The PMS Manager keeps the record of the name, data and other related information such as telephone number, address and credit or debit card details of the guests that are staying in the hotel. He also keeps the record of the room rate paid and room type that are occupied by the guest during their last stay, a history of their prior folio charges, the form of the payment used by the guests to settle his or her account with the hotel. With the same, the room preferences and company affiliation of the guest, the guest’s membership in groups receiving a discount from the hotel are also  the look out of the PMS manager.
2. In terms of guest services, the responsibility of the front office department is to be ready for assisting in a various gust-related requests like, handling luggage and their transportation. With the same, they must also provide directions to several attractions in the local area, routing mails, delivery of newspaper and the organization of safety deposit boxes. Arranging for the wake-up calls as according to the customer preferences, providing guest security by the careful dissemination of the guest-related information, conveying information about the available hotel services, handling the guests’ concerns and payment disputes and taking  messages for  the guests, are  some of the other vital responsibilities that are conducted  by the front office department.
3. The guest accounting and data managers performs the task of daily review of all the financial transactions with the hotel guests by the front office. 

In order to meet the customer needs, the front office team must ensure that a registration card is provided to them at the time of their arrival. A registration card is a card which provides every details such as the guest’s name, arrival date, rate to be paid by them, departure date and other information that are related to the guest’s stay. They must ensure that the guests are greeted at the time of their arrival. It is their responsibility to confirm that the details of the provided registration card to the guests is correct. It is also the duty of the accommodation manger to secure a form of payment, and room assignment. He also issues the room keys to the guests. However, at the time of their departure, the front office department provides them the overall bill. The actual settlement of the guest’s bill includes confirmation of the guest’s identity, presentation of a copy of the bill for the guest’s processing, inspection of the payment of guest and lastly, revising the status of the room in the PMS in order to appoint the room as  vacant and ready to be cleaned.

No matter what the sector is related to, the accommodation managers of all the sectors share similar responsibilities (Mackenzie and Peters 2014).

1. Develop a positive relationship with the tenants, guest, residents as well as the staffs.
2. Ensuring smooth running of the accommodation facilities that includes the safety of the guests (Smith and Ong 2015)
3. Ensuring that adequate security id provided for the building
4. Monitoring the work of the room service departments and ensuring that a high standard is  maintained
5. Ensuring that the demands of each of the customer segment is completed

In current days, outsourcing facility services are regarded as the future of the Australian hospitality industry (Leeman and Reynolds 2012). None can deny the fact that it is very beneficial for the hotel industry but for the front office department it is not a viable solution as it will make the front desk tasks  more complex. 

Advantages

1. It shall reduce the hotel’s administrative costs (Schniederjans 2015).  It will help the hotel to run with those expenses that are used by the guests only.
2. The professionals will supply the hotel with best possible products and services (Tayauova 2012).
3. It will help the hotel to focus on its core competencies by employing better and experienced specialists (Lamminmaki 2012)

Disadvantages

1. It is tough for a hotel or company to commend a third party because it may result is loss of control on their own business affairs (Caruth, Haden and Caruth 2013). It will become difficult to ensure that the staffs are delivering standard services to the customers.
2. There is a high risk of incorrect alignment of the strategic aspects and the objectives of the hotel (De Vita and Tekaya 2015). When the external elements starts to participate in the internal affairs of the business, it becomes hard for the company to transmit its objectives accurately. 

The iconic Accor hotel serves the best to meet the customer’s need and customer satisfaction. Still, change is important is every industry for maintaining their success. In order to ensure that best experience is provided to the guests, the front desk must ensure that the food supply is healthy, as the sector of food and beverage rules a hotel.  With the same, for the guests who come with their families; proper room, source of entertainment like TV, as mentioned in earlier should be made.  In addition, outsourcing will be a better solution for most of the gaps that are been recognized in the overall analysis. Outsourcing the overall house cleaning training to a strong suit commercial cleaning company will provide a low rate or cost-effective method to triumph with the housekeeping procedures. Apart from cleaning techniques, a good housekeeping training will encourage the mindset of being careful and will entwine its way through entire guest experience on-property. With the same, the outsourcing agency will reduce the total number of claims and the loss of work that a hotel incurs. This is because, in case of outsourcing, that agency will take the overall responsibility of most of the worker’s compensation issues. These recommendations are made for the part of front office department in this analysis, which Accor can implement in its hospitality business in order to remain successful and that too in the top position for the next years. It will enhance the customer experiences and will draw the people’s attention towards its service, contributing in improved profitability. 

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