Interdepartmental

UNIT
02 Communication
UNIT STRUCTURE
1.0 Learning Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Role of Front Office
1.3 Marketing and Sales Department
1.4 Housekeeping Department
1.5 Food and Beverage Department
1.6 Banquet Department
1.7 Accounts
1.8 Maintenance or Engineering Department
1.9 Security Department
1.10 Human Resources Management Department
1.11 Role of Total Quality Management In Effective Communication
1.12 Let Us Sum Up
1.13 Glossary
1.14 Assignment
1.15 Activity
1.16 Case Study

2.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVES :

This unit discusses the need and importance of coordination and
communication between the front office and other departments. After completing
this unit, you will be able to :
• Explain the need and importance of interdepartmental and intradepartmental
coordination and communication.
• List the reasons for communication between the front office and various
other departments.
• Relate the importance of TQM in communication.

2.1 INTRODUCTION :
This unit explains the interdepartmental communications that must be
maintained in a hotel. Notably, it focuses on how the front office relates to
employees in all departments – housekeeping, marketing and sales, food and
beverage, banquets, finance, human resources, maintenance and security. Guest
needs are best met when employees come together to provide hotel services. The
 Interdepartmental
front office manager must objectively view any communication keeping guests
Communication
needs in mind and operational policies and procedures.
The front office department's role in delivering hospitality to guests is
pivotal as it sets the stage for a pleasant or an unpleasant stay. Guests often want
to proceed with their business or vacation plans and wish to learn all about their
new environment. Requests for information usually begin with the concierge
bellhop, telephone operator or front desk attendant since they are the most visible.
They are perceived to be knowledgeable and have their finger on the pulse of
the hotel and its surroundings. How they respond to guests' requests for
information on public transportation, location of hotel facilities, special events
in the city etc. indicate how well the hotel has prepared them for this vital role.
Front office duty managers must take an active part in gathering information that
will be of interest to guests.
Front Office Manager must also be involved in developing procedures and
processes for the front office to disburse this information. The relationships the
front office manager and the duty manager develop with the other department
heads, and employees are vital in gathering information for guests. One way is to
develop positive personal relationships, although this alone may not be enough to
ensure accurate information is relayed. So how does the front office manager
encourage effective interdepartmental communication (communication between
departments) ? We discuss this as well as intradepartmental communication
(communication inside a department).

2.2 ROLE OF FRONT OFFICE :

The front office is at the centre of the information network and coordinates
with the many interdepartmental lines of communication that exist. These lines are
based on the kind of hospitality each department offers to guests. These include
clean rooms, properly operating equipment, safety, well–prepared food and
beverages, efficient service and accurate accounting of guest charges. These
general objectives help department heads organise their operations and meet the
overall goal of delivering professional hospitality. Though, constant effort is
required to manage the details of employees, materials, procedures and
communication skills to produce the right products and services. The front office
staff interact with all departments of the hotel, including marketing and sales,
housekeeping, food and beverage, banquet, finance, maintenance, security, and
human resources. For these departments, the front office is a communication
liaison in providing guest services. Each department has a unique communication
link with the front office staff. The front office, in turn, always becomes the face
of hospitality for guests. Guests usually approach the front office staff for the
services of other departments. The front office team must know and direct guest
inquiries to relevant staff in other departments. They learn this through training
programs on in–house policy and procedures.
Let us look at how the front office coordinates with other departments and
how these impact efficiencies.

2.3 MARKETING AND SALES DEPARTMENT :

The marketing and sales department gets data on guest histories and visits
from the front office. Such information is based on the frequency of visits,
corporate affiliation and special needs. It is also the front office department's job
to make an excellent first impression on every single person entering the hotel,
Front Office including relaying messages and meeting guest requests of those attending
Management meetings and banquets. Guest history is considered a valuable resource for
marketing and sales. Information obtained from guest registration (details on the
registration card filled by the guest during check–in) is used to develop marketing
campaigns, promotions, mailing lists and selection of advertising media. The front
office staff is responsible for keeping this database accurate and updated.
Completing the booking of a function (such as a wedding reception, convention or
seminar) depends on the availability of rooms. The marketing and sales staff may
have to check the lists of available rooms three or six months, or even a year in
the future to be sure that the hotel is in a position to accommodate the expected
number of guests. The front office maintains a database of available rooms in the
property management system.
Usually, the first guest contact with the marketing and sales department is
through the hotel's telephone operator. A competent operator who is friendly and
knowledgeable about hotel operations and personnel makes an excellent first
impression by conveying to the prospective client that the hotel is competent and
efficient in its operations. When guests finally arrive for the function, the first
contact is usually through the front office staff. The front office associate who
determines which banquet supervisor is in charge and communicates that
information to that guest demonstrates to all that the hotel is dedicated to providing
hospitality. Messages for the marketing and sales staff must be conveyed
accurately, and quickly as these could (and mostly are) related to new business ties
and corporate contracts. The telephone operator and the front desk associate is a
vital link in the communication between the prospective client and a salesperson
in the marketing and sales department.
The duty manager should instruct new front office personnel about the
marketing and sales staff their roles.
Front office employees should know the names of all marketing and sales
employees. Requests for service at conferences and banquets are often made at the
front office. The banquet manager or a banquet sales associate responsible for
guest requirements might be busy with another function. If a guest needs a specific
equipment such as an extension cord or if an electrical outlet malfunctions, the front
desk staff must be ready to cater to guest requests. Standard operating procedures
are established by the front office manager for staff to contact related departments
to meet common demands. Knowing where to find materials and services will aid
speedy redressal of guest requests and save the time involved in tracking down
the banquet sales or service in–charge.

2.4 HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT :

Housekeeping and the front office communicate about room status and
report on the availability of guestrooms for occupancy. Housekeeping communicates
room status using the following terms :
• Available Clean or Ready – room is available to be occupied
• Occupied – when guest(s) occupy a room
• Stay over – guest would not be checking out from a room on the current day
• Dirty or On–Change – guest has checked out, but housekeeping is yet to
release the room
 Interdepartmental
• Out–of–Order – the room is unavailable due to a mechanical malfunction
Communication
Housekeeping and front office also communicate on the house count (a
report of the total number of guests residing in the hotel), any security concerns
and requests for amenities such as personal toiletry or electrical equipment. Room
status is reported directly (face–to–face) in a hotel that does not use a Property
Management System (PMS). The regular visits of the housekeeper to the front desk
clerk are a familiar scene in such hotels. Room status is reported at the end of the
day using a discrepancy report by the housekeeper, listing the occupancy status as
vacant, occupied, or out of order. Occasionally when guests may be anxiously
waiting to occupy a room, the front desk attendant telephones the floor supervisor
to determine the time taken to finish servicing the room.
The housekeeper relies on the room sales forecast – a weekly report prepared
and distributed by the front office manager that indicates the number of
departures, arrivals, walk–in, no–shows and stayovers – to schedule employees.
Timely projection of room sales assists the housekeeper in planning employee
leaves and vacation days. The housekeeping personnel also reports unusual
circumstances that may indicate a violation of security for the guests. Suppose
a room attendant notice non–registered guests on a floor, suspicious activity, an
open fire exit, or signs of disturbance within a guest room, he or she must report
these to the front desk. They, in turn, relay the information to an in–house or civil
authority. The front office manager may direct front desk attendants and telephone
operators to call floor supervisors for a periodic check on the guest floor activities.
Guest may request for additional or special amenities and guest room supplies at
the front desk. The prompt relay of these requests to housekeeping is essential
to ensure efficient service.

2.5 FOOD AND BEVERAGE DEPARTMENT :

Food and beverage department and the front office communicate regularly.
Charge transfers, which are forms used to communicate a charge to a guest's
account, are used to relay messages and provide accurate information.
Communication activities also include reporting predicted house counts, a forecast
of the number of guests expected to check–in based on previous occupancy
activities and processing requests for paid–outs (forms used to indicate the amounts
of money paid out of the cashier's drawer on behalf of a guest or an employee
of the hotel). These vital services help an overworked food and beverage manager,
restaurant manager, or banquet captain meet the demands of the public. Incoming
messages for the food and beverage manager and executive chef from vendors and
other industry representatives are essential to the business operation of the food
and beverage department. Suppose the telephone operator is given instructions on
screening callers (such as times when the executive chef cannot be disturbed
because of a busy workload, or vendors in whom the chef is not interested). In
such cases, important messages can receive priority. In hotels with Point–of–Sale
(POS) terminals (computerised cash registers that interface with a property
management system), guest charges are automatically posted to a guest folio
(record of charges and payments).
When a hotel does not have POS terminals, the desk attendant posts accurate
charges on the guest folio and relies on transfer slips. The night auditor's job is
made easy if the transfer slip is accurately prepared and posted. The front office
manager should work with the food and beverage director in developing
standard operating procedures and methods to complete the transfer of charges.
Front Office The supervisors in the food and beverage department rely on the predicted house
Management count prepared by the front office manager to schedule employees and forecast
sales. For example, a restaurant supervisor working the breakfast shift may want
to know how many guests will be in the hotel to schedule a certain number of
servers for breakfast service. Timely and accurate communication helps in staffing
control and sales predictions. Authorised members of the food and beverage
department occasionally ask the front office for cash, in the form of a paid–out, to
purchase last–minute items for a banquet, the lounge or the restaurant or to take
advantage of unexpected opportunities to promote hospitality. Specific guidelines
concerning cash limits, turnaround time, prior approval, authorised signatures, and
purchase receipts are developed by the general manager and front office manager.
These guidelines help maintain control of paid outs.

2.6 BANQUET DEPARTMENT :

The banquet department, which often combines the functions of a marketing
and sales department and a food and beverage department, requires the front office
to relay information to guests about scheduled events and bill payment. The front
office staff prepares the daily announcement board listing the day's activities
(group, room/hall, time). This message board usually includes the logo of the hotel
and has space for event listings. It is placed at a visible location near the entrance
so that banquet guests (who may not be registered guests in the hotel) and
employees, get relevant information at a glance. The front office is a logical
communications centre. The preparation of the board may include congratulatory,
welcome, sales promotion, or other important messages. Sometimes, the marketing
and sales department prepares the messages for the message board. A banquet
guest unfamiliar with the hotel will ask for directions at the front office. This
service might seem minor in the overall scheme of things, but it is essential to the
lost or confused guest. The front office staff must not only know directions to a
meeting room, but also which event is being held in which room. Front desk
attendants must be able to provide information for all departmental activities in the
hotel. The person responsible for paying the bills for a special event may also end
up in the front office for settlement. Suppose the banquet captain is not available
to present the bill for the function personally. In that case, the front desk attendant
should be informed about the specifics of food and beverage charges, rental
charges, method of payment, and the like.

2.7 ACCOUNTS :
The cost–controller/auditor (a position in the accounts department) relies on
the front office staff to provide a daily summary of financial transactions in the
form of a night audit report. This report also helps measure the management's
ability to meet budgetary targets. Because the front office provides the controller
with financial data for billing and maintenance of credit card and city ledgers, these
two departments must relay payments and charges through the property
management system. The information generated by the front office department
is the first step in the guest accounting process. Without accurate daily entry by
desk attendants and generation of a night audit, the controller would be unable
to generate reports for the owners, general manager and supervisors. Although this
communication is in the form of reports, the front office and controller often
communicate orally. They share a common concern for guest hospitality, and when
finances are concerned, an oral discussion is inevitable.
 Interdepartmental
2.8 MAINTENANCE OR ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT : Communication
The front office communicates room status and requests for maintenance
service to the maintenance or engineering department. This helps maintenance
employees know the occupancy status of a room before attending to plumbing,
heating, or air–conditioning problems. If a room is reserved, the two departments
work out a period so the guest can enter the room on arrival or be assigned an
alternate room. Department staff must communicate with each other to provide
guest services seamlessly. Guests request the desk attendants/telephone operators
for the repair of HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air–conditioning) units,
plumbing, televisions, and other room furnishings, who then relay them to the
maintenance department. The front desk attendant must keep track of the repair
schedule, as guests would want to know when the repair would be made.

2.9 SECURITY DEPARTMENT :

Communications between the security and the front office are essential in
ensuring guests are safe and secure. The cooperation of these departments are
needed for fire safety measures and emergency communication systems, as well as
procedures for routine investigation of guest security concerns. Because of the
recent series of unfortunate events, the nature of the security hotels offers their
guests has changed. Front office staff must be on alert for people who do not belong
in the lobby and report inconsistencies to the security department. Doing so would
be seen as being supportive of security.

2.10 HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT :

The front office staff may act as an initial point of contact for potential
employees. Human resources may sometimes ask the front office to screen job
candidates. In such cases, guidelines for and training in screening methods must
be provided. Guidelines to screen candidates include those on personal hygiene,
completion of an application, educational requirements, experience and citizenship
status. Front office sometimes distributes application forms and other personnel–
related information to job applicants. A potential employee may seek directions to
the human resources office at the front desk.

2.11 ROLE OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN EFFECTIVE

COMMUNICATION :
Total quality management (TQM) is a management technique that encourages
managers to observe processes used to deliver products and services critically.
In this technique, managers encourage frontline employees and supervisors to
question each step in the process of providing hospitality to guests. Examples :
"Why do guests complain about having to wait during check out ?" "Why do guests
complain that our table service is below par ?" "Why do guests get annoyed when
their rooms aren't ready on check–in ?" Managers and employees together seek
answers to these questions. TQM was developed by W. Edwards Deming, a
management theorist, in the early 1950s to help American manufacturers improve
the quality of their products by reducing defects through worker participation in
the planning process. The American manufacturers were reluctant to embrace it at
first, but the Japanese were quick to adopt this technique to manufacture
automobiles. Deming gave managers tools such as flowcharts to analyse
production by dividing the manufacturing process into components and
Front Office then focusing on the segments of processes that produce the product. TQM's
Management relevance to the hotel industry was in the context of the interaction between
frontline employees and their supervisors. When employees in a group setting or
on a one–on–one basis interacted to determine the root cause of a problem, it
ushered an atmosphere of cooperation which resulted in the achievement of desired
results. First–shift and second–shift employees, who usually did not understand
each other's activities, found they did have shared concerns about serving the
guest. Housekeeping and front desk employees came to realise that a guest's
request for a late checkout plays havoc with the delivery of hospitality. Total
quality management practices thus ensure that the front office checks with
housekeeping to determine room availability in such a situation. Interdepartmental
communication improves every time a team of employees from different
departments meet to analyse a challenge to the delivery of a product or service.
While a guest is checking out, she indicates a dripping faucet in that room. After
the guest departs, the desk attendant brushes off her remark, saying to a fellow desk
attendant that there were so many dripping faucets in this hotel that one more
wouldn't change anything. Assuming you are the manager and heard this comment,
what would you do ?
v An Example of Total Quality Management in a Hotel :
Suppose the general manager has received numerous complaints about the
messy appearance of the lobby–furniture and cushions are out of place, ashtrays
and trash receptacles are overflowing and flowers are wilted. The front office
manager organises a total quality management team, consisting of a front desk
attendant, a housekeeping attendant, a waiter, a cashier and the director of
marketing and sales. The team discuss how the lobby area could be better
maintained. The housekeeping attendant says his colleagues are overworked and
are allotted only 15 minutes to clean up the public areas on the day shift. The front
desk attendant says he would often like to take a few minutes to go out to the lobby
to straighten the furniture and pillows, but he is not allowed to leave the front desk
unattended. The director of marketing and sales shares her embarrassment when a
prospective client is greeted with such a mess. She has requested housekeeping
several times to have the lobby cleaned but is told, "It's not in the budget to have
the lobby cleaned six times a day." All team members realise that the untidy lobby
does create a poor impression about the hotel, and that the situation should be
remedied. The team decides to look at the multiple elements in the case. The
furniture is on castors for ease of moving when the housekeeping staff cleans.
The cushions add a decorative touch to the environment, but they are usually
scattered around. The server jokingly says, "Let's sew them to the back and arms
of the seats!" Could the ashtrays be removed, and receptacles added for guests
to extinguish a cigarette ? Would a larger waste receptacle with a swinging lid be
better to avoid misplaced litter ? "The fresh flowers are great," adds one of the team
members, "but many hotels use silk flowers and plants. This could save money
over a period of time." The team discussion encourages each staff member to
understand why the housekeeping attendant cannot straighten the lobby every two
or three hours and why the desk attendant cannot leave his desk to take care of the
problem. The staff comments concerning furniture and appointments foster an
atmosphere of understanding. Team members start empathising with one another
and are slower to criticise. Was the issue of the messy lobby resolved ? Yes, but
more importantly, the team members developed
a way to look at a challenge in a more constructive manner. Upon initial review, the problem
seems to be that all employees should be encouraged to assist guests in an emergency. However,
in this case, the desk attendant has a perception problem about his job. This short–sightedness
probably results from inadequate training, a lack of opportunities for employees from various
departments to exchange ideas and socialise, and an atmosphere for employee motivation. The
front office manager should discuss the situation with the convention representative and emphasize
the benefits of total quality management. Supervisors must concentrate on the guests' needs and
foster employee growth and development so their employees will likewise focus on guests'
needs. These concepts are at the heart of effective interdepartmental communications.

2.0 GLOSSARY:
Front Office – The front office is also known as the face of the hotel. It is the
first guest contact area and the nerve center of the hotel.
Marketing – the action or business of promoting and selling products or services,
including market research and advertising
Corporate – The definition of corporate is something related to a business group
or a business that operates as a single legal unit
Database – A database is a collection of information that is organised so that it
can be easily accessed, managed and updated
Duty Manager – A manager authorized to take managerial decisions in the absence of
the General Manager.
House –
House use – The type of reservation when room is occupied by hotel employee or management,
which is not included in ADR calculations.
House Count – The number of people staying in a hotel on a given night, which helps
hotel manager and front desk staff assess how many more guests the hotel can
accommodate
Banquet – A banquet is a formal large meal or feast, often involving main courses and
desserts
Auditor – An auditor is a person, or a firm appointed by a company to execute an
audit