Front Desk Operations

Braidwood Hospitality Management is experienced in all areas of Front Desk operations and provides these services to our clients on request. We recognize that the majority of revenue derived by small and medium sized hotels comes from room sales therefore it is important that all functions and activities of the Hotel Front Desk are geared towards supporting guest transactions and services which means that accurate planning and monitoring of front office transactions is paramount as many guests view the front desk as the hotel.

The Front Office Manager (FOM) must be skilled in the areas of leadership, guest service, training, PMS (Property Management Systems), rate setting, market segment tracking, yield management, budgeting and GDS/website maintenance ensuring that the later is positioned within the Global Distribution System on 3rd party websites such as Expedia or Orbitz.

Typically, the guest cycle or flow of business in the front office can be broken down into four stages: Pre-arrival, Arrival, Occupancy and Departure.

The Pre-Arrival stage is typically where the guest will conduct their research and make a reservation. This selection process can be affected by factors such as previous experience, company travel policy, travel agents, hotel website, location or company travel policy to name a few.

In the Arrival Stage the guest will register and establish credit with the hotel usually with a pre-determined rate and room type.

The Occupancy Stage is where the guest will use hotel services and where charges will start to appear on the guest folio.

The Departure Stage is where the guest will check out and settle their account and the information on each guest is transferred to hotel guest history in the hotel’s PMS.