Question

Case 401

Hotel Front Office Management

Ana Chavarria, front office manager, and Lorraine DeSantes, director of marketing and sales, have just returned from a computer conference at which they were able to look at the latest property management systems for hotels. Ana is enthusiastic about updating and adopting front office applications for reservations, registration, room status, posting, call accounting, checkout, and night audit. Lorraine is sure the marketing and sales applications will help her department be more efficient. Both realize the cost involved in obtaining modules for a property management system. What would you suggest they do prior to discussing this issue with Margaret Chu, general manager of The Times Hotel? Assuming Ms. Chu is willing to consider the purchase of a PMS, how should Ana and Lorraine proceed? Whom should they include in developing a PMS adoption plan, and why? What areas should they investigate?

Answer 1

- Suggestion regarding what Ana and Lorraine do prior to discussing this issue with Margret, the general manager of the Times Hotel:

Accommodation or hospitality is about the visitor experience – it generally has been, and it generally will be. So as to appreciate any level of achievement, guaranteeing that the lodging's visitors make the most of their stay is key. So as long as your guests are making some extraordinary memories and have no bad things to say about your property, things should deal with themselves right?

While this methodology may have worked before the beginning of the web, it's not, at this point a matter of simply taking care of the visitors. Property's needs have expanded significantly with the ascent of computerized innovation. Unexpectedly, notwithstanding housekeeping undertakings, stock administration and various other regulatory obligations, lodgings expected to take care of their online nearness, OTA rankings, dispersion and in any event, showcasing. What's more, overlooking these errands is just impossible today – rivalry in the business has developed to such a level, that properties that don't embrace innovation are quickly deserted.

Incidentally, the answer for this issue of expanded innovation is innovation itself – the executives programming can disentangle various center tasks in the lodging and smooth out procedures, permitting all workers to carry out their responsibility all the more effectively and thus improving the visitor experience as well!

Here's the manner by which –

a. More Opportunity for Staff:

A property the board framework (PMS) robotizes various every day assignments that are generally done by workers, for example, late evening examining, reservation association, etc. By sparing the staff from taking care of these back-end forms, they can focus on genuine accommodation – caring for the visitors. At the point when a property's staff is responsive, visitors value it. They may not know about the usage of a PMS that empowered this; however it has no effect to them as long as they keep on encountering incredible, convenient assistance!

b. Permits Better Planning:

With the PMS caring for all the reservations coming in and monitoring spending, benefits, and an assortment of visitor patterns, preparing turns out to be so a lot less difficult. Detailing used to be a dull activity – supervisors would need to accumulate information from a few divisions everywhere throughout the inn and afterward dissect them before thinking of any valuable data, a procedure that would take days to weeks! Be that as it may, the PMS destroys this progression by gathering and putting away the information, yet in addition speaking to it in basic outlines! This permits the lodging to quantify visitor criticism all the more viably, check their energy for the POS outlets and find a way to push ahead.

c. Upgrades the Quality of the Stay:

While the executives innovation assumes a major job in smoothing out back-end activities, it likewise directly affects the nature of the visitors remain. The PMS tells the front work area specialist when a visitor is expected, regardless of whether they're voyaging solo or with a family, the length of the remain, and gives various goodies about the visitor that can be utilized to construct a profile. This permits the workers to get ready ahead of time for a family with numerous youngsters, or genuinely tested visitors who may require help. In addition, whenever the visitor visits the property, the supervisor will have the option to allude to their profile and set up their room only the manner in which they had mentioned it the past time! The executive’s innovation like the PMS has united the different units of an inn into a flawless, efficient stack from where they would all be able to be checked and overseen on one screen. And keeping in mind that this has helped inns support productivity and increment benefits, it has likewise improved the visitor experience, manufacturing a more grounded connection between the inn and visitor.

So keeping all this in mind, Ana and Lorraine can make a detail report referring to all these points from their own department’s point of view. This would help them convince Margret as she would be able to see the whole positive achievements they as a hotel can achieve by adopting and implementing a PMS.

- If Margaret is ready to proceed with the adoption plan then Ana and Lorraine should continue in the following manner and by including the following people;

Now when proceeding with the plan, both Ana and Loraine should make the proper project planning so as to have a record of their requirements. And they should know the requirements of each department, which they should adopt in accordance with the facilities that they hold and which they should eliminate.

And then they should choose the proper software which would either be tailor made if they cannot find the apt software or they can buy the software’s which are already readily available in the market. And they should have both internal IT team and the software team who can configure the systems and servers within the hotel and ensure that there is a proper support team being set in the entity so as to be used in future if any need arises.

The people they should include in the venture are their team members who assist them in each areas or functions of the department in order to take their inputs in knowing the requirements.

And a strong IT team who will be able to assist the hotel with the difficulties or uncertainties that may arise in future with respect to the installs PMS.

They should also include Margret in the whole picture as she leads them and would be having much more intense view on the same.

- The areas that they should investigate would be:

a. How it would help or enhance the stay and experience of the customers.

b. How this would be improving the time of the employees?

c. Enhancing the check in and checkout facilities.

d. Improvement in the housekeeping service.

e. Integrating the back office systems.

f. Management of the revenue of the hotel.

g. Managing and maintaining the customer data.