How to effectively improve the management level of hotel front office

Therefore, hotels should take active measures to improve customer satisfaction in view of the problems existing in the front office.

First, the role of modern hotel lobby

The front hall is the first place where guests directly contact with the hotel, which involves all the contents of the hotel's service to guests and is the starting point and end point of the hotel's service to guests. First of all, the lobby is usually located at the main entrance of the hotel, which is the main place for guests to get information after check-in. Secondly, for the hotel, the front office is the department that organizes tourists, sells rooms, organizes reception and coordinates guest services, and provides various comprehensive services for guests. Finally, the front hall is like the facade of a hotel. Every guest's service from arrival to final departure is closely related to the work in the front desk, which is directly related to the guest's first impression and service satisfaction. The service quality of the hotel is directly related to the survival and development of the hotel, and the front hall plays a vital role in it. The service quality and management decision-making level of the front office will directly affect the hotel's market image and industry competitiveness, thus affecting the hotel's economic benefits. Therefore, the front office is the key to the operation of various departments in modern hotel management and plays a very important role.

Second, the problems existing in the front office operation of modern hotels

1. The organizational structure and process of the front desk are complicated.

The organizational structure of modern hotel lobby is mostly hierarchical management, and there are deviations and misunderstandings in information transmission from managers, lobbies, supervisors, foreman to employees, which takes a lot of time. In today's increasingly fast-paced society, this hierarchical management process is cumbersome. Reducing organizational levels and flattening organizational structure are the development trends of modern hotel management, which can make information transmission smoother. If the receptionist's request process wears away the patience of the guests, it is easy to cause complaints. This is a common problem in front desk work.

2. The skills of front office staff in selling rooms need to be further improved.

One of the main tasks of the front desk is to sell rooms. Room sales closely related to the front desk mainly include the following situations: reservation sales, reception sales, reasonable arrangement of rooms and price control. (1) When booking sales, guests often call or go directly to the front desk to make reservations. In this process, it is far from enough to have active promotion awareness. The success of booking is also influenced by the receptionist's sales promotion skills, proficiency and familiarity with hotel products. (2) When receiving sales, the receptionist should show a strong sense of service to the guests who have booked rooms, and pay attention to publicizing other service facilities of the hotel, which is very weak in actual operation. (3) The receptionists are often not flexible enough because they are not familiar with the elasticity of house prices. They only checked in and reported the price of the day according to the actual situation, and did not actively promote sales by flexibly combining hotel price policies and preferential policies.

3. There is a large turnover of front desk personnel and a serious brain drain.

According to the data, the average turnover rate of hotel employees in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and other cities is around 30%, and some hotels even reach 45%. In all departments of the hotel, the turnover rate of employees in the front office accounts for more than 80% of the whole hotel. An employee needs at least 3 to 6 months of training and work practice to meet the post requirements of the front office. Moreover, the hotel has a large amount of information and special requirements for the front desk staff, which makes the loss cost of the front desk staff much higher than other departments. Staff turnover will not only affect the service quality of the hotel, but also increase the training cost of the hotel. Employee turnover will also adversely affect the work mood of other employees working in the hotel, and affect the mood and work morale of others to some extent.

4. The communication between the front desk and other departments needs to be further strengthened.

The front office plays an important role in the normal and efficient operation of the hotel, but the hotel service is the result of the joint efforts of all departments and posts, and it also needs to cooperate closely with other departments to better carry out customer service, strengthen communication and coordination, and ensure the efficient operation of all departments and links in the hotel. In the actual operation of modern hotels, a large part of the reasons for guest complaints are the lack of communication between departments. For example, a guest who has booked a room is often told by the receptionist to wait for check-in after checking in, because the waiter is cleaning the room, and then the guest will definitely be dissatisfied. The reason is that the front office and housekeeping department did not check and communicate the room information well.

Third, the modern hotel lobby construction countermeasures

1. Improve the front desk receptionist's skills in selling rooms.

First of all, skillfully negotiate the price with the guests in different ways. There are usually three methods to choose from: (1) chat method. The receptionist should know the characteristics and preferences of the guests through chatting, analyze their psychology, introduce the products patiently, and let the guests feel that the products sold by the hotel are worth the money when talking about the price. In the process of sales, the value of the hotel is recommended rather than the price. (2) Optional methods. The trick is that the front desk clerk first offers several alternative prices to the guests and then asks their opinions. (3) infiltration method. In this way, the guest who accepts the first request will secretly say that he can accept this request. Therefore, they may accept greater demands. Secondly, understand the characteristics of different guests. Guests staying in the hotel have different nationalities, occupations, genders, ages and accommodation purposes. The waiter at the front desk can grasp the characteristics of the guests and promote the sales flexibly. Finally, introduce hotel-related products in a timely manner. Most hotel guests need to decide how to spend money according to the service and introduction of the receptionist. The front desk clerk should be familiar with the hotel's sales policy and price range, and the front desk receptionist should also understand the situation of the same industry, help the guests to compare and analyze, highlight the advantages and characteristics of the hotel, and help the guests make a choice.

2. The organizational structure of the front desk should be flat.

The organizational structure of the front office of modern hotels should be flattened, and the authorization of the grass-roots waiters should be strengthened, so that the receptionists don't have to report to a certain extent, and each employee can solve some problems independently, so that the complaints about service quality will be reduced by 4. For receptionists, full authorization can inspire employees' sense of responsibility, creativity and initiative to serve customers sincerely. This self-responsible and conscientious service of employees will also bring good reputation and credibility to the hotel and make it more competitive.

3. Implement "people-oriented" management to retain talents.

The loss of front desk staff will bring some losses to the hotel and affect the service quality of the hotel. To fundamentally change this situation, we should start from the following aspects: (1) We should improve the salary and welfare of employees. Hotels should pay attention to the dedication of front desk staff to sacrifice their personal time for overtime work, provide employees with wages, overtime pay and appropriate rewards, effectively curb brain drain and attract outstanding external talents to join. (2) Implement "people-oriented" management. In the final analysis, the products sold by hotels to guests are services, and the quality of service products depends on the service skills and enthusiasm of every employee at the front desk. Hotels should respect every employee, safeguard the rights and interests of front desk employees, enhance their self-confidence, stimulate their enthusiasm for work, and improve their satisfaction and loyalty to the hotel. (3) Make personal career development plan. The hotel makes personal development plans for employees and helps them study. Through learning, every employee can measure his existing ability and make his specialty and development direction adapt to the changing needs of the hotel. Through this continuous personal development, he can help employees adapt to the needs of hotel work and future development, promote the development of individuals and hotels, and reduce the turnover rate of employees.

4. Strengthen communication and cooperation among departments.

First of all, one of the first departments closely related to the front office is the housekeeping department. Take the process from check-in to check-out as an example: guests enter the room directly after check-in. If the front desk doesn't check the room information with the housekeeping department in time, it is likely that the guests will have to wait. After the guests check in, the front desk customer service center should strengthen the contact and communication with the housekeeping department, try to meet the reasonable requirements put forward by the guests, and make a reasonable explanation for those who can't meet them temporarily. Secondly, the front desk should also strengthen communication with the sales department and public relations department. The front office needs to cooperate closely with the sales department in the room sales work and participate in formulating the room sales strategy. In addition, the front desk and the finance department should also communicate in time to ensure clear accounts. The front office should also communicate with the catering department. Receptionist should master the service items and service characteristics of the food and beverage department and assist in sales promotion. The front desk should also communicate with the personnel department to facilitate the recruitment and on-the-job training of new employees.

5. Cultivate the receptionist's sense of service

First of all, to cultivate service awareness, we should correct the service attitude of the reception staff. It is necessary to create a good atmosphere for the front desk team and establish the sense of ownership of grassroots employees. Let employees take the initiative to provide services, rather than taking services as "tasks"; Secondly, in practice, a lot of work experience is necessary to cultivate the service perception of receptionists. Incorrect service perception will gradually be eliminated, and correct service perception will remain. In this way, work experience and theory will be more closely combined during training; Finally, we should look for a new service thinking mode, not just a fixed service program, but a personalized service based on it, which is the embodiment of service perception. If the receptionist can perceive the guest's needs from a look, a gesture and an action, she can put herself in the guest's shoes to provide every detail service.