Chapter 7

Front Office
Equipments
Chapter 7 Front Office Equipments

Learning Objective
To
learn
Various types of equipments used in
front office
Equipments that make the hotel
operations
easy
and systematic
Methods to handling of the office
equipments

Chapter 7 Front Office Equipments

Room Rack
The room rack are the equipments where
registration records are inserted to serve
as room rack slips
Considered as most
important
equipmentpiece of front
office

Array of metal file pockets designed to hold

room rack slips that display guest and room
status information
When key slots are added to the room
rack, it can serve as a combination room
and key rack
Chapter 7 Front Office Equipments

Room Rack
One glance at the room rack should
immediately inform the front desk agent
of the occupancy and housekeeping status
of all rooms
Front desk agents normally use this
information to match available rooms with
guests needs during the registration
process

Chapter 7 Front Office Equipments

Key Rack

Chapter 7 Front Office Equipments

Key Rack
These are sets of racks were generally
kept at the front desk in earlier day
A key rack is an array of
numbered
compartments
used to store
guestroom keys
Key racks are often placed in front desk
drawers to ensure the safety and security
of guests

Chapter 7 Front Office Equipments

Key Rack
A combination of mail, message and key rack
can be either a free-standing wall unit or
an under the counter row of apartments
When the mail and message compartments
ofrack
the are open from both sides, telephone
operators and front desk agents
Operators who record telephone
messages
forthem
guests
can insert
into the rack from the back
side; front desk agents can retrieve the
messages from the front side
Chapter 7 Front Office Equipments

Reservation Racks
A special board or series of pigeonholes
where cards are put to show which room have
been booked
Front office uses both two types of
reservation racks
In an advance reservation rack,
reservation rack slops or registration
cards
are arranged
the guest
scheduled
dates ofbyarrival
and with
each
days
grouping

Chapter 7 Front Office Equipments

Reservation Racks
A current reservation rack is portable
subset of the advance reservation rack
The current reservation rack is used by
the
fronttodesk
agents
assist in processing guests
during
registration

Chapter 7 Front Office Equipments

Information Rack
An information rack is an index of in-house
guests, by both last name and room number
An information rack is commonly use to
assist
officefront
employees with proper routing of
telephone
calls,
mails
The information rack normally
consists
of aluminium
slots designed
to hold guest information
slips

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10

Folio Trays
Folio tray or folio bucket is where the
guest folios are stored and arranged by
guestroom numbers
Guest folios remain in the
tray
throughout
occupancy
stagethe
of the guest
cycle,
when they
are usedexcept
in posting
transactions
A second folio tray is
normally
located
in the
accounting
office
hotels

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11

Folio Trays
This tray contains the folios of departed
guests being directly-billed or of guests
who paid by credit card
Once these accounts are
settles,
the folios
are
to permanent
storage
moved
location

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12

Account Posting Machine

An
electromechanical or
electronic device use
in semi-automated
hotels
An account posting
machine is used to
post, monitor, and
balance charges and
credits to
guest accounts

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13

Other Equipments
Voucher rack it is a container for storing
vouchers for future reference and
verification during the night audit
Cash register used to record to cash
transactions
and maintain cash
balances
Telephone equipment telephone
equipments
consists of call accounting systems,
automatic
call
dispensing,
telephone / room status
system, fax machine and call detection
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14

Other Equipments
Credit card imprinter Imprinter
presses
a credit
card voucher
against a guests
credit card
Magnetic strip reader a magnetic
strip
readsreader,
data magnetically encoded and
stored on the magnetic tape strip on
credit card
Time stamp Time stamp recording
isestablishment
important forof chronology of
events
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15

Other Equipments
Security Monitor CCTV cameras for
security personnel to monitor certain
areas of hotel
Wake-up devices used by
telephone
operators
place wake-up
callsto
Multi-zone clock indicators of the time at
different time zones across world

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Other Equipments
Wi-fi ticket provides user id and password to
guest to access the internet facility of the
hotel
Card imprinting machine PVC cards
enabling
the
customers
to make it easy to book for
them

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17

Safety Equipments
Safety equipments used in
hotel
the basic
safety
equipments
include
Smoke detectors to detect smoke in case of
fire as a preventive measure
Fire extinguishers meant to involve
various classes fires
Carbon monoxide detectors important to
detect as the gas is invisible and
dangerous
Sprinkler systems equipments to sprinkler
18
water in case Chapter
of 7fire
Front Office Equipments

Safety Equipments
Smoke detectors
To detect smoke in case of fire as a
preventive measure
Some detectors have ability to report
heat build up prior to evidence of smoke
or flame
Some of the detectors respond only to
the
andsmoke
other products of
combustion
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19

Safety Equipments
Smoke detectors
Single-station hard wired smoke
detectors
that the require
unit be on electric wiring as
opposed
battery to the
power
An automated system integrated all
smoke
detectors in each location
Many local jurisdictions enacted local
regulations requiring fully automated
smoke detector systems
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20

Safety Equipments
Fire ExtinguishersFour classes of fires that a lodging
property should be prepared for
Class A Involves ordinary
combustibles
Class B Involve flammable
liquids
Class C Involve electrical
equipment
Class D Involve cooking oils
and fats
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21

Safety Equipments
Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Carbon monoxide is a dangerous by-product
of a malfunctioning water heater, kerosene
heater,
boiler coal
and any other wood
Carbon monoxide is invisible and has no
smell, it cannot be detected by natural
means

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Safety Equipments
Sprinkler Systems
Sprinkler systems are now mandated
in an establishments four stories or
higher
Most jurisdictions now require full
sprinkler in the new constructions of any
commercial property

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Accident Prevention Signs

Hotel also uses various signs to prevent
accidentsDanger signs which indicate the
immediate
dangers ahead
Caution signs used to warn against
potential hazards
Safety instruction signs use where need
for general instructions relative to
safety measures
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Summary
The Front office department of a hotel
comprises of the sections like Reservation,
Front Desk, Bell desk, Travel desk,
Concierge etc
The Front office manager must be a skilled
planner who channelizes the various
resources
The Front desk agent is the
first
person the
a guests
seesthe last person
on entering
hotel and
the guest sees on leaving
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Summary

The front office is elegantly designed to

accommodate the staff and for the smooth
service
to
the guests
Number of front office equipments ensure an
effective hospitality of the guest

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