| Where it works |
| The Front Office Manager or Head of Reception or Reception Manager can be part of the Room Division or a separate department. The position reports directly to Hotel Manager in a separate Front Office Division or reports to the Room Division Manager if the department is a part of the Room Division. |
| The activities |
| The Front Office Manager takes care of all the services related to the reception, coordinating the activities of the entire hall. In addition to welcoming guests and providing them with suggestions and information on the place of stay, this professional figure also deals with the management of reservations, manages complaints and misunderstandings that occur or communicates to the reception and, more generally, coordinates and monitors the activity of the Front Office. In particular, the Front Office Manager is the position with the first point of contact with customers. He or she welcomes the customer upon arrival and provides assistance throughout the stay, manages the arrival and departure registers, provides for the customer’s registration; is, therefore, responsible for room reservations, checks availability and proceeds with their assignment upon arrival of customers. It manages complaints and problems reported by customers and emergencies and carries out administrative and accounting operations such as issuing invoices and cash activity. It manages and coordinates the staff for room services, planning the presence of collaborators based on the booking requests received. It also manages contracts with travel agencies and tour operators and participates in designing packages to offer tourists |
| Qualifications |
| This figure is usually held by graduates in tourism, business administration or languages. |
| Technical skills |
| The Front Office Manager must have a thorough knowledge of the policies and procedures of the front office and the hotel as a whole, as well as the services offered by the hotel. He or she must know about hotel technology, particularly from a managerial, administrative and accounting point of view |
| Computer and linguistic knowledge |
| It is essential to be proficient in the English language (written and spoken), and an additional language such as Korean, Chinese, or French is an advantage. He/She must also possess IT skills as a general user/expert using specific software for the front office activities such as Opera. |
| Personality and availability |
| This figure should possess the ability to organize one’s work and that of others, managing team work, problems solving, and the relationship with customers. He/she must be courteous and patient, able to self-control and manage stress, attentive to details and able to handle customer complaints. He/She must be available to work outside hours, on weekends and shifts. |