7 Practical Tips to Improve Your Front Desk Operations

As a hotelier, the main motive is to create a positive impression in front of guests from the moment they walk through the door, and front desk operations play a vital role in achieving this. Inefficient front desk operations can spoil the first impression and break the guest’s experience throughout their stay. Every guest who stays at your hotel will interact face-to-face or online to learn more about them. If issues arise during their stay, they will turn to the hotel front office for resolution.

What are the main front desk duties?

There are so many duties at the front desk. They have to welcome the guests and ask them if everything is ok or if any issues arise while coming to the hotel. Make a good impression in front of guests so that they can stay there and book your hotel for their event. If you make a bad impression in front of guests they reject your hotel and you have to bear a loss.

The front desk handles so many tasks such as making reservations, checking guests in and out of their rooms, and accommodating special requests before, during, and after their stay. They also keep records, including updating files and guest profiles, while taking various service requests throughout the day and solving the problems of their guests.

How to improve your front desk operations

1. Know your guests inside out

Impress your guests by giving priority and gits and providing them with an excellent environment. Give them a list of your loyal and repeat customers and learn what they like and don’t. If they always ask for a certain room or amenity, you have to inform on front desk.  It shows that they’re a truly valued guest and not just another customer.

Provide them with all the things that they want and give them a gift which they feel special. That they are truly valuable for you. Always ask questions answering whether everything is ok or if any problem arises 

2. Prioritize tasks accordingly

Your Front desk is a very important part of your business. They have a lot of responsibilities, they have to perform different tasks every day. It is the main responsibility of the front desk to treat their guest sweetly to make a good first impression of your brand.

If there is a shortage of staff in your hotel hire more staff and provide them a training so that they work efficiently. If you are running your hotel in a busy place so ask your staff to do your work quickly and efficiently and if you are running a hotel on the seaside consider things slowly and give a welcome drink to your guests and answer any questions at a more relaxed pace.

3. Hire Enough Staff

The front desk is responsible for all the activities like checking in and out, providing better services, and solving any problems that come up. If you don’t have enough staff to cover everything, it becomes difficult for you to work efficiently which creates a bad impact on your guest.

If your guests suffer from any problem or they want to solve it now not in one hour but with a shortage of staff you can help them properly, it will create a negative image in the mind of your guests and you have to suffer from great loss.

Because of the shortage of staff, the brand of the hotel may spoil and they have to suffer from great losses so to earn higher profit hire new staff and give them proper training to treat guests properly and increase the brand value of your hotel.

4. Make Optimum Use Of Technology

The use of technology helps the front desk to work efficiently and perfectly. With the help of advanced technology, you can easily maintain your guests’ data.

Technology that can help to perform your front desk operations includes:

• Online check-in and out. If guests check in through an app before their arrival, they can go directly to their room. This frees up your staff to focus on urgent front desk matters so that they perform other activities easily.
• Contactless concierge. In most hotels, guests must contact the front desk to ask for tickets or any local recommendations. But these types of questions are easily asked in a hotel guest app, giving your staff more time to focus on your task and perform well and providing excellent hospitality.

5. Invest In Your People

If you hire new staff in your hotel it’s your responsibility to provide proper to them so that they work with full efficiency. But over time every things become changes like changes in technology and the needs of guests so everyone has to take training to learn more and perform all the activities well. This will help in the future to earn higher profits.

6. Make A Powerful First Impression

The main duty of the front desk is to create a powerful first impression in front of guests. This will help to make good relations with your guests and ask questions to them is that everything is ok or if any issue occurs while coming and give them a welcome drink. It will help to know more about them a try to know their likes and likes it becomes easy for you to provide a happy environment.

7. Embrace automation

They should not force the guest to check in at their hotel and give them a proper time and space so that they feel better.  This will create a good impression in front of guests and try to provide a good environment so that they are ready to check in at their hotel. At that time you try to know about their likes or dislikes so you can treat them in a good way