Front office management I

Module II Departure & Post Departure

Guest accounts settlement

As the guest leaves there are a number of tasks that have to be completed by the reception. Once the bills have been paid the cashier will either pass the GRC back to the reception, or send a notification. The receptionist should then remove the guest name from the room status system & mark the room as “vacant but not ready”.
Notification of departure should be made to the relevant departments (HK, Porters & switch board) so that they may update their house list. The H.keeper will then be able to assign a maid to clean the room and when it has been inspected the room will be returned to the reception and it will be possible to re-let the accommodation. Extra departures and extension of stay are notified to departments separately to ensure that they are not overbooked.

Departure Procedure

The guest will call the bell desk when she/he wants to check out. The bell captain raises a departure errand card which is colour coded differently for easy identifications and hands it over to the front office cashier before proceeding to the room to collect the guest baggage. This alerts the cashier of a checkout and proceeds to complete the bill and totals. She/he checks out for any late vouchers from any revenue outlet to post it accordingly in the folio. The cashier also checks the billing instructions. The guest has the following billing instruction.

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  Cash Payment
  
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  Credit card payment
  
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  Payment by travellers Cheque
  
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  Payment by Travel Agents Voucher indicating the room charges are paid to him
  
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  Signing the bill to confirm the charges and passing it on to CL for collection from the companies as per prior arrangement.
  

Personal cheques are not accepted unless endorsed with the specific approval of the lobby manager. At the time of payment the cashier will ask the guest if he/she has consumed the minibars in the room. The cashiers trust the guests’ reply if she/he does not have any charges. If there is a service used, the cashier
will follow up with the concerned revenue outlet to speed up the bill to the cashier for the recovery of the payment.