Hotel ReceptionThe Daily Routine |
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As head receptionist
of this large hotel in the north of England, our receptionist manages a
team of eight others. She is also responsible for checking guests
in and out of the hotel and dealing with telephone enquiries. She
works shifts: either 7am to 3.30pm or 3pm to 11pm.
A typical early shift.7am: The first job is to count the takings from the previous day. I get the cash float from the night manager and check the safe. The takings from every department - bar, restaurant, accommodation, and leisure club - come to reception, before I send them to the bank. Then I run computer reports on the hotel's guests for the day. The reports are sent to each department. The report for the housekeeper tells her which rooms are in use and need cleaning. The manager's report includes rates that different guests have paid and who's arriving on this day. One of the reports shows our takings for the previous day, which I balance against the money we've actually counted.7.30am: Next I run reception reports. These show which guests are leaving, staying on and arriving. It allocates suitable rooms for new arrivals. The housekeeper tells us when vacant rooms have been cleaned and are ready for new guests. We check this against the number of guests we have for the coming night so that we know how many rooms are available. The report shows repeat orders - such as newspapers or wake-up calls - for guests that are staying on another night. 7.45am: Most guests who are leaving today start checking out around now. We take payments from them in cash, cheques or credit cards. When most departing guests have gone, I re-balance the money we've just taken, to make sure that the money we've taken matches how much we should have. 11am: I post charges for guests staying on. This means telling the computer to charge them for another day's accommodation. I make sure we've got all the keys back from people who've left. If any are missing we order new ones. Then we get on with a number of jobs until the end of the shift. These include phoning other local hotels to see how many rooms they've got available. So if we get full, we can send people onto their hotel. We also post hotel brochures that people have requested, frank the mail and order change from the bank. Every week I do spot checks on day rates to make sure reception staff have filled bills out correctly. We also take hundreds of telephone calls. These include requests
for brochures or for directions to find the hotel, enquiries about local
tourist or shopping areas, messages for guests and calls to be transferred
to other departments.
On a late shift, you work more on checking guests into the hotel. That involves giving them a suitable room, offering a wake-up call and newspaper and a reservation for dinner. We record their requests and pass them onto the right department. We explain the hotel's facilities, direct them to their room and get a porter to help them with their luggage. |
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