Training

Are you right in the front (desk)?

Whether it's a five-star property or a small hotel, the front office staff are the first ones to interact with guests. Priya Krishnaswamy finds out what they can do to become exceptional in their job

Picture yourself dealing with a tired, angry person who's unhappy with his pillow, or someone who insists that your hotel is the worst place they have come across. How would you deal with such a situation?

While there is no one way to do so, what the front desk staff can do is communicate with the troubled guest, and communicate well and the more languages they know, the better they are at it. This, they can do, by understanding human behaviour. Being able to manage people well is an art and an indispensable part of the job profile. Because nothing will ruin a guest's experience faster than poor service.

For this there are institutes like Garden City College in Bangalore that have a special academy for training hotel management students in English language. Dr V G Joseph, its chairman, says, "We concentrate on pronunciations and on improving their vocabulary. Good communication skills are a pre-requisite to the front office staff."

Strike the right chord

Learning to gauge customer satisfaction is a valuable skill that can help preempt problems. They need to interpret body language and be aware of changes in tone of voice. Says Kalpana Sukumaran, lobby manager, The Chancery Pavillion, "One should be aware of one's body language as well. You can't gesture wildly or appear casual while interacting with a customer. Making the guests feel at home should be the core focus for anyone who has to directly deal with them."

While there are certain dos and don'ts, it is of utmost importance to maintain eye contact with customers. Dr Joseph adds that the staff needs to listen carefully to what the guests are saying, lest they miss out on something important or, worse, give them an impression that they aren't being taken seriously.

However, it is important to understand that it is impossible to satisfy each and every guest. So while the front office can bend backwards to accommodate every guests' whim, care must be taken to avoid getting stressed if all else fails. Stress management, therefore, is another pre-requisite that the front office staff needs to practice and hiring counsellors will stand the hotels in good stead.

In any case, the increasing use of labour saving devices by hotels may limit guest interaction. Computerised systems now provide many of the services traditionally offered by front desk staff. For example, check-in and check-out procedures are now automated in many larger establishments and interactive devices that dispense information also curb any possibility for communication.