Hotel Front Office Management, 3rd Edition

116 CHAPTER 4: PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMSFigure 4-15. Inquiries/reports module.1. Reservations2. Registrations3. Checkouts4. Housekeeping5. Credit Balanceson the guest ledger and city ledger; compilation and production of the payroll; budgetpreparation; the production of the profit-and-loss statement, which is an official financiallisting of income and expenses; and the balance sheet, which is an official financial listingof assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity at a certain point in time. For example, financialinformation concerning a certain vendor is entered once on a terminal located in the backoffice (controller’s office). This information is then reflected throughout various parts ofthe accounting process. Likewise, the financial information produced through the nightaudit can be accessed for various reports. These and other features assist in streamliningthe accounting process.HousekeepingObtaining current information concerning guest room status has always caused problemsfor the front desk staff. Guests become very impatient when they are delayed in thecheck-in process. Desk clerks who have not received a room release from housekeepinghave no choice but to remain calm and try to appease the guests. The process of obtainingready status is quickly achieved with a PMS (Figure 4-17). The maid or houseman entersthe ready status immediately through a computer terminal on the guest floor, instead ofwaiting to report a block of rooms to the floor supervisor. The housekeeper no longerneeds to make several trips per day to the desk clerk to release blocks of rooms. Theefficiency of this module depends on the continued efforts of the housekeeping staff inreporting room status.Personnel assignments of room attendants for cleaning rooms can also be made veryFigure 4-16. Back office module.1. Accounts Payable2. Acounts Receivable3. Payroll4. Budgets5. General Ledger6. ReportsTLFeBOOK