Hotel Front Office Management, 3rd Edition

350 CHAPTER 12: TRAINING FOR HOSPITALITYFRONTLINE REALITIESou have been asked by the front office manager of a local hotel to offer some tips on trainingnew employees at the front desk. What guidelines would you offer?6YThe responsibility of administering the training program rests with the front officemanager. If this responsibility is delegated to an assistant in the front office or humanresources department, details of administration need to be discussed with that person.Effective training for front office positions is not easy to apply in the hospitality industry.The constant flow of people at the front desk, registrations and special events,telephone calls, emergencies, vendor calls, and other demands require the front officemanager to be able to balance the needs of the moment with those of the future. However,if quality hospitality services and products are to be available, training procedures fornew employees must be well planned and developed.Cross-trainingEven the most basic training programs must make provisions for developing employeeskills that are useful to the organization. The unpredictable nature of business volumeand employee availability in the hotel industry calls for a staff that is very versatile. Crosstraining,which means training employees for performing multiple tasks and jobs, is key.A front office staff member who is able to perform multiple jobs has rescued many afront office manager during a crisis. The front office manager who discovers that onefront desk clerk and one telephone operator are unexpectedly absent on the same daycan attest to the value of cross-training. If a bellhop knows how to operate the PMS andthe reservationist has been trained to use the switchboard, the day can be saved. Crosstrainingwill get a front office manager out of many tight situations only if he or she hasplanned for it. Through training and maintaining accurate records that indicate whichemployees can handle other job responsibilities, cross-training can be vital in the hotelbusiness. If cross-training is to be provided, this should be built into a job descriptionand pay rate. However, before planning for cross-training, all managers must be awarethat some labor unions prohibit the practice of assigning noncontractual duties, and inthis case, cross-training would not be viable.Developing a TrainerCareful consideration should be given to selecting the individual who will train newemployees. This person should have a professional attitude and provide trainees withTLFeBOOK