Front Office Manager

**Key Duties and Responsibilities**:

- To control the availability of rooms and to maximize hotel revenue, as well as responsible for the day-to-day functions of the Front Office, such as handling guest arrival and departure, and information requests.
- Maintains an organized reservation handling system to easily analyze trends and accurately forecast occupancy.
- Maintains a high performance standard among guest contact staff so they are knowledgeable, friendly and courteous when dealing with the guest.
- Informs the management via reports about the results of trends or guest impressions and problems in the hotel affecting the guest or the operation.
- Works closely with the Housekeeping Department to turn rooms around with a minimum of lost time and to allocate arriving guest in accommodation.
- Participates in decisions involving occupancy goals, marketing strategies, and development of rates.
- Works closely with the Sales Department to determine the most advantageous market segment ratios and to carefully handle groups and conventions upon arrival and during their stay.
- Works closely with Accounts to ensure billing procedures are effective.
- Coordinates with the Human Resources Department to ensure staff training is continuously carried out and proficiency is maintained at all times.
- Maintains control of guest room keys, mail, parcels and need supply.
- Ensures a professional switchboard operation at all time and carried out routine test calls to ensure the standard is as high as possible
- Supervises Reception and Reservations personnel to ensure optimum occupancy and average room rate for purpose of maximizing revenue.
- Monitors Front Office personnel to ensure guests receive prompt, warm attention and personal recognition.
- Informs other operating departments, notably Housekeeping of all Front Office matters that concerns them.
- Establishes and maintains effective employee relations.
- Assists Director of Human Resources matters such as interviewing, appraising and consulting.
- Identifies training needs, assists in developing formal training plans and implementing training sessions.
- Inspects frequently for cleanliness and orderliness of the Lobby reception and Cashier’s desk and, VIP rooms prior to guest arrival.
- Maintains appropriate standards of conduct, dress, hygiene, uniform appearance and posture of department employees.
- Conducts regular Front Office department meetings.
- Promotes inter-hotel sales and in-house facilities.
- Assists in the preparation of statistical, performance and forecast reports as necessary, to facilitate annual budget and strategic plan preparation and provides management with marketing information.
- Assists in monitoring and controlling, on an on-going basis, department costs to ensure performance against budget.
- Routinely checks billing instructions and guest credit for accuracy and compliance with hotel credit policy.
- Analyses and approves discounts and rebates.
- Coordinates with security in the investigation of irregularities and undesirable guests.
- Coordinates with Housekeeping on checking discrepancies
- Escorts VIPs to their rooms when necessary.
- Sees to the accommodation and transportation of overflow guests in cases of full emergency.
- Ensures all new procedures and policies are communicated and implemented effectively within the department.
- Ensures that all Front Office standards are maintained by regular spot checks and observations taking corrective action and retraining.
- Prepares work schedules and store requisitions on timely basis.
- Performs other duties as may be assigned by the management.
- Current experience in a similar role in Riyadh, KSA
- Thorough knowledge of customer service, office management and basic bookkeeping procedures
- Excellent communication and people skills
- Good organizational and multitasking abilities
- Problem-solving skills
- Strong network of connections
- Ability to work well under time pressure
- Hands on experience with office machines (e.g. fax machines and printers)
- Strong negotiation skills and creative selling ability.
- Significant experience in revenue management
- Relevant education on hotel or business administration, marketing, communications, or a related field is required
- Fluency in Arabic is essential, fluency in English or other languages would be an advantage

**Job Types**: Full-time, Permanent, Contract

**Experience**:

- hotel: 2 years (preferred)