Your role
Front office
Your day at a hotel's front desk, from the arrivals to the departures, with the money you take on your own shift, and what needs the front office manager.
The front office runs the front desk. In Kila’s words the role “books, assigns rooms, checks guests in and out, posts extras and takes payments on their own shift. No rate set-up, no rates of their own.” Receptionists usually have it.
When you sign in
Link to this section: When you sign inKila opens Front desk, with the hotel day and the last night audit at the top, then the day in figures: Arrivals, Departures, In the house, Rooms ready and Requests due. Below are the guests due today (1), the departures, the Requests and wake-up calls, the log book and the guests in the house. Your shift is at the top, with Count and close (2).
Your day
Link to this section: Your day- Start your shift. The money you take at the desk goes on your own front-desk shift, shown at the top of the front desk.
- Check the arrivals in: the room, the guest register and, where the door locks are connected, the door code. Check a guest in.
- Look after the guests in the house. Post extras and take payments on their folios, take deposits, move rooms and add nights: Post charges and take payments on the folio, Take a deposit and Move or extend a stay.
- Take reservations that come to the desk: Take a reservation.
- Check the departures out: Check a guest out.
- Hand over and close your shift. Write the handover in the log book for the next shift. Then press Count and close, type the Cash counted in the drawer, tick “I counted this cash and the count is mine.” and close the shift: Close a shift.
What you can do
Link to this section: What you can do- Book, check guests in and out, and give them a room.
- Post extras, take payments and deposits, and take off the extras you posted yourself that day.
- Move guests and change their dates.
- Where the hotel’s door locks are connected, send door codes again or make another on the folio: Set up door locks and ID checks.
- Read the guest register and the company accounts.
Everything the role is allowed to do
- General
- View dashboard
- Point of sale
- Sell at the till; View sales; Create quotations; Apply discounts; Start refunds and returns; Open and close own shift; Sell gift vouchers and check their balance; Open bills and add orders on tables and tabs (no till shift needed); See the kitchen and bar screens; Move kitchen tickets (cooking, ready, done) and print them; Book, change, seat and cancel table reservations; Take entry charges at the door and keep the headcount; Send an M-Pesa prompt for a bill at the table; Start and release card holds on bills (pre-authorisation)
- Rooms and folios
- Rooms and folios: see the room grid, reservations, folios and the guest register; Take and change reservations, groups and rooming lists (no room assignment, check-in or money); Assign and move rooms on reservations; Front desk: check guests in and out, post charges and take folio payments and deposits
- Catalog
- View products and services; Suggest prices for products below the minimum margin
- Stock
- View stock
- Customers
- View customers; Create and edit customers
- Services
- View services and bookings; Book and manage appointments
- Credit
- Record repayments
- Money
- Record cash deposited from the till to M-Pesa or the bank after trading (own branch)
- Branch operations
- Complete opening, closing and log checklists and report issues
- Warranty
- Look up warranties and take in warranty claims
What needs a manager
Link to this section: What needs a manager| Approval limit | Up to |
|---|---|
| Refunds | KES 0.00 |
| Discounts | 5% |
| Stock adjustments | KES 0.00 |
| Credit agreements | KES 0.00 |
Needs a manager
- Rates. The front office has no rates of its own: the front office manager agrees a different rate.
- Taking off what someone else posted, or anything from an earlier day: a manager such as the front office manager.
- Leaving a bill unpaid on the guest’s account at check-out, and cancelling without a charge inside the cancellation period: a manager.
- Rooms out of order and the night audit: the front office manager, or the night auditor for the audit.
Common questions
Link to this section: Common questionsKila will not check the guest into the room I chose. The room has not been cleaned yet. Choose a clean room, or ask housekeeping: Check a guest in.
Where do the payments I take go? On your front-desk shift, like a cashier’s sales. Count them when you close it.
A guest asks for their door code again. Where the hotel’s door locks are connected, open their folio and send it again from Keys: Set up door locks and ID checks. Otherwise give them the key by hand.