Assessment : Reflection Portfolio Context : The major assessment for this unit is a Reflective Portfolio. A portfolio is an organised collection of student work designed to represent students' efforts...

Running head: REFLECTION PORTFOLIO        1
REFLECTION PORTFOLIO        12
REFLECTION PORTFOLIO
Introduction
The reflection portfolio focuses on my overall learning and experiences gathered throughout the unit in this term. The reflection is based on my perspectives, opinions, experiences, and beliefs. Throughout the study of this unit, I had learnt several things that helped me in developing several skills had been helpful for me in near future. In the portfolio, I have presented my experiences with every topic I had learned and the knowledge I had garnered over a specific period. The topics studied from week 3 to week 8 are elaborated systematically and in the portfolio, I described my experiences and knowledge gained from every topic. My overall experience garnered throughout the topic helped me in excelling my performance in the hospitality industry and in developing the skills that would be essentially important as being a leader, at workplace.
Topic 1 (Week 3): Front Office Management, Arrivals & Departures, and Room Allocations
Learning Objectives: In the third week, I had to learn about front office management. Front office management is one of the most important aspects of the hotel industry as it is the first section that deals with the customers and leaves an impression on the customers’ overall experience. In the front office management, I learned how to communicate directly with the customers, making the reservation for the customers, take note of the check-in and checkout of the customers, take a keen account of the telephone, finance and cashiering, allocation of rooms, and many more. I could relate the learning gathered regarding the front office management to my experience as a front office receptionist in the Kings Cross Hotel, Sydney.
In the front office management, I also learned in detail about the guest cycle, which comprises the pre-arrival, arrival, stay, and departure of the guest. In the front office management, keeping an account of the guest cycle is very important as in the pre-arrival stage the bookings of the rooms and preparing the room for the customers is outlined. After the arrival of the guest, handling of the keys and allocation of the rooms is one of the most important things. During the stay of the guest, the front office needs to ensure that the guest is not having any kind of problems and if they are facing any problems, it needs to be sorted out as soon as possible. The last thing in the guest cycle is the departure of the guest, which portrays that the front office management should ensure that the customers have a smooth checkout and all the formalities are completed (Szende & Reddy, 2017).
In the front office management topic, I also gained the perspective regarding several terminologies related to the front office including guest, who are the customer of the hotel, check-in, and checkout, which depicts the entry and exit of the guest, uniformed services that take into account the personalized services provided to the guest and many more. In the front office management, I got the knowledge regarding certain aspects regarding the entry to the exit of the guests. This entire detail regarding the front office management would help me in aligning my work concerning my prospects (Septariani, Sutarma, Sudiarta & Sudarmini, 2020).
Topic 2 (Week 4) Global Reservations, Technologies, and Distribution Management
Learning Objectives: In week 4, I have gained knowledge regarding global reservations, technologies, and distribution management. I learned that the hotel reservation department works on processing secure online reservations made through the hotel website. Afterward, the data is passed onto the backend system, which is managed, by the hotels to manage bookings. One of the main things I have learned regarding the purpose of the hotel reservation system is the main aim of the department is to sell rooms to capacity and to make an appeal to a global audience (Girsanj, 2017).
In the hotel industry, the competitors are the ones, who can affect the overall business of a hotel. Sometimes the competitor hotel uses the strategy of the primary hotel to attract more guests and they tend to learn to avoid the mistakes committed by the primary hotel to safeguard them.
In the unit, I learned that the hotel reservation system plays an efficient role in the room division up-selling strategy. Up-selling is eventually a trick that can be portrayed by the reservation system to make more revenues for the hotel. For instance, during the reservations, if the reservation department identifies the guest is coming with a big family they can ask them to book big suite rooms seeking their necessity rather than the standard one. They can also use the up-selling when any of the guests want to extend their stay in the hotel it’s up to the reservation system how efficiently they manage the situation.
Topic 3 (Week 5): Managing Guest Services, Switchboard, and Concierge Services
Learning Objectives: In week 5, that consists of the information regarding managing guest services, switchboard, and concierge services I learned that how the hotel can create and manage guest experience through communication. In this particular section, I learned that several ways can be adopted to manage the guest experience some of them include anticipating guest needs before their arrival it makes the guests feel special. Some of the basic actions, which are required at the front desk, involve asking them their purpose of coming, so that personalized service could be provided to them and monitoring their satisfaction during the stay. In addition, the task also involves attending the guest with a warm smile and asking them about how their day was, to give a reply on the reviews made by the gusts regarding their experience on any of the social platform. Front desk staffs also have to be interactive with the guest on the social media would make the...