Front Office, 2nd Edition

Chapter 6

Social skills

Introduction

Most experienced hoteliers agree that ‘social skills’ are an essential qualification for front office work. But just what are these social skills, and how can you develop them?

Being ‘skilled’ means possessing the ability to achieve a specific objective efficiently. We all know what we mean by ‘typing skill’, for instance (the ability to produce acceptable quality text, without taking all day over it or spoiling a dozen sheets of paper in the process), or ‘cooking skill’ (the ability to produce food that is both edible and appetizing).

Social skills come into play when we start dealing with other people instead of typewriter keyboards or kitchen ingredients. We still have an objective which we want to achieve ...