Defining Reservations
•
Reservation in the hotel industry is defined
as ‘blocking a particular type of guest room (e.g., single room, double room,
deluxe room, executive room, suite, etc.), for a definite duration of time
(i.e., number of days of stay), for a particular guest’.
Importance of Reservation for the Hotel: The
reservation process is of vital importance to a hotel as it:
Gives the first impression of the hotel to guests.
Sells the main product of a hotel (accommodation).
Generates customers for other departments.
Provides important management information to other departments.
•
Importance of Reservation for the Guest: A
confirmed reservation has the following advantages for the guest:
•
Assurance about accommodation:
•
Choice in the type of accommodation
•
Type of room or suite
•
As per the guest’s
•
Preference of floor, view, and personal choice
or
low-floor room; sea view/pool view/garden view/monument view room;
smoking/non-smoking room; etc.
•
Receive correspondence at the hotel address
Types of Reservation
•
Reservations can be of the following types:
–
Tentative Reservation:
–
Waitlisted Reservation
–
Confirmed Reservation
Tentative reservation
•
It is a reservation request that a prospective
guest makes on a tentative basis for particular stay dates. The hotel holds the
room for the guest till a cut off date, by which the guest should confirm the
reservation. Upon confirmation from the guest the hotel changes the tentative
reservation to a confirmed reservation, otherwise it cancels the tentative
reservation, and updates its records accordingly.
Confirmed reservation
•
Once a guest confirms a reservation request,
the hotel blocks a room for specified stay dates and sends a written
confirmation of the same to the guest. A confirmed reservation can be of the
following two types:
–
Guaranteed reservation
–
Non-guaranteed reservation
Guaranteed reservation
•
A guaranteed reservation is a confirmation
that the hotel will hold the reserved room for the guest and not release it to
any other guest even if the guest doesn’t arrive on time.
•
This requires the guest to make an advance
payment (part or full, depending on the hotel policy and the hotel occupancy
for the requested stay dates), irrespective of whether the guest avails the
reservation or not, unless the reservation is cancelled according to the
hotel’s cancellation procedures.
•
The guaranteed reservation can be obtained
through one of the following ways:
–
Pre-payment
–
Contractual agreement
–
Allotment
Pre-Payment
•
A guaranteed reservation requires the payment
of the room rent or a specified amount in advance, known as pre-payment. As the
hotel holds the room for the guest even after the cancellation hours, pre-payment
protects the hotel from any loss of revenue in case of a last moment
cancellation or a no-show.
•
Pre-payment can be made by sending demand
draft or depositing cash at the hotel.
•
Cash deposit is the most preferred mode of
accepting guaranteed reservation
Contractual agreement
•
A hotel may have a contract with an individual
or a company for providing guaranteed reservations. According to such a
contract, the hotel confirms the reservation for the individual or a person
referred by the company on a guaranteed basis, and the person or the company
agrees to pay for the reservation, even in the case of a no-show. Hotels may
have contractual agreement with the following:
•
Travel agencies/Tour operators
•
Corporate houses
•
Travel Agencies/Tour Operators: Travel
agencies and tour operators make bulk purchases of rooms at a relatively low
contracted price. They guarantee the hotel a minimum number of room nights in a
particular period and agree to pay the room charges even if they are unable to
fill the number of rooms as per their agreement with the hotel.
•
Corporate Houses: In this
case, a company or a corporate body may enter into a contract
with a hotel, whereby the company guarantees payment for its employees or
sponsored guests and accepts the financial responsibilities for any no-shows.
Non-guaranteed reservation
•
When a guest confirms her reservation at a
hotel but does not guarantee it with an advance deposit, it is treated as a
non-guaranteed reservation. In this type of reservation, the hotel agrees to
hold the room for the guest till the cancellation hour, unless the guest
informs the hotel about her late arrival.
•
The cancellation hour is the time fixed by a
hotel after which a non-guaranteed reservation stands cancelled and the room is
released to a walk-in guest—it is generally 6 p.m.
Waitlisted reservation
•
A reservation is waitlisted when the requested
category of room is not available for the requested dates.
•
The waitlisted reservation is confirmed when
the hotel receives a cancellation request for a room of the same category.
•
This way the hotel ensures that its rooms will
not remain vacant in case of cancellations.
•
The hotel does not guarantee a room for
waitlisted reservations; it is understood that the guest will be assigned a
room only in the case of a cancellation or a no show.
Reservation Inquiry:
• Guests can communicate their reservation inquiries in person,
over the telephone, via mail, through facsimile, telex, e-mail… Moreover,
reservation inquiries can be made through a Central Reservation System or an
Intersell Agency.
• While getting a reservation inquiry, the reservation agent shall
obtain the following guest-related information:
a) Guest‘s name, address and
telephone number
b) Company or travel agency name
c) Date of arrival and departure
d) Type and number of rooms
requested
e) Desired room rate
f) Number of people in the group,
if applicable
g) Method of payment and/or
guarantee
h) Any other special requests
ADVANCE RESERVATION/LETTING CHART
This is also
referred to as the room reservation chart, advance letting chart or bed booking
chart.
The chart is
used for allocating rooms for specific periods and shows at a glance
1.
Which rooms are let.
2.
How long they will be occupied.
3.
Which rooms are available for
letting
4.
For what periods of time.
The chart
works as follows:-
By the
receptionist allocating a room at the time of booking and noting this in the
diary.
An entry is
made on the chart in pencils, with the name of the guest or a reference number
of the booking. The chart is usually made by small hotels.
ADVANCE
LETTING CHART
Room numbers
1 2 3 4 5 29 30 31
101(s) Mr. D
Singh
102(s) MR.
Mehta Ravi
103(D)
104(D)
105(T)
106(T)
107(T) MS
Rao Sunita
DENSITY
CHART
Numbers of
room
Dates 1 2 3 4 5 29 30 31
Single
bed
5 \ \ \ \ \
4 \ \ \
3
2
1
Double
bed
3 \ \ \
2
1
Twin
bed
3 \ \ \
2 \
1
The density chart shows at a glance exactly how many rooms are
available to let and their type. On this chart rooms are classified into groups
of a similar type and no allocation of a specific room takes place until the
guest arrives at the hotel.
ROOM RESERVATION FORM
Name ARRIVAL
Name Departure
Single Rate Arrival
time
Twin Rate Guarenteed
Yes/No
Double Rate Past
guest
Executive Rate Market
segment
Special Requirments:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reservation Requested by :
Company:
Address:
Telephone:
Fax:
Remarks:
Payment: A/c to company: Account:
Self:
credit card: Cash:
Credit
Card no:
Reservation taken by:___________________
Date:--------------------------
To be confirmed by:------------------
Group Reservations:
• Conducting a reservation request for a group shall be treated
differently than accommodating a reservation of individual guests (i.e.
Frequent Independent Traveler). The main reason, is that individual reservation
requests are treated by the reservation department, while group reservations
are initiated by the Sales & Marketing division, and finalized through a
careful coordination of the reservation from one hand and the marketing from
the other.
• Below is a detailed procedure of how group reservation, in a
typical hotel, is conducted:
1. A group representative, a
member of the travel agency or the tour operator, not individuals, shall
communicate group reservations' request to the hotel's marketing department
2. Upon availability, the hotel's reservation department shall
block the requested number of rooms for this very group
3. The Hotel shall give a deadline for the group, in order to
receive their final list. That deadline is called Cut-off Date
4. After receiving the final list,
the reservation department shall change the desired number of rooms' status
from blocked to booked (or reserved) rooms, and release the remaining rooms (if
any left) as vacant
5. If the hotel did not receive the final list by the cut-off
date, then the reservation department has all the right to cancel the group
reservation and release all the initially booked rooms into vacant rooms.
However, management shall use this right with precautions especially when it
comes to groups reserving from travel agencies and tour operators of which the
hotel is frequently operating.
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Rooming
list
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Confirmation
no
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Name
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Passport
nos
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Arrival
date
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departure
date
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Room
type
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Adult
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Child
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Remarks
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How to
handle a reservation call from a guest
1. Call
opening
Hotel ABC
International , Reservations, Greetings.
You are
speaking with XYZ. How may I assist you?
2. Address
guest concern and confirm guest name.
Eg. I will
assist you with that. May I know who am I speaking with?
Confirm
spelling and pronunciation if name is not understood
3. Confirm
identity if required
Is this
reservation for your self?
4. Take
details of hotel name, dates, rooms, occupancy, and children and check
availability
Advise
child policy as required.
5.
Previous stays and purpose of visit
“While I
check availability may I enquire if….
a)
Business or leisure”
b) If
International guest, on a planned visit to India check planned destinations and
offer assistance / recommend itinerary / special offer
Resort –
“Is this, a leisure trip for you or are you traveling for a special occasion”
c)
Previous stay in the hotel
6. Share
availability (not category)
Situation
1: If rooms are not available
Do you
have alternate dates or would you like me to process a waitlist reservation.
Or, would
you like me to check the availability of any other hotel / resort?
Situation
2: If rooms are available proceed with the reservation
7. Room
Category Description
Introduction
of room types (dependent on previous stays)
Up selling
of room types can be done here
8. Share
Rates - All public rates with inclusions restrictions, supplements, taxes
9.
Cancellation and Guarantee Policy
If no
guaranteed “I am afraid the reservation will be on waitlist and will be
confirmed on the receipt of guarantee, subject to availability at that time”
10.
Loyalty Programme
Are you an
ABC International Privilege Program Member?
If Yes –
Check for membership no. and feed in system ; If No – Inform about the program
11.
Reservation Details
“Could you
please spell your name, last name first” (if not spelt earlier, verify
phonetically)
“May I
have your contact number and email address”. Verify all contact details
“May I
have your credit card details?” (type, no. and expiration and verify all)Room
Preference: “Would you have any preferences towards the room like a smoking or
non smoking room
12.
Arrival Assistance
Transport
assistance – intercity/airport/station
Expected
time of arrival and travel details
Check –in,
check out time
13. Recap
“I would
like to verify the reservation details. The reservation is for... Guest name,
hotel name, dates, number of rooms and occupancy, rates, preferences. This
reservation stands (Confirmed / requested) with reference number
14.
Confirmation
I have
sent you an email confirmation for the reservation which you will receive
shortly
15. Call
Closing
Mr. /Ms.
XYZ, would you like me to provide you with some information about the hotel?
You were
speaking to (Agent name) Thank you for calling
Hotel ABC International Reservations, have a nice day / afternoon.
Billing instructions during reserving a room
This is important information, which needs to be ascertained at
the time of reservation and noted in the reservation form. There are various
modes of payment through which a guest can settle his bill at the end of his
stay with our hotel.
Billing instructions should be written in a standardized way which
is clearly understood by everyone in Front Office, Food and Beverage service
and Accounts. E.g. Direct. A good thumb rule for checking clarity is to ask if
the cashier will understand what money have to be collected from the guest by
just reading the instructions. Our guests can pay us in any of the following
ways:-
Direct:
When a guest would himself settle the bill at the end of his stay
for the room and the facilities of the hotel as used, it is termed as direct
payment. He could settle either by cash or credit card.
·
Cash: A guest can pay in either Indian
rupees or in foreign currency. The foreign currency is changed to Indian rupees
before a settlement can be done. This conversion is done using an encashment
form.
·
Credit Card: Hotels accept many credit cards such
as Master, Visa, American Express and Diners Club. It is important to remember
the cards that are not accepted by your hotel. While taking the details of the
credit card one must definitely note down the credit card number and the expiry
date.
Bill to company
Based on the volume of business and the credit worthiness of a
company, a committee in the hotel decides upon a list of companies that can be
given credit and for what period. On receiving a request for Bill to Company,
one needs to ask for an authorization letter from the respective company, which
needs to be attached to the correspondence. Always ask bookers to be specific
when they ask for bills to be sent to a company. Many companies do not pay for
personal expenses like liquor and tobacco. Other versions of bill to company
includes:
·
Travel Agent: A similar
negotiation as above is done with the Travel Agents for extending them a
facility of credit. In case of travel agencies, a ‘voucher’ is received from
them, which authorizes the hotel to forward the bills to their office for
payment of the mentioned services. Each such voucher itself carries all the information
of the negotiated agreement with the hotel and also has all the details of the
guest stay.
·
Redemption vouchers: Schemes
are launched from time to time and the guests avail themselves of the
facilities. Sometimes, a guest stay may be settled on a redemption coupon or
voucher. In such cases there is a time period specified during which a guest
could redeem the facility and mostly it is during the off season.
Modes of Reservation Inquiry
•
The process of reservation begins with an
inquiry. A guest may contact a hotel for reservation either through:
–
Written Mode
–
Verbal Mode
–
Reservation requests may also be made through
oral communication known as verbal mode of reservation request
–
The advantage of oral communication is that it
is fast, convenient, and generates immediate response or feedback; and one can
get the complete information and clear any doubts through oral communication.
–
The disadvantage is that it does not provide a
permanent record.
–
The various modes of verbal reservation
request are as under:
–
Telephone
–
In person
–
Written Mode
•
When a reservation request reaches the hotel
in writing, the mode is classified as a written mode of reservation.
•
The advantages of the written mode of
reservations are that they are clear, unambiguous, and provide a written record
for the hotel, which can be referred to in case of any miscommunication or
confusion. The correspondence with the guest is filed for future reference.
•
The various written mode for reservation
request are as under:
–
Letter
–
Fax
–
Telex
–
E-mail
Sources of Reservation
•
A hotel receives reservation requests from
different sources like:
–
Direct reservation
–
Central reservation system
–
Inter-sell agencies
–
Global distribution system
–
Corporate bodies
–
Government sector
–
Hotel websites
Direct Reservation
•
A reservation request that a hotel receives
directly from an individual or a group without a mediator is known as a direct
reservation.
•
The direct reservation request is processed by
the reservation manger and his team of reservation assistant in large hotel. In
case of a small hotel the same may be processed even by receptionist
Central Reservation System
•
Central reservation system (CRS) is a
computer-based reservation system, which enables guests to make reservations in
any of the participating lodging properties at any destination in a single
call. The central reservation office typically deals with direct guests, travel
agents, corporate bookers, etc. by means of toll-free telephone numbers.
•
The CRS is of two types:
–
Affiliated system: In
affiliated reservation systems, all the participating hotel units belong to the
same chain or group, like Welcome net by Welcome group of Hotels, Holidex by
Holiday Inn Hotels, Image by Hyatt Hotels, and ITT by Sheraton Hotels.
–
Non-affiliated system:
Non-affiliated system is a subscription-based system, designed to connect
independent or non chain properties, like the Leading Hotels of the World
(LHW), Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH). This enables non-chain
properties to enjoy the benefits of CRS.
Global Distribution System
•
Global distribution system (GDS) is a
worldwide computerized reservation network, which is used as a single point of
access for reserving hotel rooms, airline seats, rental cars, and other
travel-related items by travel agents, online reservation sites, and large
corporations. GDS provides a bundle of products and services to the prospective
user across geographical boundaries.
•
Some examples of GDS are:
–
Amadeus IT
–
Galileo CRS
–
SABRE
–
Worldspan
Systems of Reservation
Depending on the needs of the hotel and the volume of business, a
hotel may adopt either:
•
Manual System : In a
manual system, all the reservation records are maintained manually. This old
system of reservation is suitable for a small property, where the number of
rooms is less and the volume of reservation requests is also low.
•
Automatic System:
Automated reservation systems are computerized reservation systems that are
used to store and retrieve room status information and conduct transactions.
•
The information stored in the automatic system
is the same as in a manual system. However, the processing of reservation
request does not require manual study of bed room journals, density charts, or
conventional charts.
•
The reservation assistant can check the
availability of rooms by clicking on a link on the computer.
•
In this system, the reservation information is
keyed into the electronic format of the reservation form, and this information
is transferred to the central server where the room status is updated
automatically.
Manual System of Reservation
•
The hotel may use one of the following systems
of manual reservation:
Ø Diary
System of Reservation
•
Diary system of reservation: As the
name suggests, in this system a daily diary is kept, in which the reservation
agent lists all arrivals due on a particular day.
Ø It is
usually kept on a loose-leaf basis.
Ø The top
page represents arrivals on the current date; this is removed and sent to the
front desk for receiving the guests.
Ø The hotel
booking diary may be hard bound also. The diary system of reservation is only
suitable for very small properties.
Ø The tools
used in diary system of reservation are as under:
•
Booking diary
•
Room status board/ reservation journal
•
Expected arrival list/ Movement list
•
Cancellation register
•
Black list
•
BOOKING
DIARY
•
MONDAY 22ND
JANUARY
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NAME
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TYPE OF ROOM
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NO OF NIGHTS
|
RATE
|
DATE BOOKING
|
CONFIRMATION
|
ROOM NO
|
REMARKS
|
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Mr Avinash Kumar
|
single
|
2
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5000/-
|
22/1/2013
|
Fax
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306
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No smoking
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•
•
Semi
Automatic system
•
Whitney system of reservation: This
system of room reservation, developed by the American Whitney Duplicating Check
Company, is suitable for small and medium properties–with up to 150 rooms. It
is based on the use of standard size slips, known as Whitney slips or Shannon
slips, which can be held on a metallic carrier on Whitney racks.
•
The advantages of using Whitney system are as
under:
Ø Bookings
can be kept in order of the date of arrival.
Ø Booking
records may be arranged in alphabetical order.
Ø The racks
and carriers can be used over and over again. The running expense is only of
the slips.
Ø The
Whitney racks are placed vertically, saving storage space
Whitney
slip
Name
of guests Number
of people
Arrival
date Departure
date
Room
tariff special
requirements
Address Telephone
number
Processing Reservation
Every hotel has its own standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal
with a reservation request from a guest. The standard procedure of responding
to a guest’s reservation request is first receiving the reservation inquiries,
then determining room availability, and then accepting or denying the request
for reservation.
Receiving
Reservation: The request for a room reservation may reach a hotel from any one
of the various modes discussed earlier.
Determining Room: The following
information will help to determine the availability of the room requested by
the guest:
Date and time of arrival.
Date and time of departure.
Number and type of rooms required.
Number of persons in the party.
•
Accepting or Denying Reservation: Once the
reservation agent has established the availability of the room for the guest,
she will either accept or deny the reservation request and conclude the
processing of reservation request.
Occasional Reservation Change, or Cancellation:
• Potential guests initially
asking for an accommodation might make up their minds later (before arrival)
and call back for a reservation modification. In fact, guests might change
their arrival date, expected departure date, method of payment or call for any
other item change previously confirmed in their confirmation letter or simply
call to cancel their previous reservation. In such a case, if possible reservation
clerks shall proceed as to satisfy guest needs. Below, are two possible
examples of guest modification. The first one concerns modifying a reservation
type from non-guaranteed to guaranteed. This might be because the guest's
airplane schedule has changed in a way that the guest is no more certain to
reach the hotel by the cancellation hour. On the other hand, the second example
depicts a situation where the guest calls to cancel a reservation (both
guaranteed and non-guaranteed cancellations will be discussed).
1. Modify a reservation type (from
non-guaranteed to guaranteed):
• In this very case, the
reservation clerk shall:
a) Obtain the guest‘s name, and
access the correct non-guaranteed reservation
b) Obtain the guest‘s credit card
type, number and expiration date, and the cardholder‘s name, and verify the
validity of the credit card (Here assuming that the guest would like to
guarantee via a credit card)
c) Assign the guest a new
reservation confirmation number, if it is the hotel‘s policy
d) Complete the reservation type
change from non-guaranteed to guaranteed reservation status according to
additional property‘s procedures, if any
2. Reservation Cancellation:
• Reservation clerks accepting a
reservation cancellation shall behave in a polite, courteous and effective
manner even though that reservation might make the hotel faced with unsold
room(s). The main reason is that guests are doing the hotel a favor, especially
under the non-guaranteed type of reservation, to communicate the hotel their
cancellation to let you adjust your room availability, and try to find
alternative potential guests beforehand.
• When canceling a reservation,
the reservation clerk shall issue and communicate a cancellation number to the
guest. In accordance to confirmation numbers, cancellation numbers shall be
meaningful as to be used for statistical purposes, and as to prove whether a
reservation has been properly canceled according to hotel cancellation policies
or not.
A) Cancellation of a
non-guaranteed reservation:
• In this very case the
reservation clerk shall:
a) Obtain guest‘s name and address
b) Obtain number of reserved room(s)
c) Obtain scheduled arrival and departure dates
d) Obtain the reservation confirmation number, if applicable
e) Access the right account, and cancel it
f) Assign a cancellation number
g) Suggest an alternative reservation
B) Cancellation of a guaranteed
reservation:
• All the above mentioned
procedure applies also for the cancellation of a guaranteed reservation.
Moreover, the reservation clerk shall pay attention to the following:
1. In the case of a cancellation of a credit card guaranteed
reservation, the cancellation number acts as a proof of whether a certain
guarantee shall be refunded to the potential guest or not.
2. In the case of advance deposit
guaranteed reservation, again the cancellation number acts as a proof of
whether a certain guarantee shall be refunded to the potential guest or not.
3. In the case of any other
guaranteed reservation, the reservation clerk shall obtain the representative‘s
coordinates and mail him/her a letter documenting the cancellation
Overbooking policies-
It has been stated:
Of times guests, because of delay
in closing business transactions, retain their rooms beyond the period
announced when they register in. This is almost a matter of common knowledge.
Automatically this practice throws the plans and commitments of the hotel
proprietor out of gear, especially when all the rooms are filled. The room
occupant cannot well be thrown out without notice. Notice or other proceedings
require time, and of course, time is an element of the contract for the man who
has that particular room reserved and demands immediate occupancy.
The fact that overbooking has long
ago been recognized as a standard in the industry to ensure that the hotel is
full as often as can be possible does not absolve the innkeeper of potential
liability, both civil and now criminal from committing this long recognized
procedure and either not accept or reject someone from checking into the inn
with or without a reservation. In order to understand the potential liability
for overbooking, we must examine the innkeeper’s duty to accept those who come
into the inn, both with and without a reservation. The overbooking % followed
in the hotels is 10% to 20%
Amendment /cancellation form
Original
booking Amendment
booking
Surname Surname
Address Address
Title Title
Arrival date Time
Arrival date Time
Departure Date Time
Departure Date Time
1 2
3 4 5
Rate 1 2
3 4 5 Rate
Single Single
Twin Twin
Triple Triple
Suite Suite
Form
of payment
Contact
Remarks
Account
no Date Taken
By
