Hotel Front Office & Reservation Process

Learning Course Outcomes

• Learning outcomes include evaluating operations in the Rooms Division department using problem-solving methodologies.
• Learning outcomes include performing the fundamentals of reservations, registration, room allocation, and guest accounting.

Intended Learning Outcomes

• Main activities occurring in a hotel’s front office will be covered
• Significance of global reservation technologies will be assessed
• Process of forecasting hotel demand and determining room tariffs will be evaluated
• Reservation classifications will be assessed

Content Overview

• Front Office Department information is included
• Global Reservations Technologies will be discussed
• Forecasting Availability and Overbooking info is present
• Revenue Management insights are included
• Individual Reservations and Group Reservations are presented

The Reservation Process: Front Office Department

• Many guests primary interaction is with the front office
• Department personnel must be diplomatic, tactful, and possess salesmanship in dealing with customers
• Front office staff persona impacts repeat customer, and long term success

Importance of Front Office

• Because hotel rooms are perishable, matching guest room availability to guest room demand is important
• Front office sells rooms at prices to maximize revenue
• Front office assigns arriving guests to specific rooms and respond to their needs
• Front office responsibilities include transportation, information, and medical assistance

Front Office as Communication Hub

• Front office answers guest inquiries about hotel services and other guest requests
• Front office responds to marketing and sales department requests for information
• Front office responds to housekeeping department inquiries about guest reservations
• Front office collects money guests pay for their rooms

Front Office Mandate

• Front office devises and administer revenue management systems that charge guests the right amount for services
• Front office collects in full and keeps secure all money earned
• Front office generates info critical for management decision-making when forecasting room demand, accommodating guests, and collecting money

Front Office Functions to Maximize Revenue

• Front office hands over expected arrivals and available rooms after the reservations office closes at 6:00 p.m.
• Front office sells remaining rooms to call-in and walk-in guests to ensure 100% occupancy
• Front office applies yield management by upselling features for higher prices when demand is high

Guest Account Management

• Guest account management begins with advance deposits
• Begins with opening the guest folio (account), and posting all charges from the various departments
• Hotels uses property management systems (PMS) and point-of-sale (POS) terminals, which are online to the front office
• Charges from various outlets are directly debited to the guest's folio
• Payment is received on guest checkout or transferred to the city ledger

Guest Service

• Front desk provides services such as handling mail, faxes, messages, and local and hotel information
• Front desk employees need to be knowledgeable to answer questions
• Front desk is staffed 24/7 with three shifts, rotating duties
• Front desk notes things, checks the log book, guests request room switches and checks room status
• Front desk handles guest check-ins and take reservations

Reservation: Guest Enquiry to Management Reports

• A potential guest contacts a hotel to enquire about the availability for the desired accommodation and other services
• The front office department needs to react to the enquiry of the guests
• For a guest, reservation increases the chances of a better deal for assured accommodation on arrival
• For a hotel, reservation can enable better management of guest experience during usual and peak seasons
• Keep clerical procedures associated with reservations to a minimum
• Agents should have time for attention to detail and greater opportunity to market various hotel services
• Match room requests with availability; record, confirm, and maintain reservations and management reports

Reservation System: Importance and First Impressions

• Reservations give the guest the first impression of the hotel
• Reservations help in guest inquiry with room’s availability
• Provides the hotel sufficient time to arrange and prepare for most suitable accommodation
• Level of business in the future can be determined in advance
• Updates the room availability records, to maximize the revenue generated from room booking

Types of Reservations

• Tentative reservation: A prospective guest makes a reservation request provisionally for particular stay dates
• Cancelled with a fixed cut of date
• Confirmed reservation: A room is blocked for specific dates & a written confirmation is sent
• Guaranteed reservation: The hotel will hold the room & not release it even if the guest does not arrive on time; the room will be held until check-out time of the day following the day of arrival
• Guest guarantees advance payment for the room; may cancel under hotel’s cancellation procedures
• Guarantees protect hotel's revenue even if there’s a no-show

Forms of Prepayment

• Credit card: Major companies guarantee payment for reserved rooms that remain unoccupied & the lodging property will post the charge to the guest's credit card
• Advance Deposit (Cash): Covers one night's lodging plus taxes, can be larger for longer stays
• Travel Agent: pays in advance for tour packages; agent guarantees the client’s reservation (voucher)
• Corporate: corporation signs a contractual agreement in which they accept financial responsibility for business travelers

Provisional Reservation: Non-Guaranteed

• Non-Guaranteed reservation: Provisional reservation for walk-ins
• Cannot arrive past the cancellation hour, or the hotel is free to use the room for another
• If the guest does arrives after the cancellation hour and the room remains available, the hotel will accommodate the guest
• Hotels may choose to only accept guaranteed reservations once a number is achieved

Reservation Type: Waitlisted

• Waitlisted reservations: The requested category of room is not available for the date/s requested
• Gets confirmed if there is a cancellation for the same category

Reservation systems

• Can be automatic or non-automatic

Non-Automatic Reservations (Diary System)

• List of all arrivals of a particular day recorded.
• Kept on a loose-leaf basis.
• Top pages represents arrivals on the current date & sent to the front desk for receiving the guest.
• A new blank sheet is added at the back of the diary to record a reservation.
• Suitable for small properties.

Semi-Automatic System

• Uses standard size slip, may be color-coded to identify the status of guest like FIT, Group, crew, VIP, commercially important persons
• Booking kept in order of the date of arrival
• Arranged alphabetically and placed vertically, saving storage space

Automatic System

• Computerized reservation that is ideally suited to dealing with the large amount of information which needs to be extracted
• Stores and retrieves room status & conducts transactions.
• Capable of handling quantity of information & has the added benefit of eliminating the boring, time consuming work
• Allows the front office more opportunity to devote themselves to guest relation

Electronic Reservation Format

• Reservation information is keyed into electronic format of the reservation form
• Information is transferred to the central server, status is updated automatically
• Guests can book rooms online
• Automatically generates reports like occupancy or forecast

Tech: Global Reservation Technology

• A tool or software that improves customer's online experience when interacting with a website, & enhances their ability to book.
• Accepts direct bookings, whether from the hotel's website or from various distribution channels
• Booking system or online booking engine, allows hotel guests to schedule stays and choose rooms
• Hotels can empower customers to select extras to place in room

Real Time Updates

• Real-time updates prevent overbooking from your website
• Guests obtain the best rates, while profits are optimized
• System can enhance the guest experience by allowing them to tailor their stay
• Provides accessible insights into guest behavior and move towards sustainability

System Type: Property Management System (PMS)

• A comprehensive software to coordinate operational functions of the front office, sales, and planning
• Can automate online reservations, point of sale, telephone, accounts receivable, sales, marketing, banquets, food & beverage, etc.

PMS System - Key Functions

• When a reservation is made, the software registers reservation & marks the room unavailable to prevent double bookings
• Reminds that those the room needs are reserved from inventory for use in the room
• The reservation management software can even alert management that housekeeping staff is short

System Benefits: Online Reservation and Automated Front Desk

• Software offers online reservation & booking system allowing customers to book in advance from anywhere
• Booking confirmed in seconds
• Updates customer quickly & updates the hotel management system
• Automated management of front desk, deals with check-ins and check-outs
• Always wise to use technology which offers accuracy, increases efficiency

Advantages of Property Management Systems (PMS)

• Cost-effective solutions can fit into any budget
• easy-to-use graphical interface
• Multi-module modes with enhanced features
• Web-based and used anywhere on guests devices
• Supports multi languages/ currencies

Using Software for Hospitality

• PMS asset that provides a computer software package
• Tracks customer reservations , hotel billing
• Serve the smooth flow of guests throughout the hotel
• Manage room requests, generate revenue and forecasting reports
• Many lodging chains central reservation system.

System Type: Central Distribution

• Used for consolidated hotel and motels data for a particular region
• Enables the guest to make the reservation for any of the participating lodging properties at any destination via phone or online

Central Reservation Offices

• Typically deals directly with the public by means of a toll-free telephone number
• Calls are directed to the center nearest the caller
• Offices exchange room availability information and process reservation transactions with member properties at regularly scheduled intervals

Central Reservation Basic System Types

• Affiliate networks: A hotel chain's reservation in which all participating properties are contractually related and streamline processing
• Non-affiliate networks: Subscription-based system to connect independent (non-chain) properties

CRS Key Applications

• Enables administration of rates and availability
• Manages statistical evolution of all incoming reservations.
• Reach the global distribution system (GDS)
• Mange online sales and marketing avenues
• Project rates and availabilities which are easily viewable by the online travel agencies

Some primary functions in CRS

• Fully flexible and scalable for growing business
• Platform which is easier to use
• Manageability of rates, availability and content or information from single point of entry
• Connectivity of hotels to GDS, online travel agents as well as mobile booking engines
• Multiple distribution channels emphasized with channel manager usage

More Value from using CRS

• Travelers can reserve requirements, hotel data & information is compiled increasing compliance w/ Travel policies
• The booking data which is vital, is captured, then used for performance measurements & sometimes supplier negotiations
• Traveler satisfaction is boosted as the tool is more user-friendly.

Advantage to CRO Integration

• CRO integrated with websites is a marketing tool to convert browsers into customers
• Single source for collecting information about hotel that is very economical and very efficiently
• No worry about a percent of rooms by hotel reservations is now handled by CRO

Flexible Central Reservation System

• Can be accessed by consumers, travel agencies, and staff w/ Log-on codes allowing for special negotiations
• Easy to update and suited to provider.

Cost Cutting using Central Reservation System

• System reduces staff wages, processing bookings automatically online, rather than the telephone
• Internet eliminates need to print, write letters and pay commission

Benefits of Using a Central Reservation system

• Global providers can market product round the clock
• Systems have multi- lingual or currency conversion capabilities for bookings
• Customers instantly pay online allowing more revenue

Efficiencies and Increased Efficiency with Central Reservation

• Effective saving search tool
• Offer time saving, comparing, and available options to guests
• Real time and easy to retrieve, change or cancel bookings
• Monitor activity on website
• Profiles of customer behavior, monitor campaign performance

System Type: Global Distribution System (DGS)

• A network that passes rates for hotels to travel agents and travel sites.
• Computerized networks accessed by any producer of rooms anywhere in world.
• Benefit is lower fees and a worldwide network
• High traffic travel sites.

Forecasting Guestroom Availability

• Forecasting assesses the demand for guest rooms, establishes room rates, and facilitates guest reservations
• It is important for two reasons: Hotels can sell rooms for a higher price when demand is high
• Increase staffing and supplies and improve hotel profitability

Estimating Hotel Room Demand

• Daily demand varies greatly even in the same geographic location
• Forecasting helps managers know occupancy periods
• It is also important to drive revenue, including RevPAR

Forecasting Room Availability

• Forecasts predict room position and assist with meeting low occupancy days or full house days
• Can look backward at past demand to predict future occupancy
• Encompasses previewing effects of reservations on financial statements and planning for the use of facilities
• Helps managers forecast projected income and related expenses

Forecasted Numbers

• The front office manager estimates occupancy, and the average rate for the budget period
• To calculate potential revenue, they require a history of past performance rates

Benefits of Forecast Accuracy

• Revenue Optimization & guest experience
• Enable the hotel to know accurate idea of rooms and out of order rooms
• Effective helps ensure adequately staffed
• Enable manage staffing levels, inventory. other resources efficiently

Factors Contributing to Overbooking

• The practice may overcome no shows or late cancellations and attain full capacity for a given night
• Some courts argue potential increases in efficiency for business can outweigh inconveniences of being overbooked
• Losses due to no shows typically justifies business to justify as standard practice

Other Reports and Guidelines

• Reports says 2 to 15% in revenue gains for every dollar in marketing.
• Revenues loss because of no-shows leads management to agressive policies
• Hoteliers require guests to gaurentee payment with a credit card when booking

Confirmed and Guaranteed Reservations

• With confirmed reservations, the front office manager must keep accurate records
• The most volatile group can produce no-shows
• To minimize no show, you need to investigate each group

Overbooking and it's Factors

• Overstay: guest stays beyond their departure date
• Normally the receptionist will contact the guest to make sure of intent
• Stayover: They may extend the stay for work or family reasons

Overbooking (2)

• Understay: guests who arrive on time but to leave before predicted date

Understay and Effective Room Management

• Walk-in sector of the hotel market enhances occupancy management
• Awareness of Tourist seasons.Events that occur in the area

Forecasting with Data

• The hotel staff will need data to get information to make their decisions
• Data must include all of rooms available and also what they have now
• The hotel can start to adjust accordingly to improve performance

Forecasting Data

• The number formula is an important process for a hotel