Week (3)
Objectives for Reservations
At the completion of this unit, the students will able
to:
1. Describe the different types of reservations and
identify the information sought during a
reservation inquiry and contained in a reservation
record.
2. Identify major sources of reservations.
Competencies for Reservations
3. Identify the tools managers use to track and
control reservations availability.
4. Describe policies and procedures surrounding
the confirmation, change, and cancellation of
different types of reservations.
4. Explain the function of typical management
reports and reservations records that can be
generated from reservations data.
What is a reservation?
 It is a booking in advance for a space for a specified
period of time.
 E.g. Hotel ballroom, restaurant booking, airline seat, a
theatre seat, a hotel guestroom, a doctor’s
appointment.
 Reserves or books accommodation for a specific date
and period of time in an accommodation
establishment.
Cont.
 The reservation will also establish:
 The Needs of the customer in relation to the type of
room required,
 The Room Charge also known as the Room Rate or
Tariff and
 any Special Requirements the customer may have.
Introduction
 From a guest’s point of view, the most important
outcome of the reservations process is having a
guestroom ready and waiting when the guest arrives.
 To achieve these outcomes, the hotel must have efficient
reservation procedures in place.
 Here are the reservation process activities:-
Reservation Activities/functions
Conduct reservation inquiry.
· Determine room and rate availability.
· Create reservation record
· Confirm reservation record.
· Maintain reservation record.
· Produce reservation reports.
· Research, plan, and monitor reservations.
Checking availability
 Check availability of a requested reservation
 As the person responding to an enquiry for a
reservation you must be able to check whether the
accommodation the customer is requesting is
available or not.
 When you are speaking with customers at the front
desk of your establishment, on the telephone,
responding to a fax or letter or replying to email, it is
important that you are able to check the availability
correctly.
A sample Manual Booking System from a small guest house.
(Shading indicates checkout)
Types of Reservations
• Guaranteed Reservation: Insures that the hotel will hold
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a room for the guest until a specific time of guest’s
scheduled arrival date .
The guest must provide us a method of payment.
If the guest does not show up or cancel properly,
the guest will be charged for one night
accommodation.
If the hotel then fails to provide the room for a
guaranteed reservation, legal penalties can be applied if
the guest files a complaint.
In order to guarantee a reservation, guests can choose
one of the following methods:
Guaranteed Reservations
The reservation can be guaranteed by
• Prepayment ( paid full amount prior to arrival)
· Credit card (provide credit card number)
· Advance deposit ( Paid part of the room rate)
Travel agent voucher/miscellaneous charge
order (MCO)
· Corporate (direct billing account)
Non-guaranteed Reservation
 Non-guaranteed Reservation: Insures that the hotel
agrees to hold a room for the guest until a stated
reservation cancellation hour (Usually 6 p.m.) on the
day of arrival.
 It is common for hotels planning on full occupancy or
nearing full occupancy to accept only guaranteed
reservation once a specified number of expected
arrivals is achieved.
Reservation Inquiry
• Guests can communicate their reservation inquiries in
person, over the telephone, via mail, through facsimile, telex,
e-mail…
• While getting a reservation inquiry, the reservation staff
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shall obtain the following guest-related information:
Date of arrival and departure
Guest’s name, address and telephone number
Company or travel agency name
Type and number of rooms requested
cont.
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Desired room rate
Number of people in the group, if applicable
Method of payment and/or guarantee
Any other special requests
 Most of the above mentioned information is used to create
a reservation record.
Details Provided to Guest
 As you create the reservation, these following
information must be explained to your customers.
 Room release time (6pm is standard)
 Guaranteed reservation
 Check-in time
 Acceptable MOP
 Parking facilities
 Hotel facilities and services
The seven steps reservation sales process
• 1. Greet the caller. ( thank you for calling Holiday
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inn. This is Mary speaking How can I help you
today?)
2. Identify caller’s need ( arrival date, departure
date, preference ....)
3. Provide an overview of the hotel’s feature (
number of restaurant, swimming pool )
4. Make a room recommendation and room rate.
5. Ask for the sales ( Would you like me to book the
reservation for you?
cont.
• 6. Create a reservation record according to the hotel
procedures.
• 7. Thank the caller. Closing a call as warmly as opening a
call leaves the caller with a sense of confidence that they
have made the correct decision.
• The reservation function is a sales process, if the
reservation staff is unenthusiastic, the caller will not a
have a positive impression of the hotel and may decide
to go elsewhere.
cont.
 Reservations can be made for individuals, group, tours
or conventions.
 An individual, not part of the a group is referred as a FIT.
( free independent traveller)
 The customers make reservation by using different
sources.
Sources of Reservations
• Central Reservation System
· Global Distribution System
· Travel Agents (for example flight centre)
· Property Direct
· Internet
Central Reservation System (CRS)
 A central (or computerised) reservation system that
controls and maintains the reservations for several
hotels in one location, and automatically redirects the
reservation to the required hotel.
Central reservation systems
• The majority of hotel groups belong to one or more Central
Reservation Systems
•  A central reservation system is composed of a central
reservation office, member hotels connected together via
communication devices, and potential guests.
• It exchanges room availability information with members
hotel.
•  Central Reservation Office [CRO] offers its services via a
24-hours toll free telephone number(s) [Green Numbers].
continued
 On return, central reservation offices charges a fee for the
utilization of its services which might take the form of a flat
fee and a variable fee, or a flat percentage of potential room
revenue, actual room revenue, and/or Rooms Division gross
profit…
Global Distribution Systems
•Computerized system by which reservation-related
information is stored and retrieved for multiple
organizations.
• Global Distribution Systems [GDS] System including
several Central Reservation Offices connected to each
other.
• Selling hotel rooms is accomplished by connecting the
hotel reservation system with the GDS system.
• GDSs have become a powerful force in hotel reservation.
Travel Agencies
 Travel Agencies are special types of central
reservation offices contracting to handle
reservation for more than one Product Line [ex:
Handle at the same time Airline Tickets, Car
Rental, Hotel Reservation…]  “ One Call Does it
All Approach “!
Property Direct Reservation System:
 Even though many of the five-star hotels rely heavily on
central reservation offices and travel agencies, some
potential guests still find it convenient, and personal to
call directly the hotel to communicate a reservation
inquiry.
Property Direct Reservations
Property direct reservations are made in a several ways
· Telephone
· Mail
· Property-to-property
· FAX
· E-mail
Group Bookings
 Types of groups
Tour groups
Conference/convention
Charity groups (fund raising)
Flight crews
School groups
Sporting groups
Reservation Availability
 After receiving a reservation request, the hotel might
accept it, as it is, if there is room availability.
 If not, the reservation department should suggest
alternative room types, dates, and/or rates, to the potential
guest.
 If, however, the potential guest insists on his/her
previous request, the hotel should suggest an alternative
hotel.
 That's one of the main reasons why we need to maintain
good relation-ships with nearby competing Hotels
continued
 The reservation department should always compare
historical reservation volumes against actual arrivals.
 The main reason is to cope with overbooking, which a
situation occurring when the total number of rooms
reserved for a certain period of time exceeds the total
number of rooms available for sale, for the same period
of time.
continued
 In order to cope with the overbooking problem, some
statistical and historical data should be stored and processed
by the hotel and should be continuously updated. Such data
should include:
 Number of rooms reserved for a specific date
 Number of rooms occupied by stayovers (for a certain
specific date)
 Forecasted no-shows percentage
 Forecasted understays percentage
 Forecasted overstays percentage
 Forecasted cancellation percentage
 Number of out of order rooms for a specific date
Reasons for Travel
 Business
 Pleasure
 Education
 Family
 Religious
 Special events (e.g.Olympic Games)
Types of Market Sources
 F.I.T. – free/fully independent traveller
 Group
 Corporate
 Government
 Package
Room Rate Factors
$ The room rates are set by considering the following
factors:
$ Location (CBD, Country)
$ Hotel Rating (Star)
Room attributes/aspects
Hotel facilities
$ Competition
$ Time of year
$ Intended client
Room Rate Types
 Rack
 Corporate
 Government
 Airline (delayed flights, crew, package)
 Travel Agents (package, familiarisation, group, F.I.T.)
 Groups/conference
 Packages (honeymoon, weekend, midweek)
Five steps to selling
• Know your products
• Know your guests
• Match the guests to the best alternative
• Be aware you are part of the sales team
• Always sell the product before the price
Guest History
 Assist with marketing strategies
 Ensure future reservations are more efficient
 Ensure a quicker check-in
 Ensure guest’s needs are met
 Assist with check-out
History data
 Reservation forms
 Registration cards
 Guest folios on check-out
History can be stored and maintained:
 Manually
 Computerised
Loyalty programs
 Loyalty programs which recognise and reward guests
who frequently stay at the hotel.
 The rewards are linked to the number of nights a guest
stays in a one-year period.
 The rewards may include free accommodation, free
meals or gifts.
Cancellation
 Retrieve original reservation
 Note date and time cancellation received
 Record contact name of person cancelling
 Update manual and computer records
 File cancelled reservation
 Apply cancellation fee as per hotel policy
 Thank caller
Amendments
 Retrieve original reservation
 Note date and time amendment received
 Record contact name of person amending
 Update manual and computer records
 File amended reservation
 Thank caller
Departments concerned with reservations
report
 Maintenance
To enable accurate staff rostering
Budgeting, planning for refurbishment, ordering of
supplies
 Concierge/Porters/Front Desk
As above
Reservation Reports:
• In the reservation department, the widely used
management reservation reports include:
• Reservation transaction report
• Commission agent report
• Turnaway report (sometimes called the refusal report)
• revenue forecast report
Types of Reports
 Occupancy
 Arrivals
 Cancellations
 Special requests
 V.I.P.S
 Black lists
 Market Segments
 Guest history
Occupancy Reports
 Prepared on a regular basis for:
 rostering
 budgets
 maximising occupancy
 planning refurbishment
 ordering
Special Requests Report
 Housekeeping
Cots/rollaways/special linen/vases/flowers/baby
sitters/early and late arrivals and departures
 Room Service
Champagne/fruit baskets/flowers/VIP mini bars
 Porter/ Concierge
Theatre bookings/restaurant bookings/hire cars/early
arrivals/late departures/wheelchair access/luggage
storage/red carpet
Special Requests Report
 Food and Beverage
Dietary, Group meals, Children, Cultural Requirements,
Seating, Groups departing early
 Functions
Dietary, AV Equipment, Meal break times, Business
Services
Black List
 “Bad” debts (previous accounts remain unsettled)
 Malicious damage to hotel property
 Theft of hotel property
 Verbal/physical assault of staff members
Potential Reservation Problems
• 4 main common problems that might be encountered:
• 1) Errors in a reservation record:
a. Record a wrong arrival or departure date
b. Misspell the guest’s name or reverse it
c. Reserve for the caller instead of the guest
d. Inaccurate transfer of reservation information from a
manual record to the computer.
Potential Reservation Problems
 2) Misunderstandings due to industry jargon:
 Confirmed versus guaranteed reservation
 Double room versus 2 beds
 Connecting rooms versus adjacent rooms
Potential Reservation Problems
 3. Miscommunications with external reservation systems:
 Book a guest in the wrong hotel
 Book a guest in the wrong city [ex: Novotel, Melbourne versus
Novotel, Sydney]
Potential Reservation Problems (continued)
 4. Online reservation system failures:
 Fail to update central reservation system concerning room
availability or to communicate rate changes in real time
 Delays in communicating reservation requests
 Communication Equipment used may become
technologically obsolete or inoperatable