Importance of Reports
Throughout each shift, front office personnel are required to
keep statistics about arriving and departing guests, room occupancy, and
charges owed to the hotel.
Reports prepared from these statistics keep management
informed about the current status of the hotel and enable accurate
forecasts of future availability.
Other reports prepared by other departments are routinely
routed to the front desk to keep the staff informed of current room
status, charges owed by guests, and so forth.
The Front Desk Log
Most front desk staff maintains a log in which routine information. As well
as noteworthy events may be recorded for the benefit of the next shift. The
purpose of the log is to maintain continuity between shifts and to communicate
useful information.
The following are some of the entries made for the front desk log:
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Reservations received during the shift
Check-ins and check-outs
Early arrivals and departures
Overstays and understays
Scheduled arrivals and departures
Guest problems or complaints
The log may also be used to record accounting
information, such as the total amount of guest
account balances at the end of the shift, and
the total amount of guest payments received
during the shift.
Monitoring Room Status
One of the front office’s most important responsibilities is
monitoring room status. The room rack should reflect the current
status of every room at any given time. When a room is unoccupied
and available for sale, a tag or label should be visible in the slot,
indicating the room type, location, and bedding.
When a room is occupied or assigned in advance, a rack slip is
inserted in the room slot, accompanied by the reservation data or
guest folio. When a room is vacant, but is not yet available to occupy,
a room status tag is inserted in the rack slot. The room status contains
a code or description indicating the current condition of the room.
Room Status Codes
VR – Vacant and Ready
HL –Heavy Luggage
VC – Vacant and Cleaned
LL – Light Luggage
VD – Vacant and Dirty
NL – No Luggage
OR – Occupied and Ready
DL –Double Lock
OC – Occupied and Clean
CL – Chain Lock
OD – Occupied and Dirty
HU – House Use
CO – Check-out
NCI – Newly Checked-In
OOO – Out of Order
NS – No Show
DND – Do Not Disturb
SO – Slept Out
V/ O or O/ V – Status unclear BLO – Blocked
LO – lock Out
V - Vacant
DO – Due Out
VCI – Vacant, Cleaned and Inspected
Monitoring Account Balances
Daily room charge, tax and auxiliary charges, such as
restaurant or gift shop purchases, are posted to the guest account as
they incurred. Any advance payments or deposits made by the guest
are subtracted from the total charges to determine the balance.
A high balance report is used to monitor guest accounts that
exceed the guest’s credit allowance. The credit allowance is the
maximum amount that has been authorized by the credit card
company. If the allowance is exceeded, authorization for an additional
amount must be obtained. If the guest paid in advance the allowance
is the amount of the deposit or prepayment.
A house limit is a set credit limit established by the
hotel, in lieu of a deposit or credit card.
The account balance is the current total of all charges
incurred by the guest but for which payment has not yet
been received. The high balance report shows which
guests, if any, have insufficient credit to pay for all of
their room charges.
When a guest accounts appears on the high balance report,
the following procedures are taken:
1.
For credit card payments, the credit card company should be
contacted to obtain authorization for an additional amount. The
additional amount should take into consideration the excess
charges, as well as any room charges that might be incurred
before the stay is concluded;
2.
For cash payments, the front office manager should contact the
guest to request an additional deposit. A note may be placed
under the guest’s room door, or the client may be contacted
directly by telephone
Monitoring Availability
Room Availability is the actual or projected number of
rooms not yet occupied or reserved on a given date.
A room availability report is an estimate based on
information about past reservations and occupancy.
The following information is required to prepare an accurate
room availability report:
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Room inventory – the total number of rooms that
could theoretically be sold on a given date. The
inventory does not include rooms that are out of
order.
Previous night’s occupancy – the total number of
rooms that were occupied by guests on the previous
night.
Departures – guests who are scheduled to check out
on the current date.
Stayovers – guests who occupied a room on the
previous night and intends to remain on the current
night.
5.Cancellations – The average cancellation rate
of a typical hotel is about 2 percent of
reservations.
6. No-shows – besides cancellations a small
percentage of people who make reservations
never check in. The average no-show rate is
about 5 percent of reservations.
7. Early arrivals – there is also a possibility that a
guest will check in prior to the estimated arrival
date.
Rooms Statistics
One of the functions of the Front Office is to
provide room statistics of the hotel and other
competitive hotels for purposes of gauging the
soundness of operations and to serve as a basis
for future management decisions relating to
marketing trust and for other related hotel
operations.
Some forms of statistics:
Occupancy percentage =
Average room rate =
Total rooms sold x 100
Total rooms available
Total revenue
Total rooms sold
Forecasting Room Availability
Rooms availability forecasts are used to help
manage the reservation process and to guide
front office staff in effective room sales on nights
when a full house (100% occupancy) is possible.
A room availability forecast can also be used as
occupancy forecast. Since there is a fixed number
of rooms in the hotel, forecasting the number of
rooms available for sales also forecasts the
number of rooms expected to be occupied on a
given date.
Room availability forecasts can be useful to the
front office manager attempting to schedule the
necessary number of employees for an expected
volume of business.
Forecasting is a difficult skill to develop. The skill
is acquired through experience, effective records
keeping and accurate counting methods.
The following types of information will be helpful
in room availability forecasting:
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A through knowledge of the hotel and the
surrounding area;
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Profiles of the markets the property serves;
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The occupancy history of the hotel for the past
several months, and for the corresponding
period of the previous year;
Knowledge of reservation trends, such as the
history of lead-time for reservation received;
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A listing of events scheduled in the area at a
time during the forecasted period;
Profiles of specific groups blocked for the
dates in question;
The number of non-guaranteed and
guaranteed reservations booked for specific
dates, and the typical number of no-shows
and last minute cancellations;
The percentage of rooms reserved to date and
the cut-off date for any room blocks held for
the dates in question;
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The existence of city-wide or multi-hotel groups
and their potential impact on the dates in
question (overrun facility support);
Plans for remodeling or renovating the hotel,
which would change the number of available
rooms;
Remodeling or renovating plans for competitive
hotels in the area, and /or information on the
opening of new hotels in the area.
The process of forecasting room availability generally relies
on historical occupancy data. To facilitate, the following
daily occupancy data should be recorded:
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The number of arrivals;
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The number of walk-ins
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The number of stay-over (rooms occupied on previous
nights that will remain occupied for the night in
question);
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The number of no-shows;
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The number of under-stays (check-outs before originally
expected departure date);
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The number of check-outs.
Percentage of No-Shows
The percentage of no-shows indicates the proportion of
guests with reservations who failed to register on their
arrival date.
This ratio helps the front office manager decide when to
sell rooms to early walk-ins.
It also indicates a potential “ball out” factor for those
nights when the hotel has mistakenly overbooked.
Hotels with high no-show ratios will have significantly
more difficulty in accurately forecasting available rooms.
The percentage of no-shows is calculated by dividing the
number of no-shows for a specific period of time (day,
week, month, or year) by the total number of reservations
for the same period.
Percentage of no-shows = Number of no-shows
Number of reservations
Percentage of Walk-Ins
The percentage of walk-ins is calculated by
dividing the number of walk-ins for a specific
period of time by the total number of arrivals
for the same period.
Percentage of walk – ins = Number of walk-ins
Total number of walk-ins
The higher the percentage of walk-ins, the
more difficulty a hotel may have in
accurately forecasting room availability.
Walk-ins help fill rooms which are not
reserved in advance. Often, properties can
sell rooms to walk-in guests at a different
rate since these guests have had less
opportunity to “shop around” at other
properties.
Percentage of overstays
Overstays represent rooms occupied by guests
who continue their stays beyond their originally
scheduled departure dates.
Overstays may have arrived with guaranteed or
non-guaranteed reservations, or as walk-ins.
Overstays should not be confused with stayovers.
Stayovers are guests who arrived to occupy a
room before a given day and whose scheduled
departure dates are after that day.
The percentage of overstays is calculated by
dividing the number of overstays for a specific
period of time by the total number of check-outs for
the same period. The higher the percentage of
overstays, the more difficulty a hotel may
experience in forecasting room availability.
Percentage of overstays =
Number of overstays
Total number of check-outs
To help control overstays, many hotels ask guests to
verify their departure date when they heck in. Such
verification can be critical – especially when the hotel is
full and no overstays can be allowed.
Overstays may also cause problems when rooms have
been blocked for incoming guests. This is especially
important for suites of other rooms that may have
special value to the incoming guests.
Percentage of understays
Understays represent rooms occupied by
guests who check out before their scheduled
departure dates.
Understays may have arrived at a property
with guaranteed or non-guaranteed
reservations, or as walk-ins.
The percentage of understays is calculated by
dividing the number of understays for a
specific period of time by the total number of
check-outs for the same period. The higher the
percentage of understays, the more difficulty a
hotel my experience in accurate forecasting.
Percentage of understays =
Number of understays
Total number of check-outs
Forecast Formula:
Once relevant occupancy statistics have been gathered, the number
of rooms available for sale on any given date can be determined by
the following formula:
Total number of guestrooms
- Number of out-of-order guestrooms
- Number of stayovers
- Number of reservations
+ Number of reservations x Percentage of no-shows
+ Number of understays
- Number of overstays
= Rooms available for sale