Chapter 10 Reservation - E-Learning System

Chapter 10

Reservation

Chapter 10 – Reservation 1

Learning Objective

To learn

Understand the process of reservation their types

and reports associated to it

Understand that Reservation plays vital role in

hotel management and maintaining healthy guest

relations

Reservation Types

Reports associated to reservations

Problems and approach to redress 2 Chapter 10 – Reservation

Sources and Modes of Reservation

Reservation can happen from number of sources.

Some of the sources can be provided as under-

• Personal approach / direct reservation by guest

• Travel agent

• Direct booking by companies

• Booking by airlines

• Embassies bookings for delegations

• NGOs

• Government office for bulk booking 3 Chapter 10 – Reservation

Types of Reservation

• Advanced reservations – Generally done by

guest who is in transit

• Tentative reservation – made by guest when he

is not sure of his schedule

4 Chapter 10 – Reservation

Types of Reservation

• Confirmed reservation – room reservation can be

considered as confirmed when request in received

in writing, with advance payment. Confirmed

reservation can be of two types.

Guaranteed reservation – hotel to hold room for

guest until specific time

Non-guaranteed reservation – insures room till

reservation cancellation hour


Guaranteed Reservation and Reservation

Form

Insures room till reservation cancellation hour. In

order to guarantee a reservation, guests might opt

for one of the following

• Prepayment guaranteed reservation

• Credit card guaranteed reservation

• Advance deposit or partial payment


Guaranteed Reservation and Reservation

Form

• Travel agent guaranteed reservation

• Voucher or Miscellaneous Charge Order

• Corporate Guaranteed Reservation

Reservation form – Reservation form is important

and base document for any reservation system. This

is an easy reference document and acts as checklist

to reservation


Central Reservation System

Central reservation system is an important aspect of

the hotel. It facilitates

• Automated agency and corporate booking

• Automated rate modification

• Optimise room allocation


Central Reservation System

Central reservation system is an important aspect of

the hotel. It facilitates

• Optimise room revenue

• Flexible rate plan management

• Selling non-room items during bookings

• News and promotions for bookings

• Real time guest profile reports


Central Reservation Office

Central reservation office is divided into two-

• Affiliate reservation network – features of the

reservation network include streamline the

process, reduction overall system cost. The main

advantages of affiliate reservation network are

Streamline the process of reservation

Reduce overall system costs

Attract business for or refer business to another

chain property

Serve as inter property communication network

and accounting transfer tool, destination

information centre and connection with global

distribution systems 10 Chapter 10 – Reservation

Central Reservation Office

Central reservation office is divided into two-

• Non-affiliate reservation network – Network

composed of central reservation office, potential

guests and member independent hotels


Other modes of Reservation

1. Inter –sell agencies - special types of central

reservation office contracting to handle reservation

for more than one product line

2.Property direct reservation systems – Meant for

those guests who find it convenient to call directly

the hotel to communicate a reservation enquiry.


Reservation Availability- Control

book, reservation charts

Reservations can be managed through-

1.Control books – Standard three ring, loose leaf

binders with a tally page assigned to each day of

the year

2.Reservation chart – charts stapled on the wall

depicting days of the month versus hotel rooms


Reservation cancellation and amendment,

over booking policy –

1.Reservation cancellation – process you need to

follow to cancel the hotel reservation

2.Cancellation policy – precautionary measure to

avoid unpleasant conditions

3.Occupancy Management / Overbooking –

occupancy management is adopted by hotels on

the basis of forecasting the number of no-shows,

stay-over, under-stays and walk-in


Reservations waitlist

• Waiting list reservation allows hotels to manage

guests on a waiting mode.

• Waiting list are created when certain room types

are not available or sold out.

• Some of the important benefits of the wait list are to

increase room block usage, increase earnings

reduce call centre volume and more efficient than

other type of requests


Guest complaint handing guidelines

While handling guest complaints the front office staff

should consider the complaints resolution guidelines.

The guidelines may include

• listening effectively,

• staying calm,

• taking notes,

• monitoring progress and

• effective resolution 16 Chapter 10 – Reservation

Expected Arrival, Stay-over and Departure

list

1.Arrival list – consists of list of arriving guest with

necessary details

2.Stay-over list – details of guests expected to

continue to occupy their room next day as well

3.Departure list – details of guests expected to

leave hotel next day


Reports

Hotel prepares various reports for effective

management of guest requirements. Some of the

important reports provided as under

1.Occupancy reports – prepared by late shift for

know the occupancy levels in the hotels

2.Operational reports – reports required to assess

the effectiveness and efficiency of the hotel

3.Room status report – room status details

required by the management to maximise room

revenue, detect skippers 18 Chapter 10 – Reservation

Problems that hotel may face while

managing reservations

Hotels face number of challenges during the

reservation process. Some of those are provided

as follows-

• Lack of prices credibility – hotels change their

prices very frequently at different times and

different guests

• Lack of availability credibility – information

related to room availability because of poor

communication between reservation and other

departments 19 Chapter 10 – Reservation

Problems that hotel may face while

managing reservations

Hotels face number of challenges during the

reservation process. Some of those are provided

as follows-

• Repayment for booking – clients / guest

sometime asked to pay again even after

confirmation of the booking due to lack of

coordination between different functions in a hotel.


Summary

• The process of reservation involves taking note of

the guest requirements and fulfilling further

requirement

• Poor communication within organisation can lead

to dissatisfaction of customer and it may raise

problem in management too

• Any guest dissatisfaction needs to be identified

and rectified before the guest escalates it at front

desk or to the management


Documents

Chapter 10 Reservation - E-Learning System