SALES DEPARTMENT

“BLOCKING OR BOOKING a particular room type

for a guest, for a definite period of time, for a
particular guest
 Make Reservation

 Provide Customer Service

 Sell Additional Services and Upgrades

 Give Directions and Advise

 Maintain Records
 Ensures room on arrival
A guest who makes a prior reservation is ensured of the
required type of room, no of rooms for his entire stay in
the city. This saves him from the difficulty of finding
accommodation on arrival especially during peak seasons
when most of the hotels are full.
 Budgeting
As he is informed of the tariff at the time of reservation,
he is able to budget his holiday or tour, taking in account
the amount he spends on his stay, food, entertainment
etc.
 Plan Holiday or Rooms
He is able to plan his holiday or tour without worrying about
the basic needs of accommodation and food. Any business trip,
sightseeing tour or excursions may be planned separately after
fixing the accommodation.
 Other Facilities
The guest is ensured of certain facilities offered by the
hotel which can be confirmed by making the reservation
e.g. sightseeing tours, a business Centre offering secretarial
services, entertainment etc. He is also able to give the
hotel address to his associates for any meetings,
correspondence transfers to and from the hotel.
 Forecasting

Prior reservation gives the hotel an indication of the

level of business likely to be encountered during any
particular period. The reservations manager knows
the amount of business ensured during that period
from the confirmed reservations. It enables him to
forecast future revenue generation and take
necessary action to improve the amount of revenue
expected.
 Rate Floating
The reservation department make sure that the
hotel's rates are available on online and offline
channels without any rate parity.
 Availability
The reservation department is also responsible to
maintain the hotels available on all online and
offline channels.
 Guest Satisfaction
The hotel is able to plan its activities and be prepared to
receive an expected guest. They are able to provide the
necessary services and facilities like security, transfers,
preference of rooms to known guests, providing
complimentary and any particular service asked by the
guest at the time of making the reservation.
 Planning
The front office manager is able to make the necessary
decision regarding the no of walk-instant that can be
accommodated on a particular day. Rooms requiring be
repairing or taking off for redecoration can be blocked
during the slack period as shown by the reservations. The
no of rooms to be blocked for such purposes will also be
determined according to the expected guest arrivals.
 Scheduling of Staff

Hotel staff may be scheduled more accurately to void

understaffing or overstaffing problems.
 Tentative Reservation
 Confirmed Reservation
 Waitlisted
 It is a reservation request that a prospective
guest makes on a tentative basis for his
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 confirmed
reservation, and updates its records accordingly

 If the confirmation is not received from the

prospective guest by cut-off date, the
reservation is cancelled and the rooms’
inventory is updated
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 either through letter or e-mail
A reservation is waitlisted when a requested category of
room is not available for the requested dates.

A waitlisted reservation will be confirmed when a hotel

receives a request for room cancellation in the same
category

The hotel does not guarantee a room in case of

waitlisted reservation, it is understood that the room
will be assigned to the guest in case of a cancellation
 Non – Guaranteed Reservation
 Guaranteed Reservation
 The hotel agrees to hold a room for the guest until a stated
reservation cancellation hour “usually 6pm” on the day of arrival.

 A reservation that has no credit card or other form of payment

attached to it as back up.

 If potential guests fails to arrive, by then cancellation hour, the

hotel has the right to cancel the reservation and release the room.
Prepayment guaranteed reservation

Advance deposit

Payment card guaranteed reservation

Travel Agent Guaranteed Reservation

Corporate Guaranteed Reservation

Voucher or Miscellaneous Charge Order (Airline

Reporting Corporation)
Tells the hotel management how the reservation
has reached the hotel:
Example: A reservation request may reach the hotel through
traditional methods like a written mode such as letter, fax,
telex or e-mail or through a verbal mode like telephone or
in-person etc.
 MODES OF RESERVATION

Written
Written Mode
Mode Verbal Mode Online Mode

Letter Telephone/Mobile Website

Fax In Person Mobile

Apps

Email
Social Media
 Letter
Commonly used by travel agents, tour operators,
companies and corporate houses who send in their
reservation request to the hotel on their company
letterheads. The hotel will make the reservation as
per the details are given in the letter.
 Fax
Fax or facsimile transmission uses electronic scanning
technique to send copies of a document over an ordinary
telephone line over a special machine that prints identical
copies of the document.
 Email
An electronic mail that makes it possible to contact the
hotel instantaneously. The hotel will process the reservation
request on the basis of the details given. This mode is fast
and very convenient.
 In-Person
If an individual or a representative goes to the hotel to
book rooms for future it is termed as an In-Person
reservation.
When an individual comes to the hotel and requests a
room for the day it is termed as a Walk-In reservation
 Telephone
The most common method of direct reservation
communications, a prospective guest may telephone the
hotel directly.
The reservation takes the information sequentially as per
the script.
 Web
Guest making a booking via a web browser like hotels
website or booking engine, different online travel agent –
OTA’s, review sites like TripAdvisor etc.
 Mobile App
Bookings delivered via hotels own or third-party mobile
apps
 Social Media
Bookings made via different social media like Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram etc.
 Hotel Sales & Marketing

 Direct Reservation or Property Direct

 Travel Agents and Tour Operator

 Companies and Corporate Houses

 Corporate Travel Departments

 Intersell Agencies

 Central Reservation System (CSR)

 Global Distribution System (GDS)