DIFFERENT RATES FOR HOTEL GUEST ROOMS INCLUDE :

1. Rack Rate: This is the rate printed on the room tariff card. This rate is usually negotiable as it is the
highest published rate of rooms. It is a rate before any discount.

2. Crib Rate: It is a special rate charged for children above 5 years and below 12 years of age who are
accompanying their parents. The hotel provides a crib (baby bed) in room for infants.

3. Corporate Rate: This is a promotional rate to attract the corporate market segment. This rate is
generally 10 to 20 percent lower than the rack rate.

4. Seasonal Rate: Hotels may offer different rates for different seasons. Destinations may have high,
low, and shoulder seasons. The duration when the tourist traffic at a particular place is high is known as
the peak season; when the demand for hotel rooms drops down, it is known as off-season rate. Hotels in
these locations mention their seasonal rate and off-season (discounted) rate.

5. Week Day/ Weekend Rate: The demand for hotel rooms may be more on certain days in a week.
Hotels analyse their demand levels over a period of time and fix a higher rate during high demand
periods and a lower room rate during low demand periods.

6. Day and Half Day Rate: The day rate, charged from guests not staying overnight at a hotel, is lower
than the rack rate. Sometimes, a guest may wish to stay for a very short duration of time, not exceeding
six hours. In these cases, the half day rate, which is a bit higher than the numerical half of the rack rate,
is charged from guests.

7. Group Rate: As a large group (15 and more than 15 persons) provide bulk business to a hotel, hotels
offer discounted rates to groups.

8. Travel Agent Rate: Travel agents sell travel products like hotel rooms, airlines bookings, etc., on a
commission basis to the guests. They provide a substantial amount of business to hotels, Hence hotels
offer them special discounts. E.g. Of travel agencies – Thomas Cook, Cox & King, SITA Travels etc.

9. Airlines and Crew Rate: A special discounted rate for the crew of one or more airlines that offer
certain volume of business throughout the year on a consistent and continuous basis.

10. Rate: Some hotels offer special discounted rates to Government Officials when they are on an
official tour and staying in a hotel.

11. Complimentary Rate: When a hotel does not charge the room rent from a guest, it is called
complimentary rate or Comp. rate/ room rate. Hotels generally offer such rates to tour/group leader, tour
operators, travel agencies, and local dignitaries who are vital to the public relations programme of the
hotel.

12. Package Rate: A package rate is quoted for the bouquet of products or services. The rate is
generally lower than the sum total of the prices of individual products or services offered in the bouquet.
It is a market strategy to sell the slow moving items along with hot selling products. Hotels may offer
the following packages

a. Meeting package (May include residential arrangement of delegates, meeting room, meals, tea/coffee,
snacks, audio visual equipment etc.)

b. Meal package (Includes room rent and meals)

c. Marriage package (Includes all the necessary arrangements for marriage, like mandap, priest, party
hall/lawn, accommodation for the marriage party, arrangement of reception buffet, and even a
complimentary room/suite for the newly wedded couple)

d. Holiday package (Includes transportation, accommodation, meals, guide, and sightseeing at the
destination)

TYPES OF ROOMS:
1. Adjoining Room: An adjoining room shares a wall with another hotel room and is connected by
a door.
2. Adjacent room: An adjacent room is very close to another room but does not share a common
wall with it.
3. Cabana: A cabana is suited away from the main hotel building, in the vicinity of a swimming
pool or sea beach. It does not have beds and is generally used as a changing room and not as a
bedroom.
4. Duplex: A duplex comprises two room situated on different floors, which are connected by an
internal staircase. The suite is generally used by business guest who wish to use the lower level
as an office and meeting place and the upper level room as a bedroom. This type of room is quite
expensive.
5. Double Room: A double room has one double bed for double occupancy. The size of double bed
is 4.5feet to 6 feet.
6. Double-Double Room: A double –double room has two double beds and is normally preferred by
a family or group as it can accommodate four persons together.
7. Efficiency Room: An efficiency room has an attached kitchenette for guest preferring longer
duration of stay. Generally, this type of room is found in holidays and health resorts where guest
stay for a longer time.
8. Hollywood Twin Room: It has 2 single beds with a common headboard. This type of room is
generally occupied by two guests.
9. Interconnecting Rooms: Interconnected rooms have a common wall and a door that connects the
two rooms. This allows guest to access any of the two rooms without passing through a public
area. This type of rooms is a deal for families and crew members.
10. King Room: A king room has a king size bed. The size of the bed is 6feet by 6 feet.
11. Lanai: A lanai has a veranda or roofed patio, and is often furnished and used as a living room. It
has a view of garden, sea beach or waterfall.
 12. Murphy Bedded Room: Murphy bedded room is a room where the bed is hinged at the base of
the head board and swing up into the wall foe storage. During the day room can be used a sitting
/living room and at night the bed can be laid for the guest to sleep.
13. Parlour: A parlour has a living room without bed and may have sofa and chain for sittings. It is
generally not used as a bedroom. European term for this is Salon.
14. Penthouse: A penthouse is generally located on the topmost floor of hotel and has an attached
open terrace or open sky space. It has very opulent decor and furnishings, and is among the
costliest rooms in the hotels, preferred by celebrities and major political personalities.
15. Quad: A quad room has four separate single beds and can accommodate four persons together in
the same room.
16. Queen room: A queen room has queen size bed. The size of the bed is 5 feet by 6 feet.
17. Studio: A studio room is a small apartment which combines living room, bedroom, and
kitchenette into a single room.
18. Suite: A suite comprise more than one room, occasionally, it can also be a single large room with
clearly defined sleeping and sitting areas. The decor of such units is of very high standards,
aimed to please the affluent guest who can afford the high tariffs of the room category.
19. Single room: A single rooms has one single bed for single occupancy. The size of the bed is
normally 3 feet by 6feet.
20. Twin Room: A twin room has two single beds for double occupancy.
21. Triple: A triple room has three separate single beds and can be occupied by three guests. This
type of room is suitable for groups and delegates of meeting and conferences

CRS (CENTRAL RESERVATION SYSTEM): There are two types of central computerized
reservation systems: affiliate (chain operated) and non-affiliate (independent) systems.

An affiliate reservation system is a hotel chain's central reservation system in which all participating
properties are contractually related. Each property is represented in the system database and is required
to provide room availability and inventory data to the central reservation system on a timely basis. Chain
hotels link their operations in order to streamline reservations processing and reduce total system costs.

A non-affiliate reservation system is a subscription system linking independent properties. A hotel

subscribes to the system's services and takes responsibility for updating the system with accurate room
rate and availability data.

Non-affiliate systems generally provide the same services as affiliate systems, thus enabling independent
hotel operators to gain benefits otherwise available only to chain operators. However, many non affiliate
systems process reservations solely on the basis of the availability of room types. With this method,
room types are classified as either "open" or "closed." Affiliate and non-affiliate central reservation
systems often provide a variety of services in addition to managing reservations processing and
communications.
A CRS may also serve as an inter-property communications network, an accounting transfer system, or a
destination information center. For instance, a CRS is used as an accounting transfer system when a
chain hotel communicates operating data to company headquarters for processing. When a CRS
communicates reports on local weather, special events, and seasonal room rates, it serves as a
destination information center.

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS (GDS): Global Distribution Systems (GDS) are often
formed as joint ventures linking a number of diverse businesses. By directly linking the reservation systems of
hotel, airline, car rental, and travel agency companies and a worldwide basis, global distribution systems provide
access to' travel and tourism inventories around the world. A global distribution system can represent a significant
portion of reservations business far many airport and resort properties. Selling hotel rooms is usually
accomplished by connecting the hotel company reservation system with the GDSs. Most travel agents around the
world have terminals connected to one or more of the many airline reservation systems to book airline travel. By
having hotel accommodations and automobile rentals available in the reservation system at the same time, most
GDSs provide single- source access to most of the travel agent's selling requirements. In one transaction, a travel
agent can sell an airline ticket, hotel room, and automobile rental. The most common GDS used around the globe
are Amadeus, SABRE, Galileo and Worldspan.

DIARY SYSTEM OF RESERVATION:

The system is known as diary system because in this system, the concept of ‘diary’ is used. In this
system, the hotel maintains a diary in which the name of the guest is written on the diary page, as per
the date of arrival. Every page of the diary has a date as per the calendar. Thus, all the guests who have
requested reservation are enlisted date-wise (according to the date of arrival) onto the respective page of
the diary. Thus, checking and preparing the movement list becomes easier. The diary system is used
only in small hotels and cannot be used in medium- or large-sized hotels because of some disadvantages.
Tools Used
The tools required for the operation of the diary system and their uses are discussed below.
1. Room Status Board: While a reservation request is received, first the RSB is referred, which gives an
idea of the room availability position against the requested month.
2. Advance Letting Chart: By referring to ALC, the room status can be known against the requested
period of a particular month.
3. Room Reservation Form: This tool is used to record all the necessary and relevant information
regarding the prospective guest by the reservation assistant.
4. Hotel Diary or Booking Diary: This is another tool used by the reservation section to record all
necessary and relevant information regarding the prospective guest for the purpose of processing. The
information is recorded on a particular page of diary according to the date of arrival. The hotel diary is a
bound book register containing 365 (366) pages arranged in serial order as per the date of arrival. The
Room Reservation (RR) forms are optional, but hotel diary is a permanent record.
 5. Movement List or Expected Arrival List: By using the movement list, the reservation section
intimates the reception section and other departments about the arrivals for the next day.

Whitney System of Reservation:

Whitney system of reservation is a well-accepted system worldwide because of its simplicity. This is a
foolproof system as double checking is done. It was developed by a company called Whitney
Duplicating and Check Company of New York and the system had been named after the company. This
system can be used by hotels of any size.
Tools Used
1. Room Status Board: When a reservation request is received, first the RSB is referred, which provide
the room availability position against the requested month.
2. Density Control Chart: By referring to DCC, the room status can be found against the requested
period of a particular month.
3. Room Reservation Form: This tool is used to record all the necessary and relevant information
regarding the prospective guest by the reservation assistant.
4. Whitney Slip: It is used to record some of the vital information that is taken from the RR form. The
Whitney slip is 3” × 1½” in size. Name of the guest, pax, arrival date and time, departure date, room rate
and plan, billing instructions, booked by and signature of the reservation assistant are the pieces of
information mentioned on the Whitney. The Whitney Slip is always prepared in duplicate and is always
typed.
5. Whitney Carrier: It is used to hold the Whitney slips in the Whitney rack and is made of metal
(usually made of aluminium)
REGISTRATION SYSTEM OR RECORDS:

1. Bound Book OR Hard-bound Register: It is a big bound register usually used by small hotels
only in a thick book. It is kept on the reception counter and the arriving writes information about
him in one time. The advantage of this system is that since the book is bulky and cannot be
moved, all information about the guest is available at one place only. Also no filing is required in
this of this method is that since it is bulky and kept on the counter, with frequent usage it
becomes loose and it looks dirty. The biggest disadvantage is that the information provided by
the guest cannot be kept confidential as it can be registration of VIPs cannot be done. If the book
gets misplaced although it is very unlikely, all the records are lost.
2. Loose leaf register: Almost similar to bound book. Each day a separate page is used instead of a
consolidated register. Advantages are that sheet need not be kept on counter and hence a neat
clean look can be given to the counter. In the event of the loss of one sheet only one day’s
information is lost and the other information will be safe. Disadvantages are that the sheet can be
easily misplaced if the desk clerks are careless. Further the sheet may not be fully filled on days
when there are very few arrivals and rest of it may be waste. Only one guest can register at a
time and if there are heavy arrivals, other will have to wait. Filling also becomes a problem .It is
suitable only for a medium sized hotel.
3. Guest Registration Card (GRC) – Registration card is filled by the guest during check-in. It is
a very important document from where a front desk agent gets all the information about the
guest. A registration card consists of name of the guest, address, organization name and address,
nationality, arrival time and date, expected date of departure, purpose of visit, room number,
number of person, room rate etc.
4. C Form – C Form is a legal document which has to be filled by all foreign nationals except
those from Nepal. NRI’s with green cards do not have to fill this card. Children up to 16 years
and diplomats from other countries are also exempted from filling C form. Three copies of C
form are made, 1st copy is sent to the FRRO, 2nd copy is sent to the local police station, and the
3rd copy is kept as office copy with the hotel. FRROs are mostly located only in metropolitan
cities. In smaller cities or towns, the C form has to be sent to the local police station. Pakistani
forms are directly sent to special branch of FRRO called Pakistan Cell. A Pakistani after
reaching India has to report in person to the office within 24 hours.
5. Arrival and Departure Register – It is a register maintained by the front desk agent which
monitors all the arrivals and departures on a particular day. It monitors the rooms allocated and
those just vacated for helping the Housekeeping department for making rooms ready again for
guests. It also helps to find out the number of people checked in so as to calculate the house
count.