MODULE 4

1
OPERATE A COMPUTERISED
RESERVATIONS SYSTEM

Slide 2
Subject elements
This module comprises three Elements:

 Identify the features offered by a computerised

reservations systems

 Operate the computerised reservation system

 Process reservations’ communications

Slide 3
Element 1:
Identify the features offered by
a computerised reservations
systems

Slide 4
Identify the features offered by a
computerised reservations systems
Performance Criteria for this Element are:
 Explain the benefits of and barriers to using a
computerised reservations system
 Identify the businesses that may use a computerised
reservation system
 Describe the scope of a computerised
reservations system
 Describe the functions that can be performed
on a computerised reservations system
 Interpret the screens and displays available
within a computerised reservations system

Slide 5
Definitions
What is a CRS?

 Computerised reservation system

What is a GDS?

 Global distribution system

Slide 6
Importance of a CRS
 Computerised reservation systems have become an
essential part of any hospitality and tourism
organisation

 It is a necessary tool to store and access a wide range

of information, that can be easily accessed by a range
of people in any location

Slide 7
Hospitality CRS
Hospitality computerised reservation systems

 A hotel reservation system, also known as a central

reservation system (CRS) is a computerized system
that stores and distributes information of a hotel, resort,
or other lodging facilities

Slide 8
Hospitality CRS
Hospitality computerised reservation systems

 What hospitality computerised reservation systems are

used in the industry?

 Was is their function?

Slide 9
Hospitality CRS
Hotel software system areas

 Property management

 Accounting

 Internet/GDS reservations

 Central reservations

 Reception

Slide 10
Hospitality CRS
Hotel software system areas

 Point of Sale (POS)

 Spa, club and golf management

 Guest management

 Inventory management

 Yield/revenue management

Slide 11
Hospitality CRS
Property Management Software (PMS)

 One of the major types of hotel software used by the

hotel industry is hotel property management software
(PMS)

 PMS is a comprehensive software package that

manages all aspects of hotel operations, which has
front desk, and back office modules that handle
reservations, guest profile/folio, reporting, night
auditing, and housekeeping, accounting,
payroll and asset and inventory management

Slide 12
Hospitality CRS
Hotel reservation systems

For reservations, there are two types of hotel software:

 A CRS (central reservation system)

 An IBE (Internet booking engine) - an IBE allows

guests to remotely make reservations accessing the
hotel’s website

Slide 13
Hospitality CRS
Modules in a hospitality CRS

 Reservations

 Profiles

 Groups and blocks

 Rate and inventory control

 Administration

 Reporting

 Global distribution interface

 PMS interface

Slide 14
Hospitality CRS
Common CRS information
Information commonly stored in a CRS includes
 Room types
 Rate plans architecture
 Room rates and conditions
 Room inventories
 Generic hotel information
 Distribution content
 Reservation information
 Nearby IATA cities and airports

Slide 15
Tourism CRS
 The Global Distribution System (GDS) is an e-
commerce tool introduced by airlines to facilitate the
booking of flights

 By definition a GDS is a computerised reservation

system (CRS) in that it enables, for example, travel
agencies to place bookings with travel suppliers and
their booking systems via a worldwide distribution
network

Slide 16
Tourism CRS
There are four major Global Distribution Systems:

 Amadeus

 Galileo

 Sabre

 Worldspan

Slide 17
Tourism CRS
Tourism CRS uses

These systems enable travel agencies to:

 Search lowest fares for nominated destinations

 Automatically re-calculate fares for changed itineraries

 Store client data and records

 Access world-wide options

Slide 18
Tourism CRS
Types of CRS bookings and reservations
GDS systems are capable of booking:
 One way and roundtrip airline seats
 Hotel rooms
 Rental cars
 Tours
 Cruises

Slide 19
Tourism CRS
Types of CRS bookings and reservations
GDS systems are capable of booking:
 Bus and rail tickets
 Insurance
 Limousines
 Event and theatre tickets
 Dining reservations

Slide 20
Information within a CRS
Information contained within a CRS
 Destination information
 Availability and costs of any product/service
 Detailed product and service information
 Airfares and airline information
 Special offers and packages
 Transportation options
 Payment options
 Health and safety recommendations

Slide 21
Benefits of a CRS
 Speedier processing of requests and bookings,
ticketing and quotations

 Central location of information

 Integration with web-based/online booking systems

 Allowing multiple uses and multiple sites

 Preserving privacy and confidentiality through

passwords, operator only designations
and system administrator status

 Allowing pre-set limits/allocations/changes

Slide 22
Barriers of a CRS
 Cost of initial establishment

 Training of staff

 System breakdowns and malfunctions

 Need for system back-ups, system maintenance and

system updates

 Discrepancies occurring between properties

using different systems

 Operational staff tend to focus on the

screen instead of customer

Slide 23
Businesses using a CRS
 Retail travel agencies

 Hotels

 Visitor information centres

 Airlines

 Coach companies

 Car rental companies

 Entertainment providers

Slide 24
Businesses using a CRS
 Tour operators and wholesalers

 Event coordinators

 Tour desk officers

 Operations consultants

 Owner operators of small tourism businesses

 Reservations sales agents

Slide 25
Scope of a CRS
Scope of a computerised reservation system

Scope of a computerised reservations system may be

related to:

 Industry-wide access and use

 Use only within an individual property

 Agents

 Service providers

 Direct customer bookings

Slide 26
CRS functions
Functions performed on a central reservations system

 Interrogating and amending existing data

 Making reservations, including group, individual,

corporate, in-house, commission basis

 Amending reservations, such as extending or changing

dates, altering flights, changing room numbers

 Determining vacancies and current level of

availability, including tickets, seats, rooms

Slide 27
CRS functions
Functions performed on a central reservations system

 Recording customer details

 Recording special request details

 Creating internal and management reports

 Generating client histories and preferences

 Generating mailing lists

 Creating marketing information

 Preparing limited accounting statements

Slide 28
CRS functions
Functions performed on a Hospitality CRS

What functions or information would be kept for these

functions:

 Reservations

 Profiles

 Groups and blocks

 Rate and inventory control

 Administration

 Reporting

Slide 29
CRS functions
Functions performed on a tourism CRS
 Understand system assumptions for a quote
 Interpret system codes and abbreviations
 Enter the relevant segment, passenger, destination and
date details
 Create the quote
 Search the ‘best fare’ quote
 Cancel the quote
 Amend the quote
 Update the status of the booking

Slide 30
GDS training
Specialised GDS training courses need to be undertaken
to attain necessary competencies with individual GDS
systems:

 What training would operators need to undertake?

 What do these need to know?

Slide 31
GDS training
These specialised courses relate to the features and
functions of the individual system and address topics such
as:
 Key functions
 Encoding and decoding
 Status codes
 System help facilities
 Selling flights
 Creating and updating files
 E-ticketing
 System abbreviations

Slide 32
Understanding CRS screens and
displays
Interpret the screens and displays

Regardless of the CRS system used it is important for

users to be competent in being able to interpret the
screens and displays relating to:

 Identifying menus and sub-menus

 Identifying information fields

 Identifying drop-down menus

 Identifying self-populating fields

Slide 33
Understanding CRS screens and
displays
Interpret the screens and displays

 Identifying multiple choice fields

 Identifying mandatory fields

 Identifying character limitations within

information fields

 Using the toolbar menu and using

keystrokes to access fields and menus

Slide 34
Understanding CRS screens and
displays
Interpret the screens and displays

 Differentiating between levels of authorization and

access

 Creating and using passwords and User

Identification to access screens and data

 Using system-specific techniques to

move between fields and screens

Slide 35
Understanding CRS screens and
displays
Interpret screen displays
 Prompts
 Buttons/tabs
 Options
 Abbreviations
 Acronyms
 Questions
 Information fields
 Dates

Slide 36
Understanding CRS screens and
displays
In-house interpretations of displays

Different establishments to describe and define certain

fields with meanings and data, such as:

 Dates

 Prices

 Room types

 Room numbers

 Packages

particular to their operational needs.

Slide 37
Understanding CRS screens and
displays
In-house interpretations of displays

Systems may have codes to depict various pieces of

information such as:

 Different revenue stream

 Guest type

 Marketing information that the property

seeks to capture

 Payment methods

 Booking source

Slide 38
CRS training and support
Need for CRS training and support

In order for any staff using a CRS system to become

competent with the software being used in their workplace,
they must:

 Obtain, read, refer to and use the User’s Guide/Manual

for their system

 Obtain practical workplace training in the

physical operation of the system

 Research, understand and utilise the

software support provided by the system
suppliers

Slide 39
Element 2:
Operate the computerised
reservation system

Slide 40
Operate the computerised reservation
system
Performance Criteria for this Element are:

 Access the computerised reservations system

 Investigate information contained within the

computerised reservations system

 Check whether or not a reservation can

be taken on the computerised reservations
system

 Accept and create a reservation on the

computerised reservations system

Slide 41
Operate the computerised reservation
system
Performance Criteria for this Element are:

 Retrieve a reservation on the computerised

reservations system

 Amend a reservation on the computerised reservations

system

 Print reservation details from the computerised

reservations system

Slide 42
Importance of reservations
Role of reservations

 The reservations department is a vital link in any hotel

operation

 The reservations area is where guests have their first

contact with an organisation and therefore make their
first impressions

Slide 43
Importance of reservations
Role of reservations

Three key roles of reservations is to:

 Providing relevant information

 Encouraging the sale

 Making the booking

Slide 44
Passwords
Passwords and User IDs

 Why is it important to have passwords?

 How often should they be changed?

 How else can you protect the privacy of information on

the system when you have ‘logged into the system’?

Slide 45
System information
Investigating information

Investigate information may include:

 Applying access codes

 Interpreting and using on-screen prompts to

determine required information

 Interpreting and applying on-screen

abbreviations, acronyms and options

Slide 46
Accessing system information
Investigating information
 Using navigation tools such as buttons and tabs
 Applying correct date formats within the system
 Adhering to system protocols and field size limitations
 Completing required fields
 Describing the field and menu links
available between screens

Slide 47
Accessing system information
Using system features to access a range of information
Typically a receptionist with responsibility for bookings will
repeatedly be involved in:
 Checking for room availability on the required dates
 Entering the guest and reservation details
 Varying the booking as required
 Checking the guest in
 Posting charges to guest folios
 Preparing and presenting guest accounts
 Accepting payment
 Checking the guest out

Slide 48
Accessing system information
Example – Front Office information that can be
accessed

 Folio clearance

 Night audit information

 Room charge update

 Rooming rebuild/calendar update

 Transaction summary

 Internal management reports

Slide 49
Checking reservation availability
The balancing act of reservations

When times are busy, the reservations team must try to fill
the hotel whilst:

 Filling hotel rooms at competitive rates

 Not overbooking the hotel

 Generating higher room rates

Slide 50
Checking reservation availability
Importance of checking reservation availability

 All booking requests must be checked on the system

before they are accepted

 Whilst in most cases hotels or other hospitality and

tourism businesses will try to find a way to ensure a
reservation can be taken, at times however this is not
possible

Slide 51
Checking reservation availability
Methods of booking

Requests for bookings can come via the following

mediums:

 Telephone

 Fax

 Internet

 Face-to-face walk-in enquiries

 Mail

Slide 52
Checking reservation availability
Sources of bookings

 System referrals from other properties in the chain

 Travel agents

 Tour operators

 Airlines

 Family and friends of the guests

 The guest themselves

 Businesses

 Groups

Slide 53
Checking reservation availability
Obtaining the basic reservation information

In order to check room availability you must determine:

 Date of the first night

 Date of the last night

 Type of room sought

 Name of guest or business seeking accommodation

 Identifying if they are a VIP, ‘blocked’ or ‘black listed’

 Identification of any other potentially limiting factors

Slide 54
Checking reservation availability
Considerations

 Minimum stay lengths/minimum nights

 Peak time/prime time

 Stops/stop sell

Slide 55
Creating new reservations
Information to record

 Date of arrival

 Date of departure

 Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA

 Estimated Time of Departure (ETD)

 Number of nights

 Name in full

 Personal details

 Room type

 Number of adults and children

Slide 56
Creating new reservations
Information to record

 Passport/ID number

 Package type

 Room rate

 Method of payment

 Booking taken by

 Notes/comments

 Room number

 Marketing information

Slide 57
Creating new reservations
Types of reservations

 Airline seats

 Hotel rooms and accommodation at other facilities

 Rental cars and other vehicles

 Transportation

 Transfers

 Entertainment

 Tours and cruises

Slide 58
Creating new reservations
Types of reservations

 Entrances to tourist attractions, tourism sites or other

sites of interest or significance

 Travel insurance

 Tour guiding services

 Activities

 Meals

 Functions

 Special items with customer’s corporate branding

Slide 59
Creating new reservations
Types of reservations

 Special events

 Venue facilities

 Convention facilities

 Speaker services

 Audio-visual services

 Meeting or event equipment

 Special event consumable items

 Food, beverage and general catering

Slide 60
Creating new reservations
Handling special requests

 Disabled room

 Room that has a balcony or outside are where people

can smoke

 Cot or high-chair

 Fold-away bed

 Champagne and chocolate on arrival

or at nominated times

 Fresh fruit platter in the room

 Flowers

Slide 61
Creating new reservations
Handling special requests

 Room facing the ocean or garden or some other

identified aspect

 Interconnecting rooms

 Adjacent rooms

 A room located away from the lift

 Bed board

 Extra clothes hangers

 Glass vases

Slide 62
Creating new reservations
Handling special requests

 Voltage converters (240 to 220 volt)

 Iron and ironing board

 Booking in the dining room

 Special food and beverages

 Mobile phone rental

Slide 63
Retrieving reservations
Reasons to retrieve a reservation

Once a reservation has been made, you may need to

retrieve it so as to:

 Convert a tentative booking into a confirmed one

 Modify the booking in one of many ways as advised by

the guest

 Add an advanced deposit

 Cancel a reservation

 Allocate a room

 Effect a room change

Slide 64
Amending reservations
Types of amendments

 Cancelling the reservation

 Changing the date/s

 Changing times

 Changing customer names

 Changing the number of people

 Adding children or additional customers

Slide 65
Amending reservations
Types of amendments

 Changing seating arrangements

 Adding special requests

 Seeking a variation in rate

 Splitting a reservation

 Entering a deposit paid

Slide 66
Amending reservations
Types of amendments

 Changing the itinerary

 Adding/deleting products or services

 Entering invoice and payment details

 Entering ticketing and voucher details

 Cross-referencing multiple bookings

Slide 67
Print reservation details
Reasons for printing reservation details

 Why does a reservation need to be printed?

 Who needs this information?

 How do we give confirmation information to

customers?

Slide 68
Element 3:
Process reservations’
communications

Slide 69
Process reservations’ communications
Performance Criteria for this Element are:

 Print reports from the computerised reservations

system

 Create and process internal communications using the

computerised reservations system

 Respond to external requests for information

using the computerised reservations system

 Create and process communications for

external consumption

Slide 70
Print reports
Importance of reports

 What reports are printed?

 What information does it contain?

 Who needs this information?

Slide 71
Print reports
Purpose of reports

Reports can be used:

 For the purposes of comparing cost from various

product suppliers

 Determining usage rates for various product suppliers

 To help negotiate rates

 To determine the currency of information

held in the system

Slide 72
Print reports
Categories of reports

Depending on the system being used, it is possible that

available reports may include:

 Accounting reports

 Sales reports

 Reservation reports

Slide 73
Print reports
Examples of common reports

 Expected arrivals

 Reservation

 Property forecast

 Total booking activity

 Stay activity

 Monthly booking activity summary

Slide 74
Print reports
Examples of common reports

 Daily booking activity summary

 Property detail

 Property detail - room and rate information

 Agent activity

 Automatic allotment release

 Delivery queue purge

Slide 75
Print reports
Examples of common reports

 Guest folios/accounts

 Account balance

 Future summary period statement

 Guest details

 Guest revisits

Slide 76
Print reports
Examples of common reports

 Occupancy reports

 Corporate reports/business reports

 Marketing reports

 Forward reports/future projections

 Mailing list

 Guest requests

Slide 77
Create internal communications
Purpose of internal communications

Internal communications may relate to:

 Providing designated information, data and statistics to

other nominated staff who are linked to the system

 Providing system update information to other

departments within the enterprise to allow
them to plan for changing booking levels

Slide 78
Create internal communications
Purpose of internal communications

 Ensuring only designated material is available and

accessed

 Ensuring currency and accuracy of material

 Requiring confirmation of data sent to others

Slide 79
Create internal communications
Types of internal communications
The possible list of things that may need to passed on to
other departments is endless, but traditionally they can be
seen to be classified as:
 Special requests
 Timing details
 Special needs
 Payment arrangements
 Entertainment
 Information relating to individual customers

Slide 80
Create internal communications
Communicating details to appropriate departments
and colleagues
What information do the following departments need in
relation to reservations
 Housekeeping
 Food and beverage
 Front office
 Sales and marketing
 Car parking
 Valet

Slide 81
Create internal communications
Types of internally used generic reports

 Arrivals report

 Departures report

 No show report

 Room status report

 Special requests report

 Occupancy forecast report

 Average room rates report

Slide 82
Create internal communications
Types of internally used generic reports

 Multiple or double room occupancy report

 Guest list by name report

 Guest list by room report

 Travel agents’ commission report

 Special packages report

 Market segment report

 Rooms out of order report

Slide 83
Create internal communications
Types of internally used generic reports

 Daily room revenue summary report

 Daily revenue summary report

 Weekly trading summary report

 Monthly trading summary

 Year-to-date report

 In-house activity report

Slide 84
Responding to external requests
Besides preparing information for internal purposes, a
hospitality or tourism establishment may also prepare and
present property information for the advice and
consumption of external people such as:

 Businesses

 Suppliers

 Individuals

Slide 85
Responding to external requests
Types of external communication or requests received

Types of communication or requests received by external

persons include:

 Booking requests

 Confirmed bookings

 Mail or emails seeking more information

or clarification of product knowledge

Slide 86
Responding to external requests
Product knowledge information

 Room rates

 Room types

 In-room facilities

 Room aspect

 Smoking

Slide 87
Responding to external requests
Product knowledge information

 Disabled rooms

 Establishment facilities

 In-house attractions

 Local attractions and major events

 Physical location of the property

Slide 88
Responding to external requests
Interpreting communications
Whilst the majority of communications will be relatively
simple to interpret and understand will be some that
present problems or challenges such as:
 Information, advice or communications that arrives in a
foreign language
 Rate queries, currency differences and
money-related issues
 Requests for interpretation, explanation
and applications of industry terminology
that others are not familiar with
 Information provided in coded or abbreviated format

Slide 89
Responding to external requests
Responses and actions to requests

There are a number of responses or actions that are appropriate

for dealing with requests or information received by external
people.

In the case of a travel company this can include:

 Providing destination and specific product

information and advice

 Accessing and interpreting product

information

 Booking hotel rooms

 Selling tourism products to the customer

Slide 90
Responding to external requests
Responses and actions to requests

 Preparing quotations

 Constructing airfares

 Booking and coordinating a supplier service

for the customer

 Issuing customer travel documentation

 Issuing crew documentation

 Issuing air ticket

Slide 91
Responding to external requests
Responses and actions to requests

 Organising functions

 Processing and monitoring meeting or event

registrations

 Purchasing promotional products

 Hiring special equipment

Slide 92
Communications for external
consumption
Information for external consumption

Besides handling external requests, reservation staff will

also need to produce communications that are used by a
wide range of external persons:

 What are examples?

Slide 93
Communications for external
consumption
Processing information for external consumption
Primarily, the processing of communications which is to be used
by external businesses and individuals involves:
 Responding to system-related queries

 Accepting, confirming, denying, amending or

following-up reservations

 Forwarding sub-menu bookings

 Translating communications from/into other

languages

 Converting currencies

 Integrating updates from suppliers

Slide 94
Communications for external
consumption
Processing information for external consumption

 Negotiating new deals based on new information or

emerging trends for listing

 Adding distribution channels to the CRS network

 Generating invoices, accounts, folios and statements

and distributing them as required

 Generating and distributing relevant reports

to other system users, affiliates, partners
or related businesses

Slide 95