Front Office Service

Reservation

is the process of booking rooms before the arrival of the guest in order to ensure their
availability at the time the guest checks in. The reservation is the nerve center for the
room revenues and profitability.

Reservation Terminologies

1. Allowance – daily fixed cash paid outs to airline crew as negotiated with the
airline and recovered from them at a later date.
2. Amendments – changes made of records concerning his stay
3. Cancellations- a confirmed booking that has been withdrawn by the guest
4. Confirmation- a room reservation that has been confirmed in writing by the guest
5. Double occupancy- two guest staying in a room
6. Group: anybody of guest above 15 persons who travel together
7. Guaranteed booking or reservation- reservation for which the guest guarantees
to pay for the rate of the room regardless if he uses the room or not
8. Guest- a client of the hotel
9. Forecast- reports that estimates the number of guests to occupy the hotel in a
period of time.
10. FIT- free independent traveler or foreign individual travelers who is an
independent guest who does not use the services of middlemen for booking her
rooms
11. GIT- group inclusive traveler
12. Lay- over – airline passenger checked in by the airline who are catching a
connecting flight sometimes later
13. On request- a status when guest is kept waiting for a room booking confirmation
14. Overbooking-accepting more reservation than the actual numbers of rooms
available in a hotel
15. Pax- person
16. Revision – change in booking instruction
17. Room availability board- it is also called as room status bulletin that indicates
rooms status and usually color coded. A convenient visual guide for controlling
reservation

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 18. Room blocking- blocking a room in reservation chart
19. Sale- a room space sold
20. Sold out- a status in which all room in the hotel are sold

21. Single occupancy- one guest staying in a room

22. Waitlist- a list of booking that cannot be accommodated unless s confirmed

booking subsequently cancels

Sources of Reservation

1. Global Distribution System – which is a network of providers that brings product

and services geographically spread to doorstep of consumers anywhere in the
world
2. Central reservation system-a computerized system that stores and distributes
information on a hotel, resort or other lodging facilities. Provide the venue in the
internet website where each franchised hotel can be easily located by
prospective clients. It is also providing information about the hotel
3. Property management system- Is comprehensive software used to cover basic
objectives such as coordinating the operational functions of front office, sales
and planning.

Types of reservation

1. Guaranteed reservation – the hotel accepts payment from the guest and hotel
holds the room whether the guest arrives at the hotel or not. Cancellation
depends on the hotel’s policy and as agreed upon by the guest and the hotel
2. Non-Guaranteed reservation- the hotel holds the room for a specified time. After
a given time has expired the hotel can give the room to another guest.

2 FORMS OF RESERVATION

1. Manual
2. Computerized

THE RESERVATION PROCESS

1. Receiving a reservation request

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 2. Checking the availability
a) Required dates / length of stay
b) Number of guest
c) Room types required
d) Number of rooms
3. Offering alternatives
a) Different date
b) Different room venue
c) Waitlist
d) Different venue

Common Property Management System Used By Hotel

a) Fidelio
b) Amadeus
c) Opera
d) Galileo / Apollo
e) Abacus hotel net
f) Sabre sharp plus
g) Worldspan
h) Utell reservation

Group reservation- more complex and time consuming than individual reservation.
Usually made in advance of reservation dates and receive discount rates because of
the quality of rooms booked.

Classification Of Group Reservation

1. Tour group
2. Conventional group
3. Participant to a seminar
4. Participant of a training program
5. Political delegates
6. Performing artist
7. Military troops
8. Participant in exhibition, trades, fairs
9. Fashion show organizer and models
10. Reunion
11. Sport team and delegation
12. Airline crew

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 13. Government delegation
14. State visit

Complimentary in the group reservation

1. Group for 15 to 30 pax will earn their tour leader a one complimentary room
2. Group of 31 to 45 pax will earn their tour leader a 2 complimentary room
3. Group above 45 pax will earn complimentary room as per discretion of the
management

Group reservation and correspondence assume great importance and must be dealt
with quickly and accurately because ff.

► Group form a major part of the business

► The tour operator can only proceed in marketing the package after he secure
room confirmation
► Group reservation demand the blocking of a large number of rooms sometimes
years in advance
► A final confirmation of group booking takes longer to materialize.

Consideration in group reservation

► Quality and quantity of rooms

► Meal plans
► Travel arrangement
► Business service
► Lug ( cart)

Steps In Making Group Reservation

Pre- booking
► Group business require a contract to be drawn between the hotel and group
organizer
► The reservation agent must confirm the availability of such a large number of
rooms at the date and time of intended booking to the management before
they negotiate the rates

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The reservation agent must take into account the number of displaced regular business
and the ill will that it may cause.

► The reservation agent must check with food and beverage department if they
can handle such group.
► The reservation agent will block the rooms on reservation chart once contract is
concluded
► Open a separate file for each new group to file correspondence
► Have the names of group member and get their room distribution preference If
they are sharing rooms
► Procure passport details to initiate government formalities if any
► Inform the food and beverage department for meal timings and menu
compilation
► Book coaches for sight-seeing tours if required

Pre arrival

► Get the exact time and departure from the organizer in order to advice the
reception to have the room ready and alert the lobby staff
► Name of the group leader to award a complimentary room and initiate
communication as the day of arrival gets nearer

Post Group Stay

� Give feedback to the management about the performance of the group

for future relations

Things To Do In Preparing For Group Arrival

� Reserved room are blocked off on the room rack

� Keys are sorted out for each room
� Individual or group registration cards are prepared in advance so guest
need only to sign upon arrival
� On arrival a separate counter is to be set up to keep minimum congestion
� The hotel may have give a kit containing a welcome note keys, charge
instructions and tour convention details
� Bell staff by to escort guest to their room in small group

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 � Maintain an open communication or coordination to other department
concerned to maintain a smooth flow of guest stay

Reason in denying reservation

1. The hotel booked to its capacity

2. If the requested category of accommodation is not available
3. The guest or agent is blacklisted

Cancellation of Group Reservation

1. 10 to 14 person – 14 days clear days

2. 21- 50 person – 21 clear days
3. 50 and above- 30 days

The tour operator will pay 25% OF THE ENTIRE GROUP AS INDEMNITY IF A CANCELLATION
NOTICE IS RECEIVED BEFORE 48 HOURS

Accepted payments to guarantee reservation

� Credit card (master visa)

� Debit cards
� Charge card
� Cash/ cheques (advance deposit)
� Company charge back – this payment is extended to guest whose
company has an active account in the hotel. The chargeback authority will
detail what the guest can charge to the company
� Voucher

Reservation Process

Information acquired from guest during room reservation

► Arrival date
► Departure date
► Number of nights
► Number of pax
► Type of room
► Guest name

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 ► Address

► Contact number

► Method of payment

► Special request

Standard In Answering the Phone

► A phone should be answered within 3 rings

► Lift and bring the handset about ½ inch from the mouth
► Always start a call with warm greeting
► Greet the guest by hour of the day
► Use a friendly warm tone of voice

Proper Holding Procedure

► Ask permission from the guest

► Give at least an estimated time of how long will a guest needs to wait on the line
► State the reason why do you have to put the guest on hold then thank the guest
when granted a permission
► If you inform the guest that he/ she needs to wait on line for two minutes be sure
to be back at the line within two minutes
► Thank the guest for holding

Room Availability Board

► A convenient visual guide for controlling reservation. It reflects the true picture of
the room availability status for a 6 months period. Also called the room status
bulletin, it indicates room status and usually colour - coded.

Legends:

- Standard single room

RESERVE - Reserve

- Standard double room

OOO - Out of order

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 -Deluxe Double Room

-Deluxe Single room

-Suite room

OC -On Change

Sources of Reservation

► Letters
► Emails or internet access
► Fax
► Telephone

► In person

► Computer Terminals

► Via Central Booking Offices

Guidance for Good Salesmanship

► Product Knowledge
► Good communication skills
► Willingness to sell
► Use selling techniques

AMENDMENTS AND CANCELLATION

► Cancellation occurs when the guest advises the venue that they will no longer
need the reservation. This may be straight forward or may solve a fee ( especially
for resort, peak seasons and same day cancellation).

Forms of Amendments

1. Extension of Stay- old departure date to new date

2. Early Departure- from original departure date to new departure date
3. Room Change- single or double 1 to 2 rooms or more and vice versa
4. Early Arrivals- date of early arrival until original arrival date.

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 5. Walk-in – date of arrival until date departure

Reservation Reports

1. Room Availability Report- a list showing the number of rooms sold/ available. It can
be prepared daily or weekly basis

2. Expected arrival and departure list-a list of guest who are due to arrive or to depart
on particular day

3. Group status report

► A list of group to arrive/ depart in the week or month along with information like
group size, whether a guaranteed or non- guaranteed booking

4. Special Arrival list

► A list of special guest or VIP’s arriving. This should contain their special request
and additional information about the preference of guest
5. Turn Away Report

► A report on number of reservation request denied and if possible, some

information about the one asking for reservation
6. Revenue Forecast report

► A report on the project revenue from the future room sales along with or regular
up to date report

Required documents and records

1. Individual Reservation Forms or Cards

► Details of each booking are contained in this card. This card id filled up by the
desk/ reservation clerk and will serve as a basis for preparing the daily arrival list
2. Reservation Chart

► To avoid double booking, the Reservation office must keep a record of the room
reserved each day as well as those available for present and future dates
3. Reservation Rack and Reservation Slips

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 ► If the hotel is using a manually operated room status rack this reservation slip is
placed in the corresponding room number that is blocked for the arriving guest.
It contains the name of arriving guest, arrival time, type and room rate. This serve
as the trace file for all reservation received
4. Hanging Folder

► In this folder, the record and letters pertaining to guest reservation are kept. Such
record is filled according to the date of arrival
5. Confirmation Notice Form

► A notice of confirmation of reservation may be sent to the guest or to the

booking party orally or in writing through fax, mail or by email. This confirmation
letter can serve a written evidence of agreement or contract and works to the
advantage of both parties.
6. Reservation Diaries

► For small hotels only few rooms a reservation diary maybe used to record daily
room bookings or reservation making reference to the reservation cards or slips

“The school that shapes lives, intellects and world views”