WU - 2020 - FOM - Course Material

Front Office Management
UNIT ONE
1 The Front Office Department
1.1 Introduction to Front Office
At the hub of the hotel world is the reception desk where most guest transactions take place. It is
here that the guest is received, registered and assigned a room. Information, mail, messages,
complaints and room accounts are all dealt with here. Therefore, to a large extent, the reception
team is the key to an enjoyable and problem-free stay for the hotel guest. It is also the center of
attraction and money generation for the establishment.
The front office department is the nerve center, the hub and the heart of the hotel. Front office
personnel have more contact with guests than staffs in other departments. This is the department
where the guest first checks in and finally checks out of the hotel.
The front office is the main communication center. As it is the major revenue generating
department, it is equipped with staffs of good quality and personality.
The front office is the show window and hence it is furnished and maintained with good
furniture’s and fittings. Front office is well designed in an orderly manner. Regardless of how the
hotel is organized, the front office is always an essential “focal point”.
FRONT OFFICE DEPARTMENT
The front office is the main controlling center of all guest services, and also coordinates the back
office functions with these services. It serves as a main channel of two way communications i.e.
from hotel to guest and guest to hotel.
Front office is the name given to all the offices situated in the front of the house, that is, the
lobby, where the guest is received, provided information, checked-in, his luggage is handled, his
accounts are settled at departure, and his problems, complaints and suggestions are looked after.
Foreign guests use the front desk to exchange currency, find a translator, or request other special
assistance.
Compiled by Tebebe S. Page 1

The front desk often serves as the hotel control center for guest requests concerning
housekeeping or engineering issues. In addition, it may also be a base of operations during an
emergency, such as a fire or a guest injury.
1.2 Front Office Functions
The three main functions of the front office are as follows:
1) Selling rooms;
2) Maintaining balanced guest accounts; and
3) Providing services and information to guests.
1.3 Organizational structure of Front Office Department
The organization of the front office will be influenced by a number of factors (Baker, Huyton
and Bradley, 2000). These may include:
 Size of the hotel. Large hotels employ more staff and tend to have greater specialization
among sections of staff. In small hotels, one member of staff might have a wide range
of duties.
 Standard of service. High-class hotels usually provide more personal services for
guests, so they expect greater specialization and a wider range of services.
 Type of guests. Business people expect efficient check-in and check-out services but
may be prepared to carry their own bags. Consequently, a commercial hotel may need
more staff in the front desk section but fewer at the concierge. Tourists usually require
information on local attractions, but their accounts may be simple to prepare. A tourist
hotel, therefore, needs greater emphasis on giving information and assistance and less on
clerical and cashiering duties. In airport hotels, guests may check in or check out of a
hotel at any time during the 24 hours of a day, a fact that may well require a full front
desk team to be on duty at all times.

The front office department of a hotel comprises of various sections. Depending on the size of
the hotels, the sections may vary. In small or medium sized hotels the sections may be merged
and handled accordingly. The following are the sections of the front office department.
1) Reservation Section is responsible for booking of rooms in advance. It is responsible for

the receiving of the room requests, reservation analyzing and documentation of the room
requests received. This section of the department depends upon the size of the hotel; if
the hotel is small sized there may be not be a separate section for reservations. This
section is mostly found in mid-sized and large sized hotel.
2) Front Desk Section is responsible for receiving the guest, registering of the guest,
assigning of room and room keys and remote controls for television and air conditioners
if such services are available and assistance to the guest during their stay. They are also a
source of information for government offices.
3) Bell Desk is mainly responsible for luggage handling of the guests. It consists of group of
uniformed staff for guest services. This section is maintained separately in large hotels
only.
4) Travel Desk Section handles the transportation facility of the hotel guest. It assists in the
booking of air tickets, hiring of the car and other transportation facilities. It also
arranges / organizes city tours, sighting tours to the guests on request.
5) Business Centers serve the guests with laptops, internet, mobiles, facsimile, LCD
projectors, and photocopier and also on request secretarial facilities. This is the latest
addition in the large and medium sized hotels, in line with the electronic era.
6) Concierge Section provides information about the hotel, its services and amenities, city,
town, country, travel and transport, banks etc. They can also handle the guest luggage and
bags if the hotel does not have the bell desk section. The receiving and distribution of
mail and message, packets, newspapers and magazines in the early mornings to guest
room are also attended to. In addition, it may also handle the hiring of the car and
booking of air tickets and other transportation facilities if there is no travel desk in the
hotel.

7) Cashiering Section is responsible for maintaining and recording guest accounts and bills
and folio of guest and either cash or credit settlement of guest folios at the time of
departure.
8) Communication and Telephone Section handles the guest telephones and messages,
both incoming and outgoing of the guest.
1.4 Front Office Organization Chart
1.5 Duties and responsibilities of front office personnel
I. Front Office Manager

Front Office manager must be a skilled planner who channelizes the various resources viz.
people, money, time, work methods, materials, energy and equipment to suit the objectives of the
property. He should maintain cordial relationships between the front office and other hotel
divisions and departments by encouraging communication between all areas of responsibility.
Basic Function: To supervise all front office personnel and ensure proper completion of all front
office duties.
Duties & Responsibilities:
1. Evaluate and decide the need of personnel in the department.
2. Participate in the selection of front office personnel.
3. Train and update staff skills.
4. Schedule the staff duties.
5. Supervise and help workloads during shifts.
6. Evaluate the job performance of each front office employee.
7. Maintain working relationships and communicate with all departments.
8. Maintain master key control.
9. Check room status
10. Resolve guest problems quickly, efficiently and courteously
11. Update and monitor group information and requirements.
12. Review credit limit report.
13. Enforce all cash-handling, other modes of payment and credit policies.
II. Assistant Manager
The Assistant Manager represents the management in handling the daily operations of the hotel
and could directly report to the General Manager in some hotels. Duties include:
Welcoming VIPs upon check-in;
 Conducting guest relations role;

 Handling efficiently all inquiries and complaints of guests; and
 Ensuring the smooth functioning of all departments in the hotel.
III. Front Desk Agent

Also designated, as Receptionist or Front office Assistant in some hotels, is the first person a
guest sees on entering the property and the last person the guest sees on leaving.
Basic Function: To assist guests in all front office-related functions in an efficient, courteous,
and professional manner that maintains high standards of service and hospitality.
Duties and Responsibilities:
1. Register guests and assign rooms; accommodate special requests, if possible.
2. Assist in pre-registration and blocking of rooms for reservations.
3. Thoroughly understand and adhere to proper credit, other modes of payment, cash handling
policies and procedures.
4. Know room status, locations, types and rates.
5. Use suggestive selling techniques to sell rooms and to promote other services of the hotel.
6. Coordinate rooms’ status with housekeeping department; notify all check-outs, early check-
ins, special requests etc.
7. Take reservations, modify or cancel as requested.
8. Post and file all charges to guest, master and city ledger accounts.
9. Handle issuing and closing of safe deposit boxes for the guests.
10. Read, maintain and pass-on log and bulletin board at each shift.
11. Coordinate with engineering and maintenance division for guest room maintenance.
12. Know all safety and emergency procedures, accident prevention policies.
13. Report any unusual occurrences or requests to the manager.
IV. Reservations
The reservations manager takes charge of this section and makes decisions on whether room
reservations/bookings should be accepted when the hotel is fully booked. That is, to stop taking
room reservations or to allow overbooking of rooms.
The reservations supervisor will monitor closely all the room reservations taken and report to the
reservations manager when abnormal situations happen. For example, there are a larger number
of room cancellations than usual.
Reservation Agent
Normally found in larger hotels, in smaller hotels Front office agent handles this job.

Basic Function: To handle all future reservations, matching the needs of the guests with the
hotel.
1. Process reservations by mail, telephone, telex, cable, fax or central reservation system referral.
2. Process reservations from the sales office, other hotel departments and travel agents.
3. Know the type of rooms, location and layout, status, rates, package plans, benefits etc.
4. Maintain reservation records by date and time of arrival and alphabetical listings.
5. Process cancellations and modifications.
6. Prepare letters of confirmation and communicate to the prospective guest / representative.
7. Know the hotel’s policy on guaranteed reservations and no shows.
8. Process advance deposits on reservations.
9. Prepare expected arrival lists and communicate reservation information for front office.
10. Assist in pre-registration activities when appropriate.
11. Promote goodwill by being courteous, friendly and helpful to guests, managers and fellow
employees.
V. Switchboard Operator
They are heard by the guest but are rarely seen. They represent the hotel through their voice on
the phone. They build a very significant image of the hotel to a prospective guest. The work has
drastically changed due to the electronic age, but the basic voice assistance is always a warm
welcome.
Basic Function: Receives and directs incoming and outgoing calls to individual guests, staff, or
departments.
1. Answer incoming calls.
2. Direct calls to guestrooms, staff, or departments through the switchboard or PBX system.
3. Place outgoing calls.
4. Receive telephone charges from the telephone company and forward charges to the front desk
for posting.
5. Take and distribute messages for guests.

6. Log all wake-up call requests and perform wake-up call services.
7. Provide information about guest services to guests.
8. Answer questions about hotel events and activities.
9. Provide paging services to hotel guests and employees.
10. Know what action to take when an emergency call is requested or received.
11. be aware of all the emergency service nos. and systems relating to the same.
VI. Front Office Cashier
Basic Function: Guest accounting tasks require efficiency and accuracy. The tasks of the front
office cashier center on the guest accounting cycle. The front office cashiers post revenue center
charges to guest accounts. The hotel’s revenue centers communicate information on charge
purchases to the front desk.
Cashiers then post these charges to guest accounts to ensure that the charges will be settled at
checkout. Where computerized systems are installed, the Point of Sale operations are directly
posted to the Guest Ledger whenever the guest utilizes a particular service. The cashiers also
receive payment from guests at checkout. They coordinate the billing of credit card and direct-
billed guest accounts with the accounting division. The cashier at the close of each shift balances
all guest accounts. They also manage safe-deposit boxes / lockers, variety of banking services
including foreign exchange.
1. Operate front office posting equipment/ system.
2. Obtain the house bank and keep it balanced.
3. Complete cashier pre-shift supply checklist.
4. Take departmental readings at the beginning of the shift.
5. Complete guest check-in and checkout procedures.
6. Post charges to guest accounts.
7. Handle Paid-outs (VPO).
8. Transfer guest balances to other accounts as required.
9. Settle guest accounts in cash, credit card, and Company account by transferring balances to the
respective ledgers.
10. Post non-guest ledger payments.

11. Make account adjustments.

12. Balance departmental totals and cash at close of shift.
13. Manage safe deposit box/ locker.
VII. Uniformed Bell Service Staff
Basic Functions: Meeting, greeting and escorting guests to their rooms and also the reverse of it
i.e. escorting guests from their rooms to the front desk, to their means of transport etc. They also
do errands, handle messages and page guests. They also act as the eyes and ears of the hotels
since they are strategically stationed and also make trips to many floors and rooms. Work closely
with the front desk staff, room service employees and other hotel personnel in providing guest
assistance with luggage, transportation and miscellaneous needs.
1. Maintain a good personal appearance at all times. Wear the standard uniform and name tag.
2. Escort guests to and from their rooms if required and also assist in carrying their luggage.
3. Keep the lobby directory up to date.
4. Watch for any unusual persons or activities and report them to management.
5. Transport hotel guests to and from the airport on request. Keep limousines and other hotel
vehicles clean and in top running condition.
6. Maintain an orderly, secure checkroom for guests.
VIII. Concierge
Basic Functions: They are specialized in assisting the guest – regardless of whether inquiries
concern in-hotel or off-premises attractions, facilities, services, or activities. Must provide
concise and accurate directions; make reservations for flights, theater or special events, obtain
tickets, organize special functions such as VIP cocktail receptions and arrange for secretarial
services, if needed.
The concierge comprises of a large group of uniformed staff, including:
 Chief Concierge;
 Airport Representative;
 Driver;

 Parking Attendant;
 Door Attendant;
 Baggage Porter; and
 Baggage Supervisor.

1. Develop a strong knowledge of the hotel’s facilities and services and of the surrounding
community.
2. Provide guests with directions / information to attractions or facilities in or outside the
property.
3. Make guest reservations for air or other forms of transportation when requested; obtain
necessary itinerary and tickets.
4. Make guest reservations for the theater and other forms of entertainment when requested,
obtain necessary tickets and provide directions to facilities.
5. Organize special functions as directed by management.
6. Arrange secretarial and other office services.
7. Coordinate guest requests for special services or equipment with the appropriate department.
8. Check with roomed guests periodically to ascertain if they have any special needs.
9. Handle guest complaints.
(ii) Airport Representative
Duties include:
 Greeting hotel guests at the airport;

 Arranging hotel transportation for guests from the airport to the hotel;
 Answering inquiries from guests about the different means of transportation available
from the airport to the hotel such as airport express train, airport shuttle and bus;
 Taking hotel room bookings;
 Assisting departing guests at the airport; and
 Liaising with airlines for special arrangements such as wheelchair for guests and the
handling of guest baggage lost by the airlines.
(iii) Driver

Duties include:
 Taking guests to and from the airport; and

 Acting as personal driver for guest upon request such as taking guest to his office or for
sightseeing tour.
(iv) Parking Attendant

Duties include:
 Parking cars for guests patronizing the hotel; and

 Assisting the door attendant in ensuring that traffic at the main entrance is smooth.
(v) Door Attendant

In general, the door attendant works outside the hotel’s entrance.
Duties include:
 Greeting all new arrivals;

 Providing door service to guests;
 Summoning baggage porter to assist arriving guests;
 Calling taxis and providing the hotel address card for guests;
 Paying taxi fare on behalf of the hotel guests who do not have local currencies; and
Directing traffic and parking of vehicles at the main entrance.

(vi) Baggage Supervisor (Bell Captain)
Duties include:
 Answering telephone calls from guests regarding baggage pick up from room;
 Assigning baggage porter to handle the guest baggage;
 Receiving guest article, such as a tailor-made shirt from outsider, and assigning a
baggage porter to deliver it to the guest room; and
 Handling guest requests for postal services such as collecting the postage fee of sending a
parcel from the guest.
(vii) Baggage Porter (Bell Attendant)

Duties include:
 Handling guest baggage in and out of the hotel;

 Escorting check-in guests from the front desk to their rooms and introducing facilities in
the room;
 Running errands for the executive office and hotel guests such as going to the post office
buying stamps/sending parcels, doing grocery shopping and obtaining visa for guests;
 Delivering to guest room newspapers, mail, fax, message and parcel, etc.; and
 Handling storage of guest baggage/belongings for late check-out, next arrival or outsiders
to pick up.
IX. Night Auditor
Basic Functions: Must be skilled record keeper since the job requires him to track room
revenues, occupancy percentages, and other front office operating statistics and prepare a
summary of the financial performance for the day. He is basically an employee of the accounts
division. Has to verify all account postings and balances made during the day by front desk
cashiers and agents. In some properties, he may also act as front desk agent during the night.
1. Post room charges and taxes to guest accounts.
2. Process guest charge vouchers and credit card vouchers.
3. Post guest charge purchase transactions not posted by the front office cashier.
4. Transfer charges and deposits to master accounts.
5. Verify all account postings and balances.
6. Monitor the current status of coupon, discount, and other promotional programs.
7. Track room revenues, occupancy percentages, and other front office statistics.
8. Prepare a summary of cash, cheques, credit card activities and summary of results of
operations for management.
9. Understand principles of auditing, balancing and closing out accounts.
10. Know how to operate posting machines, other front office equipment and computers.
11. Understand and know how to perform check-in and checkout procedures.
X. The Executive Floor

The executive floor manager oversees the smooth operation of the executive floors and business
center.
(i) The Executive Floor
Business travelers who require an environment conducive to business and privacy will choose to
experience enhanced services in the executive floor for an additional fee. The executive floor(s)
is usually the top floor(s) of a hotel. Guests of the executive floor will enjoy a range of
complimentary exclusive privileges and benefits which vary from one hotel to another. Examples
are as follows:
 Express check-in and check-out services on the executive floor;

 Complimentary breakfast buffet, afternoon tea, cocktails, evening hors d’oeuvres and all-
day refreshments in the executive floor’s lounge;
 Complimentary in-room local calls and high-speed Internet access; Garment ironing
service;
 Complimentary use of the hotel’s fitness center, swimming pool and private use of the
boardroom for one-hour per stay; and
 Personalized business and concierge services such as flight confirmation and hotel
limousine arrangement.
(ii) Business Centre

Many hotels provide a business center to both their business and leisure guests. The range of
services and facilities provided may include business equipment, presentation supplies,
computers, meeting and function space with wired or wireless Internet access, secretarial and
translation services. Economy properties typically offer limited business services with self-serve
options.
1.6 The Front Desk
Front office area is commonly termed as ‘Reception’, as it is the place where the guests are
received when they arrive at the hotel. It is the first point of interaction between the hotel and the
guests. Being the prime interface between the hotel services and the guests, the front office is
located near the main entrance of the hotel.

The front office structure can be viewed in two ways: the physical setup and the operational
structure of the department.
1.6.1 Physical Setup of Front Office
The physical setup includes key-hanging boards, bell desk and guest-mail handling registers. The
front desk is equipped with various compartments, the computerized property management
system, and an in-house communication system.
Positioning the Front Desk
The front desk is where the guests temporarily await to find an accommodation or to clear their
bill. Hence, it needs to be positioned appropriately such that the staff and the guests can use them
conveniently. The front desk needs to be:
 Positioned at an adequate height and reach.

 An adequately lit-up area.
 Aesthetically furnished.
 Preferably near the hotel lobby and lift.
 Preferably near the sitting area.
 Wide enough to make the staff member communicate with the guests across the desk.

1.6.2 Operational Structure of Front Office
There is lot of staff working under front office manager. The structure of the front office
department changes according to the size of the hotel business, physical size of the hotel, and the
hotel management policies.
1.7 Front office Terminologies
Access time – the amount of time required for a processor to retrieve information from the hard
drive; recorded in milliseconds.
Account payable – Financial obligations the hotel owes to private and government-related
agencies and vendors.
Account receivable – Amount of money owed to the hotel by guests.
Aging of account – Indication of the stage of the payment cycle such as 10 days old, 30 days
overdue, and 60 days overdue.
All-suite – A level of service provided by a hotel for a guest who will desire an at home
atmosphere.
Amenities – Personal toiletry items such as shampoo, toothpaste, mouthwash and electrical
equipment.
American plan – A room rate that includes meals, usually breakfast and evening meal as well as
room rental in the room rate.
Assets – Items that have monetary value.
Atrium concept – A design in which guest rooms overlook the lobby from the first floor to the
roof.
Average Daily Rate (ADR) – A measure of the hotel staff’s ability to sell available room rates;
the method to compute the ADR is: Room revenue / number of rooms sold.
Balance sheet – An official financial listing of assets, liabilities and owner’s equity.
Bank card – credit cards issued by banks, examples of which include Visa, MasterCard, JCB.
Banquet sheet – a listing of the details of an event at which food and beverage are served.
Bill-to-account – An extension of credit to a guest by an individual hotel that requires the guest
or the guest’s employer to establish a line of credit and to adhere to a regular payment schedule.

Biometrics – An individual electronic measurement of uniqueness of human being such as

voice, hand print or facial characteristics.
Blackout – Total loss of electricity.
Blocking on the horizon – Reserving guest rooms in the distant future.
Blocking procedure – Process of reserving a room on a specific day.
Bottom up – A sales method that involves presenting the least expensive rate first.
Brownouts – Partial loss of electricity.
Business affiliation – Chain or independent ownership of hotels.
Call accounting – A computerized system that allows for automatic tracking and posting of
outgoing guest room calls.
Cancellation code – A sequential series of alphanumeric combinations that provide the guest
with a reference for a cancellation of a guaranteed reservation.
Cash bank – A specific amount of paper money and coins issued to a cashier to be used for
making change.
Cashier – A person who processes guest check outs and legal tender and make change for guest.
Cashier’s report – A daily cash control report that list cashier activity of cash and credit cards
and machine totals by cashier shift.
Chain – A group of hotels that follow standard operating procedures such as marketing,
reservations, quality of service, food and beverage operations, housekeeping and accounting.
Chain affiliations – Hotels that purchase operational and marketing service from a corporation.
Channel management – Objective review of the most profitable marketing approach for guest
rooms, central reservation system, GDS, third party reservation system, toll free phone
reservation, travel agent, etc.
City ledger account – A collection of accounts receivable of non-registered guest who use the
service of the hotel.
Collective bargaining unit – A labor union
Commercial cards – Credit cards issued by cooperation, an example of which is Diners Club.
Commercial hotels – Hotels that provide short-term accommodation for travelling guests.
Commercial rate – Room rates for business people who represent a company but do not
necessarily have bargaining power because of their infrequent or sporadic pattern of travel.

Communication hierarchy – A listing of the order in which management personnel may be

called on to take charge in an emergency situation.
Complimentary rate – A rate in which there is no charge to the guest.
Computer supplies – Paper, forms, ribbons, ink cartridges needed to operate the system.
Concierge – A person who provides an endless array of information on entertainment, sports,
amusement, transportation, tours, church services and babysitting in a particular city or town.
Conference call – A conversation in which three or more persons are linked by telephone.
Confirmed reservations – Prospective guests who have a reservation for accommodations that
is honored until a specified time.
Continental breakfast – Juice, fruit, sweet roll and/or cereal.
Controller – The internal accountant for the hotel.
Convention guests – Guest who attends a large convention and receives a special room rate.
Corporate client – A hotel guest who represents a business or is a guest of that business and
provides the hotel with an opportunity to establish a regular flow of business during sales periods
that would normally be flat.
Corporate guests– frequent guests who are employed by a company and receive a special room
rate.
Corporate rates – Room rate offered to corporate clients staying in the hotel.
Credit – A decrease in an asset or an increase in liability, or an amount of money the hotel owes
the guest.
Credit balance – Amounts of money a hotel owes guests in future services.
Credit card imprinter – makes an imprint of the credit card the guest will use as the method of
payment.
Crisis management – maintaining control of an emergency situation.
Cross-training – training employees for performing multiple tasks and jobs.
Current guests – Guest who are registered in the hotel
Customer relationship management – A system that allows hotel managers to integrate
technology to support customer service techniques that provide top-notch customer service.
Cycle of service – The progression of a guest’s request for products and service through a
hotel’s department.
Daily blocking – assigning guests to their particular rooms on a daily basis.

Daily sales report – A financial activity report produced by a department in a hotel that reflects
daily sales activities with accompanying cash register tapes or point-of-sales audit tapes.
Database interfaces – the sharing of information among computers.
Data sorts – Report option in a PMS that indicate groupings of information.
Debit – An increase in an asset or a decrease in a liability.
Debit balance – An amount of money the guest owes the hotel.
Debit cards – Embossed plastic cards with a magnetic strip on the reverse side that authorize
direct transfer of fund from a customer’s bank account to the commercial organization’s bank
account for purchase of goods and services.
Deep cleaning – A thorough cleaning on furniture and accessories, windows, flooring and walls.
Demographic data – Size, density, distribution, and vital statistic of population broken down
into, for example; age, sex, marital status and occupation categories.
Departmental accounts – Income and expense-generating areas of the hotel, such as restaurants,
gift shop and banquet.
Direct-email letters – Letter sent directly to individuals in a targeted market group in a
marketing effort.
Distance learning – learning that takes place via satellite broadcasts, Picture Tel, or online
computer interaction.
Double Occupancy Percentage – A measure of a hotel’s staff ability to attract more than one
guest to a room; the method to compute double occupancy percentage is: Number of guest –
number of rooms sold / number of rooms sold X 100%
Eco tourists – Tourist who plan vacation to understand the culture and environment of a
particular area
Electronic key – A plastic key with electronic codes embedded on a magnetic strip.
Electronic key system – A system composed of battery-powered or, less frequently, hardwired
locks; a host computer and terminals; a keypuncher; and special entry cards that are used as keys.
Empowerment – Management’s act of delegating certain authority and responsibility to
frontline employees.
Ergonomics – The study of how people relate psychologically to machines.
European plan – A rate that quotes room charge only.

Express check out – Means by which the guest uses computer technology in a guest room or a
computer in the hotel lobby to check out.
Family rate – room rates offered to encourage visit by families with children.
Float – The delay in payment from an account after using a credit card or personal check.
Floor limit – A dollar amount set by the credit card agency that allows for a maximum amount
of guest charges.
Flow analysis processes – The preparation of a schematic drawing of the operations included in
a particular function.
Flowchart – An analysis of the delivery of a particular product or service.
Folio – A guest’s record of charges and payment.
Forecasting – Projecting room sales for a specific period.
Full house – 100 percent hotel occupancy; a hotel that has all its guest room occupied.
Full service – A level of service provided by a hotel with a wide range of conveniences for the
guest.
Global Distribution System (GDS) – Distributor of hotel rooms to corporations such as travel
agents that buy rooms in large volume.
Going green – the responsibility to take care of the environment.
General ledger – A collection of accounts that the controller uses to organize the financial
activities of the hotel.
Group rate – Room rate offered to large groups of people visiting the hotel for a common
reason.
Group travelers – Person who are travelling on business or for pleasure in an organized fashion.
Guaranteed reservations – Prospective guests who made a contact with the hotel for a guest
room.
Guest Folio – A form imprinted with the hotel’s logo and control number and allowing space for
room number, guest identification, date in and date out, and room rate in the upper left-hand
corner; it allows for guest charges to be imprinted with PMS and is filed in room number
sequence.
Guest histories – Detail concerning the guest’ visits, such as ZIP code, frequent of visits,
corporate affiliation or special needs.

Guest supplies – Commonly referred to as guest amenities or personal toiletries; care items such
as small bottles of shampoo, hair conditioner, lotion, soap, mouthwash, shoeshine cloth, mending
kit etc.
Hard key system – A security devise consisting of the traditional hard key that fits into keyhole
in a lock; preset tumblers inside the lock are turned by the designated key.
Hardware – Computer equipment used to process software, such as central processing units,
keyboards, monitor and printers.
Hospitality – The generous and cordial provision of services to a guest.
Hotel representative – A member of the marketing and sales department of the hotel who
actively seeks out group activities planner.
House count – The number of persons registered in a hotel on a specific night.
Housekeeping room status – Terminology that indicate s availability of guest room such as
available, clean or ready ( room is ready to be occupied ), occupied ( guest or guests are already
occupying a room ), dirty or stay over ( guest will not be checking out of a room on the current
day ), on change ( guest has checked out of the room, but housekeeping staff has not released the
room for occupancy), and out of order ( the room is not available for occupancy because of a
mechanical malfunction)
Hubbart formula – A method used to computed room rate that considers such factors as
operating expenses, desired return on investment and income from various departments in the
hotel.
Incentive program – An organized effort by management to understand employees’
motivational concerns and develop opportunities for employees to achieve both their goals and
the goals of the hotel.
Independent hotel – A hotel that is not associated with a franchise.
In-house laundry – A hotel-operated department that launders linens, uniforms, bedspreads etc.
In-room guest check out – A feature of the property management system that allows the guest
to use a guest room television to check out of a hotel.
Interdepartmental communication – Communication between departments.
Interfacing – The ability of computers to communicate electronically and share data.
Inter-hotel property referrals – A system in which one member-property recommends another
member property to a guest.

Job analysis – A detailed listing of the tasks performed in a job, which provides the basis for a
sound job description.
Job description – A listing of required duties to be performed by an employee in a particular
job.
Key drawer – A drawer located underneath the counter of the front desk that holds room keys in
slots in numerical order.
Key fob – A decorative and descriptive plastic or metal tag attached to a hard key.
Late charges – Guest charges that might not be included on the guest folio because of a delay in
posting by other department.
Leisure travelers – People who travel alone or with others on their own for visits to points of
interest, to relatives, or for other personal reasons.
Liabilities – Financial or other contractual obligations or debts.
Limited service – A level of service provided by a hotel with guest room accommodations and
limited food service and meeting space.
Litigious society – An environment in which consumers sue providers of products and services
for not delivering them according to expected operating standards.
Manager’s report – A listing of occupancy statistics from the previous day, such as occupancy
percentage, yield percentage, average daily rate, Rev PAR, and number of guests.
Market segment – Identifiable group of customers with similar needs for products and services.
Marquee – The curbside message board, which includes the logo of the hotel and space for a
message.
Mass marketing – Advertising products and service through mass communications such as
television, radio, and internet.
Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) – A listing of the chemical contents, relative hazards to
the users, and name and address of the producers of the contents.
Military and Educational rate – Room rate established for military personnel and educators.
Modified American Plan – A room rate that offers one meal with the price of a room rental.
Moonlighter – A person who holds a full-time job at one organization and a part-time job at
another organization.
Night Audit – the control process whereby the financial activity of guest’s accounts is
maintained and balanced on a daily basis.

No-show factor – Percentage of guests with confirmed or guaranteed reservations that do not
show up.
Occupancy percentage – The number of rooms sold divided by the number of rooms available.
On the job training – A training process in which the employee observes and practices a tasks
while performing his or her job.
Organization Chart – Schematic drawing that list management position in an organization.
Orientation Check List – A summary of all items that must be covered during orientation.
Outsourcing – Provision of service to the hotel, for example; a central reservation system by an
agency outside of the hotel.
Outstanding balance report – A listing of guest’s folio balances.
Overbooking – Accepting reservations for more rooms than are available by forecasting the
number of no show reservations, stay overs, under stays, and walk ins, with the goal of attaining
100 percent occupancy.
Package Rate – Room rate that include goods and services in addition to rental of a room.
Paid in advance (PIA) – Guest who paid cash at check in.
Paid-outs – Amount of monies paid out of the cashier’s drawer on behalf of guest or an
employee of the hotel.
Par System – A level of inventory established that provides adequately for service.
Percent Yield – The number of rooms sold at average daily rate versus number of rooms
available at rack rate multiplied by 100
Point of sale – An outlet in the hotel that generates income such as a restaurant, gift shop, spa
etc.
Posting – The process of debiting and crediting charges and payments to a guest folio.
Policy and procedure manual – Publication that provides an outline of how the specific duties
of each job are to be performed.
Potential gross income – The amount of sales a hotel might obtain at a given level of
occupancy, average daily rate and anticipated yield.
Private label cards – Credit cards issued by retail organization, such as a department store or
gasoline company.
Profit-and-loss statement – A listing of revenues and expenses for a certain time period.

Property Management System (PMS) – A generic term for applications of computer hardware
and software used to manage a hotel by networking reservation and registration databases, point
of sales system, accounting system and other office software.
Rack rate – The highest room rate category offered by a hotel.
Referral reservation service – A service offered by a management company of a chain of hotels
to franchisee members.
Registration card – A form on which the guest indicates name, home or billing address, phone
number, date of departure, method of payment and etc.
Residential hotel – hotels that provide long term accommodations for guest.
Revenue management – A process of planning to achieve maximum room rate and most
profitable guests ( guest who will spend money at the hotel’s food and beverage outlets, spa etc. )
that encourages front office manager, general manager and marketing or sales director to target
sales periods and develop sales programs that will maximize profit for the hotel.
Room blocking – reserving rooms for guests who are holding reservations.
Room revenue – The amount of room sales received.
Room sales projections – A weekly report prepared and distributed by the front office manager
that indicates the number of the departures, arrivals, walk ins, stay overs, and no shows.
Sales indicators – Number of guest and revenue generated.
Self-check-in process – A procedure that requires the guest to insert a credit card with a
magnetic stripe containing personal and financial data into a self-check in terminal and answer a
few simple questions concerning the guest stay.
Stay overs – currently registered guest who wish to extend their stay beyond the time for which
they made reservations.
Total Quality Management (TQM) – A management technique that encourages managers to
look critically at process used to produce products and services.
Travel directories – Organized listings of hotel reservation access methods and hotel
geographic and specific accommodations information.
Traveler’s checks – Prepaid checks that have been issued by a bank or other financial
organization.
Under stays – Guest who arrive on time but decide to leave before their predicted date of
departure.

Upsell – To encourage a customer to consider buying a higher priced product or service than
originally anticipated.
Visual alarm systems – flashing lights that indicate a fire or other emergency in a hotel room.
Walk in guest – Guest who request a room rental without having made a reservation.
Yield – The percentage of income that could be secured if 100 percent of available rooms are
sold at their full rack rate.
ZIP or Postal Code – An individual local postal designation assigned by a country.
UNIT TWO
2 Front Office Operations
2.1 Guest Cycle
The guest cycle describes the activities that each guest passes by from the moment he/she calls to
communicate a reservation inquiry till he/she departs from the hotel. In fact, the guest cycle
encompasses 4 different stages, which are depicted in the underneath, diagram:
Pre-Arrival  Arrival  Occupancy  Departure
Each stage of the guest cycle is associated guest service, and guest accounting activity (ies).

1. Guest Services
ReservationRegistration  Occupancy servicesCheck-out and history
2. Guest Accounting:
Establishment of credits  posting charges  Night auditing  settlement of accounts
Below is a description of the activities undertaken at each stage of the guest cycle:-
2.1.1 Pre-arrival
At the pre-arrival stage, the hotel must create for every potential guest a reservation Record.
Doing this initiates the hotel guest cycle.
Moreover, reservation records help
personalize guest services and
appropriately schedule needed staff and
facilities.
The reservation department should,

then, complete all the pre-registration
activities and prepare guest folios
(applicable only for automated systems).

Doing so will eventually maximize room sales by accurately monitoring room availability and
forecasting room revenues
2.1.2 Arrival
At the arrival stage, registration and rooming functions takes place and the hotel establishes a
business relation-ship with the guest.
The check-in clerk should determine the guest’s reservation status (i.e. pre-registered guests
versus walk-ins). Later, he/she shall prepare a registration record or make the guest sign the
already-printed pre-registration record (under some of the semi-automated and all fully
automated systems).
The registration records shall include the following personal and financial items:
a) Personal information:
1. Name and Surname of the guest along with billing address, telephone number, and
any other coordinates
2. Passport number, birth certificate, and/or driving license number (whatever
applicable)
3. Any special needs or requests
4. Guest Signature
b) Financial information:
1. Date of arrival
2. Expected date of departure or length of stay depending on how the system in the hotel
is designed
3. Assigned room number
4. Assigned room rate
5. Guest's intended method of payment
Registration records can be used for various purposes:
a) Satisfy guest needs
b) Forecast room occupancies
c) Settle properly guest accounts
d) Establish guest history records at check-out [personal & financial information]
e) Assign a room type and a room rate for each guest

f) Determine long-run availability [i.e. reservation information] versus short-run availability

[i.e. room status]
g) Satisfy special categories of guests such as disabled people through barrier-free designs
2.1.3 Occupancy
At the occupancy stage, the front office department shall coordinate guest services in a timely
and accurate manner. Moreover, front office clerks should encourage repeat guests by paying a
great attention to guest complaints. This is ensured by placing complaint and/or suggestion cards
in every public place and revenue centers in the hotel. Moreover, the hotel shall, at least on a
daily basis, collect comment cards, proceed with their analysis, and provide positive feedback to
guest as soon as possible.
In addition, shall design effective procedures in order to protect the funds and valuables of
guests. This might be ensured through guest key control, property surveillance, safe deposit
boxes, and well-designed emergency panels and exits…
Another activity at occupancy is to process posting of guest charges [i.e. post room rates, F&B
charges, additional expenses, and taxes…] to various guest folios, master Folios… While doing
so, front office clerks shall continuously check for deviations from the house limit, and take
corrective measures as to change the status of the guest to Paid-in-advance. Finally, front office
clerks shall periodically review Account Balances in coordination with the night auditor.
2.1.4 Departure
At the departure stage, the guest shall be walked out of the hotel. Moreover, front office clerks
shall create guest history record. Finally, cashiers shall settle guest account outstanding balances
[i.e.: balance the Guest account to 0]
In general, a proper checkout occurs when the guest:
a) Vacates the room
b) Receives an accurate settlement of the guest account
c) Returns room keys
d) Leaves the hotel

At departure, checkout personnel should encourage guests to consider returning to the hotel on
any future date. That's why cashiers should act like a true sales person, and might eventually
accept guest future reservations. That way, the stages of the guest cycle become really a cycle
(i.e. start from where it ends).
If at departure, the guest account is not fully settled, then late charges accumulate. In such an
undesired case, the responsibility of collection lies within the accounting department, however
the front office department shall provide all necessary types of information to make this
collection easier, quicker, and feasible.
2.2 Front Office System
Until the 1960's, nearly all hotels were operating under the manual system. At late 70's, with the
introduction of computers, hotels shifted to semi-automated systems. Nowadays, most of the
five-star hotels operate under the fully automated system. Below is a brief description of the
three different systems under which hotels might operate.
1. Non-automated [manual] systems: This very system is the one characterized by the sole
usage of hands. In fact, all formats, procedures, and different kinds of calculations are done
manually.
2. Semi-automated [Electro-mechanical] systems: This system gets use of some Electro-
mechanical equipment. In fact, under the semi-automated system, each department might
have its own computer system under which it handles all its operations.
3. Fully automated [computer based] systems: That's the best system ever used in the hotel
industry. In fact, it is characterized by the excessive use of departmental software package
programs integrated and connected to a main frame or terminal situated at the front office
department.
2.3 Guest Cycle under Three Different Systems:
At this stage, it is essential to notice that the following stages of the guest cycle under the three
different systems do not conflict with each other. In fact, the only differences are due to the

nature of the system use. Therefore, what will be discussed above is not the repetition of the
sequence; rather only differences will be highlighted.
2.3.1 Non-Automated System
A- Pre-arrival activities:
At the pre-arrival stage, reservation requests should be introduced in a loose-leaf notebook or
index card. Moreover, only reservations up to 6 months horizons shall be honored. Lastly, it is
not practical, under this very system, to issue reservation confirmation numbers, initiate pre-
registration activities (at the exception of VIP and groups) and prepare occupancy forecasts. The
reason is time and money loss along with insufficient labor force to manually conduct all the
above mentioned activities.
B- Arrival activities:
At the arrival stage, guests shall either sign a page in the registration book or fill manually a
registration record. Under this very system, the most widely used front office equipment is the
room rack, in which registration records are inserted to serve as room rack slips. Moreover,
registration books and records shall be time stamped as an internal control proving when the
guest exactly came, who registered him/her…Lastly; guest folios shall be opened for each
registered guest.
C- Occupancy activities:
Under the occupancy activities, registration records shall be prepared with multi-copies. In fact,
one copy shall be distributed to room rack, another stamped to the guest folio, and another given
to switchboard operators, and a final copy handed to the uniformed service personnel. Lastly,
guests with charge privileges charges and payments shall be posted to respective guest folios.
D- Departure activities:
At departure stage, cashiers should settle each guest account's outstanding balance and get room
keys back from guests. Moreover, cashiers shall notify the housekeeping department that the
room is no more occupied (i.e. room status change) to let this very department clean the room
and prepare it for new arrivals. In addition, cashiers shall remove room rack slips from room

racks to indicate departure. Lastly, these very rack slips of departed guests shall be filed in a
cardboard box to serve as a guest history record
2.3.2 Semi-Automated System
This very system is less common in small and middle size hotels. For, these very hotels,
financially wise, might not afford the huge investments associated with the installation of
different hardware and software.
The main advantage of this very system over manual system is that various reports can
automatically be generated. However, the major disadvantages associated with this system are
various complexities of operating and controlling devices due to the fact that this equipment are
not integrated with other systems and are subject to frequent maintenance problems.
At this very stage, guests can either call a national reservation network or directly contact the
hotel. Moreover, reservation clerks can prepare pre-registration records, guest folios, and
information rack slips.
At this very stage, already reserved guests shall verify their pre-registration forms and have only
to sign it. On the other hand, walk-ins shall complete a multiple copy registration record from the
beginning.
At the occupancy stage, in order to track the different guest charge expenditures and all other
possible guest transactions, hotels get an intensive use of various kinds of vouchers. Moreover,
the most widely used equipment, under this very stage, is the mechanical cash registers and front
office posting machines. Lastly, under this very stage, night auditor shall continuously resolve
any discrepancy in guest accounts and efficiently reconcile guest folios.

At this very stage, cashiers shall relay room status information to the housekeeping department.
Moreover, they should place registration records of departed guests in property’s guest history
files.
2.3.3 Fully Automated System
Under this stage, the reservation department is equipped with a software package, which is
interfaced and connected with one or more central reservation office(s). Moreover, the
reservation department can automatically generate letters of confirmation, produce requests for
guest deposits and handle pre-registration activities for all types of guests and generate daily
expected arrival lists, occupancy and revenue forecast lists…
At this stage, various reservation records can be transferred to front office department. Moreover,
hotels might be equipped with an on-line credit authorization terminal for timely Credit Card
Approval, self-check-in / check-out terminals. Lastly, all guest charges and payments are saved
in electronic guest folios.
As far as walk-ins are concerned, all registration activities should be initiated from the very
beginning.
Under this very stage, guest purchases at different revenue outlets are electronically transferred
and posted to appropriate guest accounts. Moreover, the front office department can run and
process continuous trial balances and, therefore, eliminate the tedious work for the Night
Auditor.
At this very stage, cashiers can automatically produce bills to be sent to various guests with
direct billing privileges and create electronic guest history records

2.4 Front Office Forms:
At different stages of the guest cycle different forms are used depending on which operating
system a hotel chooses. Below are some of the common forms used:
I. Pre-arrival activities:
a) Reservation record or a reservation file

b) Letter of confirmation
c) Reservation rack and reservation rack slips
II. Arrival activities:
a) Registration card (or record) or registration file

b) Room rack and room rack slips
III. Occupancy activities:
a) Guest folio: shall be of duplicate forms and pre-numbered for cross-indexing control
purposes
b) Vouchers: support documents detailing facts of a transaction, but does not replace the source
document (i.e. the invoice). Examples of vouchers might include charge vouchers, allowance
vouchers, paid-out voucher, and correction vouchers…
c) Information rack slips
IV. Departure activities:
a) Credit card vouchers

b) Cash vouchers
c) Personal check vouchers
d) Transfer vouchers
e) Guest history records

2.5 Front office work shift/scheduling
In the past, traditional scheduling was applied. Under this approach, each employee shall work
40 hours per week, 8 hours per day, hence, 5 days per week. This implies that the hotel shall
ensure 3 shifts per day, each of which lasts for 8 hours to ensure service provision all along day
and night. A possible example of traditional scheduling is shown below:
 Day Shift  7 a.m. - 3 p.m.

 Evening Shift  3 p.m. - 11 p.m.
 Night Shift  11 p.m. - 7 a.m.
Recently, traditional scheduling has been challenged due to several variables such as seasonality,
business volume, and available staff in hand. That’s why it is much more common nowadays to
use alternative scheduling that might take one of the following forms:
 Flexible Work Hours (Flextime): This kind of alternative scheduling entitles that
employees might start work, for example, one hour earlier, just to leave again one hour
earlier.
 Compressed Work Schedule: Employees, instead of working 5 days per week, 8 hours
per day, might work 4 days per week, 10 hours per day. Therefore, compressed work-
scheduling means working all the 40 hours per week in less than the standard 5 days per
week.
 Job Sharing: This kind of scheduling entitles that two or more part-timers occupy the
job of one full timer. Recently, part-timers constitute an increasing input in the hospitality
labor market. Such an input creates usually a win-win situation for part-timers and hotels.
Yet, it is important to consider other critical factors, when selecting part-timers, like
training, motivation, productivity and loyalty.
Whatever scheduling applied, front office managers shall carefully schedule their employees in
order to minimize conflicts that arise between hotel and employee needs. In big hotels operating
under fully automated systems, some scheduling software package programs might be installed
as to help managers in effective scheduling.

UNIT THREE
3 Accommodation Products and Hotel Guest
Accommodation is the core product of a hotel and is always one of the largest revenue sources in
a hotel operation.
Accommodation products refer to rooms and other related products or services that hotel guests
will consume during their stays. Front line staff, especially receptionists and reservation staff,
should be equipped with product knowledge which enables them to recommend or explain to
their guests what is being offered by the hotel. Some basic concepts about the accommodation
products, including bed types, room types and room rates are described in this section
3.1 Types of Guest Rooms
Room types of hotels can be numerous which vary in their grading, features and functions.
Receptionists and reservation staff should be familiar with all different room types and their
characteristics so that a perfect guest-to-room fit can be achieved.
3.1.1 Differences in Room Grading
The grading of rooms is generally divided into 3 categories.
Grade View Amenities/Supplies Extra Services/Products

Average, e.g. Basic setting, e.g. pine Nil
Standar garden furniture, bed with
d view, car blanket only, disposable
park view paper slippers, etc.
Superior, Upscale setting, e.g. e.g. complementary newspaper,
e.g. city rosewood furniture, complimentary breakfast, etc.
Superior
view, sea bed with comforter,
view cloth slippers, etc.

Magnificent, Grand setting, e.g. e.g. free access to executive

e.g. sea view antique furniture, bed lounge and its services, express check-
at high floor, with feather in, welcome drinks, complimentary
Deluxe
attraction comforter, leather breakfast, free in-room internet and
view slippers, etc. Wi-Fi services, free limousine pick-up
service from the airport, etc.
3.1.2 Common Types of Room
In addition to the room types mentioned in the handbook, more room types are available for
guest s’ selection according to their needs and preferences. The below tables shows a
comprehensive list of room types which are commonly provided by hotels worldwide.
Types of Description
room
Single A room that sleeps only one person and has been fitted with a single, double or
Room queen-size bed.
Twin Room A room that can accommodate two persons with two twin beds.
Double A room that can accommodate two persons with a double or queen-size bed.
Room
Double- A room that can accommodate two to four persons with two twin, double or
Double queen-size beds
Room
Triple A room that can accommodate three persons and has been fitted with
Room three twin beds, one double bed and one twin bed or two double beds
Hollywood A room that can accommodate two persons with two twin beds joined
together by a common headboard. Medium tariff and budget hotels tend to

Twin provide many of these room settings which cater both couples and parties in
two.
Room
Studio / A room that is fitted with a sofa bed or a Murphy bed (i.e. a bed that folds
Murphy out of a wall or closet) which can be transformed from a bedroom in
night time to a living room in day time.
Room
Suite A room with one or more bedrooms and a living space. The
bedrooms might be singles, doubles or twin doubles
President The most expensive room provided by a hotel. Usually, only one president
Suite suite is available in one single hotel property. Similar to the normal suites, a
president suite always has one or more bedrooms and a living space with
strong emphasis on grand in-room decoration, high quality amenities and
supplies, and tailor-made services (e.g. personal butler during the stay).
Villa A special form of accommodation which can be found in some resort hotels. It
is a kind of stand-alone house which gives extra privacy and space to hotel
guests. A fully equipped villa contains not only bedrooms and a living room
but a private swimming pool, Jacuzzi and balcony. It is suitable for couples,
families and large groups.
Accessible This room type is mainly designed for disabled guests and it is required by law
Room that hotels must provide certain number of accessible rooms to avoid
discrimination. The room setting of an accessible room is different from other
standard rooms for guests’ conveniences. Common features include safety
bars and emergency buttons in the bedroom and bathroom, touch floor lamps,
fire alarm lights, and outward opening door for bathroom, etc. The rooms
should always be located at ground or at lower floors and should be near to the
elevators for easier accessibility of disabled guests. Besides, this room type is
also suitable for seniors.
Balcony A room with a balcony.
Room

Executive- A room located at the ‘executive floor’ which enables convenient access to the
Floored executive lounge. Besides, some hotels also provide ‘female executive floors’
with their rooms assigned to female guests only due to safety and security
Room
reasons.
Room for This room type can be found in service apartments and hotels which target for
long stay guests (e.g. expatriates). Open kitchens or cooking equipment are
Extended
usually available in the room. Some would also provide housekeeping
Stay
services (e.g. once a week) in a regular basis.
Smoking / Many hotels provide both smoking and non-smoking rooms for their guests.
Non- In order to minimize the effects of secondhand smoke exposure on non-
Smoking smoking guests, some hotels group all smoking rooms in certain floors and
Room separate them from non-smoking rooms.
Adjacent Rooms close by or across the corridor, but are not side by side
Room
Adjoining Rooms that are side by side, but do not have a connecting door between them.
Room
Two rooms that are side by side and have a connecting door between them.
Connecting
Room
3.2 Room Rates
The main source of income for a hotel is by the sale of room space. In the hotel industry, all
rooms are not the same. There are various types of rooms depending on the size, location and
category of the hotel. The types of and rates of rooms not only differ from hotel to hotel but also
within the hotel, depending on real estate and construction costs. The level of luxury and the type
of bedding also determines the room rate to be charged. Various terms, codes and descriptions
have been created by various hotels worldwide to represent room tariffs and types. In the past it
was difficult as different hotels used different codes. Due to computerization the room types and
codes have become standardized.
1) Rack Rates

Rack rates are normal room rates. It is based on the category of the room, type of bedding and
occupancy. Unless specified, guests are quoted the rack rates and are charged for the same.
2) Group and Tour Rates
Group and Tour rates are a discounted room rate for an organization, which has blocked a large
number of rooms. Most hotels have group rates that are lower than the rack rates. This rate is
generally extended to a trade association or fraternal organization that has scheduled a meeting,
seminar or conference at the hotel. Discounts are also offered to a tour operator, in return for a
commitment to purchase a minimum number of rooms over a given period of time. They are
usually regular customers for the hotel.
The hotel, normally offers group and tour discounts to increase or maintain occupancy
throughout the year in return for a commitment to purchase a fixed number of rooms.
3) Special and Promotional Rates
Special and promotional rates are offered to corporate travellers, traveling sales representatives,
military personnel, airlines staff or other regular clients. Sometimes special rates are also offered
along with an advertising campaign or to promote the hotel during lean periods.
4) Package Rates
These rates are often offered during the lean season or as a promotional venture. These include
weekend packages or promotional packages like a three nights and two days stay which include
meals and other recreational facilities.
Package rates are also offered to the public along with other services such as banquet or a ball, or
recreational facilities or a special event. Such a package normally includes accommodation,
tickets to the concerned event, transportation from hotel to the venue and back and pick-up
service. Other popular packages offered by hotels are honeymoon, weekend, Christmas, New
Year or any other special event and sports activity. The package rate is normally lower than the
combined component or rack rate.

5) Corporate Rate
This rate is given to corporate travellers, who normally form the cream of a hotel's occupancy.
To earn this discount, the company may have to guarantee a minimum number of rooms to be
occupied during a particular period. Some hotels offer this corporate rate to any business
traveller irrespective of the employer.
6) Government Rate
This rate is normally given to employees of the government, usually on the basis of a contract
between the government department and the hotel. Discounted rate may also be given to
government personnel holding a valid ID to encourage regular business.
7) Military Rate
This is offered to personnel of the armed forces, either on the basis of a contract or to encourage
repeat business.
8) Agent Rate
This rate is offered to travel agents and airline personnel, which may not be valid during the peak
seasons.
9) Salesperson Rate
These rates are mostly offered at motels to traveling salespersons during the off-season.
10) Local Business Rate
These rates may be offered to preferred business houses in the local community, which includes
a discount and guaranteed availability.
11) Day Rate
This rate is applicable to guests who stay only during the day without staying overnight.

12) Guaranteed Availability
If a hotel normally has a high occupancy rate, the group rate offered may be only guaranteed
availability of a fixed number of rooms, without offering a discount.
13) Airline Rate
The rate agreed between an individual airline and the hotel as determined by the volume of
business the hotel obtains from the airline.
14) Children’s Rate
Each hotel has a specific age limit for the child to stay with their parents in the same room free of
charge or at a nominal rate.
15) Family Plan Rates
These are rates designed to attract families. Hotels with family plan rates do not charge for
child/children under a certain age, staying in a room (without request for extra bed) with their
parents. For example, children under 2 years of age might stay for free and children under 12
years of age might be charged at 75% of the rack rate.
16) Industry Rates
Those who work in the travel industry (travel agents, employees from other hotels, meeting
planners, etc.) are often extended the professional courtesy of discounted rates.
Industry rates can vary from 30 to 50 percent off rack rate, depending on the location and
seasonality factors. Many chains offer their employees a discounted rate at affiliated hotels when
they travel. They see this as an effective way to promote awareness of sister hotels and to instill
A form of guest loyalty on the employee. These rates vary greatly, But can be as much as 75
percent off rack rate.
17) Walk-In Rate

This type of rate designation may vary from night to night. It is set each night by the front office
or rooms manager based on the remaining unoccupied rooms in the hotel. A walk-in is a hotel
guest who arrives without a reservation. Literally “walking in off the street” these guests can
help fill any remaining hotel rooms. With few remaining rooms, the walk-in rate may be set
fairly high to maximize room revenue. An empty hotel may reduce the walk-in rate significantly.
18) Half-Day Rates
Some hotels offer certain guest rooms as an alternative meeting room. Most often these are
suites, but some hotels have built specially designed sleeping rooms complete with Small
conference tables and limited audiovisual equipment. These Rooms are often utilized for just a
few hours to conduct interviews and small conferences. Because the room is not used for the
entire night, a half-day rate may be assigned based on half the value of the rack rate. Half-day
rates are also commonly offered at airport hotels in major gateway cities. Travelers arriving in
from a long flight May come at all hours of the day. They may require a room for a few hours’
sleep and a quick shower to freshen up. A half-day rate may be imposed in these cases as well.
3.2.1 Meal Options Included in the Room Rate
Some hotels offer meal options to guests when they reserve rooms. Four common meal options
are described below.
Package plan What is included UK terminology

European plan(EP) Room rate is for accommodation only Room only
Room rate includes accommodation and Room and
Continental plan (CP) a continental breakfast breakfast
The room rate includes accommodation
and all three meals. It is usually referred Full board
American plan (AP) to as Bed and Board
Modified American plan The room rate includes accommodation, Half board
(MAP)

breakfast and one other meal
3.2.2 Other Related Products and Services
It is assumed that a guest who pays a room charge is not only provided with the right to stay in a
guest room but to use other related products and services. Following shows some common
examples of products and services which can be included in the room rate.
 Wake-up call service;

 Safe deposit box;
 Free internet and Wi-Fi access;
 Room cleaning service;
 Turn down service;
 Swimming pool;
 Gymnasium;
 Valet parking;
 Free shuttle service;
 Bell service;
 In-room complimentary food and beverage items (e.g. tea and coffee bags);
 Express check-in service;
 Free access to executive lounge;
 Complimentary newspapers; or
 Welcome drinks at bars or lobby lounge,
 etc.
3.3 Hotel Brochures and Tariffs
Hotel brochures and tariffs are sales and marketing tools used by the hotel to provide information
on the room rate (rack rate) charged and the facilities and services provided to the guests. In

general, the brochures contain pictures of guest rooms, restaurant outlets and other facilities.
Tariffs are usually printed separately as an insert, as the price may change every season or year.
3.4 Types of Hotel Guests
A hotel customer or client is called a guest because the hotel offers homely and professional
service to him, and establishes an intimate relationship with him during his stay.
Hotel guests may be defined as “people who have, who are, or who will be availing the services
of hotel, for a particular period in order to satisfy their demand for accommodation, food and
beverage or entertainment, for which they are willing and able to pay”.
Guest relation is the integral part of the hotel industry. It is a means for the management to reach
out to the guest and convey to him the feeling of warmth and welcome.
3.4.1 Guest Classification
A guest may be classified under following headings:
A. Guests on the basis of presence in the hotel: an expected guest, an in-house guest and
check out guest.
B. Guests on the basis of recognition: regular guest, V.I.P., special attention and
distinguished guest and new guests
C. Guests on the basis of revenue: paying guests and Complimentary Guests
Hotel guests can be classified according to their:
 Trip purpose – pleasure or business travelers

 Numbers – independent or group travelers
 Origin – local or overseas travelers
I. Leisure Travelers

They are individuals who travel to engage in leisure activities, outdoor recreation, relaxation,
visiting friends and relatives or attending sports or cultural events.
Corporate Business Travelers
They are individuals whose frequent bookings are usually made by enterprises with reduced
room rates. Business travelers travel to conduct business, attend business meetings or workshops,
and engage in selling or purchasing products.
Free Independent Travelers (FITs)
They are sometimes referred to as "foreign independent travelers ". FITs are international tourists
who purchase their own accommodation and make their own travel arrangements.
II. Group Inclusive Tours (GITs)
Tourists who travel together on package tours with accommodation and sometimes meals which
are booked through travel agents. Group tourists tend to spend less and budget their spending
allowance.
Domestic Tourists
They are local residents who stay at a hotel for special occasions and functions.
III. Conference Participants
Individuals who travel to attend conference and whose accommodation is usually reserved by
him/her, his/her enterprise or a conference organizer before their arrival.
IV. Very Important Persons (VIPs)
Very important persons may include celebrities, frequent-stay guests, guests in expensive rooms,
guests with security risks and top executives from enterprises.
Incognito
They are guests who stay in a hotel with concealing identities so as to avoid notice and formal
attention.

3.5 Guests and Their Needs
1. Guests with Special Needs
 Wheelchair; and
 Facilities for the disabled.
2. Business Travelers
 Broadband Internet service;

 International direct dialing (IDD) service;
 Local & international newspapers;
 Laundry/valet service;
 Shoes polishing service;
 Other business facilities, e.g. business center, executive floor, fax machine, laptop
computer, conference and meeting facilities.
3. Leisure Travelers and Holiday Makers
 Rollaway bed/ baby cot;

 Connecting rooms;
 In-room movies;
 Sports facilities, e.g. gymnasium, swimming pool;
 Spa facilities for beauty and health treatments, e.g. massage, hydrotherapy, facials and
intensive foot and hand therapies;
 Baby-sitting service.
4 Other Requests
 In-room dining (Room service);

 Doctor Service;
 Smoke-free guest room;
 Room make-up service;
 Alteration & mending service;

 Repair and maintenance service;

 Food & beverage enquiries, e.g. hours and location of meals.
3.6 Selection of Hotel
Customers choose products for different reasons. It can be to emotional or psychological reasons
such as to satisfy a basic need such as to eat and drink, or simply because it is in fashion. More
rational reasons are because of the location, the facilities on offer and because it is value for
money.
Some of the reasons for choosing specific products include:
1. Location
This is definitely one of the most important factors for choosing to stay in a specific hotel.
Business travellers attending early morning meetings in the CBD will choose a hotel nearby.
Leisure travellers will prefer to stay near attractions. Customers arriving late at night after a long
flight will choose an airport hotel because of its convenient location.
2. Facilities and Services
Some clients require little more than cleanliness and pleasant service, while others will require
24-hour service in all departments. The receptionist must know all the facilities that the hotel
offers and the prices. Facilities and services that might be needed include banqueting and
meeting rooms, florist, swimming pool, car hire, sauna, hairdresser, theatre tickets, laundry/valet,
kiosk shop, and sports facilities, etc.
3. Value For Money
Value for money does not mean that a product must be cheap. It means that the customers
should feel that it is worth paying for the product. Even the wealthiest of clients still want to see
value for money. Most people have no objection to paying for a service, even a fairly expensive
one, but they do not like to feel that they have been cheated.
4. Need

All people travelling away from home needs a place to sleep. A customer may buy a hotel room,
even if it is not what is really wanted, simply because they need the product.
5. Security
Staying in familiar surroundings can provide guests with a sense of security. This is one of the
reasons guests often return to hotels they have stayed in before, or stay in a particular group of
hotels whatever country they are travelling in.
6. Comfort
Décor and furnishings contribute greatly to the comfort of a guest. Guest will choose
surroundings that make them feel at home.
7. Desire
This simply means that when the customer sees the product, he/she wants it. Marketing
campaigns attempt to establish a sense a desire, usually by using color pictures.
8. Pride
People pay a great deal of money for a product to be proud of. The same can often be said of
hotels. Customers will only stay in an establishment that they can be proud to come back to.
Pleasure
Leisure travellers in particular will be motivated to buy a product for this reason. In a hotel it is
particularly important to ensure that your customers' pleasure is not spoiled, and they will
continue to stay with you because they enjoy it.
9. Fear
A customer may accept a room because they are afraid they will not get anything else, even
though it is not exactly what they want.

10. Fashion
Hotels and restaurants can be ' fashionable' according to who goes there, or the write-up they
receive in the press and hotel guides. Many customers want to be seen at the latest 'in' place.
11. Habit
Many clients will buy the product simply because they always do. This does not mean that a
hotel can afford to be complacent. The hotel must ensure that its standards remain as good as
ever, and then the customer will continue with the habit.
UNIT FOUR
4 Front Office Telecommunication
4.1 Introduction to Front Office Telecommunication/PBX
Effective communication by telephone will not only assist in selling the hotel, but will also
promote an image of efficiency.
Since the client has only the telephone conversation on which to judge the standard of the hotel,
the rules that apply to good verbal communication are even more applicable to telephone
communication.
Many hotels insist upon their staff answering the telephone in a certain way, e.g. ‘Good morning.
Hilton Addis Hotel, Haile speaking. How may I help you?’ This quickly becomes standard
procedure and ensures that the client receives all the information.
As long as the call is answered promptly with an appropriate greeting, the client will feel
confident that the organization is efficient. In addition to the correct greeting, all switchboard
operators should be familiar with the procedures for making credit card calls, directory enquiries,
collect/reverse charge calls, early morning calls and international calls.
Most modern telephone system enable the guest to dial direct both local and long-distance calls.

Making Calls
 Before making calls, you organize and pen down what you want to say
 You have prepared/gathered the necessary reference materials and documents
 You check that the telephone number you are going to dial is correct
 You allow the other part’s telephone to ring for 1 minute, which is about 7-10 rings
 When the other party answers the phone, you identify yourself and your company
 You state your reasons/purpose for calling.
Answering the Telephone
 You answer promptly, if possible, within 3 rings. If you cannot answer the call promptly,
you apologize to the caller at the start of the conversation.
 You greet the caller with the appropriate greeting
 You identify your company or your name/dept. You are proud to identify yourself
 You always have pen and paper at hand
 You take notes, instructions, details and information as required
 You repeat all instructions or requests
 You listen to the callers’ tone/mood, not just what he is saying
 During the conversation, if you need to leave the phone to get something, you inform the
caller the reason/situation. If you estimate you will take a long time, you inform him and
suggest you take down his phone number and contact him when you have got the
information. And of course, you keep your word
 If the caller is looking for somebody who is not around, you offer to transfer the call to
somebody who can help or offer to take a note/message.

Transferring Calls
 If you need to transfer the call to another person or dept., you state the reason to the
caller
 You get the caller’s permission before transferring the call

 You inform the caller the dept./job title you are transferring to and the name of the
person you are transferring to
 You ensure both parties are properly introduced. You can do this by briefly explaining
the situation to the person taking the call before you put through the call.
Taking Messages
 You get all the necessary information from the caller. These information include full
name of caller, company name, message and the contact number
 You repeat all information obtained to the caller for accuracy
 After ending the call, you fill up the message form completely and indicate the following
items – full name of caller, caller’s company name, message, caller’s contact number,
name of person whom the message is for, room number, person who took the message,
date and time
 You write neatly
 You pass the message to the person concerned as soon as possible.
4.1.1 Direct Dialing
In most hotels, when direct dialing from guest’s rooms was introduced, individual meters for
each extension were installed in reception. This enabled the staff to calculate the number of units
consumed, cost them according to the charge made by the hotel, and subsequently posts the price
to the guest’s account. Unfortunately this system is not without problems since staffs
occasionally forget to read the meter, and so the units of one client may be added to the account
of an incoming client. Should a client dispute a charge, it is impossible to check the cost of the
call, and much revenue can be lost in this way.
4.1.2 Computerized Phone Billings
A computerized switchboard enables the billing of telephone calls to be controlled in a much

more effective manner. Each call is logged with the date and the exact time, the number that was
called, how long the call was connected for, the number of units consumed and the cost of the
call according to the hotel’s charges. This can then be automatically charged to the guest’s

account, or printed out for the guest to see in case of query. The system can also be used to ‘bar’
extensions, which enables the hotel to control the use of the telephone. Various offices may have
access to local calls but not national or international calls, while other offices may not be able to
call out at all. If a guest has not acknowledged a request for payment of account, the extension
can be barred.
Many hotels have taken advantage of the new technology now available to provide their guests
with additional services. These are particularly valuable for the business community, and may
well present a good selling point.
4.1.3 Automated Phone System
Telephone systems can now provide a range of services for both the hotel and the client. The
systems are automated, and generally activated through a system known as voice processing,
which is a combination of computer technology and the spoken word. The systems include a
variety of services such as wake-up calls, message waiting facility, and access to hotel services
and do not disturb.
1. Wake-Up Calls
If a guest-controlled computer system is not in use, wake up calls are usually taken by
switchboard operators. It is extremely important that when a wake-up call is requested that
proper procedures are followed so that the call will be made at the right time. When wake-up
calls are entered into the system, the guests name will be displayed to ensure accuracy of entry.
A list of all wakeup calls can be displayed on the screen or printed out any time.
Guests can also program their own wake-up call, and they will be called automatically, in a
language of their own choice. The system can be set so that the call will be repeated a number of
times, after which time the operator will be alerted so that an investigation can be made into the
guest’s safety.
2. Message-Waiting Facility
When guests arrive, they are allocated an electronic mailbox, and given an individual ‘PIN’
number. This allows them to empty their mailbox. The hotel may also take advantage of the
service by placing a welcome message in the guest’s own language, and in some cases they will
also provide the guest with the facility to pick up message for a while after they have left.

Here the telephone in the room will display a light to show that a message is waiting for the
guest to collect. In addition, the system will ‘ring’ the guest quietly at intervals until such times
as the message is collected.
3. Access to Hotel Services
The telephone system can be used to access directly all the hotel services, and to display an up-
to-date copy of the guest’s account. Guests can also make arrangements such as for a massage or
making a room service order with just a touch of a button.
4. Do Not Disturb
Although the guest is virtually self-sufficient, they may decide they do not wish to be disturbed;
in that case all their calls can be diverted to the hotel operator, but the individual service is still
there if the customer requires it.
Telecommunication systems mean that many of the devices of the past have become virtually
obsolete. The telex was very popular, since it enables bookings to be received when there was no
one in advance a reservation, and the problem of differing times zones was easily overcome.
Very few hotels now use this system, since other methods of communication are faster and
easier.
4.2 Communication Equipment’s
4.2.1 Fax
Fax (or facsimile printing) is simply a way of transmitting a document in its original form from
one place to another. Inaccuracies due to transcription errors are thus eliminated, and diagrams
and illustrations can be reproduced and received in their exact format. The two machines are
linked together by a telephone line and the best description is one of two photocopiers joined by
telephone. Most fax machines are of the desk-top variety and consequently small enough to
install almost anywhere.
Message can be timed to the exact second as documents, deeds and other information can be sent
automatically 24 hours a day. Many models feature a delayed transmission with automatic
dialing and re-dialing if necessary. This has the dual advantage of overcoming different time
zones and also means that messages can be scheduled to be sent when call rates are at their very
lowest.

Most machines transmit and receive up to A4 size, although some will accept larger documents.
These machines are still invaluable, not only to the hotel, but also to the many business people
staying in the hotel who will gladly pay to use the facility. Many private individuals have fax
machines at home, and hotels are aware that this service must be offered. Confirmation by fax is
a norm, and most hotels have a fax cover sheet designed in a similar way to a standard or form
letter.
4.2.2 Electronic Communication
Internet increasingly, hotels are using interactive TV sets functioning as room terminals and
providing clients with a fax and computer modem as part of the service. Access to the Internet
and the World Wide Web is essential in business hotels. Through the use of webcams, the user
can follow proceedings elsewhere, and worldwide video conferencing is an important part of
many international organizations.
4.2.3 E-mail
This system can be in use both internally and externally, providing that the organization is
networked. It is a way of using the network to both send and receive messages, either from one
office to another or from one organization to another. Even if the recipient is overseas, the
message can be composed and transmitted in a matter of seconds. Attachments can also be sent,
so that consultative documents do not need to be reproduced.
Use of e-mail within an organization can significantly reduce the amount of paper generated,
since the message need not be printed out, but can be stored in the memory for future reference.
The same message may also be sent to any number of people without the need to photocopy or
circulate the information. Once a message has been received, the reply can be attached to it, or it
can be forwarded to a third party
Always ensure that emails are filled in correctly. When the same email is send to more than one
recipient, care must be taken not to disclose the email addresses of the recipients.

4.3 Property Management Systems
Hotel business is of a kind that needs to provide a myriad range of services to its guests such as
food, accommodation, transport, recreational services, and so on. Since the front office
contributes major portion in coordinating the services requested by the guests, it needs a system
that can help the front office staff to sell services and track them seamlessly and simultaneously.
The front office information system includes mainly the property management system.
4.3.1 What is a Property Management System?
A Property Management System (PMS) is a software system employed to handle basic

objectives of all the departments in the hotel business and coordinate functions between them for
optimum business outcomes.
4.3.2 Why is PMS Required?
A PMS is required for the hotel staff for the following reasons:
 It integrates all critical operations of the hotel on one platform.

 It provides real-time information on accommodations, reservations, restaurants, spas,
bars, and about every working arm of the hotel.
 The manual front office system can perform all these functions, but not as effective and
immediate as a computerized system. Information generated by a computer is more
accurate, up to date and available much faster and helpful for the management to plan
new goals and handle the investments in a better way.
 It boosts the efficiency of the front office staff and in turn maximizes the performance of
the hotel business.
 It simplifies the time-taking or complex operations otherwise done manually.
 It works for the convenience of the hotel staff, managing body, as well as the guests.
 A Property Management System enables the front office to be linked to other
departments such as restaurants, bars and health clubs. Guest information needed by
these departments can easily be accessed through the linked information system.

4.3.3 Types of PMS
There are two basic types of PMS:
 Local PMS: They have large technical requirements such as workstation,

Computer/workstation, Data server, Terminal servers, Operating system, Network cards,
and Removable back-up systems.
 Cloud-based PMS: They mainly need computers/workstation and Internet connection.
Difference between Local and Cloud-based PMS
Local PMS Cloud-based PMS

Owner needs to take
Availing the PMS Owner needs to purchase the subscription from a PMS
PMS hardware and software. vendor.
Requirement of Yes, a reliable high speed
No
Internet Connection connection is mandatory.
PMS software and data reside
PMS software and data reside on a on a shared server at the PMS
server to which multiple vendor’s data center.
System and
terminals are connected.
Access
The PMS is accessed from a Users access the system
program installed on each through a Web browser from
terminal. anywhere, anytime.
Requirement of
On-site IT Yes No
expertise
Advantages Does not rely on an Internet Less costs of hardware or IT.
connection.
No technical and data security
Reduces concerns about online responsibility on owner.

Affordable subscription pricing.
Simple, quick set-up.
data security.
Easy access from anywhere,
anytime.
Robust functionality for vast
amount of data.
Automatic data back-up.
Integrated Web bookings.
Free system upgrades.

Disadvantages Requires complex and Not suitable for properties
expensive hardware. without a reliable Internet
connection.
Unreachable from remote
areas. High concerns over online
security.
Expensive and complicated to
maintain and upgrade.
Time-consuming, software
installation and training.
Additional costs and hardware

needed for enabling web-based
features

Responsibility of system and

data security is owner’s
headache.
On-site IT expertise is
required.
Capital expenditure and Operational expenses for
operational expenditure both; renewing subscription.
Pricing for hardware, software and its
updates, and IT expert’s
charges.
4.3.4 Popular Property Management Systems
Some popular PMS: Autoclerk, Skyware MSICloud, CloudPM, eZee Frontdesk, Hotelogix,
Hetello, Hoteliga, OpenHotel, OPERA PMS, are to name a few.
4.3.5 Common Software Options in a PMS
A PMS takes care of each department in the hotel. These are the commonly available features
among PMS:
PMS Features for Front desk
 Reservation
 Registration
 Accommodation status
 Guest and non-guest accounts

 Cash handling
 Night auditing
 Reports
PMS for Sales and Marketing
 Guest database for market segmentation

 Guest history
 Yield management
 Travel agents information as clients
 Reports for goals
 Performance evaluation by comparative analysis
PMS for Housekeeping
 Lost and found

 Accommodation status
 Laundry charges
PMS for Food and Beverage
 POS sales
 Material inventory
 Periodic sales reports
 Standard recipes
PMS for HRM Department

Individual staff member’s records regarding shifts, attendance, and appraisals.
PMS for Accounts
 Account payables and receivables

 Payroll
 Balance sheet
 Profit/Loss reports
Reporting
The front office computer system can print out all relevant daily reports for management or other
departments. Data can also be collected and reports printed on monthly or yearly basis. Relevant
reports can include.
 No shows
 Hotel statistic report
 Advance ledger report
 VIP report
 Rate discrepancy report
 Housekeeping report
 Today’s arrivals
 Today’s departures

 In house guest list

 Guest ledger report
 Night audit report
 Credit check report
 Cashier’s report
PMS for Communication

Outgoing and incoming call records with date, time, place, duration, and charges.
4.4 Concerns in Selection of Appropriate PMS
The following concerns are considered while selecting an appropriate PMS:

Property and Business Domain Concerns
 Size of the property: The number of accommodations

 Number of locations
 Number of employees
 Property service policies
 Budget for technical resources and training
 Nearest future growth
PMS Domain Concerns
 User-friendly design that fosters intuitive navigation through logical order of tasks.
 Training expertise and time period required to train the staff.
 Hotel’s online presence.
 Guest-oriented functionality.
 Scalability.
CHAPTER FIVE

5 Reservation
A hotel mainly relies on the income generated from the effective letting of its bedrooms for
profit. A large percentage of revenue is obtained from room sales, and out of that again, a large
proportion is contributed by the advance booking or reservation of rooms of the hotel.
Reservation in the hotel industry is defined as ‘blocking a particular type of guest room (e.g.,
single room, double room, deluxe room, executive room, suite, etc.), for a definite duration of
time (i.e., number of days of stay), for a particular guest’.
When a person makes an advance reservation in hotel, it is expected that the hotel will honor its
commitment by bilateral contract between hotel and the guest, the reservation assistant should
explain all details about the hotel and cancellation hour and retention charges to the guest.
5.1 Importance of Reservation
The reservation department plays a very important role in increasing efficiency of the hotel and it
is important to the hotel and as well as guest
5.1.1 Importance of Reservation to the hotel
1. It gives the first impression of the hotel to the guest

2. It sells the main product of the hotel (accommodation)
3. It generates customers for the other departments
4. It provides important management information to the other departments
5. It updates the room availability record and maximizes the revenue generated from room
booking
6. It prepares the housekeeping and front desk for the arrivals by communicating the arrival
details taken by the reservation
7. It helps in planning and distribution of staff at the front desk Like duty roster can be prepared
according to the number of confirmed reservation
8. It provides the reservation data to the finance department, which forecast the volume of the
business on the basis of confirmed reservation and the sales forecast is compared to the
expenditure budget

9. It generates customers to the hotel like first guest and regular guest
10.It maintains the hotel occupancy records, which helps the management to plan business
strategies like change of room rates and any renovation of rooms , expansion programmes etc.
5.1.2 Importance of Reservation for the guest
A person travelling to another city or country likes to book a room in advance in the hotel of
his/her choice. This avoid any problem in securing a comfortable place to stay on arrival in the
city. A confirmed reservation has the following advantages for a guest
1. Assurance about Accommodation: The guest is sure that when he/she reaches the destination,
they will have a place to stay
2. Choice in the type of the accommodation: the guest can make the reservation as per their
choice like single room, double room, suite room cabana room etc.
3. as per the guest budget: Hotel offer a variety of rooms at different charges to the guest and
guest can select form a room that matches their budget
4. Preference of floor, view and personal choice: the guest can request for high floor or low floor,
sea view or garden view floor etc.
5. Receive correspondence at the hotel address: if the guest is travelling, she can use the address
of the hotel to receive any urgent mails, couriers, messages and calls etc.
The main outcome of reservation process is to have a room ready when the guest arrives. This
room shall not be any room but the room that best meets the needs the guest expressed during the
reservation process. On the other hand, hotel managers strive to achieve highest occupancy rates
as well as highest possible room revenue from the reservation process.
The main function of the reservation process is to match room requests with room availability.
Below is the detailed process of reservation:
Reservation procedure Reservation activity

Conduct the reservation Obtain essential information in order to check availability
enquiry
Determine room and rate Check reservation charts or computerized system for availability
availability
Accept /deny request for If a room is available, accept the booking. If the hotel is fully

reservation booked, offer alternatives. If the guest is

blacklisted, deny the booking
Create the reservation Complete reservation form: diary or computer system
record
Confirm the reservation Send a written confirmation
record
Maintain the reservation File reservations and record an changes made
record
Produce reservation Daily reports – arrival and departure lists, weekly reports – forecasts
reports and monthly reports – reservations from different sources
5.2 Reservation and Sales
Prior to automation, the main function of the reservation process is to determine basic room
availability. That is to say, the reservation clerk can only tell the potential guest that a room is
reserved for him/her. However, the reservation clerk cannot tell you the type of the room, rate
honored… Nowadays, with the wide use of room’s management module, it is possible to reserve
a room by room type, rate, and to accommodate all the possible special requests of the guest.
Therefore, the selling function shifted from the front office to the reservation department. Hence,
projections of Room Revenues and Profitability Analysis became one of the basic functions of
the Reservation Department. In light of this, reservation department and reservation agents
should have sales goals to achieve which might focus on number of room nights, average room
rate, and/or booked room revenue.
5.2.1 The Role of the Sales Department in Reservations
Since a great deal of the responsibility for achieving occupancy and revenue goals has shifted
from the front desk to the reservation department, the sales department has taken a more
important role in reservation. In fact, sales department reserves for groups (whether through
traditional channels or online channels).

5.2.2 The Reservation Sales Planning Process
The sales department can book business many months or even years in advance. That’s why; it is
usually the sales department that initiates the reservation and revenue management processes,
simply by focusing on committing rooms well into the future. On the other hand, the reservation
manager shall be involved in every decision affecting the hotel’s occupancy and revenue
opportunities. In some cases, reservation manager can monitor group and non-group business
and inform sales department of room availability. In other cases, the reservation department may
be responsible for the hotel’s revenue objectives. Through this involvement, hotel managers can
plan and control future business, rather than merely react to marker conditions. Lastly, another
area of coordination lies in determining group / transient reservations mix (i.e. How many rooms
would be allocated to groups (group allocation) versus rooms to be allocated for transient
travelers (transient allocation)). Such an allocation shall be decided in the annual budgeting
process. If there is a need to adjust group allocation, sales manager have to get approval of sales
director or general manager. Upon approval, reservation manager shall report the potential
financial impact on room revenue forecasts.
5.3 Types of Reservations
Reservations can be of the following types:

 Tentative Reservation:
 Waitlisted Reservation
 Confirmed Reservation
1) Tentative Reservation
It is a reservation request that a prospective guest makes on a tentative basis for particular stay
dates. The hotel holds the room for the guest till a cutoff date, by which the guest should confirm
the reservation. Upon confirmation from the guest the hotel changes the tentative reservation to a
confirmed reservation; otherwise it cancels the tentative reservation, and updates its records
accordingly.
2) Waitlisted Reservation
A reservation is waitlisted when the requested category of room is not available for the requested
dates. The waitlisted reservation is confirmed when the hotel receives a cancellation request for a
room of the same category. This way the hotel ensures that its rooms will not remain vacant in
case of cancellations. The hotel does not guarantee a room for waitlisted reservations; it is
understood that the guest will be assigned a room only in the case of a cancellation or a no show.
The hotel informs to the guest at the time of processing the reservation that the reservation
request is being put on waitlist and may be confirmed at later dates or if any room cancellation
done
3) Confirmed Reservation
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. A confirmed reservation is sent through
letter or email containing the following information:
 Name of the guest
 Date and time of arrival and c/o
 Room type and room rate
 Duration of stay
 No. of pax

 Reservation number
 Billing instructions
 Airport pick
 Special request if any
 Reservation confirmation number
A confirmed reservation can be of the following two types:
 Guaranteed reservation
 Non-guaranteed reservation
5.3.1 Guaranteed Reservation
A guaranteed reservation is a confirmation that the hotel will hold the reserved room for the
guest and not release it to any other guest even if the guest doesn’t arrive on time. This requires
the guest to make an advance payment (part or full, depending on the hotel policy and the hotel
occupancy for the requested stay dates), irrespective of whether the guest avails the reservation
or not, unless the reservation is cancelled according to the hotel’s cancellation procedures. Most
hotels have their own guarantee and cancellations hours. In case of guaranteed reservations, the
hotel is indemnified from no-shows and holds the room for the guest beyond the cancellation
hours. The guest can be sure of finding the room ready for them even if they arrive late without
any prior information to the hotel. The guaranteed reservation can be obtained through one of the
following ways:
Pre-Payment
A guaranteed reservation requires the payment of the room rent or a specified amount in
advance, known as pre-payment. As the hotel holds the room for the guest even after the
cancellation hours, pre-payment protects the hotel from any loss of revenue in case of a last
moment cancellation or a no-show. Pre-payment can be made by sending demand draft or
depositing cash at the hotel. Cash deposit is the most preferred mode of accepting guaranteed
reservation by most of the hotels, guest will deposit high amount and pan cards as id proof.
These days credit card is most preferred method of getting guaranteed reservation .Reservations
made through online and hotel websites and travel agents like Travelocity and expedia etc.
requires valid credit card details before confirming a reservation and it is checked amount details
and incase of cancellation the amount is reversed to the guest

 Contractual Agreement
A hotel may have a contract with an individual or a company for providing guaranteed
reservations. According to such a contract, the hotel confirms the reservation for the individual
or a person referred by the company on a guaranteed basis, and the person or the company agrees
to pay for the reservation, even in the case of a no-show. Hotels may have contractual agreement
with the following:
 Travel Agencies/Tour Operators
Travel agencies and tour operators make bulk purchases of rooms at a relatively low contracted
price. They guarantee the hotel a minimum number of room nights in a particular period and
agree to pay the room charges even if they are unable to fill the number of rooms as per their
agreement with the hotel. The hotels guarantee these reservations on the basis of voucher issued
by the travel agency or the tour operator, by which they agree to pay for the room and service
charges mentioned on the voucher and the other services are charged from the guest
 Corporate Houses
In this case, a company or a corporate body may enter into a contract with a hotel, whereby the
company guarantees payment for its employees or sponsored guests and accepts the financial
responsibilities for any no-shows. The hotel, in turn agrees to provide the mutually agreed
number of room nights to the client or employees if the company during a certain period of time.
Hotel guarantee these reservations on the basis of a letter from the company called as bill to
company (BTC), the guest will agreeing to pay his or her bills as per contract
 Allotment
Allotment is a set of rooms booked for a particular period of time for a company or a group. This
type of reservation is made for training courses and conferences and conventions and private
parties. A guest may be asked for a booking reference or any other verification before she is
provided a room in the allotment. Allotment are controlled by either the reservation manager or
the group co-coordinator and their operational issues are checked and assessed on daily basis.

5.3.2 Non-Guaranteed Reservation
When a guest confirms her reservation at a hotel but does not guarantee it with an advance
deposit, it is treated as a non-guaranteed reservation. In this type of reservation, the hotel agrees
to hold the room for the guest till the cancellation hour, unless the guest informs the hotel about
her late arrival. The cancellation hour is the time fixed by a hotel after which a non-guaranteed
reservation stands cancelled and the room is released to a walk-in guest—it is generally 6 p.m. If
the guest did not arrive by cancellation hours then the hotel is free to release the room to any
other guest, It enables the hotel to cover the probable loss due to no-show, In sold-out days the
hotels accept only guaranteed reservations only.
5.4 Modes of Reservation
The process of reservation begins with an inquiry. A guest may contact a hotel for reservation
either through:
 Written Mode
 Verbal Mode

5.4.1 Written Mode
When a reservation request reaches the hotel in writing, the mode is classified as a written mode
of reservation. The advantages of the written mode of reservations are that they are clear,
unambiguous, and provide a written record for the hotel, which can be referred to in case of any
miscommunication or confusion. The Correspondence with the guest is filed for future reference.
The various written mode for reservation request are as under:
Letter: A letter is a good mode of making reservation request if the guest sends their letter to the
hotel several months in advance .This mode is commonly used by travel agents, tour operators
and corporate houses, which send the reservation request on their letter heads and hotels, make
reservation and send the room confirmation on hotel letter head
Fax: fax is transmission, uses electronic scanning technique to send copies of document over an
ordinary telephone line to a special machine that print out an identical copy at the other end. And
hotel makes reservation and send the room confirmation on hotel through fax only
Telex: telex or tele-printer is exchange involves the use of special lines, where the message is
communicated in written form. As this is a written mode of reservation request and it is
computerized messaging and mailing system
Email: E-mail is the mail sent by electronic means from one computer user to one or more
recipients via- a network from anywhere in the world.it is the electronic version of regular mails.
The guest may send a reservation request to the hotel email address and reservation is made and
send confirmation through mail to the guest
5.4.2 Verbal Mode
Reservation requests may also be made through oral communication known as verbal mode of
reservation request. The advantage of oral communication is that it is fast, convenient, and
generates immediate response or feedback; and one can get the complete information and clear
any doubts through oral communication. The disadvantage is that it does not provide a
permanent record.
The various modes of verbal reservation request are as under:
In person: if an individual he/she representative goes to the hotel to book a room for future
purpose is called in person mode of reservation request. This is a good mode of processing

reservation as person is available to consider the various options and suggestions and room check
directly and rates may are may not reach the expectations of guest and if agrees then gives her
confirmation number
Telephone: Reservation request generally come to the hotel through telephone calls, where the
reservation assistant takes the required information as per the reservation form. The telephone is
fast and convenient but suffer from the major disadvantage that it doesn’t have any permanent
record. But these days’ hotels have high end recording the calls and played back whenever it is
necessary and reservation is made and sends the confirmation letter to the guest
5.5 Sources of Reservation
A hotel receives reservation requests from different sources like: Direct reservation, Central
reservation system, Inter-sell agencies, Global distribution system, Corporate bodies,
Government sector, and Hotel websites
5.5.1 Direct Reservation
A reservation request that a hotel receives directly from an individual or a group without a
mediator is known as a direct reservation.
The direct reservation request is processed by the reservation manger and his team of reservation
assistant in large hotel. In case of a small hotel the same may be processed even by receptionist
5.5.2 Central Reservation System
Central reservation system (CRS) is a computer-based reservation system, which enables guests
to make reservations in any of the participating lodging properties at any destination in a single
call. The central reservation office typically deals with direct guests, travel agents, corporate
bookers, etc. by means of toll-free telephone numbers. And it runs 24hrs a day and all-round the
year and t is equipped with necessary equipment like computers, telephones, fax machines etc.
The hotel are required to provide accurate and current room availability data to the Central
reservation office and The CRS is of two types such as:
 Affiliated system
 Nonaffiliated system

Affiliated system: In affiliated reservation systems, all the participating hotel units belong to the
same chain or group, like Welcome net by Welcome group of Hotels, Holidex by Holiday Inn
Hotels, Image by Hyatt Hotels, and ITT by Sheraton Hotels
Non-affiliated system: Non-affiliated system is a subscription-based system, designed to connect
independent or non-chain properties, like the Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Small Luxury
Hotels of the World (SLH). This enables non-chain properties to enjoy the benefits of CRS.
5.5.3 Intersell Agencies
An intersell agency is an agency that deals with many products such as hotel reservations, car
rentals, travel arrangements, tour operations, airline reservations, railway bookings, etc. e.g. :
Travelocity, travel guru, make my trip etc.
5.5.4 Global Distribution System
(GDS) is a worldwide computerized reservation network, which is used as a single point of

access for reserving hotel rooms, airline seats, rental cars, and other travel-related items by travel
agents, online reservation sites, and large corporations. GDS provides a bundle of products and
services to the prospective user across geographical boundaries.
 Some examples of GDS are:
 Amadeus IT
 Galileo CRS
 SABRE
 World span
5.5.5 Agencies
Many guests make reservation through travel agents or tour operators. The agent will normally
take the pre-payment from the guest and send the confirmation to the hotel and issue the
accommodation voucher on its behalf and travel agent receives a commission for their services
from the guest and the hotel

5.5.6 Corporate Bodies
Hotels also receive bookings from companies (FMCGs, pharmaceutical, etc.), non-governmental
organizations (such as Care, Oxfam, Red Cross, WHO, etc.), and institutions (which may be
educational, financial, banking, etc.).These companies provide bulk reservations to hotel and gets
rooms for low rates
5.5.7 Government Sector
Hotels receive bookings from government sectors such as public sector undertakings, embassies,
and consulates. As govt employees travel to different places on official work and need
accommodation at the place of visit they will be provided with govt prescribed rates only
5.5.8 Hotel web sites
A hotel’s website is another potential source for receiving reservations. The website contains a
link for reservation requests. By clicking the link, guests can make a hotel reservation as per their
requirements from the comforts of their house/office/cyber cafe.
5.5.9 Current Guests
An often overlooked way to attract room reservations is through current guests, guests who are
registered in the hotel. This potential market is a promising source of repeat business. The people
in this group have already experienced the services and facilities of a lodging property and may
be willing to make an immediate commitment to more hospitality from the same hotel or another
hotel in the same chain or referral group.
The opportunity to book additional reservations occurs during the check-in and checkout phases
of the guest’s stay. After registering the guest, the front desk clerk may ask if he or she will be
continuing to travel after leaving the hotel. If the guest mentions plans to travel to another city,
the desk clerk may inquire if a reservation is needed. Likewise, the desk clerk may ask the guest
on checkout if additional reservations are needed for continuation of this trip or for future trips.

The hotel that promotes its facilities to current guests in this way will be rewarded with an
increase in room occupancy.
5.6 Systems of Reservation
Depending on the needs of the hotel and the volume of business, a hotel may adopt either:
Sources of
Reservation
Direct Central Reservation

System (CRS)
Intersell
Agency Global Distribution
System (GDS)
Agency
Corporate Bodies
Travel Tour Airlines

Agency operator Companie Non-govt. Institution
s organization
Govt. Sector
Hotel
websites

System of
Reservations
Manual System Automatic

System
Diary system Whitney

system
5.6.1 Manual System
In a manual system, all the reservation records are maintained manually. This old system of
reservation is suitable for a small property, where the number of rooms is less and the volume of
reservation requests is also low. The hotels may use the one of the following systems of manual
reservations as diary system of reservation and whitney system of reservation.
5.6.1.1 Dairy System of Reservation
As the name suggests, in this system a daily diary is kept, in which the reservation agent lists all
arrivals due on a particular day. It is usually kept on a loose-leaf basis. The top page represents
arrivals on the current date; this is removed and sent to the front desk for receiving the guests. A
new blank sheet is added at the back of the diary to record the reservation on a new date. The
hotel booking diary may be hard bound also. The diary system of reservation is only suitable for
very small properties. The tools used in diary system of reservation are as under:
 Booking diary
 Room status board/ reservation journal
 Expected arrival list/ Movement list
 Cancellation register

 Black list
Roo Nam Pa Arriv Advanc Departur Bookin Booke Sign.resv.as Remark

m no e x al e e g date d by st s
date
5.6.1.2 Whitney System of Reservation
This system of room reservation, developed by the American Whitney Duplicating Check
Company, is suitable for small and medium properties–with up to 150 rooms. It is based on the
use of standard size slips, known as Whitney slips or Shannon slips, which can be held on a
metallic carrier on Whitney racks. And the slip may be colored to identify the status of guest like
FIT, groups, crews, VIP ETC and the top line of the slip contain essential details like arrival
guest name etc. as this part remain visible after placing the slip on the metallic rack and the
whitney system uses a rack that is vertically mounted on walls and it requires 13 rack and out of
it one rack is kept for current month and next 11 racks kept for next 11 months and 1 rack for
next year 31 racks are arranged as per date and month wise and If any reservation request is
received is processed and whitney slip made induplicate and original is placed in whitney rack
and these slips are arranged in alphabetical order
The advantages of using Whitney system are as under:
 Bookings can be kept in order of the date of arrival.
 Booking records may be arranged in alphabetical order.

 The racks and carriers can be used over and over again. The running expense is
only of the slips.
 The Whitney racks are placed vertically, saving storage space
WHITNEY SLIP
Date of Arrival Name of guest Room Type Rate Date of

Departure
Mode of Reserved By Date Received
Reservation
Agency if any
Billing Instructions Confirmation
date
5.6.1.3 Room Availability Checks On Manually
Processing of reservation request requires tools which can help ascertain the availability of
rooms for the desired duration. The following room availability records are used in manual
system: bed room journal and conventional chart and standard density chart
1) BED ROOM JOURNAL
A bed room journal is very similar to the reservation dairy. Tiled in a date wise sequence, each
page of the journal contains the occupancy details for that date-the name of the guest, the room
number and the type of the room. if the guest has made a booking from 10-14 Nov. Then his
name and room number and room type will be entered on four page of journal i.e. from 10th nov
to 14th November. The disadvantage in using this is the requirement of the data entry staff.
BED ROOM JOURNAL
Date

Name of Guest Room No Particulars
Date
Name of Guest Room No Particulars
2) Conventional Chart
Conventional chart is also known as advance letting chart and it is improved version of the bed
room journal and is simple to understand. The format of a conventional chart is prepared for each
month hence 12 charts are required for one year. The room number and room category is
mentioned in vertical column and number of days is mentioned in horizontal and name of the
guest is written between the days of their stay and the arrival and departure are indicated by < >
symbols
Disadvantages are:
1) There are problems in case of long guest names and short stays
2) The chart becomes untidy in the case of cancellation and amendments
3) Its use is limited to medium sized hotels
4) counting of available rooms is difficult
5) no overbooking can be taken
6) specific rooms are pre-assigned to guest, which creates a problem in case of overstay and
under stay

CONVENTIONAL CHART
Month : April 2009

Room 1 2 3 4 26 27 28 29 30
type and
room no
Double < - - >
201
Double < - - - >
202
Single < - - - >
101
Single
102
Deluxe
501
Deluxe
503
3) Standard Density Chart
Standard density chart were developed to overcome the problems and drawbacks of a
conventional chart. A density chart is prepared for each category of rooms for the duration of one
month. The vertical column indicates the date and horizontal column is individual rooms and it
marked by / symbol in appropriate boxed for indicating a reservation. And it has advantages:
1) Long name and short stay problem are solved as one does not have to enter the names
2) the chart remains tidy in case of cancellations and amendments
3) large hotels may also use this system

4) counting of available room is easy

5) overbooking can be done
Standard Density Chart
Month : January 2010

Type of Room : single
Date :
No.of 1 2 3 25 26 27 28 29 30
rooms
20 / /
19 / / / /
18 / / / / /
17 / / / /
16 / / / /
-1 / / / / /
-2 / /
-3 / / / /
-4 / / /
-5 / / / /
5.6.2 Automatic System
Automated reservation system is computerized reservations that are used to store and retrieve
room status information and conduct transactions. The information stored in the automatic
system is the same as in a manual system however, the process of reservation request does not
require manual study of bedroom journals, density chart and conventional chart, in this system
the availability of rooms can be checked by clicking on hotel position on computer and it is an
electronic format of the reservation form and this information is transferred to the central
Reservation system where room status is updated automatically. If a request is accepted the

systems automatically blocks the rooms for the desired duration time of time and remove the
rooms from availability records and generates the confirmation number and sends to the guest
email address and maintain guest history and retain in hotel.
5.7 Handling of Reservation
5.7.1 Processing Reservation
Every hotel has its own standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with a reservation request
from a guest. The standard procedure of responding to a guest’s reservation request is first
receiving the reservation inquiries, then determining room availability, and then accepting or
denying the request for reservation.
5.7.2 Receiving Reservation
The request for a room reservation may reach a hotel from any one of the various modes .While
receiving a reservation request the reservation agent should ask for the only that information
which will help in processing the reservation request faster. The following information will help:
 Date and time of arrival
 Date and time of Departure
 Number and types of rooms required
 Number of persons in the party
5.7.3 Determining Room Availability
Using the information gathered at the time of receiving reservation request, the reservation agent
will ascertain whether the requested type of room is available in desired number for the required
duration. The reservation agent will use one of the following records for determining the
availability of the rooms: bed room journal, conventional chart, standard density chart.
If not, the reservation department should suggest alternative room types, dates, and/or rates, to
the potential guest. If, however, the potential guest insists on his/her previous request, the hotel
should suggest an alternative hotel. That's one of the main reasons why we need to maintain
good relation-ships with nearby competing hotels.

The main reason is to cope with overbooking, a situation occurring when the total number of
rooms reserved for a certain period of time exceeds the total number of rooms available for sale,
for the same period of time. In order to cope with the overbooking problem, some statistical and
historical data should be stored and processed by the hotel and should be continuously updated.
Such data includes:
 Number of rooms reserved for a specific date.

 Number of rooms occupied by stay overs (for a certain specific date).
 Forecasted no-shows percentage.
 Forecasted under stays percentage.
 Forecasted overstays percentage.
 Forecasted cancellation percentage.
 Number of out of order rooms for a specific date.
5.7.4 Accepting or Denying Reservation
Once the reservation agent has established the availability of the room for the guest, she will
either accept or deny the reservation request and conclude the processing of reservation request.
If room are available as per the guest requirement, the reservation request is accepted. The
following details are gathered from the guest while accepting the reservation.
 name of the guest
 designation and company
 address and contact details of the guest
 time and mode of arrival
 reservation classification (confirmed/waitlist/guaranteed)
 caller data
 Special requirement
The hotel should always honor the rate quoted and confirmed to the guest. The guest should be
aware of the following:
 supplementary charges for extra services
 minimum stay requirements in effect for the dates requested
 special promotion in effect for the dates

 applicable currency exchange rates

 room taxes and service charges
Once the room has been blocked in system then reservation confirmation is send to the guest
with the reservation confirmation number.
The Hotel shall send a confirmation letter to all reserved potential guests, regardless of their
reservation types. The main points that should be communicated in a confirmation letter / e-mail
of confirmation are as follows:
 Name and address of the guest.
 Date and time of arrival.
 Room type and rate.
 Length of stay.
 Number of persons in a group, if any.
 Reservation type [guaranteed or not].
 Reservation confirmation number.
 Special requests, if any.
Upon reservation cancellation, hotel’s reservation system generated the following cancellation
number:
36014JC563
Under this very system, this cancellation number is composed of different components, each one
of them convey a meaning to the hotel such as:
 360: Guest’s scheduled arrival date on Julian dates calendar.
 14: Property code number.
 JC: Initials of the reservation agent issuing the cancellation number.
 563: Consecutive numbering of all cancellation numbers issued in the current year.
5.7.5 Amending Reservation
When guests with confirmed reservations change their travel plans, they convey the same to the
hotel. This change–in the type of reservation (guaranteed or non-guaranteed), date of arrival,
duration of stay, type of room, etc.–is termed as amendment. In case of amendments, the hotel

has to check the availability of rooms again as per the fresh details given by the guest. The
changes are recorded in a specialized form known as the reservation cancellation/amendment
form
5.7.6 Cancellation of Reservation
The cancellation of a reservation occurs when a guest with a confirmed reservation informs the
hotel about her intention to cancel the reservation. As cancellation might lead to the loss of room
revenue, hotels discourage cancellations by imposing retention charges
5.7.7 Pre-Registration Activities
The activities that are carried out by the front desk agents before the arrival of guests, which help
accelerate the process of guest registration, are termed as preregistration activities. It is required
for the following guest:
A) Regular guest B) V.I.P Guest C) Handicapped Guest D) SPATT Guest E) Groups
and crews
The procedure of Pre-Registration : G.R card is kept ready ( it is filled up with all the available
transaction data such as names, address, billing instructions, type of rooms and rate of room etc.
which is collected by reservation department)
Kept ready for the signature of the arriving guest
 Preparation of arrival and departure list
 Amenity vouchers are prepared for arriving guest and sent to concerned department
 Pre-filling of guest registration card base on the information gathered from reservation form
and guest history card
 Staffing at front desk to cater the need of rush at peak arrival and departure time
 Arrangement for welcoming guest (Aarti, Tilak and Garlanding)
 Arrangement for welcome drink for the group and VIP
 Arranging all required arrangements for the guest
 Room and rate assignment and the creation of guest folios in case advance payment has been
received by the hotel.
 For groups, prepare group list, containing details of each group

 Block all rooms on the same floor

 Prepare rooming list and arrange room keys according to rooming list and place them in
envelope
 Keeping enough bell boys for group arrivals
The purpose of pre-registration:
 It helps in more effective registration
 Speedy check-in
 Time saving
 More time for the receptionist to give personal touch in service to the arrival and avoids any
confusion at the reception counter on the arrival of the guest.
5.8 Reservation Reports
Popular reservation management reports are as follows:

 Reservation transaction report: It is a report that summarizes daily reservation
activities in terms of reservation record creation, modification, and cancellation.
 Commission agent report: It is a report tracking the amounts of commissions hotels owe
to each contractual agent.
 Regrets and denials report: While regrets report is a list of guests who chose not to make
a reservation (for several reasons), denials report is a list of guests who were unable to be
honored a reservation request. Some hotels refer to this report as “turn away report” or
simply “lost business report”.
 Revenue forecast report: Such report projects future revenue (potential revenue)
through multiplying predicted occupancies by applicable room rates.
Expected Arrival, Stay over, and Departure Lists
The receptionist gets from the night shift staff about the work and scan through the front office
memorandum for instructions. Then he checks about the number of expected arrival and
departure list and the room availability position and calculates the latest room position.
Depending upon the system used, the expected arrival are found from movement list, Whitney
rack(for excepted arrival )and computer terminal and the expected departures from the
movement list, folded slip in room rack and information about vacant rooms can be found from
room status and while calculating room position the receptionist shall have to consider factors

such as “out of order room “ and “early arrivals” and “early departures” and addition to the
expected arrival and departures and over stays and expected arrivals shall reduce the figure of
the number rooms available and the early departures shall increase the figures of rooms.
The receptionist should block the rooms according to the arrival list and for groups SPATT, VIP
etc. and they shall be pre-registration activities will be done and traditional activity are arranged
before guest and lobby manager check amenities to be placed in rooms for VIPs.
Blocking or assigning room for confirmed bookings
Assigning a room involves identifying an available room in a specific room category for the
allocation. Based on reservation information, specific rooms and rates of rooms may be assigned
before the guest arrives
Amenities Voucher
It is important activity that a list of amenities to be given of kept in a room for VIP and VVIP
etc. ,is prepared and sent to all departments such as food and beverage, pantry, room service and
housekeeping etc., so that they can make necessary and appropriate arrangement in advance.
Depending upon the status of the guest a number of amenities can be provided in the room and
bathroom such as fruits, flowers, pastries, cookies, cakes, champagne bottle, minibar
complimentary, dry fruits, cigarettes and cigar, personalized stationery, bath robe, weighing
scale, moisturizer, soaps etc.
Arrival Notification Slip

After guest registered room and guest along with the luggage sent to the room with bellboy and
front office assistant prepare ANS it is usually four copies are made
1) one copy sent to Telephone operator

2) one copy sent to housekeeping department
3) one copy sent to F&B service department
4) one copy kept on room rack
5) one copy kept in information rack

5.9 Other Reservation Considerations:
1. Legal Implications: Confirming a reservation to a potential guest is a binding contract

between the hotel and the potential guest.
2. Waiting Lists: If guest’s reservation request is denied due to non-availability well before the
needed date, hotels might include still-interested guests in a waiting list.
3. Promotional Packages: Many hotels offer (usually at a discount) special promotional

packages along with accommodation (ex. guest room + meals, golf, tennis, sports lessons,
limousine service…). Such packages are considered as a source of bargain and convenience
(competitive advantage) for guests. That’s why; reservation staff and website content must be
very informative about all the packages a property offers.
4. Potential Reservation Problems: Reservation staff shall be aware of possible reservation

problems that might occur and how to avoid them. The following is a short list of common
reservation problems:
 Errors in reservation record: Examples include erroneous entering of arrival date,
departure date, misspelling of guest name and / or reversing first and last names. To
avoid those problems, the reservation agent / system shall verify information entered by
displaying and reciting it with the potential guest. Confirmation letters / e-mails of
confirmations help solve those problems before the eventual arrival of the guest.
 Misunderstandings due to industry jargon: Examples include confusing guaranteeing and
confirming, or book a double room thinking it means automatically a room with two twin
beds. Here, reservation system / staff shall be aware of those possible problems and try to
clarify terminologies, even though not asked to do so.
 Miscommunication with central reservation systems: Examples include reserving the
guest in the wrong hotel, or city (recall some cities may have same names). To avoid this
problem, reservation agent / system shall furnish the guest with the full name and address
of the property.

 Online reservation system failures: Problems occur here when there is an erroneous / late
exchange of room availability. To avoid this, hotels shall ensure accurate and timely
communication between the hotel and online reservation systems.
5. E-Commerce: E-commerce extends the reach of hotels far beyond the traditional distribution
channels (i.e. hotel reservation office, call center and global distribution system). Linking
with guests through the Internet is the easiest part of e-commerce. The most challenging part
is to identify which sites provide the best distribution opportunities.
6 Check-In and Its Procedures and Check-Out and Account Settlement
6.1 Basic check-in activities
Most of the hotels allow their guests to check-in at 2 p.m. or after. The registration procedures
performed by receptionists should be efficient and accurate. These contribute to a positive first
impression to guests upon their arrival.

(i) Greet the Guest

Receptionists should always be attentive to the presence of guests at the front door and lobby
areas. They should give warm greetings to the guests when they approach to the front desk.
(ii) Verify the Guest’s Identity
Ask if the guest would like to check-in. Verify the guest’s identity by checking his/her passport,
booking voucher and confirmation number.
iii) Present the Registration Form to the Guest
Confirm booking information printed in the registration form with the guest. For example, room
type, room rate, length of stay and special requests if any. Ask the guest to complete and sign the
registration form if he/she agrees with the terms of accommodation arrangement.
(iv) Confirm the Method of Payment

If a credit card is used, check the guest’s name, the card’s validity and its date of expiry. For
guests who prefer paying cash, make sure they have “paid in advance” (PIA) with cash deposit.
Guests should also be reminded that they will not be allowed to post any charges to their guest
accounts if no credit card is provided at the time of checking-in. Procedures of handling other
types of payment, e.g. personal checks or direct billings should also be handled with extra care.
(v) Check and Update the Information of the Guest’s Account in PMS
Check if any mail, message or article is received before the guest’s arrival. Select and assign a
suitable room to the guest according to his/her booking information.
(vi) Issue Room Key and Give Further Information
While issuing the room key and giving direction to the guest, a receptionist should also take the
chance to provide more information of the hotel. For example, the breakfast arrangement; the
operation hours of hotel’s outlets and facilities and; how to contact the hotel’s staff for assistance
during the stay, etc.
(vii) Escort Guest to the Room
Ask if the guest need assistance from the baggage attendant who can take the guest’s baggage
and escort the guest to the guest room.
The registration procedures of group guests (e.g. tours and event attendees) are different from the
general procedures of checking-in an individual guest. In order to speed up the service process
and prevent guests from waiting too long at the lobby, the following procedures are usually
performed by the hotel receptionists.
(i) Pre-registration
Some preparation works can be performed by receptionists before group guests’ arrivals,
including the confirmation of room numbers and number of rooms available for groups. Key
cards are always prepared by receptionists in advance according to the rooming lists provided by
travel agents or event organizers.
(ii) Group Check-in
Some hotels have group check-in counters which specifically serve group guests. Tour escorts or
event organizers check-in at the group check-in counter without the need of checking-in each
guest individually.

Some hotels would also set up a tour assembly point for large groups by using meeting rooms if
necessary. Such a practice can control the traffic of hotel lobby and enhance the comfort of
guests upon their arrivals.
6.2 Check-out options
The standard check-out time is always set at 12 p.m. or before. The check-out procedures are as
important as check-in since guests would expect they can leave with no ‘troubles’ on their bills.
Important issues that the receptionists should put into focus are payment collection, give
assistance and create a positive parting impression to guests. Figure 2.11 shows the general
procedures of checking-out a guest upon departure:

(i) Greet the Guest

Same as the check-in procedures, greeting is the basic of a quality service to your guest. Through
greeting, a receptionist can also take the chance to ask the guest for his/her comment about the
stay.
(ii) Check Guest Details

It is important to check guest’s details, e.g. the guest’s name and room number. Guests with
Identical or similar names should be aware to avoid mistakes in the check-out process.
If the guest leaves earlier than expected, either department will need to be informed. Double
checks with the guest so to make sure satisfactory services are provided to the guest during the
stay. Ask the guest to return the room key. Check the corresponding room number if ‘old-style’
metallic keys are used in the property.
(iii) Check if Any Late Check-out Charges Should be Imposed
Normally, hotels would request their guests to check-out before 12pm. Receptionists should
follow the hotel’s policy for handling the cases of late check-out. Some hotels would charge 50%
of the daily room rate for those who check-out before 6pm and a full rate is charged after 6pm.
(iv) Check for Late Charges
It is the responsibility of the receptionist to ask whether the guest has used some charged service
while checking out. For example, the guest may check-out immediately after he/she has
consumed breakfast in the restaurant. The breakfast charge may not have been posted to the
guest account by the restaurant staff if he/she is too busy in serving other tables at the moment.
Consumption of mini-bar items is another common example of late charges which may require
the help of room attendants in updating the status upon check-out. Any discrepancies could lead
to unnecessary losses in hotel’s revenue.
(v) Invite Guest to Double-Check the Hotel Charges
Produce guest folios (guest bills) for guest inspection and master folios (master bills) for tour
escort’s inspection. The receptionist should print and present the master to the guest for his/her
checking before bill settlement. It is the responsibility of the receptionist to explain the charges
to the guest if he/she has any questions and make corrections if necessary.

(vi) Settle the Guest Account

Re-confirm the method of payment. It is common that some guests, especially business travelers
and tours would like to split their consumptions into two different folios (bills): master and
incidental.
Generally, master folios (master bills) only include room and breakfast charges which should be
paid by enterprises to cover the necessary expenses of their travelling staff or; by travel agents
which have already received the payments from tourists included in packaged prices beforehand.
Other personal expenses, such as telephone, spa, and in-room movies, would be put into the
incidental folios (incidental bills) as guests’ own responsibilities.
(vii) Offer Assistance
Ask if the guest need any assistance of the bell service, shuttle or arrangement of other
transportations. Some may request the front desk to keep their baggage for a certain period of
time before their departure. Receptionists should also take the chance to help the guests in
making future reservations upon request, particularly reservations in other hotels under the same
chain.
(viii) Update Room Status and Guest History Record
After checking out the guest, make sure to update the room status (i.e. from OD to VD) which
facilitate room cleaning and make the room available for sale as efficiently as possible. The
creation of a guest history record involves the transferring of guest’s basic information, room
preference and consumption record. Through the help of the new information technology, guest-
history profiles can be automatically created and updated upon check-out by the property
management system (PMS).

6.3 Overbooking
Over booking is the practice of accepting more reservations than there is space available. The
purpose of overbooking is to assist the hotel in obtaining maximum occupancy, and to
compensate for early departures, last-minute cancellations and non-arrivals. The reception
department should keep figures of non-arrivals and early departures, and from these should
calculate the percentage to which overbooking is possible. In this way, overbooking becomes a
way of controlling reservations by booking to a predetermined number of rooms based on the
anticipated non-arrivals for that date. Viewed in this way, overbooking becomes good sales
technique, rather than sloppy and unprofessional practice.
The degree of overbooking will vary not only from one hotel to another but also from week to
week and day to day in the same hotel. Reservations departments that are operating on a
computer system will usually find that the system will record the relationship between
reservations and actual arrivals, and even the likelihood of different classes of booking not
arriving. Obviously this is a great boon to the hotel, and should ensure that serious overbooking
never occurs.
A hotel with a highly transient trade will be able to overbook more than a hotel in a resort where
guests book three months in advance and stay for two-week periods. The fact that a hotel
overbooks does not mean that it will have to refuse guests rooms. The aim of overbooking is to
balance exactly the extra rooms booked with the non-arrivals and cancellations. Only if this goes
wrong is it necessary to 'book out' guest to another hotel. A middle way is to accept bookings on
a waiting list for cancellations.
Accidental overbooking can result due to overstays, inaccurate assessment of room availability
or errors made during the reservation systems.

Overbooking does not always have a positive impact on the hotel. Unless it is well planned, it
can have a negative impact on the hotel, the staff and the guest. It cause undue stress on staff,
dissatisfaction in guests and affects hotel reputation.
When it is realized that the hotel will have a shortage of rooms, action would have to be taken to
attempt to accommodate all guests who made reservations. The following actions can be taken:
 Check for duplicate reservations, e.g. check with expected arrival list and compare if
guests is not occupying extra rooms in system
 Check for cancelled reservations, e.g. cancelled but not keyed in or system updated
 Release all confirmed reservations if guests fail to arrive by cut-off time. E.g. 6 pm
 Check to see if out-of-order (OOO) can be released
 Check to see if it is possible to release all house use rooms, e.g. rooms used by staff by
resident manager or back to back shift staffs.
If all attempts to accommodate the guest are exhausted, it will be necessary to walk a guest. To
walk or bump/book out a guest means to turn away a guest who has reservations with an offer to
find alternative accommodation at another hotel. When this happens hotels should try to reduce
the trauma as much as possible. The proper procedures include the followings:
(i) Apologize to the Guest
As it is the hotel’s own fault of overbooking, hotel staff should apologize to the guest with no
excuse.
(ii) Provide Alternatives
Compensations are always provided by the hotel to please the unhappy guests which generally
involve: Free room for the 1st night of stay in an alternate hotel; Free transportation to the
alternate hotel; Free long distance calls; Fruit plates; Free room upgrade for future purchase; or
Discount coupons for food and beverage consumptions, etc.
In case the guest has reserved more than one night in the hotel, try to invite him/her to come back
in the remaining nights during the conversation if rooms are known to be available.
(iii) Provide Baggage Assistance and Transportation

Once the guest agrees with the hotel’s arrangements, receptionist should ask the bell person to
take care of the guest’s baggage and arrange transportation to the designated hotel.
(iv) Follow-up Services
Call the designated hotels to pay special attention to the unhappy guests. Some hotels would
request their duty managers or front desk managers to give personal calls to the unhappy guests
so to make sure that they have no problems with their rooms in the alternate hotels.
7 Front Office Accounting
7.1 Introduction to Front Office Accounting
The hotels profitability not only relies on efficient room selling, professional attitude and
standard of services provided to its guest but also mainly on the accurate guest accounting
system and procedures followed. It is the responsibility of front office to prepare the guest’s bill,
present it, and ensure that it is paid. This involves a lot of record keeping, for a guest may incur a
large number of separate charges during his stay, from the cost of room and various meals
through to telephone, laundry and entertainment.
7.2 Guest Accounting
An account is a record of a business transaction and on this document financial data are recorded
and summarized.
The term guest accounting from hotel point of view means knowledge of what is to be received
from the guest and what is paid by the guest. To have updated information of the same, it is
important that at all times during the guest cycle, an efficient system is used. Various systems
such as manual, semi-automatic or fully automatic system may be used depending upon the size
and type of the hotel.
The objective of the guest accounting procedures is as follows:

 To maintain accurate and up-to-date guest accounts.

 To ensure that payment is received promptly and in full.
 To provide management with accurate and up-to-date financial reports.
7.3 Type of Accounts
The record of all the financial transactions between the hotel and the guest is called a guest
account. It is also sometimes referred to as a folio or an account. There are three main types of
account maintained by the front office namely the resident guest accounts, the city accounts and
the management accounts.
7.3.1 Resident Guest Accounts
The front office cashier holds mostly the accounts of the resident guest. This accounts show the
financial transactions with guests who have registered and are currently staying at the hotel.
Some of the resident guests may settle their incidental charges themselves while the
accommodation charges will be settled by their company.
In this case scenario, the resident guest has to have two folios:
 The master folio or account for the room charges, which then will be sent out to the
company for settlement. A duplicate of this account will be forwarded to the city (sales)
ledger.
 The incidental folio, which will be settled by the guest personally.
7.3.2 City Accounts
The record of financial transactions between the hotel and nonresident guests is referred to as
city accounts. These could include accounts held by:
 Local business people who use the hotel facilities and services for entertainment or
business meetings but are not resident in the hotel.
 Walk-outs. These are guests who leave the hotel without settling the outstanding balance
on their account. They are no longer resident; therefore their account is transferred to the

city (sales) ledger. This is either to await eventual payment, or to be written off by the
account as ‘bad debt’.
 Guests who have not arrived but have sent prepayments to guarantee their bookings. This
amount is normally recorded in the city (sales) ledger.
7.3.3 Management Accounts
The expense accounts or allowance given by some hotels to the hotel manager is referred to as
management accounts. These accounts are usually used to entertain guests or potential clients.
One example is, if a guest has a complaint about the hotel, the assistant manager may invite them
to have a drink with him/her in the hotel bar to resolve the problem. This may help to encourage
the guest to relax and to have a positive impression of the hotel. The charge for the drinks is then
debited to the manager’s expense, which is the management account.
City accounts and management accounts are transferred to the accounts department, which will
then handle their settlement at a later date.
7.4 Vouchers and Types
Vouchers are detailed documentary evidences for a transaction. It transfers the transaction from
its source to the front office. Vouchers are used to notify the front office about guest’s purchases
or availing of any service at the hotel.
The following typical vouchers are used in the hotel:
 Cash Receipt Voucher

 Commission Voucher
 Charge Voucher
 Petty Cash Voucher
 Allowance Voucher
 Miscellaneous Charge Order (MCO)
 Paid-out Voucher (VPO)
 Transfer voucher

7.5 Account Ledgers
7.5.1 The guest ledger
The guest ledger is a collection of folios (records of guests’ charges and payments) of current
guests of the hotel.
7.5.2 The city ledger
The cityledger is a collection of folios of unregistered hotel guests who maintain accounts with
the hotel. These guests may submit cash advances for a future purchase of the hotel’s goods and
services, such as a deposit on a banquet or on a reservation. The hotel may also offer personal
billing accounts to local businesspeople; these are also part of the city ledger. Unregistered hotel
guests may keep open accounts for entertaining clients, for example. All of the folios are held in
a folio well, a device that holds the individual printed hard-copy guest folios and city ledger
folios, or a bucket with the physical dimensions of the guest ledger and city ledger.
There are two other types of ledgers used in the hotel. Both types of ledgers are used by back
office accounting section as given:
 Receivable ledger: The back office accounting staff mails the bills and statements to the
guests after their departure without settling the bills and ensures the payments for
services provided.
 Payable ledger: The staff handles amounts of money paid in advance on behalf of the
guest to the hotel for future consumption of goods and services.
7.6 Creation and Maintenance of Accounts
7.6.1 Accounting Cycle
The main function of the front office accounting system is to maintain an accurate record of all
the financial transactions between a hotel and a guest. This is crucial so that all the outstanding
accounts are settled without delay. The front office accounting process is divided in

three main phases:
 Creation of accounts
 Maintenance of accounts
 Settlement of accounts
7.6.2 Creation of accounts
A guest account is created when a guest is checked into the hotel. It can be created automatically,
when using a computer system, as part of the check in procedures. Credit limits and house limits,
limits the amount that can be charged to the guests’ account.
7.6.3 Maintenance of accounts
All financial transactions between the guest and the hotel will be recorded on the guest’s
account. The act of recording transactions onto guest accounts is called posting. There are mainly
six different types of postings.
1. Debit posting
Examples of debit postings are room, restaurant, telephone and use of other hotel facilities
charges which guests have had charged to their account. Each time a guest charges an amount, it
is a debit posting.
2. Credit posting
This refers to payments or subtractions from the balance of a guest account. Usually this is done
when guests have already made prepayments or payments for part of the account during stay.
Amendments to the guest account can also be a credit posting.
3. Visitors paid out (VPO)
Hotel sometimes pay out a certain sum of money on behalf of the guest for services of an outside
organization. These charges are termed visitors paid out (VPOs). Some examples are a sight-

seeing tour operator, car-hire agency or florist. These charges are entered into a guest’s account
as debit items for settlement.
4. Account corrections
When there has been an error to a guest’s account, an account correction needs to be done. Cases
vary, but necessary corrections are crucial in order to avoid any discrepancies with guest upon
check out. One example where an account correction has to be made is when an incidental
amount is wrongly posted into the room charges account.
5. Account allowances
An account allowance is a credit posting which is given to a guest. It is usually given during their
stay, or sometimes on their departure and can be either for an over-charge or a form of
compensation to a guest.
Account transfers
This process refers to when a charge is moved from one account and transferred to another
account for example, when a family occupied two rooms and all charges are transferred to one
account to be settled.
7.6.4 Settlement of Account
It is a very important phase of guest accounting process. This phase is involved in a major
activity of 'zeroing out' the folio balance i.e. the outstanding debit balance is neutralized by the
settlement of credit balance.
There are various issues regarding account settlement:
 By Guest: The guest settles own account by cash/credit card/cheque.

 By Organization: The organization settles guest account by transferring money to the
hotel account.

7.6.5 Methods of Account Settlement
There are following popular methods of account settlement:

Account Settlement in Local Currency: A guest can pay in terms of a local currency where the
payment is not chargeable with conversion fees.
Account Settlement in Foreign Currency: If the guest prefers to pay in foreign currency, the
service of payment by the bank is chargeable for around 3% to 6% of the total payable amount.
Account Settlement Using Traveler Check: Travelers’ cheque, the pre-printed cheque in the
denominations of major world currencies are a good option to paying by cash.
Debit Card: Use of magnetic cards for payment against account is most common today.
Paying by debit cards is as good as paying by cash as the amount of money is instantly
transferred from the guest’s bank account into the hotel’s bank account. In case of credit card
settlement, the accounting staff mails the charge vouchers signed by guests to the credit card
company; preferably within a specified time. The credit card company then settles the guest
account by transferring money against it.
Credit Settlement by Organization: Many national, international, private, or public
organizations send their employees or students for attending workshops, seminar, or meetings.
Such organizations tie-up with the hotel for paying the bills of their employees on credit. The
organizations reserve accommodations depending on the number of room nights (number of
rooms × number of nights the representatives is expected to occupy).This is popularly known as
account Settlement using Direct Billing.
In direct billing account settlement, the front office staff verifies guest folios and transfers the
guest account to non-guest or city account. The hotel’s back-office accounting verifies the guest
folios and is responsible to collect the direct billing amount from a direct billing agency such as
embassy, university, or organizations. The accounting section also notifies the guests that if the
direct billing agency fails or refuses to pay the charges then the guests need to settle the account
by paying them from their pocket.
Combined Account Settlement: A guest can settle account by paying partial amount in cash
and remaining amount on credit. The front office staff needs to prepare the supporting document

for such kind of payment and hands it over to the back-office accounts.
7.7 Types of Accounting Systems
There are a number of factors in deciding the type of accounting system in a hotel and it is not
confined only to the size of the operation. The capabilities of the staff, the budget and type of
guests have to be considered as well.
7.7.1 Tabular Ledger
For many years this method of recording charges in hotels was the only one in existence. Even
after the introduction of electronic accounting and computerization, it continued to be the most
common method in use. The advantage of using this system is that the hotels can head up the
columns according to their needs and no extra costs are incurred should they change over a
period of time.
Although still used by many smaller hotels, in many units it has been replaced by computers as
computer programmes are now available to suit all types and sizes of hotels.
Some hotels that operate a tab ledger produce two guest accounts. One is a three-day account for
short-stay guests, and the other is an eight-day account for guests who stay for a longer time. The
accounts are exactly the same, apart from the greater number of columns on the eight-day
account. In principle, the most common account is calculated on a five-day period, since this
reflects the main volume of business in most hotels.

7.7.2 Machine
Billing
Using machines
for hotel billing is
essentially the same as
the tabular ledger. All
the machine does is
carry out the tasks of
the bill office
automatically, as charges are being posted. The principle of double-entry bookkeeping is exactly
the same.
A hotel billing machine should be thought of as two machines in one. The first acts as an adding
machine and posts charges onto guests’ accounts and notes the new balance. The second keeps a
cumulative total of the amount charged to each department.
The number of hotels using these machines is now very small, since replacement parts for the
machines are hard to obtain, and a simple personalised computer package can be obtained for the
same cost.
7.7.3 Computer Billing
Many people believe that only large hotel will benefit from the use of a computer, but billing this
way can be cost-effective even for the smallest hotel. Many systems can be linked to other areas
such as the switchboard and other departments. It will also safe any unnecessary
miscommunication between the front office staff and other different departments.

The main benefits with billing of this type are:
• Programs can be personalized, so that each hotel will be able to review its needs and thus install
a system based upon them.
• There are many systems available and some are able to perform any task that might be required
by the hotel.
It is crucial that a hotel be selective in choosing the system, as it is no use to an establishment to

buy a system that will not be use to the full. The choice of choosing the best system is limitless,
but many hotels feel secure in using a system that is tried and tested.
The operation of a system follows no standard pattern as it varies according to the system.
Nonetheless, it is possible to make one or two generalizations which are:
 Room charges will be processed automatically

 VAT will be calculated at the appropriate rate, excluding items that are zero-rated
 A wrong charge will not be accepted onto a account if the error is user-induced
 A variety of reports will be compiled as charges are made.
Operating a Computer Billing System
1. Opening a account
The guest details will already be stored under the booking reference if the reservation is an
advanced booking. But the room number can be added easily and any information amended
should the need arises. Advance deposits that have already been recorded will be transferred to
the account after check-in.
2. Posting charges
A great deal of time can be saved in posting charges if the system includes terminals at point of
sale. This is because; the information can be entered directly in the sales hence the bill office

clerk is saved from the tedium of sorting and posting vouchers. Charges such as wine, sauna and
apartments are pre-coded. But the codes used to analyse the transactions are identifiable.
3. Adjustments/Corrections
Should it be necessary to move a guest to another room, all the existing data will be transferred
to the new room. This is effortless as entries to alter postings can be made easily.
4. Closing an Account
Once the guest agreed to the final total, the selected method of payment will be entered. If the
guest previously advised that all or part of the account is to be transferred elsewhere, this can be
carried out automatically and quickly. Most systems are equipped with a foreign exchange
calculation facility, thus eliminating possible errors when accepting foreign currency in payment
of account, whereas, in some systems the computer will be programmed only to accept certain
charges on main accounts, all else being transferred to extra accounts.
5. Balancing
Many errors are rectified and eliminated at the source. When charges are transferred
automatically, the chance of posting incorrect amounts is largely reduced. The process of
balancing is thus much easier and faster.
The audit trail can be displayed any time as the information is readily available. A selection of
reports and information (i.e. room sales, projected sleeper occupancy) are readily accessible to
management, providing them with the vital up-to-the-minute information essential for effective
forward planning.
Many hotels produce an end-of-day, or end-of-shift audit pack, containing a variety of

information such as copies of guest accounts, house lists, telephone printouts, call sheets and
audit reports. All these information will be kept for a number of years and will be referred to in
case of queries.

7.8 Internal Control and Account Settlement
7.8.1 Credit Control
The term credit control refers to the various measures taken by a hotel to ensure that guests settle
their account in full either themselves or someone else on their behalf (which may be credit
card company, an airlines, a corporate office or any other agency or person) and does that within
a specified period of time. Various steps that will help in credit control are to be taken at various
stages, by various personnel of the hotel.
Objectives of Credit Control Measures

i) To avoid and prevent loss due to walk-outs. Here the term walk-out include all those guests
who knowingly or unknowingly or by mistake leave the hotel without paying/ settling their bills.
ii) To reduce the problems of inconvenience which the cashier (who will not have verification of
bills), the house keeper (who won't know the room status) and the management (who may decide
to start legal proceeding) etc. will face because of a walk-out guest.
iii) To prevent late settlement of guests accounts. The delay in payment can cause cashflow
problems for the hotel and if there are many such cases the hotel may find itself in difficult
situation to operate, and bad debts may increase.
iv) To avoid guest dissatisfaction, embarrassment and annoyance at the check out time when all
of a sudden a
departure guest is informed that the hotel does not accept any particular company's credit and or
that the hotel does not accept that particular currency in which he wishes to pay or his total bill is
above the credit limit of the credit card company and the company refuses to approve a higher
limit.

7.8.2 Common Causes for Unpaid Account Balance
i) Guest is not explained clearly as to which credit cards are accepted and that which are the
acceptable currencies, and if the bill exceeds the credit limit then he will have to pay the balance
in cash.
ii) Communication gap between credit department and cashier- for example failure of the credit
department in timely communication to cashier that the bill amount of guest has exceeded the
limit.
iii) Negligence and carelessness for example ignoring to look at the black list. To avoid such
problems, it is important that the guests are given clear instructions at the time of check-in,
timely notification of the exceeding of credit limit, reference to black list frequently, and making
sure that the guests who come with company credit facility and other such credit facilities such
as airlines, and travel agents etc. understand that they have to sign their billing statement, before
leaving the hotel at checkout time, and finally it is important that all the concerned departments
and sections etc. must follow the credit policy of the hotel very strictly and religiously.
7.8.3 Cash Control
Like credit control cash control in a hotel is also of great importance. Cash control involves that
all the transactions which the guest makes in cash with various sales sections of the hotel are
recorded immediately and cash collected. All the cash is kept properly under lock and key and
under the supervision of cashier. The petty cash is also controlled and a proper check on that is
made since hotels don't encourage credit sales, and for proper cash sales, the cash control
becomes all the more important for a hotel. Usually cash sales should be encouraged at areas
such as health club, swimming pool and car parking etc. Payment in hard currency, traveler’s
cheques and bank drafts are considered to be cash sales. Whenever a guest pays cash it is
mandatory for the cashier to make cash receipt and hand it over to the guest. The cash collected
every day must be sent to the bank for deposit.

7.9 Night Audit
Night auditors work between 2300 and 0800 hours. Their duty is to carry out control tasks, post
charges and prepare management reports, and balance the hotel’s daily trading accounts. In some
hotels the night auditors’ duties will also involve carrying out the separate tasks of night
manager, receptionist and security officer.
A night auditor will be able to carry out posting through the night if the hotel has a late-night
food and beverage service, and a busy desk. This way, guest accounts will be fully up to date in
time for morning departures. A night auditor brings forward by eight hours control procedures
and checks on posting and balancing. These eight hours may be crucial as an error may be
located and the charge re-posted onto a guest’s account before departure. Often if a guest leaves
before an account is corrected the charge has to be written off as a bad debt.
The following are the main duties of a night auditor:
 Verifying room status and no-show reservations for all rooms

 Posting or verifying the postings of daily transactions to guest ledgers
 Balancing or verifying account balances (the detection and correction of accounting
errors)
 Performing various activities such as verifying credit limits are observed, taking
department cash register readings, preparing guest invoices and performing the duties of
the night manager
 Generating summary and statistical activity reports for management concerning the
hotels’ daily activities and for decision-making.
Examples of Reports
1. Daily Operations Report

This report contains the summary of the cash sales of all hotels department. It also contains the
statistical information concerning every department such as the average cover, average room
rate, year-to-date totals, last year’s amount for today’s date or last years year-to-date totals.
2. Transaction Corrections Report This report is sometimes referred to as the Error’s Report. The
night auditor verifies that the errors were properly corrected and it they weren’t, the correct
transactions must be added to this report.
3. Complimentary Room Report

This report informs the front office manager of any rooms that are being used free of charge on a
complimentary basis. To prevent any unauthorised use of rooms free of charge, managers must
always be aware of these.
4. Rate Discrepancies Report

This report includes a listing of all rooms that do not follow a particular rate plan of the hotel.
The purpose of this report is to keep rooms from being sold at rates lower than those authorised
by management.
5. Rooms Repairs Report

This report informs management of any rooms that are being repaired and therefore cannot be
sold.
6. Occupancy Forecast Report

This report gives the front office manager a rough and approximate estimate of how many rooms
are expected to be sold in the near future for example in the next 3 days. It is based on guests
already staying at the hotel that is likely to extend their stays and confirmed reservations.

8 Dealing with Guest Problems
8.1 Introduction
The front office is concerned with the selling of a hotel’s facilities and services to different types
of guest. However there are occasions even in the best-run and best organized hotels when things
go wrong and it is the front desk that guests will generally come to raise the problems and their
feelings.
8.2 Types of guest problems
 those created by the hotel itself

 those created by external factors outside the control of the hotel
Cause of problem
 Guest unfamiliar with hotel policies
 Guest unfamiliar with terminology
 Hotel is fully booked
 Impolite front desk
 Errors made by the hotel
 External
Complaints, therefore may be considered to be the results of problems that cause upset to guests,
and which are of such importance that have been brought to the attention of the hotel
management (e.g. Slow service). Regardless of the source of problems, the front desk staff must
deal with the situation in an appropriate manner.
Activity
Explain the difference between the two following situations:
 A guest has a problem sending a fax after the business centre has closed
 A guest complains of dirty bed linen

8.3 Skills necessary for dealing guest problems
Front office staff must possess the correct skills for dealing with guest problems. A front desk
clerk should be:
 Calm and helpful
 Understanding
 Tactful and discreet [careful and prudent in one’s speech or action]

 Empathetic
When dealing with a guest who has a problem, it is important to remember that, as well as social
skills, one’s appearance and posture are also important.
1) Stand up straight and look the guest in the eye
2) Your hands may be lightly clasped or by your sides
3) Use your face to display empathy and confidence in your ability to help the guest
4. Always behave in a calm and positive manner
5. Take all complaints seriously. Always make notes about the complaint
6. Always act on the complaint
7. Try to maintain a sense of humour and do not ever take complaints personally
 Remember that it is better for a hotel if guests do complain, no matter how small or
serious the complaint is. Also remember that not all guests are easy to satisfy because
some actually enjoy complaining. The front staff should have the confidence in their
abilities to receive complaints and to handle problems. Each problem can highlight an
area of inefficiency about which management might be unaware.
1.4 Solving problems
Guidelines which should be followed when dealing with a guest’s problem:
1) Find out and record all information
2) Identify the main problem
3) Use your professionalism to identify different ways of overcoming the problem
4) Choose a course of action
5) Give instructions to relevant staff in order to rectify the problem

6) Always check that the actions have been carried out, and the problem solved
7) Re-contact the guest to ensure that they are now happy
8) Record the problem and the appropriate action taken in the relevant log book
Activity 2
For each of the following problems explain how you would handle the situation.
• Mr. Young, a guest has misplaced his medication which he needs to take regularly. His
prescription is back in the United States but he does remember the name and dosage of
his medicine.
• It is 11:45 a.m. and you are on duty at the mail and information desk when you receive a
telephone call from Australian, Mr. Jones. He is calling from the airport. Mr. Jones
stayed at your hotel the previous night and has left his passport on the table by the bed in
his room. His room number was 225.
8.4 Handling complaint
The handling of complaints is a task no one likes to undertake and very often requires great tact
and diplomacy.
1. Greet the guest and maintain good posture and eye contact.
2. Do not interrupt the guest.
3. Apologize, even if the hotel is not at fault.
4. Do not excuse the fault by blaming someone else.
5. Thank the guest for bringing the problem to your attention
6. Classify the guest’s complaint into
a. Serious complaints
b. Minor complaints
c. Complaints which have to be referred to the assistant mgr or equivalent
d. Complaints which the front desk can only deal with by offering empathy and
limited assistance and guidance
7. Discuss possible course of action with the guest and reach an agreement as to the most
suitable solution
8. Give instructions to other staff regarding the agreed action

9. Record the complaint and action taken in the front office log book and report the matter
to the supervisor
10. Speak to the guest later to ensure that appropriate action has been satisfactorily taken
Key Tips
 You should not go alone to a guestroom to investigate a problem
 You should not make promises that exceed your authority or the ability of the hotel to
deliver
 If a problem cannot be solved, you should admit this to the guest early on. Honesty is the
best policy when dealing with guest complaints
 You should know that some guests complain as part of their nature. You should develop
an approach for dealing with such guests.
Activity 3
For each of the following complaints, explain how you would handle the situation. Your answer
should include how would behave and what actions you would take.
 A guest at the front desk complains that she doesn't have any towels in her room
 A guest complains that he did not receive his early morning call and is now late for his
flight
 An angry guest complains that he has been overcharged by the hotel for his
accommodation. Although you have already explained to him that his account has been
accurately computed, he is still dissatisfied and behaves in a rude and demanding way.

James, B. (2003). Hotel Front Office Management. (3rd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley
& Sons, Inc.
Baker, S., Bradley, P., & Huyton, J., (2000), Principles of Front Office Operations, Thomson
Dix, C., & Baird C., (1998), Front Office Operations, Longman
Deveau, L., Deveau, P., De J Portocarrero, N. & Escoffier, M., (1996), Front Office
Management and Operations, Prentice Hall
Bharathiar University . (2008). Accommodation Operation . Coimbatore : Bharathiar University.

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Front Office Management

1 The Front Office Department

1.1 Introduction to Front Office

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1.2 Front Office Functions

The three main functions of the front office are as follows:

1.3 Organizational structure of Front Office Department

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1) Reservation Section is responsible for booking of rooms in advance. It is responsible for

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1.4 Front Office Organization Chart

1.5 Duties and responsibilities of front office personnel

I. Front Office Manager

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II. Assistant Manager

 Conducting guest relations role;

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VI. Front Office Cashier

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11. Make account adjustments.

VII. Uniformed Bell Service Staff

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Duties and Responsibilities:

 Greeting hotel guests at the airport;

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 Taking guests to and from the airport; and

(iv) Parking Attendant

 Parking cars for guests patronizing the hotel; and

(v) Door Attendant

 Greeting all new arrivals;

Directing traffic and parking of vehicles at the main entrance.

(vii) Baggage Porter (Bell Attendant)

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 Handling guest baggage in and out of the hotel;

X. The Executive Floor

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 Express check-in and check-out services on the executive floor;

(ii) Business Centre

1.6 The Front Desk

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1.6.1 Physical Setup of Front Office

 Positioned at an adequate height and reach.

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1.6.2 Operational Structure of Front Office

1.7 Front office Terminologies

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Biometrics – An individual electronic measurement of uniqueness of human being such as

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Communication hierarchy – A listing of the order in which management personnel may be

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2 Front Office Operations

2.1 Guest Cycle

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ReservationRegistration  Occupancy servicesCheck-out and history