REVIEWER IN FRONT OFFICE

THE GUEST CYCLE

- Pre-arrival
- Arrival
- Occupancy
- Departure

RESERVATIONS – process of booking rooms before the arrival of the guests

RESERVATION MANAGER – responsible for the complete processing of reservations and reservations
correspondence

SOURCES OF RESERVATION

DIRECT – direct source of reservation for the hotel

MAIL – traditional mode of communication

TELEPHONE – prospective guest attempts to make a reservation through the use of telephone

CENTRAL RESERVATION SYSTEM – provides a potential hotel guest w/ an avenue to locate of

choice in a certain

IN HOUSE – face-to-face contacts made by prospective guests

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM – network of product and service providers around the world
w/c combines airline, car rental

MARKETING AND SALES – most aggressive in obtaining reservations from the public

 CATERING SALES UNIT – producing reservations related to wedding, baptism, reunions

 GROUP SALES UNIT – generating reservations from groups of people who travel together
 TRANSIENT SALES UNIT – motivating prospective guests who intend to stay only for brief people

TYPES OF RESERVATION

1. GUARANTEED RESERVATION – guest guarantees payment for the first night’s stay regardless of
whether or not he/she actually arrives

PREPAYMENT – he/she pays the full amount of the of the requested room booking before
arrival
 CREDIT CARD – acceptable form of payment for hotel room reservations subject to acceptance
of the card

MISCELLANEOUS CHARGE VOUCHERS – vouchers issued to prospective guest & used to

guarantees for room reservations

ADVANCE DEPOSITS – partial payments made in advance & provide guarantees of room
reservations

2. REGULAR RESERVATIONS – not paid in advance and the room is held until a specified time on the
date of arrival

GROUP RESERVATIONS – excellent sources of potential revenues for the hotel

PROCESSING RESERVATIONS – matching room requests of prospective guests w/ the availability of

room in the hotel

Specific steps

*The prospective guest or his representative makes initial contact with the hotel

*The reservationist collects from prospective guest the ff. information

- name, address, phone number

- type of room

- date 7 time of arrival and departure

- number in party

- rate established

- method of payment

- special requirements

- who made the reservation

- advance payments

*Check room availability on date of arrival

*If preferred room is not available, offer alternative that are available

*If the prospective guest rejects the alternative room offered, an alternative hotel should be suggested

*Reservationist fills out a reservation card

*Reservationist files cards in a rack or by date of arrival and in alphabetical order by name of prospective
guests
*The reservations department will produce reports and forwards to the front office.

a. Arrival report – alphabetical listing of the day’s expected arrivals both individually and by
group

b. An overbooking report – list of guest w/ reservations but were walked to other hotels

c. A regret report – list of denied rooms requests

d. A daily analysis report – list of indicating the number of reservations, arrivals, no shows, &
walk-ins by source & by room rate

OVERBOOKING – process of accepting more bookings than the number of rooms available in the hotel

NEGATIVE FACTORS OF OVERBOOKING

1. NO SHOW – reservation but the guest failed to arrive

2. CANCELLATION – confirmed booking that has been withdrawn by the guest

3. EARLY DEPARTURES – “under stay” guest who may not want to continue staying further for some
reason

4. WALK-OUTS – people that leave a hotel before properly setting their accounts

TWO IMPORTANT CONCERNS OF HOTEL IN OVERBOOKING

*Determining the right overbooking percentage

*Minimizing loss of guest goodwill

REVISIONS – change in reservation

CANCELLATIONS – confirmed booking that has been withdrawn by the guest

CANCELLATION PROCEDURE

1. The reservationiat pulls the reservation card or retrieves the guest name in the computer reservation
data bank

2. The type of room reserved is placed back into the available room pool

SUBJECT ITEMS FOR REVISIONS

1. Date of arrival

2. Date of departure

3. Duration of stay

4. Types of room

5. Number of rooms

RECEPTION – act of receiving or of being received

THREE WAYS DEPENDING ON THE TYPE OF RESERVATION MADE AND SIZE OF THE HOTEL

*By the hotel representative at the airport

*By the doorperson

*By the valet or garage attendant

THE BASIC ROLE OF RECEPTION

1. Welcoming guests

2. Establishing the identity and reservation status of the guest

3. Registering the guest

4. Assigning a room to the guest

5. Issuing a room key

6. Providing information

REGISTRATION – requesting a guest to put down certain particulars in a book or on a form

REGISTRATION BOOK – large, bound book wherein arriving guest are required to fill out the ruled
columns

REGISTRATION CARD – use when registration book not able to cope with the expanded registration task

PRE-REGISTRATION OF GUESTS – generation of all necessary documents required for registration before
the guest arrives

ASSIGNING A ROOM – process wherein the hotel identifies and allocates an available room from a room
category

ROOM CATEGORY – the type and rate of the room

RATES ARE AFFECTED BY:

1. The type of room

2. The location of the room

3. The season and seasonal events

4. The kind of guest

5. The meal plan

6. The length of stay

7. The day of the week

TYPE OF ROOM

1. By occupancy

2. By configuration

3. By designation

BASED ON OCCUPANCY

1. Single occupancy – room with single bed

2. Double occupancy – room intended for two persons

3. Tripe occupancy – three persons

4. Quad occupancy – four persons

BASED ON LOCATION OF ROOM

1. Room with a nice view of nature, the pool, or sea

2. Rooms that are less affected by noise from outside traffic, elevators, soft drink and ice machines,
ballroom

THE KIND OF GUEST

REGULAR GUEST – changed with regular rates

SPECIAL GUEST – members of groups and companies that are rich sources of quantity business.
TO GAIN PATRONAGE, HOTELS CHARGE DISCOUNTED RATES

1. Employees or executive large companies

2. Employees or executive of the government

3. Individuals on a group tour

4. Conference and seminar attendees

to the guest

1. European Plan – accommodation only offered to guest, no meal are included in this plan

2. Continental Plan – accommodation plus continental breakfast

3. Bermuda Plan – accommodation plus full breakfast

5. Modified American Plan – accommodation plus one major and one minor meal

LENGTH OF STAY – the sale of hotel rooms may also be regarded in such manner

ISSUING A ROOM KEY – provide the guest w/ easy access to his or her room

GENERAL TYPES OF ROOM KEY CONTROLS

1. The key-and-lock system – front office maintains a key rack where rows of metal keys are orderly
placed for easy access

2. The mechanical system – keyless lock system

3. The electronic system – “computerized key system”, operates through a master control console at
the front desk which is weird to all guest room locks

MANAGING KEY CONTROL

1. Room keys are issued only after identification and registration are verified. Responsibility of the front
office

2. Strict control of master key & emergency key is a concern of the security department

3. Room keys must be retrieved upon check-out of the guest

UPSELLING – process of persuading the guest to opt for a superior room w/ higher room rate
FUNCTIONS OF FRONT DESK

 Determining room position

 Registering guests
 Handling guest arrivals
 Handling mails
 Handling massages and paging
 Key control
 Handling departures
 Identifying various vouchers
 Maintaining safe deposit locker
 Handling payments

ROOM POSITION – number of rooms of different types, available for sale to chance arrivals at any given
time

1. No show – some expected guest failed to show up resulting to room vacancies

2. Overstaying – lack of available rooms for arriving guests w/ confirmed bookings

3. Early departure – room vacancies

4. Unforeseen maintenance of certain room