Week (3)

Objectives for Reservations

At the completion of this unit, the students will able to:

1. Describe the different types of reservations and identify the information sought during a reservation inquiry and contained in a reservation record.

2. Identify major sources of reservations.

3. Identify the tools managers use to track and control reservations availability.

4. Describe policies and procedures surrounding the confirmation, change, and cancellation of different types of reservations.

4. Explain the function of typical management reports and reservations records that can be generated from reservations data.

Competencies for Reservations

What is a reservation?

It is a booking in advance for a space for a specified period of time.

E.g. Hotel ballroom, restaurant booking, airline seat, a theatre seat, a hotel guestroom, a doctor’s appointment.

Reserves or books accommodation for a specific date and period of time in an accommodation establishment.

Cont.

The reservation will also establish:The Needs of the customer in relation to the

type of room required, The Room Charge also known as the Room

Rate or Tariff and any Special Requirements the customer may

have.

IntroductionFrom a guest’s point of view, the most

important outcome of the reservations process is having a guestroom ready and waiting when the guest arrives.

To achieve these outcomes, the hotel must have efficient reservation procedures in place.

Here are the reservation process activities:-

Conduct reservation inquiry.

· Determine room and rate availability.

· Create reservation record

· Confirm reservation record.

· Maintain reservation record.

· Produce reservation reports.

· Research, plan, and monitor reservations.

Reservation Activities/functions

Checking availability

Check availability of a requested reservation

As the person responding to an enquiry for a reservation you must be able to check whether the accommodation the customer is requesting is available or not.

When you are speaking with customers at the front desk of your establishment, on the telephone, responding to a fax or letter or replying to email, it is important that you are able to check the availability correctly.

A sample Manual Booking System from a small guest house.(Shading indicates checkout)    

Types of Reservations

• Guaranteed Reservation: Insures that the hotel will hold a room for the guest until a specific time of guest’s scheduled arrival date .

• The guest must provide us a method of payment.

• If the guest does not show up or cancel properly,

• the guest will be charged for one night accommodation.

• If the hotel then fails to provide the room for a guaranteed reservation, legal penalties can be applied if the guest files a complaint.

• In order to guarantee a reservation, guests can choose one of the following methods:

The reservation can be guaranteed by  

•Prepayment ( paid full amount prior to arrival)

· Credit card (provide credit card number)

· Advance deposit ( Paid part of the room rate)

Travel agent voucher/miscellaneous charge order (MCO)

· Corporate (direct billing account)

Guaranteed Reservations

Non-guaranteed Reservation Non-guaranteed Reservation: Insures that

the hotel agrees to hold a room for the guest until a stated reservation cancellation hour (Usually 6 p.m.) on the day of arrival.

It is common for hotels planning on full occupancy or nearing full occupancy to accept only guaranteed reservation once a specified number of expected arrivals is achieved.

Reservation Inquiry

• Guests can communicate their reservation inquiries in person, over the telephone, via mail, through facsimile, telex, e-mail…

• While getting a reservation inquiry, the reservation staff shall obtain the following guest-related information:

• Date of arrival and departure• Guest’s name, address and telephone number• Company or travel agency name• Type and number of rooms requested

cont.

Desired room rateNumber of people in the group, if applicableMethod of payment and/or guaranteeAny other special requests Most of the above mentioned information is

used to create a reservation record.

Details Provided to Guest

As you create the reservation, these following information must be explained to your customers.

Room release time (6pm is standard)Guaranteed reservationCheck-in timeAcceptable MOPParking facilitiesHotel facilities and services

The seven steps reservation sales process

• 1. Greet the caller. ( thank you for calling Holiday inn. This is Mary speaking How can I help you today?)

• 2. Identify caller’s need ( arrival date, departure date, preference ....)

• 3. Provide an overview of the hotel’s feature ( number of restaurant, swimming pool )

• 4. Make a room recommendation and room rate.

• 5. Ask for the sales ( Would you like me to book the reservation for you?

cont.

• 6. Create a reservation record according to the hotel procedures.

• 7. Thank the caller. Closing a call as warmly as opening a call leaves the caller with a sense of confidence that they have made the correct decision.

• The reservation function is a sales process, if the reservation staff is unenthusiastic, the caller will not a have a positive impression of the hotel and may decide to go elsewhere.

cont.Reservations can be made for individuals,

group, tours or conventions.An individual, not part of the a group is

referred as a FIT. ( free independent traveller)

The customers make reservation by using different sources.

•Central Reservation System

· Global Distribution System

· Travel Agents (for example flight centre)

· Property Direct

· Internet

Sources of Reservations

Central Reservation System (CRS)A central (or computerised) reservation

system that controls and maintains the reservations for several hotels in one location, and automatically redirects the reservation to the required hotel.

Central reservation systems

• The majority of hotel groups belong to one or more Central Reservation Systems

• A central reservation system is composed of a central reservation office, member hotels connected together via communication devices, and potential guests.

• It exchanges room availability information with members hotel.

• Central Reservation Office [CRO] offers its services via a 24-hours toll free telephone number(s) [Green Numbers].

continued

On return, central reservation offices charges a fee for the utilization of its services which might take the form of a flat fee and a variable fee, or a flat percentage of potential room revenue, actual room revenue, and/or Rooms Division gross profit…

•Computerized system by which reservation-related information is stored and retrieved for multiple organizations.

• Global Distribution Systems [GDS] System including several Central Reservation Offices connected to each other.• Selling hotel rooms is accomplished by connecting the hotel reservation system with the GDS system.• GDSs have become a powerful force in hotel reservation.

 

Global Distribution Systems

Travel AgenciesTravel Agencies are special types of

central reservation offices contracting to handle reservation for more than one Product Line [ex: Handle at the same time Airline Tickets, Car Rental, Hotel Reservation…] “ One Call Does it All Approach “!

Property Direct Reservation System: Even though many of the five-star hotels

rely heavily on central reservation offices and travel agencies, some potential guests still find it convenient, and personal to call directly the hotel to communicate a reservation inquiry.

Property direct reservations are made in a several ways

· Telephone

· Mail

· Property-to-property

· FAX

· E-mail

Property Direct Reservations

Group Bookings

Types of groupsTour groupsConference/conventionCharity groups (fund raising)Flight crewsSchool groupsSporting groups

Reservation Availability After receiving a reservation request, the

hotel might accept it, as it is, if there is room availability.

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

continued

The reservation department should always compare historical reservation volumes against actual arrivals.

The main reason is to cope with overbooking, which 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.

continued

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 should include:

Number of rooms reserved for a specific dateNumber of rooms occupied by stayovers (for a

certain specific date) Forecasted no-shows percentageForecasted understays percentageForecasted overstays percentageForecasted cancellation percentageNumber of out of order rooms for a specific

date

Reasons for Travel

BusinessPleasureEducationFamilyReligiousSpecial events (e.g.Olympic Games)

Types of Market Sources

F.I.T. – free/fully independent travellerGroupCorporateGovernmentPackage

Room Rate Factors$ The room rates are set by considering the

following factors:$ Location (CBD, Country)$ Hotel Rating (Star)Room attributes/aspectsHotel facilities$ Competition$ Time of year$ Intended client

Room Rate Types

RackCorporateGovernmentAirline (delayed flights, crew, package)Travel Agents (package, familiarisation,

group, F.I.T.)Groups/conferencePackages (honeymoon, weekend, midweek)

Five steps to selling

• Know your products

• Know your guests

• Match the guests to the best alternative

• Be aware you are part of the sales team

• Always sell the product before the price

Guest History

Assist with marketing strategies

Ensure future reservations are more efficient

Ensure a quicker check-in

Ensure guest’s needs are met

Assist with check-out

History data

Reservation formsRegistration cardsGuest folios on check-out

History can be stored and maintained:ManuallyComputerised

Loyalty programsLoyalty programs which recognise and

reward guests who frequently stay at the hotel.

The rewards are linked to the number of nights a guest stays in a one-year period.

The rewards may include free accommodation, free meals or gifts.

CancellationRetrieve original reservationNote date and time cancellation receivedRecord contact name of person cancellingUpdate manual and computer recordsFile cancelled reservationApply cancellation fee as per hotel policyThank caller

AmendmentsRetrieve original reservationNote date and time amendment receivedRecord contact name of person amendingUpdate manual and computer recordsFile amended reservationThank caller

Departments concerned with reservations report

MaintenanceTo enable accurate staff rosteringBudgeting, planning for refurbishment, ordering

of suppliesConcierge/Porters/Front DeskAs above

Reservation Reports:

• In the reservation department, the widely used management reservation reports include:

• Reservation transaction report

• Commission agent report

• Turnaway report (sometimes called the refusal report)

• revenue forecast report

Types of ReportsOccupancy ArrivalsCancellationsSpecial requestsV.I.P.SBlack listsMarket SegmentsGuest history

Occupancy Reports

Prepared on a regular basis for:rosteringbudgetsmaximising occupancyplanning refurbishmentordering

Special Requests Report

HousekeepingCots/rollaways/special linen/vases/flowers/baby

sitters/early and late arrivals and departuresRoom ServiceChampagne/fruit baskets/flowers/VIP mini barsPorter/ ConciergeTheatre bookings/restaurant bookings/hire

cars/early arrivals/late departures/wheelchair access/luggage storage/red carpet

Special Requests Report

Food and BeverageDietary, Group meals, Children, Cultural

Requirements, Seating, Groups departing early

FunctionsDietary, AV Equipment, Meal break times,

Business Services

Black List

“Bad” debts (previous accounts remain unsettled)

Malicious damage to hotel property

Theft of hotel property

Verbal/physical assault of staff members

Potential Reservation

Problems • 4 main common problems that might be

encountered:• 1) Errors in a reservation record:a.Record a wrong arrival or departure dateb.Misspell the guest’s name or reverse itc. Reserve for the caller instead of the guestd.Inaccurate transfer of reservation

information from a manual record to the computer.

Potential Reservation Problems

2) Misunderstandings due to industry jargon:Confirmed versus guaranteed reservationDouble room versus 2 bedsConnecting rooms versus adjacent rooms

Potential Reservation Problems

3. Miscommunications with external reservation systems:

Book a guest in the wrong hotelBook a guest in the wrong city [ex: Novotel,

Melbourne versus Novotel, Sydney]

Potential Reservation Problems (continued)

4. Online reservation system failures:Fail to update central reservation system

concerning room availability or to communicate rate changes in real time

Delays in communicating reservation requests

Communication Equipment used may become technologically obsolete or inoperatable