Concepts of Hotel Reservation

1. Sushil Mishra
© 2012 Sushil Mishra (s)

2. 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.

3. Introduction
From 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:-

4. • 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

5. Types of Reservations
• 1. 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.
In order to guarantee a reservation, guests can choose
one of the following methods:

6. The reservation can be guaranteed by
• Prepayment
· Credit card
· Advance deposit
• Travel agent voucher/miscellaneous charge
order (MCO)
· Corporate (direct billing account)
Guaranteed Reservations

7. Non-guaranteed Reservation
 2. 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.

8. 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:
• Guest’s name, address and telephone number
• Company or travel agency name
• Date of arrival and departure
• Type and number of rooms requested

9. cont.
Desired room rate
Number of people in the group, if applicable
Method of payment and/or guarantee
Any other special requests
Most of the above mentioned information is used to
create a reservation record.

10. 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?

11. 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.

12. • Central Reservation System
· Global Distribution System
· Inter sell Agencies (for example flight centre)
· Property Direct
· Internet
Sources of Reservations

13. 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.

14. 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).

15. 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…

16. •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

17. Property Direct Reservation System:
Even though many of the five-star hotels rely heavily on
central reservation offices and inter sell agencies, some
potential guests still find it convenient, and personal to call
directly the hotel to communicate a reservation inquiry.

18. Property direct reservations are made in a several ways
· Telephone
· Mail
· Property-to-property
· FAX
· E-mail
Property Direct Reservations

19. Group Bookings
Types of groups
Tour groups
Conference/convention
Charity groups (fund raising)
Flight crews
School groups
Sporting groups

20. Reasons for Travel
Business
Pleasure
Education
Family
Religious
Special events (e.g.Olympic Games)

21. Types of Market Sources
F.I.T. – free/fully independent traveller
Group
Corporate
Government
Package

22. Room Rate Factors
$ Location (CBD, Country)
$ Hotel Rating (Star/Flag/Crown)
Room attributes/aspects
Hotel facilities
$ Competition
$ Time of year
$ Intended client

23. Room Rate Types
Rack
Corporate
Government
Airline (delayed flights, crew, package)
Travel Agents (package, familiarisation, group,
F.I.T.)
Groups/conference
Packages (honeymoon, weekend, midweek)

24. Five steps to selling
• Know your product
• Know your guest
• Match the guest to the best alternative
• Be aware you are part of the sales team
• Always sell the product before the price

25. 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

26. History data
Reservation forms
Registration cards
Guest folios on check-out
History can be stored and maintained:
Manually
Computerised

27. Cancellation
Retrieve original reservation
Note date and time cancellation received
Record contact name of person cancelling
Update manual and computer records
File cancelled reservation
Apply cancellation fee as per hotel policy
Thank caller

28. Amendments
Retrieve original reservation
Note date and time amendment received
Record contact name of person amending
Update manual and computer records
File amended reservation
Thank caller

29. Departments concerned with reservations
report
Housekeeping
To enable accurate staff rostering
Budgeting, planning for refurbishment, ordering of
supplies
Food and Beverage
As above

30. Departments concerned with reservations
report
Maintenance
To enable accurate staff rostering
Budgeting, planning for refurbishment, ordering of
supplies
Concierge/Porters/Front Desk
As above

31. Types of Reports
Occupancy
Arrivals
Cancellations
Special requests
V.I.P.S
Black lists
Market Segments
Guest history

32. Black List
“Bad” debts (previous accounts remain unsettled)
Malicious damage to hotel property
Theft of hotel property
Verbal/physical assault of staff members

33. Potential Reservation Problems
• 3 main common problems that might be encountered:
• 1) Errors in a reservation record:
a.Record a wrong arrival or departure date
b.Misspell the guest’s name or reverse it
c. Reserve for the caller instead of the guest

34. Potential Reservation Problems
2) Misunderstandings due to industry jargon:
Confirmed versus guaranteed reservation
Double room versus 2 beds
Connecting rooms versus adjacent rooms

35. Potential Reservation Problems
3) Miscommunications with external reservation systems:
Book a guest in the wrong hotel
Book a guest in the wrong city [ex: Novotel, Melbourne
versus Novotel, Sydney]

36. Opera Reservation System

37. Sushil Mishra