PROCESSING RESERVATION REQUEST

Dealing with advance reservations is one of the most important and tricky tasks of the hotel Front Office team. Reservation clerks routinely have to sort out multiple requests for accommodation to ensure that every request is dealt with, individual requirements are catered for, the hotel’s interests are served and a positive impression of the hotel is conveyed at every step. Reservations constitute a ‘promise’ to guests: that the rooms they have booked will be available when agreed, on the terms agreed, and with special requirements catered for. A mishandled reservation where these promises are not met when the guest arrives can be a major source of customer dissatisfaction and complaint. Reservations are also a first step in building-up a ‘picture’ of guests and their needs and wants, which helps the front office and hotel management to provide individualised, satisfying service when guests arrive.

In addition, reservations may be received many months in advance, and are therefore a useful tool for forecasting future levels of business. These forecasts can help managers to plan advertising and special offers to stimulate occupancy in ‘slow’ periods and to plan the deployment of staff and resources to cover busy periods. Every hotel has its own standard operating procedure to deal with a reservation request from the guest. The standard procedure of responding to a guest with reservation request involves following steps:-

1. Receiving reservation inquiries
2. Determining room availability
3. Accepting or denying request for reservation
4. Documenting the reservation request
5. Confirming the reservation request
6. Maintaining the reservation request
7. Compiling the reservation request

1. Receiving reservation inquiries

The request for reservation of room may reach to hotel from any mode as discussed earlier. The reservation assistant will receive the reservation request and greet the guest according to the time of the day. When the reservation request is received, the Reservation assistance should gain all the information about the guest and his request, the details include Name of guest, address of guest, no of packs, date of arrival, date of departure, desire of room type, desired room rate, mode of settlement etc. The reservation assistant should gather only that information which will help to speed up the processing of the reservation request.

1. Determining room availability

The above information gathered while receiving the reservation request will help in determining the availability of room for the guest. Using this information the reservation assistant will find whether the requested type of room is available in desired number for the requested duration. Then next step is that Reservation assistant should check the room availability i.e. whether the room is available on the desired date request by the guest. The reservation assistant will use one of following records for determining the availability of the room:-

• Forecast Board,
• Room Status Board/ bed room journal
• Density Board,
• Advance Letting Chart/ Conventional Booking Chart
• Standard Density Chart and
• Computer Reservation System. Now a days, most of the hotel use C.R.S.

1. Accepting or denying request for reservation

If the room is available according to the request of the guest than the reservation assistance should accept the request and book the room of the hotel. Once reservation assistant has ascertained the availability of the room for the guest he will either accept or deny the reservation request and conclude the processing of reservation request. Generally if rooms are available the reservation request is accepted. When the request for reservation is accepted then following details are gathered from the guest:-

• Name of the guest
• Designation and company
• Address of the guest
• Time of arrival
• Reservation classification (advance, confirmed, guaranteed)
• Confirmation number
• Caller data (in case of third party reservation)
• Special requirements (baby sitter, no smoking zone, garden facing, sea facing, barrier free rooms etc.)

The reservation department may choose to turn down a reservation request in following cases:-

• When room of desired type is not available for the duration requested and if the rooms are not available according to the request of the guest than in that case he should apologize and offer other alternatives.
• If the rooms of the hotel are fully booked
• The guest is black listed (a guest whom hotel does not want to accommodate for various reason. Blacklisting of guest are now-a-days out of fashion)

However, a person may legitimately be blacklisted or refused the services of the hotel  if:-

• (S)he has previously stayed at the hotel and failed or been unable to pay the bill.
• (S)he has previously stayed at the hotel and behaved in an undesirable way: causing damage, disturbing other guests, or being abusive towards staff perhaps while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
• (S)he has been suspected of illegal behaviour while in the hotel (e.g. drug dealing, prostitution, theft from the hotel or guests).
• (S)he turns up at the hotel in a state, or behaving in such a way, as to suggest the likelihood of the above problems even if there is a confirmed booking: such behaviour may be interpreted as breaking the implied terms of the contract with the hotel, entitling it to require the guest to leave.
• The bill to be paid on account by a company which owes the hotel large sums of money, routinely pays late, or is otherwise not credit-worthy (e.g. at risk of insolvency, so that the hotel would not be able to recover money owing to it).
• The individual or company has been reported to the hotel on any of the above grounds by other hotels who have found them undesirable in the past. Hotels often exchange this kind of information.

The list of ‘undesirables’ may be kept in any format that is easy for front office staff to consult, without being visible or accessible to the general public! Blacklists and refusals are very sensitive, with the potential to offend people and cause awkward conflict situations (especially if the hotel has suspicion rather than proof of undesirable behaviour). If a reservation clerk recognises the name of a blacklisted individual on a booking request, the best response is probably simply to say that no rooms are available. However, some bookings are more desirable than others so a hotel would prefer to take longer bookings (less costs of guest turnover and room preparation), from known guests (less risk), at the best possible room rate (i.e. not at discounted rates). Some bookings are, therefore, ‘better’ for the hotel than others. The hotel may, therefore, turn down a reservation, stating that no rooms are available, because it anticipates being able to let the room at a higher rate, or on more beneficial terms, at a later date.

1. Documenting the reservation request

After accepting the reservation request, After gathering this information the booking is confirmed and a note for the same is send to the guest‘s mailing address, reservation assistance should fill the reservation form. The reservation form designed to record reservation transaction to prevent any ambiguity in information generated during reservation process. The reservation form contains information like personal data of guest, stay dates, expected mode and time of arrival and departure, number and type of rooms, mode of bill settlement etc. Use of reservation form has following importance:-

• Provides a permanent record.
• Helps to summarize data generated while processing reservation request
• Enables the management to ascertain the person handled reservation request

Fig: Reservation Form

1. Confirming the reservation request

When guest and hotel agree on room and rates then reservation assistant confirms reservation request. There are two types of reservation request and they are guaranteed and non-guaranteed reservation. To confirm the hotel rooms the confirmation should be in written form not in the verbal way. Reservation assistance should maintain the confirmation slip and send it to the reception.

1. Maintaining the reservation request

Once confirming the room to the guest, we need to make a reservation record for each and every booking made. The records can be maintained or processed in two ways:-

1. Documenting the original reservation: In this process we file and record the original reservation details and if we are working in a computerized system we will be recording a printed form of reservation done. The documentation is done on the basis of date of arrival and afterward in assurance to the surname of guest.
2. Modification of reservation: The next step in processing is changing of the details that are recorded in reservation form. In this case, we need to attach the different amendment/ cancellation form or slip with the original one. In this process of modifying the reservation request, the guest can make amendment and/or cancel the request.

Amendment procedure:-

• Take the Hotel Reservation Revision / Cancellation Form and note down the revisions or changes made by the guest.
• Amend the Hotel Reservation Chart by removing the room allocation made of the earlier dates and allocating the rooms on the new dates.
• Amend the reservation slip from the rack.
• Assign a new Hotel reservation confirmation number.

Cancellation procedure:-

• Take the Reservation Revision / Cancellation Form and note the name, address and telephone number of the person making the cancellation.
• Amend the Hotel Reservation Chart.
• Remove the reservation slip from the rack

7. Compiling the reservation request

This is the last step in which all the reservation information is distributed to all different departments. Night auditor will maintain the room status report with the mode of payments, nationality, no. of packs, etc.

HOTEL RESERVATION REPORTS

1. Reservation Transactions Report: This report summarizes daily reservations activity in terms of reservation record creation, modification and cancellation. Other possible reports include specialized summaries such as cancellation reports, blocked room reports, and no-show reports.
2. Commission Agent Report: Agents with contractual agreements may be owed commission for business booked at the property. This report tracks the amounts the hotel owes to each agent.
3. Turn Away Report / Refusal Report: This report tracks the number of reservation requests refused because rooms were not available for the requested dates. The turn away report is especially helpful to properties operating near full occupancy or hotels considering expansion.
4. Revenue Forecast Report: This report projects future revenue by multiplying predicted occupancies by applicable room rates. This information can be especially important for long range planning and cash management strategies.
5. Expected Arrival & Departure Lists: These lists indicate the number and names of guests expected to arrive, depart or stay over. The arrival list facilitates the guest registration process and the expected departure lists helps to anticipate and speed up the guest account settlement and check-out.

OVERBOOKING (OCCUPANCY MANAGEMENT)

We have just said that the reservation clerk will check whether rooms are available before offering a room to a prospective guest but in practice that is not always the case! Hotels like airlines and other services routinely over-book their accommodation: that is, they take more bookings than they have rooms available. Planned overbooking is the practice, often pursued by large hotels, of intentionally taking more bookings than there are rooms available, by a pre-determined (limited) number or percentage. This means that the hotel can maximise its forward occupancy, by taking into account the likelihood of a certain percentage of ‘no shows’ (non-arrivals), cancellations and early departures.

REASONS FOR OVERBOOKING

Why on earth would you want to over-book your accommodation: risking having to tell a guest that you’ve double booked his room? The economic arguments and the underlying mathematics are quite simple. Many hotels suffer considerable loss from reserving rooms for people who book and then don’t turn up (‘no shows’) or who cancel or shorten their stays at the last minute: it is generally too late to expect replacement bookings, and unless the rooms have been paid for in advance, the hotel loses out. The aim is not to have double-bookings, but for the over-bookings and no-shows to cancel each other out. Thus the financial loss due to no-shows is substantially high. Lost revenues of this volume force the hotelier to develop an aggressive occupancy management policy. This policy is based on management of the occupancy categories into which guests are placed under:-

• Confirmed reservations, is the prospective guest who has a reservation for accommodations that is kept until a specified time, represent the critical element in no-shows. After that time (usually 4:00 P.M. or 6:00 P.M.), the hotel is under no obligation to hold the reservation.
• Guaranteed reservations are the prospective guests who have made a contract with the hotel for a guest room, represent a less chances of no show because the guest provides a credit card number to hold a room reservation.
• Stayovers are currently registered guests who wish to extend their stay beyond the time for which they made reservations.
• Under stays are guests who arrive on time but decide to leave before their predicted date of departure. Leisure travelers may find their tourist attraction less interesting than expected.
• Walk-ins.

The permitted overbooking rate may therefore vary from hotel to hotel since hotels with a high proportion of transient trade will have a higher no-show proportion than a long-stay resort. The rate may also vary from week to week, and should be clearly stated on the reservation charts for any given period. In a computerised system, the software will automatically monitor the ratio of reservations to actual arrivals, and adjust the overbooking parameters for different periods, room types and types of bookings. However, most hoteliers require a guest guarantee his or her stay with a credit card number to ensure their intent of arrival and thus guarantee payment for product and services on the part of the guest and hotel. When these occupancy categories are tracked, the front office manager can more accurately predict occupancy. The front office manager can obtain the data for this formula by reviewing the property management system (PMS) reservation module, which lists the groups, corporate clients, and individual guests who have made reservations for a specific period.

Also, the front office manager should check tourist activity in the area, business events planned in other hotels, and other local special events. Permitted overbooking rate may therefore vary from hotel to hotel – since hotels with a high proportion of transient trade will have a higher no-show proportion than a long-stay resort, say. The rate may also vary from week to week, and should be clearly stated on the reservation charts for any given period. In a computerized system, the software will automatically monitor the ratio of reservations to actual arrivals, and adjust the overbooking parameters for different periods, bookings and room types.

ADVANTAGES OF OVERBOOKING

1. Minimises financial losses from cancellations, no-shows and shortened stays
2. Minimises unnecessary refusals, which may send prospective customers to competitors
3. Based on past statistical trends: should not result in excessive double-bookings
4. Planned re-locations, in the event of double bookings, can help ‘juggle’ bookings for better yield management

DISADVANTAGES OF OVERBOOKING

1. Based on past statistical trends: may not be reliable, and cause double-bookings
2. Double-bookings and relocations may alienate prospective guests: lost opportunity of lifetime revenue
3. Double-bookings and/or confusions over bookings can cause unpleasant and stressful conflict for front office staff
4. As you can imagine – especially if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of overbooking – there is a good side to this policy, and a bad side.

RE-LOCATING GUESTS IN THE EVENT OF DOUBLE-BOOKING

Thus Front office Manager must be carefully plan for the overbooking as it sometimes may lead to double booking which will be a difficult situation to handle for both guest and the hotel. As an alternative to overbooking, the hotel may accept bookings on a waiting list, if guests are able to be flexible about taking rooms on short-notice when cancellations occur. Or Hotel needs to have a contingency plan to re-locate or book out some of its guests, so that their dissatisfaction is minimized by having satisfactory alternative arrangements made for them.