INTRODUCTION

The interaction between the guest and the hotel begins when the guest enquires about the room availability and makes the room booking in the hotel. This interaction is known as reservation. Reservation is the first stage of guest cycle, it can be defined as: – the activity of booking the room in advance for a prospective guest on his request for future, which may be from a few days to month in advance or can be defined as blocking a particular type of guest room (i.e. single, double room. etc), for the particular duration of time (i.e. number of days) and for a particular guest.

With the globalization and revolution in the field of travel and tourism, and with the increase in the disposable income of people, more and more people wants to travel to different places. This increase in movement of tourist has increased the demand for tourist accommodation in the destination, and to have safe and comfortable stay in the destination guests now prefer to make advance reservation in hotels.

Reservation is one of the major sections of the front office department which plays the central role and is responsible for booking the hotel room. The main function of reservation is to receive the reservation request from the prospective guest, check the availability of rooms, to process the request and either to accept, wait list or deny the request, communicating it and then recording it i.e. maintaining or reservation records, files, charts, racks and computer records etc. Reservation section is generally located back/behind of the reception as it does not come in direct contact with the guest. Reservation and reception to some extent are similar as they play the similar role of booking the room in the hotel.

In small hotels, Front office manager is the head of reservation section while in large hotels this section is headed by reservation manager who is assisted by reservation supervisor and assistants. As the room is perishable property and produce a considerable sum of revenue for the hotel so handling reservation demands a great deal of attentiveness and sincerity.

IMPORTANCE OF RESERVATION

As mentioned earlier the role of reservations is not only limited to making reservations but also to maintain records of the hotel occupancy which helps the management in planning for future and also helps in estimating man power requirements. The same time efficiently executed reservation goes a long way in ensuring comfortable stay for the guest. Thus reservation department is important for both hotel and the guest.

IMPORTANCE OF RESERVATION FOR HOTEL

• It gives the first impression of hotel to the guest.
• It helps to sale the hotel‘s main product i.e. accommodation.
• It helps in handling guest inquiry with room‘s availability and gives the hotel sufficient time to arrange and prepare for most suitable accommodation for them.
• It gives good indication of the level of business that the hotel might get in future
• It helps in generating customer for other department of hotel as well e.g. Food and beverage products, banquet hall, etc.
• Forecast the future revenue generation keeping in mind the reservation business.
• It helps in scheduling and reorganizing the staff if the need be.
• It prepares the housekeeping and front office for the arrivals by communicating the arrival details taken at the time of reservation.
• Accepting advance booking of their rooms in order to achieve high occupancy and to maximize their revenue
• It updates the room availability record and thus maximize the revenue generates from room booking.
• It helps in building good relation with the market as well as with other departments.
• It helps to uplift the hotel business during off season.
• To forecast future occupancy report.
• Can entertain guests‘ personal preferences like choice of view, floor, colour scheme etc.
• Planning for:- changing room rate , increasing number of rooms in the property (expansion), having a new unit in the city and manpower requirement

IMPORTANCE OF RESERVATION FOR GUEST

• The guest is assured that when he will reach the destination he has the fixed place to stay.
• Reservation gives the guest time to make the choice in terms of:-
• Choice in types of rooms
• As per his budget
• Preference of floor, view and any other personal choice
• If the guest is travelling he can use the hotel address to receive any urgent mails, couriers, messages etc. hotels receive it all on behalf of the guest

SOURCES OF RESERVATION

Hotel receives reservation request from different sources. Some of them are as under:-

1. Direct: A reservation request to hotel from individual or group without mediator is known as direct reservation source. The processing of direct reservation request is taken care by the reservation section of front office department of a hotel. The staffing, equipment, location, and layout of the reservation section will depend upon the volume of the reservation request received directly.
2. Central Reservation System: Central reservation system is a computer based reservation system which enables the guest to make a reservation in any of the participating lodging property at any destination. The central reservation office typically deals directly with the public by means of a toll free telephone number. The central reservation offices operate 24 hour a day and almost round the year. Central reservation office is equipped with necessary communication equipment like computer, a telephone, FAX machine etc. The central reservation system is of two types:-
   1. Affiliated System: In affiliated reservation system all the participating hotel units belongs to same chain or group. E.g. Welcome net (Welcome group), Holidex (Holiday Inn), Image (Hyatt), ITT (Sheraton).
   2. Non-Affiliated System: Non-affiliated system is a subscription based system, designed to connect independent or non chain property. This enables non-chain properties to enjoy the same benefits of affiliated system.
3. Intersell Agencies: An Intersell agency is an agency which deals with many products such as hotel reservation, car rental, travel arrangements, tour operation, airline reservations, railway bookings etc. Such agencies are among rich source of reservation.
4. Global distribution System: A Global Distribution System (GDS) provides the bundle of products and services to the prospective user across the geographical boundaries. The GDS provides a link between the producers of the products and services; and its end users. The hotel gets reservation from the GDS. SABRE, Amadeus, Galileo, Worldspan, SMART etc. are the examples of Global distribution system.
5. Agencies: There are several other agencies like Tour operators, Travel agencies and Air Lines from where hotel receives the bulk booking.
6. Corporate Bodies: The hotel also receives bookings from companies (Pharmaceutical, FMCG‘s), NGO‘s such as Care, Oxfam, Red cross, WHO etc), and institutions (Educational, Financial, Banking). They are the source of bulk reservation.
7. Government Sector: Hotel receives booking from government segment such as Public Sector Undertaking, Embassies and Consulate. The officials of these departments are moving from place to place on official work; hence they need accommodation at the place of visit constituting a major source of reservation.
8. Hotels Website: Hotel‘s web site is potential source of receiving reservation. The website contains the link for reservation request by clicking the same a techno-savvy guest can make reservation while enjoying the comforts of their own house.