CHANGES IN ROOM AND RATE

During the period of a guest's stay, there may be a change of a room/ or rate. These changes must be notified to the other departments by the front desk staff. A change notification will be sent out giving details of the change for the following reasons.

• The cashier will need to alter the room number or rate on the bill.
• The telephone operator will have to change the room number on the alphabetical guest index.
• The restaurant should know of a room change or plan during his/ her stay.
• The front desk staff must make necessary amendments on the reception board information to show the updated status.
• The housekeeping must know , as a room change will involvethe cleaning of a room from which the guest has moved, or if the guest id joined by another member of the family then more linen will have to be provided
  

VOUCHERS

Vouchers are special documents generally in printed form. It is issued by travel agents and airlines stating the required services to be provided by the hotel. It indicates that the guest has pre- paid to the travel agencies or the concerned company guarantees the payment of bill for accommodation and services of the particular guests. Hence for the recovery of each payment the steps are:

• Receive and check the vouchers at check- in such billing instructions are mentioned.
• Read the vouchers carefully and determine whether it has been issued from bona-fide travel agency duly recognized by the hotel. If in doubt refer to the list of bona-fide agent as issued by the account department.
• Check the name of the guest, date and room required.
• Check the room plan and any other special remarks.
• Ask the guest/ group leader to sign the bills and the folios.
• Do not give copies of signed bills.
• Attach the vouchers and the folio together and send it to the account department.
  

TRAVELLER'S CHEQUES

The customer purchases traveler's cheques in his/ her own country before commencing his/ her journey. These may be in international currencies the customer requires. these cheques are signed twice. It is signed firstly at the time of purchase and serial numbers are noted by the issuing bank. While using traveler's cheque for payment, the owner will sign and date each cheque. The cashies should carefully watch the second signature of the guest at the , and tally the signature and the photograph against the passport/ identity card. All traveller's cheques should be converted into local currencies at the current day's exchange rate. The traveller's cheques areexchanged for their required currency value by the bank then credited to the hotel's account.

CREDIT CARD

Credit card is a small plastic card that holds a certain monetary value. It authorizes the owner to charge goods or services to his/ her account. It is issued by bank to its customers. It is used to purchase goods, accommodation, or to pay for services. In hotels and other service establishments, large bills are often settled by credit cards. It usually allows higher limits than personal cheques.

Most hotels accepts major credit cards for deposit and payment. The front desk representative should know the credit cards that the hotel accepts, as well as the procedures for accepting and authorizing their use. Visa card, Master card, American express etc. are the most widely honored and accepted credit cards. Others such as Diner's Club, City bank card, Euro card etc may be honored by many but not by all properties.

PROCEDURES WHILE ACCEPTING CREDIT CARDS:

1. With the use of credit card imprinter machine(manual/ electronic), imprint/ swipe the credit card and obtain the details in the credit card charge slip.
2. Enter the date and the amount that is to be charged, but without totaling the amount.
3. present the charge slip to the guest and obtain the signature in the specified area.
4. tally the signature on the charge slip against the credit card and total the amount now.
5. Give the customer's copy of the charge slip to the guest along with the credit card.
6. retain the other two copies of the charge slip and send the appropriate copy to the accounts along with the cashier's summary report.
7. Determine the answers to the following questions before accepting any credit card:

• Is the card acceptable by the hotel?
• Is the card valid?
• Are the card holder and the card owner the same person?
• Is the available credit sufficient to cover the charges?
  

CASH

Cash is one of the most common and swift payment modes to handle. this type of payment, either in local or foreign currency, is one of the most popular methods used in hotel as cash is instantly available for use. However, while handling cash the cashier needs to be careful in distinguishing and ascertaining the currencies and their denominations acceptable. The cashier should be well aware of the current day's exchange rate and also possess the extra skills to evaluate the genuine currency notes.

MODE OF PAYMENT

It refers to the various methods of payment by which the guests can settle their bills/ checks in the hotel. Mode pf payment varies with the type of establishment , e.g. A cinema would normally take the payment before the customer uses the service, whereas the hotel usually takes the payment after the services have been rendered. from a moment guest registers himself into a hotel, s/he uses the other credit facilities. Realizations of such bills have to be handled very cautiously by the hotel. Usually, hotels undertake the following steps to ensure payment:

1. Maintain a specific credit limit.
2. Accept officially recognized credit cards only.
3. personal cheques are accepted under certain conditions.

A guest settles his/ her bills by the following modes of payment in a hotel:

1. CASH
2. CREDIT CARDS
3. TRAVELLERS' CHEQUES
4. VOUCHERS
5. COMPANY ACCOUNT

RESERVATION REGISTER

It is a format used by front office department for keeping the record of the requested rooms. this format is widely referred to as room reservation from. the reservation assistant is responsible to fill in this format stating the information about guests, type, quantity of rooms and special service requested. This format is mainly used to record the reservation request coming through a telephone and personal visit. The reservation data is directly recorded into the computer where the reservation system is computerized. This format will contain the following information:

1. Name of the client, nationality, and address
2. Date of arrival
3. Company's name and address
4. Type of room, rate and number desired
5. Contact address, eg telephone, fax, e- mail etc
6. Credit card number(if any)
7. Name of the person/ sources seeking reservation
8. Reservation received by
9. Total number of nights.
10. Special services required(if any).

RESERVATION REGSTER

DENSITY BOOKING CHART

This is the development of the conventional booking chart to overcome its weakness. It is mostly used in large and commercial establishments with standardized rooms because its basic principle is that the rooms of the particular type is grouped together. In this chart, room types are listed in sequence whereas the room numbers are random. each chart may cover a period of one month and is available in the printed form of loose- leaf of paper. The chart indicates the reservation status od the particular type of rooms in a given month at a glance

Here, room types and room numbers are listed on two vertical columns on the left hand side. the date and days of the month are listed in horizontal column on top. The reservation assistant updates the chart by putting a cross indicate reservation as and when they occur.

CONVENTIONAL BOOKING CHART

It is used in recording the room reservation for a particular month of a given year. It can show a room status of one whole month at a glance. The room numbers are put in sequence whereas the room numbers are random. This chart may be maintained in a loose-leaf file, but appropriately should be mounted on the wall of the reservation section. this chart is focused mainly on the room numbers rather than the room type.

Here, room numbers and types are listed vertically on the two lines of the left side of the chart and the date is listed in horizontal columns of two lines on the top. The remaining lines of this chart shows the rooms blocked on the given dates. Rooms assigned at the time of reservation are indicated with the help of an arrow drawn horizontally. The guests name is marked against the room numbers with with arrows extending from the arrival date to the departure date. One -way of working with this chart is to mark the reservation chart in pencil where the booking is made and linked after the booking is confirmed. However, the arrow and names has to be erased if the booking is canceled/ revised. The chart should reflect an accurate and up-to-date situation regarding room reservation and room available for sale at all times.

ADVANCE RESERVATION CHART

This is also referred to as advance letting chart, room reservation chart or bed booking chart. A reservation chart is basis of controlling reservation. It is used for allocating a room for a specific period. It shows the following details at a glance:

1. Which rooms are let?
2. How long will they be occupied?
3. Which rooms are available for letting?
4. For what period of time?
5. OOO and house use rooms.

The chart is mounted on the walls, so that, the reservation assistant can check the room status at a glance while allocating a room at the time of booking. Each entry on such charts should be erasable in order to avoid overwriting in the case of cancellation and revision of reservation. Some of the standard charts used in most standard/ deluxe hotels to record reservation are:

1. CONVENTIONAL BOOKING CHART
2. DENSITY BOOKING CHART
3. RESERVATION REGISTER

HOTEL DIARY AND ITS PURPOSES

HOTEL DIARY
Hotel diary is an important document used in front office operation to record the basic information about the room reservation request in the very beginning. It is a control tool used in the reservation section to discourage fraud. Sometime, it is also termed as booking diary, which contains horizontal and vertical lines with necessary information on which everyday booking record could be written down.
The booking diary is kept by front office manager on his table as a ready reference of booking for one particular day. Reservation assistants are responsible to fill the daily record of the information on reservation request and other reservation details in this diary for the Front Office Manager (FOM).

PURPOSES
Hotel diary is a small but very effective format that helps that helps the front office manager or his assistant to obtain the following information:

1. To see the number of guests/ clients seeking reservation
2. To know the type and number of rooms requested
3. To establish the room rate
4. To allocate room numbers
5. To determine the agencies and sources offering business
6. To know how and when the booking was made

All the essential data related to the room reservation is entered in the hotel diary under the arrival date and should contain the following information:

1. Name of the guest
2. Date of booking
3. Rate desired
4. Length of proposed stay
5. Any special remarks
6. Type of accommodation requested
7. Mode of reservation used
8. Number of rooms required
9. No. of pax

MAINTAINING THE RESERVATION RECORDS

The reservation record is maintained in two ways. They are:

1. DOCUMENTING THE ORIGINAL RESERVATION

After recording the reservation details in the reservation form or the computer, it is necessary to have a proper filing system for future reference. In any reservation system the record is maintained in chronological order as per the date of arrival and thereafter as per the surname.

2. MODIFICATION OF RESERVATION

When the guest tries to revise the reservation, the details of changes done must be attached with the reservation form. In case of cancellation, the cancellation form must be filled and attached. As per the details in the form the room status must be updated or amended accordingly.

DOCUMENTING THE RESERVATION DETAILS

If a request for reservation is accepted, the reservation clerk will normally complete the reservation form including all the details, and necessary information of the guests proposed stay. If the system is computerized, the details are recorded directly.

ACCEPTING OR DENYING THE RESERVATION REQUEST

After checking the room availability, the reservation clerk will either except or deny the reservation request. If the desired room are available for the period requested then normally the reservation request will be accepted. However the reservation selection may choose to deny the request for the reservation in spite of its availability, if ;

1. The rate desired is not at par,
2. The hotel is sold out during the dates requested,
3. The guest/ company requesting the reservation is black listed.

DETERMINING THE ROOM AVAILABILITY

After receiving the information about the guest proposed stay, the next step of reservation procedure is to check the room availability of the desired accommodation on the date, rate and room type requested. In any reservation system, it is necessary to closely monitor the volume of reservation accepted in order to prevent excess booking. An effective reservation system should be used to determine the room availability and they are:

1. Forecast board (occupancy forecast report)
2. Reservation charts (Density and conventional chart)
3. Computerized system

ENQUIRY FOR RESERVATION

Hotel may receive the reservation inquiry in variety of ways. Reservation request may be made in person, over the telephone, through the mail, via fax, internet, CRS etc. Regardless of the source, the reservation personnel will collect the following information about the guests’ stay through the process known as reservation inquiry. From such inquiry the following information is obtained about the guests’ stay:

1. Name of the guest
2. Date of departure
3. Desired room type
4. Required number of rooms
5. Special remarks (if any)
6. Contact address and telephone numbers
7. Date of arrival
8. Desired room rate
9. Desired room plan
10. Number of pax
11. Reservation source

RESERVATION PROCESS AND PROCEDURE

1. ENQUIRY FOR RESERVATION
2. DETERMINING THE ROOM AVAILABILITY
3. ACCEPTING OR DENYING THE RESERVATION REQUEST
4. DOCUMENTING THE RESERVATION DETAILS
5. CONFIRMING THE RESERVATION REQUEST
6. MAINTAINING THE RESERVATION RECORDS
7. COMPILING THE RESERVATION REPORT

IN PERSON

This is another mode of reservation which accounts for a very negligible percentage. In this mode the person directly arrives in the hotel to seek reservation.

INTERNET

Hotel industries offer online reservations through their internet sites. This enables guests from diverse market segments to use their personal computers to book accommodation. The variety of potential guests accessing internet sites to place reservations has prompted travel and hotels to develop simple reservation procedure. Most chain hotels allow visitors to book rooms through their internet sites

TELEX, CABLE, FAX AND E-MAIL

Telex is often used to communicate international request. These methods of communication account for a small proportion of total reservation transactions. Reservation system normally provides participating properties with the communication equipment necessary for handling of reservation transaction. This equipment may take the form of a computer, a computer network, or a facsimile. Faxes are more flexible. Faxes are also cheaper to use as the information is transmitted over the telephone line faster than the time taken to send a telex.

MAIL/ POST

Written requests for reservation are common for individual group, tour and convention business. Generally, mail requests are sent directly to the reservation sections.

TELEPHONE

Potential guests or parties may request for reservation through telephone to the hotel. This is one of the easiest and common method of direct reservation.

MODES OF RESERVATION

Hotels handle many reservation requests by different ways. Irrespective to the type of inquiry made, each inquiry must be received, recorded and processed. Reservation request can reach the hotel through any of the given modes:

• TELEPHONE
• MAIL/ POST
• TELEX, CABLE, FAX AND E-MAIL
• INTERNET
• IN PERSON

CHAIN HOTELS AND REFERRAL FROM OTHER HOTELS

Through the channel groups of hotels, rooms are books for guests mostly on confirmed reservation request.These guests from chain hotels or other individual hotels usually come under guaranteed reservation. For this, room rates are also discounted and services offered are already quoted through the vouchers or company accounts. These guests may be FITs, GITs, top executives, tour groups or employees.

FREE INDIVIDUAL TRAVELERS(FITS)

A guest coming to hotel as an individual and not as a part of a group is typically referred to as an FIT. FITs are also known as chance guest or walk- in guests They seek accommodation at their arrival in the hotel. They do not seek the service of travel agencies.

UN ORGANIZATIONS AND BANKS

UN organization and banks are variable source as they come for special mission for short duration. These international personnel mostly prefer to stay in hotels. Special package rates are offered at heavy discounts on rooms and food & beverage.

MINISTRIES AND GOVERNMENT OFFICES

They reserve the room for their guests, diplomats or government employees. Usually they are sent for official programmes. When a large function is to be held, large number of participants arrive from different countries. The state reserves the room for the stay with full meal package, usually through its embassy/consulate offices. Participating in international conference/summit, seminars or sports events is he main objective of these groups.

UNIVERSITIES AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

These are also good sources of reservation. They actually come from different universities and educational institutions for purposes like students’ selections and admission, scholarship programmes, national convention of student union, delegation, seminars, educational tours, exhibition and many other such programmes.

EMBASSY AND CONSULATE OFFICES

They are good source of reservation. They reserve the room for the expatriates and officials from their country. Sometimes they reserves the hotel room for their family guests for short time stay. Such guest normally prefer to have a sight seeing and entertainment under the hotel package.

NGOs AND INGOs

National or international government organizations provide accommodation reservation and other facilities too to their guests or employees , especially when they conduct seminars, research, interaction and training programmes.

COMPANIES AND COMMERCIAL BUSINESS HOUSES

The companies and commercial business houses reserves rooms for their clients or guests, participants, employees, etc. when they are out of station on deputing. Guests related to companies and commercial business houses could prefer to reserve rooms for business meetings, seminars and annual programmes.

AIRLINES

The role of airlines, whether international or domestic, is to provide quick transportation to the masses. Airlines promote tourism growth and help in earning considerable amount of foreign exchange. Regarding hotel business, it is linked with accommodation, foods, conference, an the passengers have the benefits of breaking journey at other destinations too. Tourist passengers are also encouraged to stay in hotel for short time on hourly basis on transit. Therefore there stands a good link between international airlines, domestic airlines and hotel organizations.

TRAVEL AND TOUR ORGANIZATIONS

• Travel Agencies
Travel agencies are the backbone of the tourism industry and potential source of business for any hotel. They are the creator and generator of the hotel business. Mutual agreement has to be done formally between the hotel and travel offices. Travel agencies negotiate with hotels for reasonable room and meal packages rate. They collect travel and tour information regarding purpose of visit and develop new idea and promote new destinations as well. Some of the leading agencies in Nepal are:

1. Yeti Travels
2. Sita World Travels
3. Nepal Travels
4. Namaste Travels
5. Atlas Travels and Tours
6. Natraj Tours and Travels

• Trekking Agencies
Trekking is simply defined as foot travel on mountain rails or walking on foot on discomfort areas. They are the sources of reservation in hotel for accommodation and food. Trekking group is usually required to stay at the hotels at the initial and the end phase of their trip. The length of the guest stay is short. The nature of agreement between hotel and trekking agencies is similar to that of with tour and travel services.

• Rafting Agencies
Rafting agencies organize trip on fast flowing river water by boat/dugout/rafts canoe for long or short distance. It is one of the most sought after water sports which is full of adventure. Such group usually prefers riverside resort or motels to sub-urban hotel for their stay. They are the accommodation and meal. The agreement with the hotel is similar to that the travel and trekking agencies. The rafting accessories, equipments and other facilities may be provided by the hotel on request. In Nepal, wild life watch, fishing trip and trekking trips are very popular and offered to the guests in the form of package.

SOURCES OF RESERVATION

More than 50% of the guests arrive in the hotel with due reservation. This keeps both the hotel and the guest at ease. The various sources through which the reservations come to hotel are listed below:

• TRAVEL AND TOUR ORGANIZATIONS
• AIRLINES AND SURFACE TRANSPORTAIONS
• COMPANIES AND COMMERCIAL BUSINESS HOUSES
• NGOs AND INGO
• EMBASSIES AND CONSULATE OFFICES
• UNIVERSITIES AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
• MINISTERS AND OTHER GOVERNMENT OFFICES
• UN ORGANIZATIONS
• FREE INDIVIDUAL TRAVELLERS (FITS)
• CHAIN HOTELS AND REFERRAL FROM OTHER HOTELS.

TYPES OF RESERVATION

1. GUARANTEED RESERVATION

In the guaranteed reservation the hotel assures the guest that the required rooms shall be blocked after confirmation. Under this, the hotel agrees to hold a room for a specific time of reservation following the scheduled day of arrival. Usually the guaranteed reservation, the advance deposit is sent through the various modes of payments for the anticipated charges for which the booking of the room has been requested. Thus the room revenue is secured even in the case of no show. The following variations in the advance payment for guaranteed reservation are:

• ADVANCE DEPOSIT
An advance deposit guaranteed reservation requires that the guest pay the hotel the anticipated amount of money before arrival. Advance deposit is partially large enough to cover one or two nights' room charge. This type of reservation is more common in resorts and less in city hotels.

• PRE-PAYMENT
This requires full payment prior to the guest arrival. This is normally the most desirable form of guaranteed reservation. This type of reservation is rarely used while booking rooms in any hotel industries.

• CREDIT CARD
Guaranteeing reservations through credit card are most popular method of payment in the business hotel. It is a form of guaranteed reservation and is customary in commercial hotels. Depending on the financial status and money n bank, the credit card is issued to the buyers/ clients.

• TRAVEL AGENTS
Guest pays the travel agents in advance for their tour package and the travel agent guarantees the client's reservation. In lieu, the agent provides the voucher to the guests indicating the required services that are required to be offered by the hotel. In case of no show, the hotel generally bills travel agencies for payment, and according to the agreement the travel agent must make the payment to the hotel.

• COOPERATE
This is the contractual agreement between corporation/ companies and hotel which state that the corporation will accept financial responsibility for any no show guest. Such contracts are often popular in business hotels and down town hotels.

2. NON- GUARANTEED RESERVATION
Non- guaranteed reservation is a provisional reservation. In this reservation, neither there is any legal process of confirming the room nor is any payment for the advance deposit made. When the reservation is confirmed under the non- guaranteed reservation, the hotel agrees to hold the room until the reservation canellation hour (6 p.m.) on the day of arrival. After the cancellation hour, the room is released and the reservation gets automatically cancelled.

RESERVATION AND SALE

The reservation of a hotel services create contractual relationship between the hotel and its guests. Thus, relationship starts as soon as a reservation is made. In hospitality business the agents are given more responsibility to project the room revenues profitably. Therefore, hotel industries generally consider that the reservation is a part of sales department, though the function has traditionally been the part of room division.

In order to know to sale of accommodation, first of all, reservation section is focused primarily in rooms’ availability identification. The reservation personnel, however, should ensure that various types of rooms requested by the different sources are whether available or not. The main objective of reservation is to maximize the room sales at all times so as to increase the room revenue. After automation of he reservation procedure, accurate and correct room number, positions and rate are informed. Then, reservation agents can review room and rate information for the specific date. As a result, requests for specific room types, locations and special features can be constantly acknowledged and quickly confirmed.

The ability of the reservation section to sell more rooms, increasing revenue, promote sales strategies and improve guests’ satisfaction is often cited as an important justification for investing in a front office system. In the front office operation, the main record of room sales are :
• Room reservation charts
• Reservation forms
• Daily arrival and departure list
• Guest index

PURPOSE OF RESERVATION

Reservation can be defined as an agreement between clients and service providers for the services that are to be rendered in the future. The service is fundamentally related to booking/blocking of accommodation for the visitors/travelers. The guest is greatly benefited once the reservation is done within the premium time. It helps them to get better price and to get a fair deal. The purpose of reservation is enumerated as under :

• For effective planning and to increase the efficiency of the given manpower, machine, money and material.
• To sale the main product of the hotel, i.e. accommodation.
• To forecast future room occupancy.
• To maximize occupancy at all times.
• To avail the best of the facilities at the most reliable rate.
• To save time and money.
• To build a good rapport among the guests.
• To maximize occupancy by the sale of other outlets of the hotel.
• To avoid skippers and business of non-prospective guests.
• To secure payment in advance.
• To help in marketing and sales promotion strategies.
• To maintain standard formats of summary of information.
• To enable the management to estimate the anticipated revenue.

INTRODUCTION TO RESERVATION

The term reservation can be defined as ‘an agreement between the customer and service provides for service pertaining to the future.’ Request for booking of hotel rooms from various sources is received, processed, documented and retrieved at the appropriate time to ensure the guests their room and other services upon arrivals. It enables the management to maintain a proper control. it also helps in strengthening sales and marketing strategies.

In a large hotel this section area of the front office equipped with sufficient accessories and equipments, and ideally with a view to render better service to the customer/guest. Hence, required things in this section are conveniently this section has causally been looked after by receptionists. This section not only books the rooms for quests accordingly, but also performs all activities of the factors affecting reservation, such as confirmation, cancellation, over booking, reservation amendment, no-show, etc. in the modern times all these functions are carried out through the computer network system.