Reservation,Basic reservation activities,Factors affecting reservation,Modes of payment

      Reservation is one of the major section of the front office department which plays the central role and is responsible for booking the hotel room. Reservation section is located back of the reception due to the location problem in the hotel. Reservation and reception are similar as they play the similar role of booking the room in the hotel. Front office manager is the boss of reservation section. There are different purpose of reservation and they are:

• To sale the hotel products i.e. accommodation.
• To forecast future occupancy report.
• To sale the other hotel products i.e. swimming pool, food and beverage products, banquet hall,etc.
• To save time and money.
• To build good relation with the market as well as with other departments.
• To uplift the hotel business during off season.
• To maximize occupancy level.
• To avoid skippers and non-prospective guest.
• To maintain stander formation of summary function.
• To help the sales and marketing for the promotion of the hotel.

Basic Reservation Activities:

Step 1: Receiving enquiries

                     Reservation assistance should gain all the information about the guest ant its request such as customer name, originality, no. of pax, date of arrival and departure, etc. through different sources and modes.

Step 2: Determining room availability

                     Reservation assistance should check the room availability through different checking system such as forecast board, density board, density chart and computer reservation system. Now a days, most of the hotel use C.R.S. .

Step 3: Accepting and Denying

                    If the rooms are available according to the request of the guest than the reservation assistance should accept the request and book the room of the hotel. In three cases, reservation assistance will deny the request i.e. if the customer is blacklisted, if the rooms of the hotel are fully booked and if the rooms are not available according to the request of the guest.

Step 4: Documenting the reservation request

                    After accepting the reservation request, reservation assistance should fill the reservation form. Reservation form are in triplicated copies.

Step 5: Confirming the reservation request

                    There are two types of reservation request and they are gurranted and non-gurranted 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.

Step 6: Maintaining the reservation request

                    In the process of maintaining the reservation request, the guest can amendment and cancel the request.

Step 7: Compiling the reservation request

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

Factors Affecting Reservation

Walking:

              Walking guest are known as chance guest. Walking guest appears to the hotel at any time and they carry scanty baggage. Walking guests are handled by receptionist. Walking guests are hard to handle because they can be black-listed,drunkard or skipper. So, receptionist should collect advance money from the guest.

Confirmation:

              Without confirmation,reservation staffs will not provide the hotel room. Confirmation is handled by front office staffs. Gurranted reservation is performed for confirmation. Confirmation should be in written form. After confirmation, reservation letter will be provided by reservation assistance to the guest.

Cancellation:

               Cancellation is the process of cancelling the booking rooms. For the cancellation process, guest should send the letter to the hotel and after getting the letter of the guest, reservation assistance will reply the letter. The information is sent to front office manager and general manager. Cancellation slip is maintained in triplicated copies and first copy is sent to reception.

No-Show:

               No-Show is one of the situation in which the guest does not arrive at the proper time and does not provide any information to the hotel. Due to No-Show, overbooking can be occurred.

Overbooking:

               Overbooking is the result of No-Show. Skillful staffs will handle the overbooking by shifting the guest to others hotel or under the same hotel. Overbooking is handled by reservation manager.

Out of order:

                 The room which are under maintenance is known as out of order. Out of order rooms cannot be sale.

Modes Of Payment

Cash:

             Cash is the simple mode of payment. There are two types of cash and they are local cash and foreign cash. Front Office Cashier plays the central role of cashier. During departure time the due amount are settled. We should follow government rules while collecting the foreign currency. Receptionist should follow the government rules and should inform front office manager and lobby manager if the customer wants to pay by its local currency of abroad country. While collecting the cash, receptionist should identify the guest and its room number. Four copies of cash bill are maintained.

Company account:

             Company account is the agreement between the hotel and the company. Hotel has provided all the room rates to the company and if the company wants Vto send the person from company than the company should pay the money in credit. During departure time customer should sign in the bill and the first copy is sent to the company.

Traveller cheque:

              Traveller cheque is issued by bank. It is not applicable into own countries. Is is valid under the travel  of different countries. Traveller cheque was discovered by Thomas Cook. Before receiving the travel cheque, we should verify the customer name and sign from the passport and tally it with traveller cheque.

Credit Card:

                Credit card was established in 1930 by Thomas Cook but it was financially used from 1950. This is also an agreement between hotel and bank. Credit card is a plastic card. Three copies are maintained by different colors. First copy is provided to the guest, second copy to the bank and third copy is kept by the bank.

Voucher:

                Voucher is an important mode of payment. Voucher are maintained in printed form and are issued by travel agency or other sources.