1. Chapter 5. Basic Reservation Activities

2. Guest Cycle Name four phases of the guest cycle? Pre-Arrival Arrival
Occupancy
Departure

3. Reservation Process Steps
Reservation inquiry
Determination of room availability
Accepting or denying reservation request
Creation of the reservation record
Confirmation of the reservation
Maintenance of the reservation record
Generation of reservation reports

4. Contract of Booking
The contract of booking is an agreement which is entered into every time a reservations clerk offers a prospective guest a room and that guest accepts the room.
Guest must be informed of the conditions.
Hotel ensures room availability.
Guest will arrive on specified day.

6. Types of Reservations Guaranteed Reservation
Prepayment – full payment
Credit card guarantee
Advanced deposit
Corporate guaranteed reservation
Travel agent guaranteed
Voucher from the travel agent
Non-guaranteed Reservation
Guest is informed regarding cancellation time and hotel can release the room after.

7. Types of Reservations
Which type of reservation is preferred by the hotels – guaranteed or non-guaranteed?
What about the guests?
Guaranteed reservations help to minimize no-shows and loss in revenue.

8. Reservation Inquiries
Property Direct Reservation Systems
Property reservation department
Telephone
Fax
Mail/
Property Web Site
Property to Property

9. Reservation Inquiries
2. Central Reservation Office / System
(affiliate and non-affiliate networks (p.67))
3. Travel Agencies (vouchers)
4. Internet Distribution System (OTA, FA, GDS)
OTA – online travel agency (e.g. Expedia, Booking.com, Ctrip, etc.)
FA – fare aggregators (e.g. Skyscanner)
GDS – global distribution systems (e.g. Amadeus, Galileo, Worldspan, SABRE)

10. Example 1
Property Direct Reservation System

11. Example 2
Marriott CRS

12. Example 3
IDS: Fare Aggregator

13. Reservation Call Steps
Greet the caller
Identify the caller’s needs
Provide an overview of the hotel’s features and benefits
Make a room recommendation
Close the sale
Gather the reservation information from the guest
Thank the caller

14. Reservation Availability
Room Overbooking – a situation occurring when the total number of rooms reserved for a certain period of time exceeds the total number of rooms available for sale for the same period of time.
Unexpected (system break, etc.)
Intentional

15. Denying Reservations Hotels deny reservations to guests when:
No specific accommodation available
Hotel fully booked
Blacklisted guest
Check course book pp what to do in each specific case.

16. Reservation Confirmation
Booking confirmations can be:
Manual
Computerised
Booking confirmations usually have unique number.
See Booking.com handout as an example.

17. Reservation Reports Expected Arrivals and Departure Lists
Room Availability Report
Group Status Report
Special Arrivals List
Turn-away (Regrets and Denials) Report
Revenue Forecast Report

18. Room Availability Forecast