HANDLING A RESERVATION Reservation is a process of booking and blocking rooms in advance for the prospective guests.

It is the hotels ability to equate the guests inquiry with the room availability. Approximately 70% of room sales business comes from reservations. Various reservation records are maintained so that the reservation section is able to provide the guest with efficient service and also deal with the guest inquiries regarding room availability, rates, discounts, food plans and services and facilities offered. FUNCTIONS OF RESERVATIONS 1. Taking reservations for hotel rooms - This is the main function. They receive and process the requests for bookings from prospective guests and after checking the various charts on the room availability position for the required dates the booking may be confirmed. In case the room availability position is negative, alternate accommodation is suggested and alternate dates may be offered. 2. Information regarding various services and facilities may be given if asked for. It may be volunteered when alternate room and dates are suggested. 3. Amendment of booking - Guest wishing to change the type and no of rooms and/or dates of stay booked earlier would be amending their booking. This is also done through the reservations department. 4. Cancellation - This releases more no of rooms for sale for the dates specified and reservations must keep track of this in order to sell the rooms to other guests. 5. Overbooking - Overbooking of rooms is carried out to ensure against loss of revenue through last minute cancellations and no-shows. The percentage of overbooking will vary from hotel to hotel depending on various factors like environment, star classification, type of guests etc. The percentage of overbooking in a hotel will vary according to the time of the year. Thus the reservation department must be aware of the percentage of overbooking to be taken by the hotel at any time of the year.

MODES & SOURCES OF RESERVATION MODES OF RESERVATION VERBAL a) In person b) on phone c) mobile NON-VERBAL (WRITTEN) a) Letter b) Telegram c) Telex d) Fax e) Computer SOURCES OF RESERVATION 1. FITS Free Individual Travellers/Free Independent Travellers DEIT - Domestic Free Individual Traveller. FFIT - Foreign Free Individual Traveller 2. GIT Group Inclusive Tour Always has 1 group leader who remains in contact with the hotel. 3. TRAVEL AGENCIES / TRAVEL AGENTS Smaller in operations. 4. TOUR OPERATORS They have tie ups with many local travel agents work on a much larger platform, helped by travel agents.

5. AIRLINES Can be clubbed with company but that is not done since the kind of discounts and business given by airlines is different. Importance of Reservation (a) Importance for the Hotel 1. 70% of the total revenue is generated through reservations. 2. Forecasting revenue generation and rooms availability. RESERVATION TERMINOLOGY
NO SHOW: This

term refers to those bookings made by the prospective guests who due

to some reason, fail to arrive on the day of arrival and also do not cancel the booking on time. This situation increases the availability of rooms for sale and may cause loss of potential revenue. Walk In: This very common term. This term refers to those guests of the hotel who arrive without any prior notice or reservation in the hotel. These guests arrive at the hotel hoping that there will be some room available for them Stay Over: This term refers to all the guests staying in the hotel on a particular night and further continuing staying in the hotel for next night.This can also be called as House count for a particular night and the guests can be called in-house guests. Turn Away: This term refers to those guests who come to the hotel without prior reservation and the hotel does not provide them with accommodation. This can be basically because the hotel is completely booked or because the guest is not in fit condition to be received or he is a black listed guest. Over Stay: This is one of the biggest problems a hotel front office management may have to face at times. Over stay term refers over staying of a guest. In other words it refers to those guests who are scheduled to leave or check-out of the hotel on a particular day as specified by them at the time of reservation or registration, but due to some reasons they do leave the hotel

on that particular day and insist on staying further for one or more nights. this situation can create a problem while accommodating the guests who are supposed to arrive on that day. Under Stay/ Early Departure: This term refers to those guests who due to some reason may not want to continue staying in the hotel, although according to the records they are supposed to stay in the hotel for one or more nights. This situation creates more no. of rooms available for sale. Another problem caused is of the refund of advance payment (if any). Hotel may be able to sell such rooms to walk-ins but there is greater possibility of loosing the revenue for such rooms.