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Rooms
Hotel guest rooms come in different shapes and sizes. Different hotel product types (service level and target
market) have different standards for the look and composition of its guest rooms; location types can affect
the look of a guest room as well. Today, the modern guest room is created to meet a guest’s room preferences.
Room preferences are defined as the individual guest’s choice of room type, configuration, and designation.

Room Preferences
A. Room type is mainly determined by the number of occupants. Room types set the basis for specific room
rates to be covered. It can be classified as follows:
• By grade or standard. This considers the room’s size, décor and furniture, location or view, and in-
room facilities. A hotel may classify its rooms as standard, superior, and deluxe, or may have its own
special terminology to describe different grades. Guests are unlikely to know what these descriptors
mean, so the reservations staff will have to describe the amenities provided by each grade of room.
Value is added to each higher grade. For example, superior rooms are larger than standard rooms,
which may have a mini-bar facility or an en suite bathroom (a bathroom that immediately adjoins a
bedroom and forms part of the same set of rooms).
• By the number and type of beds per room. This is the main reference in which prospective guests will
inquire about rooms. Refer to the Fundamentals in Lodging Operations course regarding the
descriptions on the types of rooms and types of beds.
Number of
Type of Room (symbol) Type of beds Size of bed Occupants per room
beds
Single (S) 1 Single, Double, or Queen 1 occupant
Twin (T) 2 Single 39” x 75” 1–2 occupants
Double (D) 1 Double 50” x 80” 1–2 occupants
Queen (Q) 1 Queen 60” x 80” 1–2 occupants
King (K) 1 King 80” x 80” 1–2 occupants
Triple 3 or 1 + 2 Single or Double + Single 3 occupants
Double-Double 2 Double or Queen 2–4 occupants
Family 1+2 Double + Single 3+ occupants
Table 1. Types of room according to the number and type of beds
Source: Front Office Operations, CTH, 2009

In addition, a studio/sofa bed (H), sometimes called hide-a-bed, opens in an accordion or folding
fashion from the seat. Since it unfolds and requires more space, it is less convenient but more
comfortable for both seating and sleeping purposes. Sofa beds come in all sizes (single, double, or
even queen size). The single-sized sofa bed is almost a three-quarter bed, measuring 48” x 75”. This
type of bed is mostly found in commercial hotels.
• By target customer. This refers to special types of accommodation offered by a hotel for particular
types of guests.
o Penthouse – This is a suite room intended for very important persons (VIPs), other wealthy
guests, and honeymoon couples. This is spacious and decorated to a very high standard. This
is situated at the terrace level where a part of it is open to the sky.
o Executive floors – These are set aside in a hotel with a high proportion of business trade, with
room types and facilities catering to the needs of business travelers such as meeting rooms,
communication facilities, lounge and bar for client entertainment, and the like.

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B. Room configurations characterize the physical makeup of the guest room. Front office (FO) can give
upgrades, an offer to guests to be provided with incrementally nicer configurations, which allows the hotel
to have an increased room revenue as it ensures a room to a guest.
Upgrades do not always go hand in hand with a higher rate though. These are only offered to VIPs and
regular, loyal guests. Unhappy or irate guests can receive upgraded rooms as a sign of good faith (honesty
in dealings or lawfulness of purpose) by the hotel management.
• Standard configuration. It is defined as the room configuration that makes up the majority of the
guestrooms at a particular hotel. Some hotels refer to their standard configuration as the run of house
(ROH).
o Connecting Rooms – This is a standard room opened to the hospitality suite (discussed below)
to serve as its sleeping area or portion for the guests. These rooms have doors that lock for
privacy, but can also be opened to give the suite even more working space. Most hotels also
offer some standard configuration rooms that connect to each other. These rooms are much
useful for families.
• Enhanced configuration. It is sometimes called a concierge room or business level room. Since it
includes more amenities and services than the standard configuration, it also carries a higher room
rate. This enhanced room includes everything the standard rooms have, but with additional amenities
and services. These additional items may include the following:
o Upgraded soft goods (drapery, bedspreads, robes, etc.)
o Upgraded hard goods (nicer or larger work areas, beds, etc.)
o Upgraded amenities (bath soaps, mouthwash, lotions, etc.)
o Items for the business traveler (additional phones with long cords or cordless phones, laptop
computer, in-room fax machine, Internet access, etc.)
o Access to a private lounge (normally offering complimentary breakfast and hors d’oeuvres in
the evening)
• Suite configuration. This involves a larger room in terms of square footage than the other
configurations. Not all suites include higher levels of service. Usually, these have the same services
and amenities with enhanced configuration. The following shows how the suite names change
respective to the room size or location:
o Junior Suite – It is the smallest room in the suite configuration and is often marginally larger
than the standard room.
o Executive Suite – It is larger in area and has more upgraded amenities compared to the junior
suite.
o Corner Suite – This suite is located in the corner of the hotel building itself. This often takes up
the same area that two (2) standard rooms would.
o Bi-level Suite – It takes up the vertical area of two (2) rooms. It also spans two (2) floors or
more to create very high ceilings.
o Hospitality Suite – This suite is intended to entertain guests of residents or groups of people.
This room is rented on an hourly basis and is commonly found in commercial hotels. This suite
may include kitchen and/or bar area. Large tables make it more conducive for small group
meals or meetings. A standard room (connecting room) is situated beside this suite to be
opened as a sleeping area for guests.
o Presidential Suite – Also referred to as the Chairman’s Suite or the Royal Suite, it is the largest
suite and has the best amenities that a hotel can offer. It always carries the highest rack rate
in the hotel.

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• Disabled access configuration. This includes rooms that are equipped to make the stay of a disabled
guest more comfortable and satisfactory. This configuration may include the following in the room:
o Raised beds o Lowered peepholes in the door
o Wider doorways o Elevated toilets
o Telecommunication devices for the deaf o Bathrooms with metal handrails
(TDD) o Roll-in showers
o Voice-activated digital dialing o Telephones with braille (a tactile writing
o Clocks with larger and brighter numbers and reading system used by visually
o Visual alert smoke detectors, door knock, impaired people)
and alarm clocks

C. Room designation is the final identifier in room preferences. It simply ascertains whether the room is
smoking or non-smoking. Today, most hotels have a minimum of 80–85 percent of their sleeping rooms
designated as non-smoking.
The combination of room type, configuration, and designation all come together to create the specific room a
hotel guest may seek. The guest’s room preference, if met, will play a major role in overall guest satisfaction.
Room Status Reconciliation
Hotels are in business to sell rooms; thus, close monitoring of guestrooms is required. Part of this monitoring
is knowing which guestrooms are available for sale and when. To do this, the hotel industry assigns a status to
every guestroom. These statuses must then be reconciled in order to manage availability.
Room status reconciliation ensures that rooms are properly designated by their current status and assigned
a new one as it changes. The front office and housekeeping departments are both responsible for maintaining
room status. To describe the status of a guestroom is to determine its readiness for new occupancy and
cleanliness. When determining such, a room status code is used. A room status code combines both the
occupancy and the cleanliness information of a room. Table 2 shows the most commonly used room status
codes in hotels. Figure 1 illustrates the lifecycle of a guest room.
Status Code Meaning
Available for sale. V/R room status is the only status a
Vacant/Ready (V/R)
room can be sold in.

Cleaned room, not yet inspected. When housekeepers

Vacant/Clean (V/C) clean rooms, a supervisor inspects them. The supervisor
then changes the code from V/C to V/R.

Vacant/Maintenance A V/M room has been taken out of inventory for some
(V/M) reason. This is the code assigned to out-of-order rooms.
Guest checked out, not serviced by housekeeping yet. The
Vacant/Dirty (V/D) V/D code takes top priority in housekeeping as they must
be readied for resale.
Guest currently occupies the room, the night has passed,
Occupied/Dirty
but room has not yet been serviced by housekeeping.
Guest currently occupies the room, and housekeeping has
serviced the room. Typically, there is no inspection for
rooms cleaned during the length of an individual guest’s
Occupied/Clean
stay. The expectation is that all rooms are cleaned well, but
an occupied room is generally easier to clean than one
from which the guest has checked out.
Table 2. Rooms status codes Figure 1. Life cycle of a guestroom
Source: Front Office Management and Operations, 2010 Source: Front Office Management and Operations, 2010

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Tariffs and Pricing Methods

Room rates measure the economic health of the lodging business. When the economy is good and strong, so
are the room rates. When unforeseen or uncontrollable events, such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks or
disease outbreaks, occur in an area where hotels are situated, the travel demand weakens and so does room
rates. Room rate or tariff refers to the price at which a hotel lets (to offer or grant for rent or lease) its rooms.
Each room type or grade may command a different rate depending on the amenities it offers to guests like the
size of the room/bed, the décor, location, view, etc. The rate for any given room may also vary, according to:
• The day of the week. Occupancies may be higher from Monday to Thursday for hotels with a high
proportion of business guests, so it may set a lower weekend rate to attract guests on the weekends
(Friday to Sunday). For tourist hotels, conversely, a lower weekday or midweek rate may be set to
attract business on weekdays (Monday to Thursday).
• The season and seasonal demand. Similarly, discounted seasonal rates may be set to increase
occupancy in offseason or lean months, while higher peak season rates get the maximum revenue
from high demand.
• The guest. The hotel may offer discounted rates to attract corporate or business travelers (who may
bring in volume business, or the high value and large quantity traffic that boosts sales), tour groups or
travel agency business, for example.
Room rates vary in different hotels to attract various guests who may potentially provide repeat business. A
rack rate is the standard rate charged for “room only” in a hotel. More categories of room rates are discussed
in the Fundamentals in Lodging Operations course. Some of these categories are as follows:
• Loyalty Rate – This is the discounted rate for members of the hotel’s loyalty scheme, intended to
increase repeat business for the hotel.
• Online Rate – It is the standard rate for a room reserved via the Internet, usually at a discount on rack
rate, because of the money the hotel saves on administration, which can be passed on to the guest.
• Advance Purchase Rate – This is a discounted rate offered for booking a minimum of 28 days in
advance of arrival (with no amendments or cancellations allowed).
• Best Available Rate – It is the lowest rate that can be offered to a guest, usually on a room-only basis.
This may fluctuate with demand according to the hotel’s yield management policies. It sounds much
better, and even more competitive, to say to guests that “The best rate I can offer you for a room on
that day is…”, regardless of whether the rate is high or low.
The four (4) main types of tariffs are generally available to take account of the inclusions of meals and other
extras. The terminologies vary from one hotel to another (see Table 3 below).
British term American term French term Inclusions
None; the rate quoted is for the room only,
Room only European Plan (EP)
whether on a per person or per room basis.
Bed & Breakfast (B&B) Continental Plan (CP) The rate includes room plus breakfast.
Half board or Modified American Plan The rate includes room, breakfast, and
Demi-pension
Semi-inclusive (MAP) another main meal (lunch or dinner).
Full board or The rate includes room and all main meals,
Full American Plan (FAP) En pension
Fully-inclusive and sometimes includes afternoon tea.
Table 3. Types of Tariffs
Source: Adapted from Front Office Operations, CTH, 2009
Charging Room Rents
There are four (4) ways of charging room rents:
• 24-hour basis. A guest has to pay a day or 24 hours calculated from his/her check-in time. Resort hotels
usually implement this basis.

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• Night spent basis. The guideline for calculating room rent is the number of nights spent by the guest. The
specified time usually starts at 1930 hours or before the hotel’s designated dinnertime. Motels usually
adopt this basis.
• Checkout time basis. The guideline to calculate the room rent is the checkout time. If the guest stays
beyond the checkout time, s/he is charged for another day. Adopting this basis, a hotel can plan its
schedule and deploy more staff during the shift so that more clean rooms are available for sale.
• Day use basis. As per this plan, guests are allowed to use rooms only during the daytime for a maximum
period of six (6) hours. Most commercial hotels use this scheme, along with the checkout time basis,
generally during lean season to attract more business and to offer a maximum discount of 50 percent.

Room Pricing Methods

There are various ways in which a hotel room is priced. The three (3) pricing methods are as follows:
• Market Condition Approach. In this method, the hotel management shall look at comparable hotels in
the geographical market, see what they are charging for the same product, and “charge only what the
market will accept.” Some drawbacks of this approach include not taking into consideration the value of
the property and what a strong sales effort may accomplish.
• Rule of Thumb Approach. Also called the building cost room-rate formula, this is the simplest method of
pricing a room in which a 1:1000 rule is applied, assuming a 70% occupancy rate. In this approach, the
rate of a room shall be ₱1 for every ₱1,000 of construction and furnishing cost per room. For instance, if
your room costs ₱235,000, your room rate should be around ₱235 per night (room cost divided by 1,000).
The rule is devised a long time ago, when rates of interest and expectations about appropriate rates of
return are very different but still reflects the fundamental importance of fixed costs (costs that do not
change with an increase or decrease in the number of goods or services produced or sold) in determining
a hotel’s profitability.
Moreover, if the hotel is built in a major metropolitan center or city, one must have to pay a high price
for the land. The room cost includes the cost of the public areas as well, which are averaged out over the
rooms as a whole. Essentially, the calculation is
Room Cost = Cost of land + Buildings + Fixtures and fittings ÷ Number of rooms.
This approach, however, does not take into account the inflation term and the contribution of other
facilities and services towards the hotel’s desired profitability. It only assumes a certain rate of occupancy.
• Hubbart Formula Approach. It is a bottom-up approach or backward pricing method in establishing
average selling price per room introduced by Roy Hubbart in 1940. This approach considers operating
costs, desired profits, and expected number of rooms sold. Thus, the basic calculation is
Average Room Rate = Operating costs + Required return – Income from other departments
÷ Expected number of room nights.
In practice, however, this formula is far more complicated than the rule of thumb method. The room rate
is calculated using the following steps:
1. Calculate the hotel’s desired profit by multiplying the desired rate of return by the owner’s
investment (ROI).
2. Calculate pre-tax profits by dividing the desired profit by 1 minus the hotel’s tax rate.
3. Calculate fixed charges and management fees. This includes estimating depreciation, interest
expense, property taxes, insurance, amortization, building, mortgage, land, rent, and management
fees.

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4. Calculate undistributed operating expenses. This includes estimating energy costs, administrative
and general expenses, and expenses on data processing, human resources, transportation,
marketing, and property operation and maintenance.
5. Estimate non-room operating department income or loss, that is, food and beverage department
income or loss, telephone income or loss, etc.
6. Calculate the required room department income which is the sum of items 2, 3, 4, and 5.
7. Determine the rooms departsment revenue, which is the required room department income, plus
other room department direct expenses of payroll and related expenses, plus other direct operating
expenses.
8. Calculate the average room rate by dividing item 7 by the expected number of rooms to be sold (this
may be established by taking regional tourist office averages for comparable hotels, getting the 70%
of the annual rooms available).
Example:
Net Income Desired ₱1,527,000
Operating Costs 1,432,095
Taxes, Insurance & Leases 388,260
Depreciation 287,884
Total (Net Income + Costs) ₱3,635,239
Non-room Operating Department Loss (202,471)
Required Room Department Income ₱3,432,768

1. Annual Room Revenue Needed ₱3,432,768

2. Number of Rooms Available (per day) 124
3. Annual Rooms Available (item 2 x 365) 45,260
4. Number of Rooms to be Sold (item 3 @ 70%) 31,682
Average Room Rate (item 1 ÷ item 4) ₱108.35

Reservations Overview
Reservation or booking is the activity of holding a room for future use by a guest in an agreement with the
hotel or any lodging facility. Its main function is to match room requests with room availability. The process of
booking begins with an enquiry. Guests contact their hotel of choice in various ways: facsimile (fax), letter,
telephone, Internet and other computerized communications, and walk-in. Such a request is an opportunity
to give a good first impression of the hotel; a prompt, positive and courteous response will reassure
prospective guests that they will receive good service if they book into the establishment.
Recording the precise information of guests is another crucial
feature in the hotel industry. In most cases, the tourism and Alfa Bravo Charlie Delta
hospitality industry now adapts the usage of the military Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel
alphabet as a means of verifying the correct spelling of guests’ India Juliett Kilo Lima
names and other pertinent information needed for their Mike November Oscar Papa
reservation and on availing hotel services.
Quebec Romeo Sierra Tango
The military alphabet, more accurately known in its official
name as the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet Uniform Victor Whiskey X-Ray
(IRSA), was developed by the International Civil Aviation Yankee Zulu
Organization (ICAO) ideally for radio communications; hence, it Table 4. ICAO phonetic alphabet
is also referred to as the ICAO phonetic alphabet. Source: International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), 2011

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Tied to the English alphabet, the military alphabet is created to ensure that letters are properly pronounced
and understood by air traffic controllers and pilots around the world, despite which languages are spoken or
how much radio static or noise may interfere between the cockpit and the tower. It is used for avoiding
mistakes caused by letters that sound similar such as M and N, and B, D, E, P, and T. Refer to Table 4 for the
complete list of the 26 codes in the ICAO phonetic alphabet.

Types of Reservations
Reservations can be divided into two (2) main types: guaranteed and non-guaranteed. The type depends on
whether a guest agrees to guarantee the booking by a certain method of payment.
• A guaranteed reservation is an arrangement in which the hotel is guaranteed to receive payment, whether
or not the guest actually arrives to take up the accommodation. In return, the hotel promises to hold the
room until the checkout time of the following day. Guaranteed bookings are desirable for hotels because
these do not lose out in the event of a “no show,” and therefore do not worry about late arrivals or having
to re-let a no-show’s room (perhaps at a reduced rate).
Guarantees also protect guests because the room is held for them, regardless of what time they arrive for
the night. They can arrive late – or even early in the morning the following day (say, 12:00 AM onwards) –
if their transport plans require it or if they are subject to unforeseen delays, without fearing that the room
will have been given away to someone else. These are the various methods in which a prospective guest
can guarantee a booking:
o Pre-payment – The guest pays in full for the room in advance, whether directly to the hotel with a
check or credit card at the time of booking or to a travel agent (often as a part of a package of travel
and accommodation bookings). In the latter case, the travel agent will guarantee payment to the
hotel and supply the traveler with a voucher (explained further below) or confirmation letter
indicating that this is the case. Pre-payment is also advantageous for the hotel because it eliminates
the risk of guests’ skipping out without paying or having insufficient funds or credit to pay the bill.
o Partial pre-payment or deposit – A hotel might typically ask for a deposit of one (1) night’s payment
for each reserved room so that the room can be held all night in the event of a late arrival or no-
show without losing revenue. This deposit will then be credited to the guest’s folio. If the guest fails
to show or cancels the booking on the day of arrival, the hotel may retain the deposit as
compensation. If a guest booking is canceled within an acceptable cancellation period, any deposit
will be fully refunded.
o Credit card bookings – These are generally guaranteed under the terms of sale, an agreement
between the buyer (client) and the seller (hotel) of goods and services which includes conditions
the parties agreed on in terms of price, quantity, payment terms, and other special conditions. If
the guest has given a credit card number at the time of booking and does not cancel the booking
within the allowed period before the scheduled arrival date, the hotel is entitled to process the
credit card payment up to an agreed amount.
o Voucher – It is a hotel referral by which a travel agency reserves and sells rooms according to the
contract concluded with the hotel for a specified period. For the front office, it is as important as
cash and needs to be treated in the same manner as money.
o Special agreements – A company client or airline, for example, may pay for rooms to be held for its
use, regardless of whether or not the rooms are actually taken up.
• A non-guaranteed reservation is a provisional reservation. This means that the arrangement may still be
changed later because there is neither any legal process confirming the room nor any payment for advance
deposit made.
There are two (2) basic types of non-guaranteed reservation, with different degrees of certainty for guests:

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o A 6:00 PM release reservation means that the room is held for the guest until 6:00 PM of their
arrival. If s/he arrives after this time, s/he will have to take a chance on the room still being
available. The hotel has the option of re-letting the room. This arrangement absolves a late-arriving
or no-show guest from cancellation fees while allowing the hotel to re-let the accommodation to
maintain occupancy.
o A take or place (T or P) booking is a kind of waiting list facility offered by chain hotels, especially to
regular guests if they reserve at short notice and the hotel is full. The hotel is assuring the guest
that it will either take them or find a place for them in a comparable hotel, ideally a sister hotel in
the same chain which has vacancies. This helps satisfy loyal guests while maximizing occupancy for
individual hotels and smoothing out overbookings and vacancies within hotel chains or groups.
In most cases, the reservation process in the hotel follows
a prescribed procedure as shown in Figure 2. Most
frequently, it starts with an enquiry or request from the
guest, then the reservations staff gives or sends an offer
with the option until when it is valid (usually within 24
hours or even a longer time, depending on the period the
enquiry is made). Within the option period, the guest must
confirm the booking to make the offer valid. After that, a
guest list, which is a record containing names of those who
have booked an accommodation, is made by date of
arrival.
The front office staff are trained to take enquiries and Figure 2. The Reservation Cycle
making reservations by using the acronym QQIC. Source: Hotel Sales and Front Office Operations, 2015, page 243

1. Qualify – Upon query, the front office staff gets the details of the guest’s requirement, including any
discount vouchers or loyalty cards they hold and any discounted or negotiated rates they are entitled
with. Then, the staff will check for room availability.
2. Quote – The staff makes a suitable offer to the guest: what room types the hotel has, what facilities
and inclusions are comprised, and what’s the best available rate that can be offered.
3. Invite – The front office staff asks the guest whether s/he would like to make a reservation based on
the quote or options.
4. Confirm – Once the guest has said yes and made the reservation, the front office staff confirms all the
details that have been agreed, repeats these details back to the guest, and asks for confirmation that
these are correct.

Categories of Guests Based on Occupancy

The financial loss due to no-shows could add up to a large amount of money for a hotel business. Lost revenues
may force the hotelier to develop an aggressive occupancy policy to manage no-shows. This policy is based on
the management of the various occupancy categories in which guests are placed. The categories are as follows:
• Stayovers. These are currently registered guests who wish to extend their stay beyond the time for which
they made reservations. They are sometimes called holdovers.
• Understays. These are guests who arrive on time but decide to leave before their predicted date of
departure. They are sometimes called earlys.
• Walk-ins. These are guests who did not make any bookings but show up to the hotel and may want to
enquire and possibly avail a room.
• No-shows. These are guests with a reservation but never came on the day of arrival. No-shows may result
from a change in business or personal plans, inclement weather, roads closed, canceled or stranded fights,

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or illness. Non-guaranteed reservations that fail to arrive by 18:00 (industry standard time) are considered
no-shows. Those rooms are eventually sold to walk-in guests.
• Cancellations. These are guests who cancel on the day of arrival. These are infinitely better than no-shows.
These guests provide the hotel with an opportunity to resell the room immediately. The earlier the
cancellation is received, the better the chance of reselling the room. Cancellation policies may require
notice at least 24 hours in advance of the reservation’s arrival date. As courtesy, most corporate hotels
allow business guests to cancel without penalty until 18:00 on the day of arrival.
• Early arrivals. These are guests who arrive at the hotel one (1) or more days prior to the scheduled
reservation date. Several reasons may cause early arrivals. Whatever the reason may be, the front office
department should attempt to accommodate the early arrival guest by any means.

Sources of Reservations
• Corporate Clients. These include hotel guests who are employed by a business or are guests of that
business visiting corporate headquarters or attending business meetings or conventions. These visits are
usually arranged in advance with detailed agenda and itineraries.
• Social, Military, Educational, Religious, Fraternal (SMERF). This market provides a good opportunity to
fill vacancies especially during the lean season of the hotel business cycle since this market will travel at
off-peak times to save money.
• Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions (MICE). This market requires devoted hotel marketing and
sales team or agency to locate groups of conference attendees who want to schedule their meeting at a
conference hotel. Various details are involved in encouraging a group to book an event such as airfares,
supply of hotel rooms, room rates, and area cultural activities.
• Internet Reservations. Internet booking systems are enormously burdened relational databases where
inventories of hotel rooms are stored. Each room type has a standard price that varies with the season
and has occupancies where guests can book if they visit their website. Today, the following can be found
on the market:
o Global distribution system (GDS) – This represents completely computerized reservation system for
the provision of hotel services used by travel agents. The world’s top four (4) GDS companies are
Sabre, Amadeus, Worldspan, and Galileo (the last two [2] are now owned by Travelport).
o Reservation systems of hotel chains – These are self-booking systems that network hotels within the
same chain and allow guests to book any hotel within the chain by visiting their corporate website.
o Independent internet booking services – These are Web pages that contain lists of hotels and enable
direct bookings, such as Booking.com and Agoda.com.
o Passenger-tourist mega sites – These are websites that try to meet all the needs of travelers in their
destination. It includes transportation, car rental, and accommodation arrangements, to name a few.
Expedia is one of the largest and most popular passenger-tourist mega-sites that offers hotel booking
and plane tickets, car rentals, etc. Paying of the accommodation for the guest is also during the stay
at the hotel, and there is no extra cost for the reservation process. Expedia directly charges a fee for
realized reservations from the hotel. Another advantage of the mega-site is having a large number of
partner websites such as Hotels.com, ClassicVacations.com, Bloglines, CarRentals.com, and others.

Tools Used in Reservations

Generally, there are two (2) types of tools used in booking and checking room availability: manual and
computerized. Though these tools are different from one another, the process of reservation is still the same,
only that the other is performed through a computer system.

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Manual Tools
• Hotel Bookings Diary. The main purpose
of any diary system, like when someone
organizes personal schedules or plans, is
to record what is due to happen on any
given day such as appointments, tasks,
and events. Similarly, a hotel bookings
diary is a record of expected arrivals due
to stay at the hotel on each day of the
calendar year. Diary entries are made in
Figure 3. Hotel Bookings Diary
chronological order as these are booked. Source: Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality, Front Office Operations, 2009
See Figure 3.
• Density Control Chart (DCC). It is a chart
that records the number of rooms of a
particular type which have been booked
for each night. This manual tool is
typically used in medium- to large-sized
hotels.
• Room Reservation Form (RR Form). This
records the information about a booking
enquiry, setting out the prospective
guest’s needs and contact details and an
ongoing record of the progress of the
handling of the request. An RR form may
look similar to Figure 4 but may also vary
from one hotel to another.
Computerized Tools
• Computer reservations system. If the
hotel uses this, the guest’s details can be
inputted immediately into an on-screen
electronic reservation form. This has the
advantage that the information can be Figure 4. Room Reservation Form
Source: Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality, Front Office Operations,
automatically linked to other electronic
records and documents as part of the history of the dealings with the guest. A property management
system (PMS) is a computer system mainly used in hotels that manage a variety of tasks from reservation,
check-in and checkout, cash transactions, housekeeping, night audit, and other tasks.
Handling Reservations
Booking guests seems easy and manageable, but not until a hotel is faced with large numbers of group and
event reservations. Although such bookings may require more inclusions and different arrangements, the
reservation procedure is the same.
Group Reservations
Group reservations, whether tourist groups or corporate travelers, are often very attractive because these
represent volume business for the hotel. Group reservations impact the hotel’s revenue evidently because of
the following:
• A sizeable number of rooms may be booked, thus increasing occupancy.

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• Groups are often booked well in advance, which helps the hotel manage its occupancy and gives it a
measure of security.
• Groups may be booked on the same flat room rate, which may increase the average room rate.
• Groups tend to be booked in and paid for in single transactions conducted by the travel agent or tour
organizer, which cuts down on administrative time, effort, and cost.
• Groups will tend to have uniform arrangements. Therefore, the hotel can anticipate their arrival,
departure, and meal arrangements.
• Groups generate added revenue through their spending in other departments of the hotel.
• Groups often offer the potential for repeat business through the company, travel agent, or tour
operator.
Group bookings are generally offered a discounted rate by negotiation between the group organizer and the
hotel. The strength of the bargaining position between them differs depending on the period within which the
group is accommodated. For example, if the group requirement is for a peak period, the hotel can fill the
rooms with guests who will pay the full rack rate. The hotel then will be in a stronger bargaining position to
demand a higher group rate.
Group bookings require special attention and specific protocols for the following reasons:
 Revenue loss – Groups that cancel or do not show up represent a serious loss for the hotel. Reservations
staff must, therefore, take even stricter steps to check the reliability and credit-worthiness of the group
to impose strict cancellation periods and penalties and to keep records of unreliable organizers (to be
included in the blacklist).
 Forecasting accuracy – The long lead time for booking makes it difficult for group organizers to forecast
accurately in advance, like how many rooms they will need. The hotel should request more accurate
updates from the group organizer as the arrival date approaches, with final confirmed booking list seven
(7) days before arrival.
 Interdepartmental coordination – Other departments of the hotel need to be notified well in advance
of group reservations to ensure that specific preparations can be made. For example, the housekeeping
may need extra staff or different rosters to ensure that all rooms are available at the same time; the
restaurant will need to know about the group meals; the bell service must be available to distribute
luggage, etc.

Conference Reservations
Hotels with meetings and entertainment rooms offer a convenient venue for MICE groups, especially if they
extend over several days or involve participants from different regions or countries who require overnight
accommodation. Hotels offering conference facilities will probably need a specialist staff to handle the
requirements and liaise with conference organizers when planning or preparing for an event.
Unlike group tours, conference delegates may arrive (and depart) independently at different times. In
addition, a conference may involve the hotel in providing a wider range of facilities and services. The front
office staff may need to give thought to the following:
• The booking of bedrooms for delegates, plus accommodation for the conference itself: a main
conference or seminar room, break away meeting or discussion rooms, a welcoming or registration
area, and a banquet area for social events.
• The reservation and/or hiring of presentation equipment (e.g., microphones, projectors, speaker’s
lectern, etc.), furniture (chairs and tables), signage (announcing the time and location of conference
sessions for delegates), and backup services (e.g., e-mail, fax, telephone, photocopier, etc.). These
requirements will have to be discussed in advance with the conference organizers. Detailed checklists
will also have to be drawn up and communicated to guest services and other relevant departments.

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• Food and beverage requirements (in addition to any formal catered events, such as refreshment
facilities or scheduled morning/afternoon tea) and VIP and partner arrangements (conference
organizers may delegate or share with the hotel the tasks of meeting and welcoming important guest
speakers, or planning a program of activities for the partners and children of delegates).
The events manager or conference coordinator of the hotel has to be suitably equipped to provide information
packages containing the following:
• Details of the hotel location and transport accessibility
• Details of the conference and banqueting facilities
• Maps of conference and meeting rooms that show the entrances and exits
• An inventory of furniture, presentation aids, and equipment available for booking/hire
• Sample menus and packages for conference catering
• Support services such as flower arrangements, assistance with VIP, signage, etc.
Confirming Reservations
In order to make a booking confirmed, it is usual for:
• The hotel to send a booking confirmation letter or e-mail to the prospective guest. This gives the
prospective guest a written copy of the details discussed and agreed, both as an itinerary (a reminder
of where they have to be and when) and as a confirmation record (can be produced if there is any
problem on check-in or billing). This confirmation may also include a request for deposit or a receipt for
any deposit paid or an invoice showing any deposit paid and the balance of the amount payable (e.g.,
for payments in advance).
It is also an opportunity to give the guest information on the terms and conditions of booking, such as
cancellation periods (time and duration within which the guest must cancel the booking to avoid being
liable for a cancellation fee) and release times (the time, on the target day of arrival, at which the room
will be made available for re-let if the guest has not arrived, unless late arrival has been notified or a
deposit or guarantee has been paid).
• The prospective guest to send some kind of confirmation letter or form to the hotel to confirm their
intention to stay at the hotel, ensure that the hotel has the details right, and secure the booking by
paying a deposit.
Turning Down a Reservation
The front office staff may encounter circumstances in which they may turn down a reservation. They must
consider these two (2) items during reservation:
• The blacklist is a record of individuals or groups whom the hotel does not wish to accept as guests. It is
also used by the reservations staff when handling booking requests.
• Availability information should be readily visible using various diary, chart, or computerized
reservations records, making it easier to see at a glance which rooms are available and when. If there is
no available room, alternatives are offered to guests such as a different type of room, a different date,
or a transfer to a companion or sister hotel nearby.
References:
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). (2013). Toolbox for Front Office Operations. Receive and process reservations: Trainee manual. Victoria,
AUS: William Angliss Institute of TAFE.
Carev, D. (2015). Hotel sales and the front office operations. Zagreb, HR: VPŠ Libertas.
Chi, C. (n.d.). Hotel room pricing and yield management. Retrieved from https://apps.aoi.wsu.edu/onlineMedia/pdf_version/hbm491_04_art(c131).pdf
on 28 February 2019
Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality (2009). Front office operations. London, UK: BPP Learning Media Ltd.
Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (2009). Front office trainee manual [PDF file]. Retrieved from
https://scth.gov.sa/TourismInvestment/Takamul/Documents/GuideLine/FrontOffice.pdf on 4 February 2019.
Vallen, G. K. (2014). Check-in checkout: Managing hotel operations. Essex, UK: Pearson Education Limited.

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