Reservation And Registration In Hotel

The principal role of reservation is to book room in advance . Request for reservations of room come from various sources and the information is processed , properly documented, stored and retrieved at appropriate time. Most hotel booking are made through reservation. Large chains have their own centralised Reservations systems while independent ones may be linked to international Reservation system. The reservation agents reports direct to front office manager. 

Reservation is the scientific process of booking rooms in advance before the arrival of guest inorder to ensure that they are available at the time of guest check - in . It involves matching a guest precise request for room.

TYPES :-

1. Confirmed Reservation 

2. Non - Confirmed Reservation

3. Group Reservation

1.Confirmed reservation :- A confirmed Reservation assures the guest a room at the time of his/her arrival. To make this possible hotel requires some aasurance against no -show which is done by :-

• Booking in writing :- 

It is the oldest method of assurance that the guest is serious about his / her room booking. This is mostly met by email communication where written request for reservations and confirmation are instant.

• Prepayment :-

It is the best confirmation . The hotel is protected against No - shows

• Credit card :-

Credit card numbers are popular method of confirming booking . The hotel will charge with number of credit cards if there is no-show. MasterCard ,  visa , American express are universally accepted credit cards

• Advance deposit :- 

It is another assurance for booking usually used for group bookings. It covers for at least one night 

• Miscellaneous charge voucher :- 

They are issued by travel agencies to guest who present them to hotel to confirm they have paid Room charges

Corporate guarantee :-

This is agreement between corporation and hotel. The hotels hotels are protected against No shows.

2. Non - confirm Reservation :-

Non confirmed reservation are for those guests who have not secured room booking in writing or by other meant. They have to wait for the check out time to enter secure Room.

3. Group Reservation :-

A group is a body of 15 persons or more. It involves volume business and hotel also offer special discount for regular groups. It can also be made by travel agencies , event management agencies. It demands blocking of large number of room and there are various groups in hotel like :- tour groups , Airlines crew, Military troops, pilgrims e.t.c

MODES OF RESERVATION :-

The email has revolutionised communication. In earlier times , the request for Reservation used to come by post, telex but today modern Reservation software are use which gives instant confirmation to guest in a second via web.Besides it ,many Reservation are made by telephone calls and personal visit by representative. Similarly, Reservation are also made through fax machine , Internet.

More than 50% of hotel bookings are made through Reservation. The various source through which Reservation are :-

1. Hotel websites :- Hotel websites are also source of significant amount of Reservation . The website is user friendly and saves lot time . It also saves extra money from agents as Reservation is done in direct. 

2. Central Reservation system :- They provides toll free numbers and regular web updates. It is computerized systems that arranges travel of guest by booking and also stores information of hotel . The information like Room rates, room types, availability, Hotel room features , price , easy cancellation and deposits are provided. Regular updates of room in main computer is very essential by employees.

3. Travel agents :- They are backbone of tourism industry . Mutual agreement have to be done with them . They also conduct group tour so they negotiate with hotel for reasonable pricing on food and room. They promote new destination as well. 

4. Commercial Business houses :- The Business house reserve room for various purposes like meeting and seminars for employee and guest. They are important source of Reservation through out year

5. Government office and Association :-They reserve room for their guests , diplomats , foreign delegate. When a big regional Function of government is going to be held , large number of participants arrives from different countries. 

6. Global distribution system :- The global distribution system mainly aims travel agencies. It connects travel agencies and service provider. It is due to G.D.S the Reservation and travel arrangements becomes so fast . Notable GDS are Galileo central reservation systems, Sabre computer system. Various hotel rates can be compared at same time and different service from different service provider can also be done for convenience. 

7. Airlines , Educational institutes , Embassy are also source of Reservation. 

8. Free individual Traveller :- He is guest without prior Reservation and also known as walk - in guest. He is neither a guest from travel agencies nor guest from group. 

9. Tour operators :- Tour operators package tour programmes and sells in bulk. They co - ordinate with hotel , airlines , cruise ship . They help to maintain business in off season.

Advance Reservation chart is a room reservation chart which is usually found on wall attached so it will be easier for Reservation assistant to check availability of room on certain date. It helps to know how long will those rooms be booked and also out of order rooms in hotel. 

Reservation chart are erasable and also available on paper sheets. Big hotels mainly uses three three types of Reservation chart for smooth Reservation operations :-

1. Conventional Booking chart :- 

It helps to record Reservation request for particular month with guest name. In this chart the room numbers are put on sequence but types of room are in random .A hotel may have Several room and to look for each room from top to bottom is really annoying and confusing which was it's disadvantage. Let me show example,

In this figure of conventional booking chart we are room number are serially arranged but room types are randomly assorted. The month is particular month used for Reservation of particular year. It shows guest name and how long will those rooms be reserved. The advantage is room status of whole month can be seen in a look. To use this chart efficiently Reservation are marked with pencil and if the Reservation is confirmed it is marked with pen. 

2. Density Booking chart :- 

It also helps to record the Reservation request for a particular month of year. It is development of conventional Booking chart in which the weakness is improved . Let's see the figure,

Here , types of room are assorted. We can see room types arranged in sequence . The room number may be in random but looking at room types it will be easier for us to process. When it is reserved a cross is made in Reservation chart.

3. Reservation Register :-

It is a format used by the front office department, Reservation assistant, stating Name of guest, address , nationality, date of arrival, types of room, contact number , credit card number , company's name, special request , total number of nights and Reservation taken by. All the details of Reservation enquity is recorded usually by telephone.

Registration can be defined as the process of assigning rooms to the guests at the time of their arrival. Registration is done by filling details about guest in registration form. Registration is done in advance in case of group arrival and VIP , crews which is known as pre - registration. Guest registration form is used to fill all the details about the guest as It is by law that all guest above 16 years of age should be registered. 

IMPORTANCE OF REGISTRATION/ PURPOSE

1. It is legal proof to guest of his presence in hotel

2. It helps the country government official to track movement of guest within country

3. It helps to contact guest after Departure in case of skippers, lost and found,change of guest luggage

4. It helps to inform guest relative in case of sickness, Accident and death

5. It is done to follow government rule

6. It helps to make guest history card

7. It helps to know the business , visitor and segment of market that are attracted towards our property.

8. It ensures highest occupancy level

PROCESS OF REGISTRATION :-

The Registration process involves several steps :

1. Pre - Registration Activities

2. Creating the Registration card

3. Assigning of room and rates

4. Establishing the modes of payment

5. Issuing room key

6. Escorting guest to the room

7. Fulfilling special request 

Pre - Registration is normally done for group guest , VIP , disable guest . The Registration form is already filled by front office based on reservation information. It is not applicable for walk- in guests. The guest who have been pre - registered only needs to verify and sign registration card 

Creating the Registration card means gathering all information about guest at their arrival. For the guest with reservation, receptionist needs to verify information.

The guest is assigned room after creating of registration card. Assigning of room and rate depends upon choice guest make for Room and types of policy , package run by hotel. Receptionist should know position of all room in hotels, their features and position

Now the method of payment is determined, it is very crucial because hotels differ on each other on policy . If the method of guest is not made clear ahead it will create guest confusion while settling his account during check out. Various modes of payment are:- cash, credit card, debit card, company account, travellers cheque .

After establishing method of payment ,now guest is issued a key. Receptionist needs to be careful so the room number is never spoken loud , it is written on key cover with pencil.

After key is issued to the guest, guest along with Baggage is escorted to his room by bell boy. Bellboy opens the room, turn electrical appliances and let guest enter the room first. He puts baggage on luggage rack. Turns curtain and explain the feature and benifit of the room.

Any special guest request are fulfilled. These request are essential for his comfort during his stay but we should make sure no one is above hotel policies and rules so request should be tactfully handled.