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Core 3 Provide Accommodation Reception Services

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Core 3 Provide Accommodation Reception Services

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Rainbow Sprinkies

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1

Competency-Based Learning Material

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PROVIDING ACCOMMODATION RECEPTION SERVICES LCCD
DATE ENHANCED: JULY 16, 2020 DEVELOPED & ENHANCED BY: LOIDA SARMIENTO
2

Sector:
TOURISM
Qualification:
FRONT OFFICE SERVICES NC II
Unit of Competency:
PROVIDE ACCOMODATION RECEPTION SERVICES
Module Title:
PROVIDING ACCOMMODATION RECEPTION SERVICES

LA CONSOLACION COLLEGE DAET, INC.

F. Pimentel Ave., Daet, Camarines Norte
Tel.# (054) 721-1102/440-2002/571-3467

MODULE 3.1-1
PREPARE RECEPTION AREA FOR SERVICE

Learning Objectives:
After reading this information sheet, you should be able to:
1. Prepare reception area for service and all necessary equipment are
checked prior to use;
2. check and review daily arrival details prior to guest arrival;

3. allocate rooms in accordance with guest requirements and establishment

policy;

4. follow up uncertain arrivals or reservations in accordance with

establishment procedures;

5. compile and distribute accurate arrival lists to relevant personnel/

departments

6. inform colleagues and other departments of special situations or

requests in a timely manner

Reception Area

Introduction
All hospitality operations must prepare for all activities they engage in. The
situation is no different for front office, a travel agent or a food and beverage
area. Front Office, just as a restaurant, a kitchen or guest rooms also requires
preparation. The front office or reception of an accommodation venue is the
central location through which guests, check in, check out, make enquiries,
settle accounts, and go to for any help they might need. Reception staff on the
morning shift generally have a 07:00hrs start but this can vary between
venues.
In larger hotels the morning shift usually starts at 07.00hrs as the night shift
staff are coming to the end of their shift at 07.30hrs.

Hotel Shifts on Reception:

PREPARE RECEPTION AREA FOR GUEST ARRIVALS

Handover

The start and finish times of all shifts have an overlap (a brief period of 15 to
30
minutes) overlap. This allows for staff to "handover" any details relating to the
next shift. In effect the handover is a ‘briefing session’. It also gives the new
staff
coming on duty time to prepare the reception area for their shift. This handover
allows for a smooth transition from one shift to another, and enables necessary
communications to occur. An effective shift handover reduces the likelihood of
unpleasant surprises and enables the incoming shift to find out what happened
during the last shift that may impact on operations to help ensure the shift goes
smoothly. Standard practice is to identify, review and resolve any issues and/or
complaints encountered during the previous shift. The information is passed
on
from our colleagues about to finish their shift in a number of ways; verbally,
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PROVIDING ACCOMMODATION RECEPTION SERVICES LCCD
DATE ENHANCED: JULY 16, 2020 DEVELOPED & ENHANCED BY: LOIDA SARMIENTO
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through written messages, in a front office diary and in reports. Handover

involves procedures such as the cashier checking the float, and the night
auditor
verbally passing on any relevant information about occurrences during the
night,
and/or special items required for the upcoming shift. For example, a guest may
have contacted the front desk during the night and requested a room change
because they haven’t been able to sleep well or an airline may have rung to say
the 8.30am flight has been delayed by two hours.

The morning staff will generally take over from the night auditor or night shift
attendant. The afternoon shift takes over from morning shift and the night staff
take over from the afternoon shift. In larger properties the Mid or Swing shift
was
introduced as it overlapped with both the morning shift and the afternoon
shift.
This provided staff to cover meal periods for lunch for the morning shift and
dinner for the afternoon shift. It also provided an extra staff member to assist
with peak check-ins and any groups or tours that might be coming in. The
handover also provides an opportunity for checking grooming and personal
presentation is correct and appropriate. A major priority for the morning
reception staff is to prepare the reception area for service for the day. All staff
must check the reception diary.

Reception Diary

Reception may keep a paper-based Reception Diary to record any important

information regarding what has happened during a specific shift. Where it is
used, this diary is a prime means of communication. If a staff member is
rostered on for the evening shift, they will need to familiarize themselves with
the daily activities or anything they may need to act on during their shift, and
they will find this written in this diary.

The Reception Diary is very important, especially for informing staff who have
been on their rostered days off, as they are able to come on shift and familiarize
themselves with all the establishment activities, notes, difficulties and
problems
that have occurred during their days off.

Check reception equipment and technology prior to use

Introduction
Preparing our work environment has a number of elements; we check for
general safety and tidiness; we log onto our shift and check all equipment and
stationery supplies.

Front office equipment

Equipment at Reception can resemble equipment found in many office settings.
Common ‘preparation’ for these may simply involve verifying they are there and

working as intended.

Note: Before operating office equipment, or replacing parts or paper, it is vital

to become familiar with the correct operating instructions as set out in the
Operating Manual.

Equipment can include:

Fax machine

In most establishments, the telephonist looks after the facsimile (fax) machine.
However, in some establishments all reception staff may be expected to operate
the fax. This will include monitoring all incoming faxes, and actioning them
where appropriate (notifying guests of their arrival if the guest is expecting a
fax; passing them on to the appropriate department if they relate to a specific
department; acknowledging receipt of the fax by phone where this is required
or standard procedure).
Similarly, sending faxes may be the sole province of the telephonist, or it may
be
a job shared by all staff.
Faxes – in and out – may be logged in a Fax Log Book to assist with levying
charges to guests, and to provide information and evidence of dates, times,
sender’s details, action taken etc.

Preparing the fax includes making sure:

• It is turned on – check power switch and lights on the machine
• Any flashing lights or ‘error messages’ are investigated and the appropriate
action taken
• It is supplied with an adequate supply of paper
• Toner is OK.

Computer and printer

The computer and printer may need to be turned on, and will need to be
checked
to ensure operational readiness. In the majority of cases, this equipment will
often be left on from the previous shift. The type and brand of computer and
printer found in the front office will vary from establishment to establishment,
however, the basics remain common to most brands and models.

Establishments may use continuous reams of duplicate paper in them

printers to print out Guest Accounts/Folio. This paper has perforated lines to
separate the individual accounts so that they can be easily ripped
apart/separated.

The top copy of the Guest Account is presented to the guest while the carbon
copy (the bottom copy) is retained by the establishment for administration
purposes, such as balancing and for records purposes.
Standard operating procedure may require a check to see if the printer needs
to
be restocked with paper and if the print is legible. Where the print is not legible
a new toner cartridge must be inserted.

Photocopier

There is usually not much need to use the photocopier at night so it may be
standard practice to turn it off. If it has been turned off, it will need to be
switched
on and allowed time to warm up, before it becomes functional. It is important
to
understand that some photocopiers can take a minute before they are ready to
photocopy, so don’t misinterpret this warm-up period as a malfunction of the
machine! Most photocopiers have bins that enable them to use A4 and A3
paper.
A3 size paper is twice the size of A4 paper. Different sized papers will have
different sized paper trays/bins (in which the paper is stacked and then
reloaded
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PROVIDING ACCOMMODATION RECEPTION SERVICES LCCD
DATE ENHANCED: JULY 16, 2020 DEVELOPED & ENHANCED BY: LOIDA SARMIENTO
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into the machine for use). Paper should be fanned before being loaded into the
machine. The photocopier should be checked during front office preparation
activities and be restocked with paper and have toner replaced if required. You
may also be required to record information from the machine. This involves
recording figures from counters to indicate usage of the machine in total
and/or
by individual departments/persons where the machine has the facility to allow
numbered code only access.

Register/terminal/ EFTPOS machines

The preparation can involve:
• Verifying the correct day/date (and time where applicable) is being printed on
receipts
• The audit roll is not indicating it is about to run out – reddish stripes along
the
roll appear when it is nearing the end of its useful life
• Toner/ribbons are sufficient and providing a suitable print quality
• Checking the change in the register/terminal. This change is needed, not only
to provide change to people who pay by cash but also to provide change to
guests who want to use any vending machines that may be near reception or
elsewhere in the property
• Counting the money in the register to verify the amount at handover, or the
amount supplied by management at the start of the day’s operation. A
supplementary float (with a back-up supply of notes and coins) may also
need
to be counted and verified
• Obtaining extra change. Where an insufficient amount of change is available,
an order may need to be placed in-house so that suitable change is made
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PROVIDING ACCOMMODATION RECEPTION SERVICES LCCD
DATE ENHANCED: JULY 16, 2020 DEVELOPED & ENHANCED BY: LOIDA SARMIENTO
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available. The purpose of this is to avoid a situation where a guest’s departure

is
delayed simply because we can’t give them the correct change.

Key card machine

In establishments where access to guest rooms is gained through use of a key

card, it must be standard procedure to include this item as part of the
checking
process prior to starting work.

Standard checks may include:

• Ensuring machine is plugged in and turned on
• Checking all indicator lights are illuminating as
expected
• Verifying leads are connected to computer to enable data transfer
• Investigating and rectifying any error messages
• Conducting test run – as appropri8ate to individual system
• Ensuring sufficient stock of cards ready for processing.

Re-stocking
There can be a number of items that need re-stocking behind the reception
area
depending on the size and scope of the front office.
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PROVIDING ACCOMMODATION RECEPTION SERVICES LCCD
DATE ENHANCED: JULY 16, 2020 DEVELOPED & ENHANCED BY: LOIDA SARMIENTO
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You need to ask your supervisor what tasks need doing but they can include:
• Replenishing pens and note pads
• Refreshing the fruit bowl
• Putting the daily newspapers in the nominated position for guests to use
• Replenishing supplies of key cards, where appropriate
• Replenishing supplies of internal forms and cards. These may be Registration
Cards (where applicable), complaint forms, maintenance request forms or
even
hotel pens
• Re-stocking promotional material. This can involve replacing tourist
brochures,
maps, information sheets, that guests may require.

Other duties that are not strictly ‘reception-specific’ duties may include, at the
start of the day:
• Watering any fresh flowers that are displayed at reception or in the foyer
• Ensuring a small bowl is placed on the reception desk for business guests to
place their business cards
• Spot cleaning
• Tidying the area both behind the desk and on the guests’ side to give a
positive,
clean and presentable image to the guests as they walk through the door
• Emptying outside ash trays
• Making sure the external appearance of the property is attractive e.g., by
checking the footpath.
While many of the above jobs could be the responsibility of a cleaner, in
smaller

properties you will tend to have tasks that are outside the strict interpretation
of
what a receptionist might normally be expected to do.

Repairs/backup and service

If any of your front office equipment is faulty you will need to advise your
supervisor or follow establishment procedures to provide a backup service or
call
to have the equipment repaired or serviced whenever required. At all times the
front office must continue to function and faulty equipment be monitored and
maintained. In some cases, the front office may have to revert to manual
procedures for a short time while the equipment is being fixed. Whatever is the
case the front office runs continuously 24/7 and at no time should the guest
be
inconvenienced because of equipment failure.

Registration cards
Part of the preparation for the day is to prepare for the day’s arrivals. This
means
making sure all Registration Cards/Sheets for that day have been printed.

A check should be made of all communication sources (mail, faxes, phone

messages, message racks, parcel shelves, e-mails) to make sure all necessary
messages (where applicable) are attached to the Registration Cards/Sheets to
be
passed on to guests when they arrive.

MODULE 3.2-1
Review expected daily guest movement

Learning Objectives:
After reading this module, the trainees should be able to:
1. Welcome the guests warmly and courteously;

2. Confirm guest’s reservation details;

3. Register guests with or without reservations according to establishment

systems and procedures;

4. Follow correct accounting procedures in accordance with property

standards;

5. Issue room key/electronic cards, guest mail and messages to guests

Introduction
Reception staff must check guest details on the Daily Arrivals List (also known
as the Arrivals List).

Reasons for this process

Reviewing expected daily guest movement is done in order to:
• Review and ensure guest bookings are correct
• Ensure the right room is allocated to the guest
• Facilitate the coordination of work with other departments
• Make sure VIP guests are taken care of properly
• Confirm airport transfer and pick up arrangements
• Inform Housekeeping staff to make up rooms if there are any early departures
• Advise housekeeping or minibar staff to check the minibar in certain rooms.

Consideration of bookings – Arrival’s list

The Arrivals List (usually printed out by the night auditor), is an alphabetical
listing of all expected guests who have a reservation for that day. It will include
all the details about the guest, time of arrival, length of stay, type of room, rate
quoted and payment details. All special requests will be listed for action. This
may mean contacting another department or a specific individual and passing
the request on to them, either verbally or in writing. When guests arrive their
names are crossed off this list because they have become actual arrivals.
We check and review the arrivals list at the beginning of reception shifts. This
is
to familiarize the staff with the names of guests who are arriving that day and
prepare for the following tasks.

• Recognize regular guests. The code "RG-regular guest" will appear on the
specials listing on the arrivals list to help with this task. Regular guests will
usually get special attention greater than ordinary guests such as a welcome
gift,
non- smoking, pool view, or high floor.

• Check the status of a reservation - a guaranteed reservation and non-

guaranteed reservation

• Check the arrival times and pre-register any guests if necessary.

Group arrivals

If there are any groups arriving that day, their rooms will be blocked, allocated
or assigned on one or two floors for ease of access (the porter can deliver the
luggage more efficiently where the group are roomed near each other), and to
maximize group ‘togetherness’.

Group arrivals make for a very busy time at check in so the reception area
needs
to be fully prepared for their arrival. In some hotels a Group arrivals report will
be printed out. This is similar to an arrivals report but only contains details
specific to the group, which is helpful for reception. When managing groups:

• Check all rooms have been allocated correctly for the group
• Check the rooms will all be ready by the arrival time of the group - you might
have to contact housekeeping
• Prepare the room keys in key envelopes for the group or tour leader
• Make sure any meal vouchers are available with details of were the
restaurants are located and operational times
• Accumulate any mail that has arrived for any of the group guests
• Prepare the registration cards or group registration forms for the group’s
arrival
• Prepare the front office area for the group arrival. Inform porter of group
arrival
time to collect their bags from the bus. Set aside an area in the foyer to meet
the group and group leader
• Have welcome packs ready for all the guests.
Consideration of stay rooms
When reviewing daily guest movement, you also need to take into account the
guests who for some reason or another stay longer than their expected
departure
date. If this happens during full occupancy periods it can be very difficult to
accommodate these guests. The earlier you discover who these guests are the
easier it is to find accommodation for them, either at your hotel or at an
alternative property. Of course, during a low occupancy period this is not really
as big a problem as we can accommodate the guest for a longer period of time.

Some hotels printout an account or have an account come on to the television

in the room, so the guest can see they are due to depart tomorrow and what is
on their account so far. This also acts as a way of letting the guests know they
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are due to depart the next day.

Most guests will contact Reception to let the staff know that they intend to stay
longer than the due departure date. So long as we have rooms available, we are
happy to extend their stay, however, during full occupancy this extension is
more
difficult.

The only way we can catch the guests who are "stay rooms" is when
housekeeping expects to have a checked out (vacant/dirty) room and it is still
occupied. If this occurs housekeeping must contact Reception straight away.
Then reception has the task of trying to contact the guest to find out what time
they will be checking out.

Some departing guests will request a late checkout which is granted depending
on the requested time. If a guest does have a late checkout Reception must
notify
Housekeeping of this so they don’t disturb the guest wanting to clean the room.
Also housekeeping will need to allocate a staff member on the afternoon shift to
clean the checked-out room.

These Stayover rooms will affect the projected daily guest movement figures
(occupancy) as the hotel had expected to get the room back for sale and may
have already sold it again.

Early departures

Early departures are when guests leave before their due departure date.
Although this date has been reconfirmed several times it still happens that for
some reason a guest has to depart the hotel earlier than expected. Sometimes
the guest will let Reception know about this or others will just simply
depart as a normal departing guest.

Housekeeping will pick up the early departure when they service the guest’s
room. The service would have been for an occupied room but, when the
housekeeping staff went into the room it would be a vacant dirty room –
indicating the guest has already checked out.

A hotel using a PMS (Property Management System) will pick up this early
departure automatically in the room count. However, a property issuing a
manual system will have to make adjustments for this early departure as they
now have one less occupied room and another room to sell to achieve the same
occupancy rates.

Groups and individual guest movement

All preparation must be done for the arrival of a group. But, once again, due to
unforeseen circumstances the group guest numbers may vary from the original
data, some guests are sick and leave the tour or may not have come in the first

place. In most cases the tour company will notify the hotel of a change in
rooms
occupied or guests.

However, sometimes advanced notice may not be possible and you only find
out
about the change in requirements when the tour arrives. Depending on the
arrangement the hotel has with the tour company, the guests may or may not
be charged for their rooms. In some cases, a cancellation fee may even apply.

Regardless of the charge to the tour group the consideration of this group
variation will affect the hotel’s final room occupancy figures each night.

Individuals will also pose the same problems for the hotel’s occupancy levels as
mentioned before with early departures, stayovers and no shows.

A no show is when a guest has a reservation but does not arrive at the hotel to
check in.
In the case of a guaranteed reservation, we will still get the money but, with a
non-guaranteed reservation we will lose the night’s revenue. However, in both
cases the expected daily guest movement will vary as we had expected these
guests to arrive and have counted their occupancy into our occupancy figures.

Other factors
When reviewing expected daily guest movement, you must also consider:

• Any changes which may have been notified or requested regarding length of

stay for guests – can they be accommodated with reference toother

reservations?
How might they impact room allocation?

• Any variations in number of persons staying in rooms and/or the house –

what
impact might these variations have on operational and other issues?

• Any changes to departure times especially as they apply to groups – as these

can have enormous flow-on impacts on (for example) porters and the
availability
of lobby and other spaces

• Following up missing information identified as part of standard Front Office

procedures and checks.

Allocate guest rooms in accordance with special requests, where possible

Introduction
Rooms need to be allocated according to the guests’ requirements (non-
smoking
room, king size bed, interconnecting rooms, poolside room and so on) and the
establishment’s policies.

The Housekeeper’s Report will be used to determine which rooms are vacant,
clean, dirty, out of order, or on inspection. Room allocation is one of the first
jobs
for reception staff – working out which guest(s) are to go in which room.

When allocating rooms, attention needs to be paid to the Arrivals List on which
special requests and room rates may be included.

Room allocation to individuals and groups

In the case of specific room types that are limited such as "The Presidential
Suite"
where there is only one of this type of room, the room will be allocated to the
guest’s reservation at the time the reservation is made to ensure the room is
“blocked off" for this guest. The same would occur for family suites or
interconnecting rooms, or honeymoon suites (of which there is a limited
number). All these rooms are blocked off at the time the reservations are made
to ensure the rooms’ availability.

Reserved rooms are usually allocated on the morning of the arrival date. Today
most hotels pre-allocate all rooms to guests before their arrival rather than
simply "pick" the appropriate room that is available at the time the guest
arrives to check in at the front desk. A PMS system does have the functionality
to display the rooms that are available (clean) and suitable to the guest’s
reservation (one which meets the guest’s requirements) at the point of check-in
so, the reception staff can pick a room off this listing for the guest. However,
the
policy of most establishments is to have the reception supervisor monitoring
the
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DATE ENHANCED: JULY 16, 2020 DEVELOPED & ENHANCED BY: LOIDA SARMIENTO
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rooms and room allocation rather than the reception staff.

Groups
For all group arrivals the rooms are pre-allocated according to the reservation
request and hotel policy. Usually, group rates are relatively low so the rooms
that
are allocated are in the "less popular" section of the hotel. Very few groups’
rooms
would be given rooms with ocean view frontage unless the rate reflected this
type
of view. Most group rooms will also be allocated close together on the same
floor
if possible.

In most cases group rooms are usually occupied on a twin share basis and will
probably require 2 beds in each room. In the case of group arrivals, you might
come across a "triple share" where 3 guests are to share the one room. This will
usually require a request to housekeeping to put in an extra bed or open up
the
sofa bed in a specific room.

The reception supervisor must keep an eye on these rooms allocated to the
group
arriving as all rooms need to be ready at a specific time. For example, if the
tour
group bus is arriving at 14.30hrs all the rooms need to be ready by that time.

When rooms are allocated in the morning the supervisor must pick rooms from
the list of those rooms that have already checked out or the list of rooms that
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are due to depart today. Checked out rooms (vacant/dirty) are safe to be
allocated as the guest has already left and all you have to do is notify
housekeeping as to the time the room will be needed for the group arrival.

However, a "due to depart or due out" room requires the reception supervisor
checking that this guest does actually depart before the group arrival time and
with time to have the room serviced for the new guest. In some cases, the due
out guests may request a late checkout or ask to extend their stay for another
night. If the supervisor can find another suitable room for the group guest,
then
the occupied guests request will be granted. However, if another room cannot
be
found the request must be denied or alternatives offered.

Room keys must be prepared for the tour group before the group arrives in the
lobby. Whether the keys are manual or electronic all room keys need to be
ready
and waiting for the group’s arrival. Therefore, the supervisor needs to be
constantly watching the ready rooms and making any room changes and key
changes that are necessary.

Room rates
When rooms are allocated to FIT guests (fully independent travelers) the rate
determines the type of room the guest will be receiving. The higher the rate the
better the room generally. This group of guests do not receive any discounts.

On the other hand, corporate guests get a specific rate for certain rooms
because
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of the volume of business given to the hotel. All staff should be familiar with
the
property’s rates and policies that apply.

Always ensure all applicable taxes and service charges are quoted and/or
charged according to individual host country requirements.

Different rates are offered to different market segments depending on the

arrangement with the property. Different market groups can stay in the same
type of rooms BUT at different rates.

It is very important for all staff to allocate the correct room for the rate that is
being charged otherwise the total revenue (yield) available to the hotel will be
reduced.

Need to accommodate other agreements

Some establishments have special arrangements with certain businesses which
may need to be taken into account and honored when allocating rooms.

Sometimes these factors will be pre-programmed into the computerized

reservation system and will automatically be accommodated.

Special arrangements or agreements may be covered by a ‘Local Agencies

Policy’
or be contained within the terms of a contract between (say) a tour wholesaler
and the venue, or between a major corporate or government client and the
hotel.

Examples of what might apply to these room allocations can include:

• Automatic room up-grade
• Allocation of room with a view
• Allocation of room with specified facilities
• Guests have access to restricted services and/or areas
• Guests receive nominated coupons ‘on arrival’.

An example of a Room Rate summary:

Pre-register guests
When a guest is arriving very late or early into the next day, it is necessary to
pre-register the guests (allocate a room and process as a check-in ) before the
guest actually arrives.

This is to enable the revenue to be charged for the correct room night and to
assist the guests with a convenient check-in when they arrive. This will only
occur for guaranteed reservations and guests are usually encouraged to

guarantee this type of reservation.

A guest who is arriving early, for example between 01.00 - 06.00hrs, will be
charged for the room from the night before because the room had to be left
empty
for the guest’s arrival early the next morning.
Special requests
Special requests are a common occurrence in most accommodation e
establishments.

The front office usually takes these special requests when the original booking
is made or face-to-face with guests during their stay.

Meeting these special requests requires a team effort. Frequently it is the porter
or housekeeping who are required to assist in ensuring special requests are
fulfilled in accordance with requirements and establishment procedure and
policies.

Special requests may include:

• Special facilities for guests with a disability
• Chocolates in the room
• Guests with an early check-in time - meaning the room needs to be
cleaned and serviced and allocated prior to the guest’s arrival
• Extra bed
• Flowers in the room
• Cot
• Extra hangers
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• Power adapters
• Stocking the mini-bar with a specific beverage
• Tickets for a live theatre performance to be available on arrival
• Extra soap, shampoo or conditioner to be placed in the room.

FOLLOW-UP ON UNCERTAIN ARRIVALS AND RESERVATIONS

Introduction
Reception staff may be required to follow-up on uncertain arrivals (potential
no-shows). This may be a standard practice every day or it may only apply on
certain occasions.

Being able to contact those who we expect to arrive is the key to being able to
do this and explains why we ask those who make a reservation for their contact
details.

Following up uncertain arrivals or reservations

If the establishment is running at high occupancy and there are bookings that
have not been guaranteed, reception staff may be required to ring guests (using
the contact number supplied) and reconfirm their arrival.

If the guest has changed their mind and is not going to arrive this means their
booking can be cancelled and their room can be put back on the board and
offered to someone else. Guests who are on a Waiting List may be offered the
room, or walk-in guests may be able to use the room.
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The main aim of following up uncertain arrivals is to optimize room sales.

In reference to reservations during peak periods (such as high-profile sporting

events) some establishments ask all guests to send a deposit or quote their
credit card number to guarantee the booking.

If the deposit does not arrive by the stipulated date, you will need to follow up
the uncertain reservation and find out if the guest still requires the reservation
or not.

Before making any of these calls you need to be extremely familiar with all
house policies that apply to cancellations, refunds etc. so that you can
accurately explain to the guest what their position is.

Note that many properties are prepared to show compassion where a guest has
had to cancel their booking due to certain personal reasons (such as a death in
the family).

Dealing with Cancellations

You need to realize that anyone who rings with a cancellation does us a favor
as they provide us with an opportunity to sell the room to someone else.

Similarly, anyone who tells us they want to cancel when we ring to ask or
follow-up, does us a favor too – even though we had to ring them and ask.

Remember, when being informed of a cancellation to be polite and ensure that

no hint of negative sentiment finds its way into the conversation.
The aim is to remain positive so that if they have the opportunity to visit our
area in the future, they will again make a booking with us.

Updating the system

When you have received notification of a cancellation, you must then update
the system to reflect that situation.
This will have several potential effects which can include:
• Generating a refund
• Cancelling a guest folio
• Freeing up a room
• Removing the guest from Guest History.

Compile arrivals lists

Introduction
Reception staff will need to compile and distribute an Arrivals List to relevant
personnel and departments.
This is an important first step in the preparation activities because other
departments will use this information to plan their day, allocate their staff and
prioritize their duties for the day.

Compiling and distributing arrivals lists

The Arrivals List provides information and will be distributed to departments

such as uniformed staff (porters and concierge), housekeeping, security,
laundry, food and beverage and kitchen to assist these departments in their
planning for operational duties.

Whether the Arrivals List is manually or computer generated, the information

found on it must always be treated in the strictest of confidence and should
never
be left unattended for public viewing.

Information found on an Arrivals List may vary from establishment to

establishment, but can be expected to include for each booking:
• Arrival date – alphabetically listing of all guests arriving on that day
• Departure date. This can be used by Housekeeping to determine the level of
service given to the room. For example, the linen on the bed may not be fully
changed if the guest is known to be staying only two nights
• Estimated time of arrival (ETA). This helps Housekeeping schedule the
order
or sequence in which rooms are serviced. Their aim will be to get rooms ready
for guests by the time the guest is expected
• Estimated time of departure (ETD) to help in scheduling the order of rooms
to be serviced
• Guest’s name. This is a base reference point. This also helps staff use the
guest’s name when speaking with them and providing information and can be
useful when a guest is required to sign a docket for the receipt of, for example,
room service or other services that the guest wishes to charge to their room
• Number of guests so that appropriate in-room requirements (shampoo,
towels,
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extra pillows etc.) can be provided

• Room type – indicating if the room is a single, double, twin or suite
• Room rate. This indicates the value of the guest. If service to a room has to
be
prioritized, it is commonly the higher rack rate rooms that get serviced first.
This
indicates the rate category of room the guest has requested
• Booking guaranteed or not. A guaranteed booking is a ‘sale’ regardless of
whether the guest arrives or not (that is, the venue will still get its money even
if
the guest never arrives), so this means the room must be ready even though
there has been no confirmation. Confirmation is not necessary for a guaranteed
room – the room remains available for the guest who has guaranteed it until
check-out time on the identified departure date
• Special requests. This identifies the special requests that the guest has
asked
for and the internal organization and structure of the business will determine
which department has responsibility for meeting various special needs. The
Housekeeping department takes care of most special requests but there can be
a need for food and beverage to be involved, or maintenance, or security
dependent on the nature of the request
• VIPs are also listed on the arrivals list. Very Important Persons (VIPs) will
require special treatment. Most VIPs will get a complimentary gift from one of
the
managers (usually the General Manager - if they are very important) put into
their room. Room service or housekeeping need to be made aware of this guest
and what room they are in. Security usually becomes involved with VIP guests
as well

• Some VIPs (royalty for instance) will be met on arrival by the general
manager
and escorted to their room. Less prominent VIPs (e.g., actors) may be escorted
to
their rooms by the Front Office Manager or Duty Manager
• The level of the VIP will determine the level of VIP treatment they receive
• Complimentary guests will also be listed on the Arrivals report as they will
require a room even though they are not paying for it. Complimentary guests
could be winners of prizes that the property has offered or guests who have
come
back because there was a problem with their previous stay. Complimentary
guests will receive special requests from either room service or housekeeping.

Distribute arrivals list as required

Introduction
Arrivals lists will be used by a number of departments within your hotel.
Different pieces of information on the listing will be essential to one department
and not for the next. The Arrivals List is a necessary tool in the planning
undertaken to receive guests. It helps to inform management and staff from
different departments of what is happening within the hotel and allows them to
make certain decisions, such as:

Housekeeping
• Staffing levels – determining the number of housekeeping staff required to
meet
shift demands
• Planning of daily tasks – identifying the potentially busy and quiet times of
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arriving guests
• To determine the level of service given to the room: for example, the linen on
the bed may not be fully changed if the guest is known to be staying only two
nights
• Housekeeping will use the Estimated time of departure (ETD) to help
schedule
the order of rooms to be serviced
• Knowing the number of guests so that appropriate in-room requirements
(Shampoo, towels, extra pillows etc.) can be provided
• Some special requests are provided by the housekeeping department such as:
opening connecting doors, adding an extra bed or baby cot, extra supplies in
the
guest room.

Concierge
• Staffing levels – determining the number of porters required to meet shift
demands
• Assist in the preparation of group arrivals such as tours. This may include
preparing envelopes (or similar) to give to, for example, the tour leader or coach
captain for distribution of room keys/cards
• Organizing luggage storage areas especially for large groups of guests who
may
be on a tour, or who have all come off a recently landed plane.

Porters
• Planning of daily tasks – identifying the potentially busy and quiet times
• Knowing the arrival time of guests so there are porters available to assist with
luggage and escorting guests to their rooms
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• Porters use the arrivals list as a source of information to count all the
luggage,
tag it with the appropriate room number and transport it to the guest’s room.
The porter will check the name and corresponding room number, and tag the
bag accordingly.

Note: in some venues the term ‘Uniformed Services’ is used to describe the
department staffed by valets, porters, concierge and door attendants, and in
these cases the Arrivals List may be forwarded to the concierge who will
distribute it to, or share it with, others who need to become aware of its
contents.

Security
• Preparation for Very Important People (VIPs) – which may involve the need for
additional security
• Security may be required to accompany bell boy to escort particular guests to
their room

Food & Beverage

• Special requests that come from room service such as: wine, champagne,
fruit platters, chocolates and any food and beverage requests
• Number of in-house guests helps the restaurants control staffing in particular
for the breakfast shifts
• Groups and tour arrangements that involve any restaurant or bar areas
• Pre-arrangement for table planning and room layout
• Menu planning for certain meals, functions or events
• Liaison with Security staff regarding visitors

Management
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• Notifying management of the arrival where management has indicated they

want to welcome the VIP on arrival.
Laundry
• Determine the number of laundry staff required to meet shift demands
• Planning of daily tasks – identifying the potentially busy and quiet times of
arriving and departing guests
• Determine when the laundry needs to be open or closed based on guest
turnover.

Kitchen

• Knowing the number of guest arrivals each day helps with the ordering of
food required for the restaurants and particularly room service.
• It also assists with shift planning of staff.

Monitor guest arrivals and take appropriate action as required

Introduction
There will be times when the reception staff must inform other colleagues or
departments about special situations or requests.
The importance of special situations or special requests cannot be over-stated.
If a guest has made a special request and that request has been accepted by
the person taking the booking, the guest will assume it is going to be met.

If we fail to meet these expectations then severe negative public relations will
occur. The guest may not return to us next time, and they will probably tell
their friends, family and associates about their bad experience!

Inform colleagues
The usual ways of notifying others in the property about special requests can
include:
• Printed standard daily reports
• Verbal notification.
Printed standard daily reports are good but they may not be enough.

Where a standard daily report is used there can often be a need to accompany
this with a verbal follow-up (in-person or over the phone) to explain the finer
points of the special request or the special occasion.

Some report formats do not allow enough ‘free text space’ to enter all the
relevant
details so the supplementary verbal follow-up can be essential to make sure
the
requirements of the special request are met.

Where a verbal notification is used it is also best to accompany this spoken

message with a written note containing the pertinent details.

Preparing for major guest movements

A major guest movement may involve checking-in guests arriving in a group or
assisting groups of individual guests who are staying at the establishment to
attend a conference or seminar.

Generally, the most important factor to consider when dealing with group tours
is space. Comfortable seating and standing space should be provided to the
guests while they wait to check-in and it is for this reason group check-ins are
sometimes done on the bus. Guests are handed their keys in envelopes
together
with all relevant information and vouchers and the tour guide registers on
behalf
of the group with the reception staff.

The colleagues and departments that may need to be informed about major
guest
movements also include porters. They will need to count all the luggage, tag it
with the appropriate room number and transport, it to the guest’s room. The
porter will check the name and corresponding room number, and tag the bag
accordingly using the Arrivals List as the source of information.

Note: for security purposes to guard against terrorism it may be standard

procedure for anyone seeking to lodge a bag/luggage for safekeeping or for
transportation to a room to have to show their passport so that staff can verify
the person lodging the item.

Counting luggage is most important when handling

bags, so that if we start with 50 bags on arrival, we need to have 50 bags on
departure. It is quite easy to make a mistake when there are many groups
arriving and leaving at the same time.

Special requests
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Special requests are a common occurrence in most accommodation

establishments.
The front office usually takes these special requests at the original booking of
the room or face-to-face with guests during their stay. The actual filling of
these
special requests require a team effort and frequently it is the porter who is
required to assist in ensuring special requests are fulfilled in accordance with
requirements and establishment procedure and policies.
Special requests may include:
• Stocking the mini-bar with a specific beverage
• Tickets for a live theatre performance
• Extra soap, shampoo or conditioner.

Some special requests are delivered via the housekeeping or food and beverage
department: for example, champagne and fruit platters would be delivered
through room service.

VIPs
It is important to notify the following departments when a VIP is due to arrive
at
your hotel so they know to offer that extra bit of service that is expected for
Very
Important People.
• Housekeeping - to add the VIP supplies and packages to the guest room
• Concierge - to make sure they have the required level of management
available to escort the guest to their room when they arrive
• Porters to keep the entrance of the hotel clear of traffic for the VIP arrival - in
some cases the Doorman may also assist with this task

• Security - provide security to the VIP or co-ordinate with the VIP's own
security. In the case of Bands and Singers security might have to have extra
staff on duty 24 hours to stop "fans" from trying to enter the hotel
• Food and beverage areas must be informed of who the VIP is and what room
they are in so the appropriate level of service is given to the guest. Sometimes
hotel security might escort the guests to these hotel facilities
• Laundry needs to be advised of VIP status of guests in case any laundry or
dry
cleaning is required
• Kitchen - any food that is ordered for a VIP usually attracts special attention
and a higher level of standard is expected. In some cases, Security might
inspect all food going to VIP rooms.

Module 3.3-1
Perform Check-in Functions

Learning Objectives:
After reading this module, the trainees should be able to:
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1. access and accurately interpret reservation system based on property

standards;

2. access a range of information in the reservation system.

Welcome guests on arrival

Introduction
Reception staff should ensure every guest receives a welcoming and
professional
greeting when arriving at the establishment.

Remember that reception can be the first face-to-face contact with the guest
and
this meeting can therefore have a lasting impression.

The moment reception staff identify a guest, they should immediately

acknowledge them and not wait for the guest to make the first move. Even if
you
are busy with another guest, on the telephone, or completing another task,
make
eye contact with the guest and offer a smile to let them know you have seen
them
and won’t be long.

Welcoming guests
The type of greeting the guest receives must always be:
• Professional
• Personable
• Welcoming
• Sincere
• Friendly
• Polite.
In all instances, the verbal welcome offered must conform to any establishment
policies or directives, but will generally contain:
• A greeting
• The establishment’s name
• The guest’s name or title if appropriate
• An offer of assistance.
Alternatively, the establishment may have a standard ‘welcome’ phrase that
they
require you to use: check with your supervisor and follow what applies in your
workplace.

Examples of greetings when a guest arrives at reception:

Body language
It is important that your non-verbal communication also sends the right
message
when welcoming a guest.
You can’t just say you are welcoming the guest; you must show you are
welcoming them.
A smile is important and the tone of the voice is also important.

Empathy
Where the guest has had a bad trip or experience as part of their journey to
your
premises it is also worthwhile taking some time to be empathetic and share
their
experience, offering some kind words to demonstrate compassion and
understanding for them.
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Practical help
Also be tuned in to anything practical you might be able to do to make the
guest’s
first impression a positive one. Monitor how they appear and what they say to
see if you can do something that would help them without waiting to be asked.

You might be able to:

• Get them a glass of water
• Offer them a seat to rest for a minute
• Help them carry cases to their rooms where such a porter service is not
normally available
• Make an enquiry as to whether or not you can do something to help someone
who looks distressed.

Always remember that lots of properties offer rooms, food, beverages and a
range
of facilities but it is often the service provided by individual staff that separates
one place from another. It is this excellent level of guest service that gets that
person coming back time and time again.

Determine if guest has reservation and confirm and explain reservation

details
Introduction
Once you have greeted the guest, you must next confirm the details of their
reservation – if they have one.
Not every guest who wishes to check-in to an establishment has previously
made a reservation.

Guests with a reservation

If the guest does have a reservation, the reception staff may find their details
on
the Registration Card (or similar) stored in the Registration Box, which is kept
at reception with cards filed in alphabetical order, by surname.

A pre-printed Registration Card indicates to the guest that they were in fact
expected, and provides another level of service in that the guest does not have
to
take time filling in required details that have already been provided when the
reservation was made (or retrieved from Guest History).

The guest must check the details to ensure they are correct, make any
necessary
changes, and sign the Registration Card.

If no previous reservation has been made, the guest must complete a blank
Registration Card and the check in process will be a lot longer.

Confirming details of reservation

Where the guest has a booking, their name must first be ascertained – from the
Booking Slip or the computer – and then the details of their booking confirmed
face-to-face with them.

Verification should cover

• Name of the guest/s with special attention to clarifying any unusual name to
ensure you have the spelling correct

• Contact details of the guest – which may just be their home address or
business
address but could include phone number and other contact details
• Length of stay including checking the actual departure dates and days
• Departure time (for example, late check-out or an especially early departure)
• Method of payment. Where a credit card is to be used to settle the account it
may be standard practice to swipe the card through an EFTPOS machine or
manually obtain an imprint of the card to speed up check-out procedures.
Even
where the room is not going to be paid for by credit card (for example, the guest
may be staying in a room where their employer has booked and will pay for the
room), it can still be standard practice to swipe the credit card that will allow
any charges incurred to be charged to that card. Some establishments seek
pre-
authorization from the credit or charge card up to a predetermined amount
(Usually one night's accommodation). If this is your company’s policy let the
guest know what is happening and that no funds are actually charged to the
card until departure.

 If the account is to be charged back to the company (authority to do so

has already been established) confirm that this is correct with the guest

and check that the charge to details are correct. For instance, in some

cases the room and breakfast charges are paid by the company; however,

any other charges are to be paid for by the guest

 In the case of cash paying guests, it is usually hotel policy to collect one

night's accommodation plus extra, maybe another night's

accommodation

cost or a flat fee of $100.00 from the guest when they check in rather
than

at check-out time. Check your establishment's "cash policy"

 Confirm any advanced deposits that have been paid by the guest.
Usually,

this amount is already credited to the guest folio. You could print out a
copy or the folio to show the guest the deposit has been recorded onto
their
account
• Type of room requested – just to make sure they have been allocated the right
type of room. You might have to explain what the room type is
• Confirmation of any special requests unless they are of a 'surprise' nature
(such
as champagne and/or flowers in the room). You need to be sensitive to the
nature of special requests and ensure you do nothing to spoil a surprise by
mentioning it in front of the ‘wrong person’ at check-in
• Room rate quoted. This should be quoted just to make sure there is no
confusion about how much the guest will be paying for their accommodation.
Where a discount is being allowed this should also be quoted so the guest
knows what price reduction they are receiving
• Explain any vouchers or complimentary items that accompany the
reservation.
For instance, there is a free drink voucher in your welcome brochure for one
of
the bars, car?

• Always explain at least one of your facilities to the guest on arrival. For
example,
the pool is on the 20th floor and open until 10pm tonight if you need to use it.
Or we are having an Italian festival in our Main dining room and you might like
to try it while you are here.

Some of the above confirmation will be verbal, and some of it will occur
through
presenting the guest with a Registration Card and asking them to check it,
confirm it and sign. It is necessary for the guest to check and sign the
Registration Card as this reconfirms all the details as well as acknowledging
that
the guest has read all the small print, accepting charges for any liability
incurred
during the entire length of stay.

This phase of the guest cycle enables a rapport to be established between the
guests and the establishment, so every effort must be made to ensure this time
remains pleasant, comfortable and friendly – in the same way that the initial
greeting and welcome was.

Determine if guest is a walk-in and identify if room is available

Introduction
A ‘walk in’ is a guest who walks in through the door seeking accommodation
for the night without having made a reservation.
Walk-ins represent a very small proportion of guests but properties like to have
Walk-ins because they tend to be able to be charged more.

All properties will have their own standard procedures for registering guests
and
you need to identify what applies in your workplace for guests who arrive with
and without a reservation.

The individual procedures used by properties will depend on the reservation

system being used and the previous experience of management in dealing with
guests and the preferences that have emerged as a result of that experience.
Guests without a reservation
When a Walk-in arrives:
Welcome them as per standard policy and procedures.
Determine their accommodation needs – how many nights, type of room, any
special requirements. This may require you to check the Room Status
Report/Room Availability Report (this indicates whether or not the
establishment
has rooms available and their room type (regular rooms, deluxe rooms, corner
king etc.) or check the PMS system to determine availability. During peak
periods
the Manager will know exactly how many rooms can be sold, if any.

Advise the guest of what is available – standard procedures may be to try to sell
a premium room and then work down from that if the price/rate is too
expensive

When an appropriate room and rate has been agreed it is usually good practice
to ask how the guest will be paying the account before proceeding with the
check-
in. Once an acceptable payment method has been established the check-in

process will proceed; otherwise, the guest is turned away. Most establishments
will require a walk-in to pay for their room in advance.

• If the guest is paying with a credit or charge card it may be standard practice
to swipe the card through an EFTPOS machine or manually obtain an imprint
of the card. All establishments will seek pre-authorization from the credit or
charge card up to a predetermined amount
• If the guest is paying by Cash the establishment "Cash Policy" will apply.
(Cash
Policy is used for guests we don’t trust and a walk-in paying by cash is just
at as we don’t know anything about them and they might not pay us when
they
check out). This means the reception staff must collect one night's
accommodation plus extra; maybe another night's accommodation cost or a flat
fee of $100.00 from the guest before they check in. This is to cover the hotel for
any extra charges the guest may incur in the hotel such as room service or
restaurant and bar charges. If there is any balance left on checkout it will be
refunded to the guest
 Some hotels may even make these guests "Cash Only Guests" which

means they are not permitted to charge anything to their room. They
must

pay for it at the point of sale in the restaurant or bar. If the guest doesn’t
agree to this policy, then the check-in will not proceed.
Note ‘Cash Only’ means guest is required to pay using cash or credit
card.

Decline a guest if appropriate

Introduction
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In some cases, even if you have rooms available, you might have to decline a
guest’s request for accommodation because they are unfit to be in your hotel or
they don’t agree with the establishment’s policies and procedures.

Checking the black list

When checking in a guest, mainly Walk-ins (or an online agent sale), reception
staff should check the Black List; also known as the ‘Do Not Room’ list.
This is a list of names of people who have previously been guests at the
establishment and have been listed as undesirable (often, this information will
be found on the guest’s profile/history).
A person on the Black List may have done any of the following things:
• Damage to the establishment
• Been drunk and disorderly
• Been noisy
• Harassed staff members or guests
• Been abusive to staff or guests
• Left without paying their account – referred to as a
‘Skipper’.
A person whose name is on the Black List is not welcome in the establishment.
The reception staff should adhere to their establishment’s policy and procedure
when dealing with people on the Black List and when ‘regretting’ their request
for a room.

Hotel Policy
Many establishments have a hotel policy not to allow intoxicated, violent or
quarrelsome people to check into their hotel. As the staff on reception, you will
be responsible for "turning away" these guests. You might have to call upon
hotel
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security to help with this task.

It may also be hotel policy to decline guests’ accommodation requests if they

will
not agree to the Cash Policy conditions. This usually means the guest doesn’t
have sufficient means to pay for the room in advance (via cash or credit card)
so
the hotel will decline the request. Hotel policy dictates that guest who arrive
with no luggage and no reservation are treated differently to guests with
reservations. The Cash policy will apply to this type of guest unless they choose
to pay by credit card.

It is often standard policy to recommend an alternative venue to guests when

declining a guest.

No rooms available
During times of peak occupancy, you might have to decline a guest’s
accommodation request because your hotel is fully booked. This means there
are
absolutely no rooms available for any person without a reservation. Usually, a
Manager will need to make this call as they have the experience to determine if
all the guests will arrive. Activities might include checking for potential
no-shows, allowing for late check-ins, upgrading regular guests to suites, and
phoning guests who have not arrived at the due time.

Complete guest registration process

Introduction
All guests in an accommodation property are required by law to register. This

usually takes the form of completing a ‘registration card’, a document that

must
be filled in and signed by the guest to obtain a room. By signing the
registration
card, the guest is entering into a contract with the property to pay for services
it
provides.

Proof of guest identity

In some countries it is essential that hotel guests provide proof of identity. This
is usually done with the inspection of a guest’s passport and/or visa (as
appropriate). Some hotels will take a copy of the documents to keep on file and
some may even keep the passport for a few days. Whatever process your
establishment follows make sure you advise the guest of what you are doing.

Completing the registration card

If you are using a PMS, the computer will have printed a registration card for
each arriving guest with a reservation for the day and this will include all the
details given in the reservation. All you need to do is ask the guest to check
that
the details are correct, make any necessary changes and sign the card.

If your property does not have a PMS, the guest will need to fill in the
registration
card. If you have the guest’s details in your Guest History card file, you may
type
the registration card in readiness for the guest’s arrival and the guest need
only

sign the card. Don’t forget to manually update your guest history after the
guest
has departed.
The Registration Card (also known as the Registration Form) is presented to
the
guest for them to either complete or confirm.
It lists personal details about the guest which can include:
• Arrival date
• Departure date
• Arrival time
• Departure time (may include late check out)
• Guest’s name
• Guest’s address
• Company name, if applicable
• Room type
• Payment details
• Number of rooms
• Number of guests
• Room rate
• Room number – if previously allocated
• Passport number – international guests may be required to provide a
passport number
• Nationality – reports may be printed to ascertain the establishment’s
nationality mix: some establishments like to print menus in another language
besides English, and this information may also be of use to the marketing
department
• Guest’s signature
• Birth date – some establishments like to send their guests a birthday card.
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If the guest updates or corrects any information make sure you update the
computer (PMS) with the same data as you don’t want the guest to have to
make

this correction every time they arrive. This is especially crucial for spelling of
the
guest’s name.

The guest’s signature

All guests are required to sign the registration card or registration sheet. The
only exception to this might be a VIP – where the signature is not actually
required as a representative from the VIP group can sign on behalf of the guest.
Even guests arriving as part of a group or tour are required to sign in or
register.

By signing the registration card, the guest is entering into a contract with the
property to pay for services it provides.

Issue keys and vouchers as required

Introduction
Once a guest has registered and you have given them information about your
property, they will need to know their room number and obtain a key access for
their room. Some properties use keys while some have electronic key cards that
look like credit cards and can be encoded with information for each individual
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guest. Whichever you use, the keys or key card will be located at Reception
where
they are easily accessible to the Receptionist and the guest.

Select the key or key card for the room that you have allocated to the guest.
Before you hand the key to the guest or porter:
• Check that the room is CLEAN AND VACANT (your Front Office system will
have codes for this information; find out how to look these up)
• State clearly the room number and, if the number is written anywhere such
as
a check-in booklet or welcome brochure, show the guest where the room
number is printed
• When handing over the key briefly state the main points about the room that
the guest needs to know. If the guest has made any specific requests
regarding
the room in their booking, relate your presentation to these
• Check that the key is the correct one for the room (the key will have either the
room number or a code matching the room number stamped on it). If you are
using an encoder, enter the information and prepare the key card immediately
for the guest. Some hotels will have the key cards made up prior to the guest’s
arrival
• Explain to the guest anything unusual about the operation of the key,
particularly if it is a key card, (the guest may not have used one before)
• Hand the key to the guest or porter if he is there escorting the guest.

Explaining the use of key cards

The types of keys used by establishments can vary between establishments.

Some types of keys include:
• Normal door key type
• Card key – this card is inserted into a slot in the door. Once inside the room,
the guest may also need to insert the card key into a slot/device on the
wall to activate the power in the room. In some properties the key will
also
contain an electronic device required to activate the lifts and/or to move
through various internal doors within the property (designed to keep
non-
guests out of these areas).
Card keys are programmed upon check-in for security reasons and the card
presented in a cover with the room number written on it.

Card keys can also be programmed to open certain guest facilities like the
gymnasium and swimming pool areas.

Vouchers

If guests book their accommodation through a travel agent or airline they may
be issued with ‘vouchers’ for various aspects of their trip.

These vouchers are documents used in exchange for services provided by the
establishment.

For example, if a guest has booked a flight to Singapore together with seven
nights’ accommodation through a travel agent or airline they may have been
issued with two vouchers – one for their flight and the other for the
accommodation.

When they arrive at their destination, they present the accommodation voucher
at check-in. This helps to confirm who they are, their booking and provides
payment.

It should be noted that some vouchers include additional services such as

breakfast, a free drink or use of certain facilities while others do not.

You should read all vouchers carefully and then politely make a point of
explaining to guests exactly what the vouchers cover, and what they do not
cover.
For instance, does he voucher cover all meals or is it just for breakfast, or
breakfast and dinner?

If the voucher includes a ‘free drink at the pool bar’, are there any limitations
that apply to that drink?

The intention is to let the guest know exactly what they are entitled to so they
can take advantage of all they paid for.
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We also need to make sure the guest knows clearly what they are required to
pay
for during their stay so there are no surprises or problems at check-out when
the account is presented.

Follow internal accounting protocols

Introduction
Once the details about the guest’s reservation have been checked and
confirmed
with the guest and the registration form has been completed, reception staff
may
arrange for the guest to be escorted to their room. Reception then commences
accounting procedures.

On the registration form, the guest will have listed their form of payment.

Using this information, reception staff will have confirmed payment type with
the
guest on their arrival.

The majority of establishments take a variety of payment options.

Accounting protocols
Credit cards and credit limits
Most establishments will accept payment via credit card.

All guests (including walk-ins) who are paying by credit card are asked to
supply the card at check-in. You may wish to advise the guest that this is
to help speed up their check-out.

The Card is swiped and automated credit is held on the credit card. This
receipt will be held as security on room payment.

If the guest does not have a credit card, they may be asked to prepay using
cash.

Every establishment will have a predetermined Floor Limit, which is the

maximum amount of money that a guest can charge to their credit card
without
special telephone authorization being sought.

If the final account for the guest’s entire duration of stay is over this Floor
Limit,
then this authorization will need to be sought from the credit card company.

Floor Limits can be a different dollar amount for each type of credit card.

It is important to remember that each establishment will have their own

procedures in processing credit charges.

You must be familiar with these procedures when handling all credit charges
transactions and follow establishment procedures at all times.

EFTPOS
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Some establishments have EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of

Sale)
terminals to accept payments (this is the same system that is used to
electronically process credit card payments).

The EFTPOS system offers a banking service of deducting money from a

customer’s savings or cheque account and depositing it into the
establishment’s
account.

When using this system to settle their account, the customer must present the
relevant bank card and then enter a 4-to-6-digit PIN (Personal Identification
Number) into the system for verification purposes.

Once the payment has been approved, the customer will be issued with a
receipt.
With this system, the customer may have the option of having ‘Cash Out’. This
means the customer can withdraw additional funds from their account over
and
above the amount required to settle the account.

Note that not all establishments offer ‘Cash Out’ services: refer and adhere to
house policy on this.

Before using an EFTPOS terminal, make sure you refer to and read the
instruction manual. Familiarize yourself with its operation, and get someone to
show you how to use it.

Cash

If a guest is asked to prepay for room charge, cash is the usual form of
payment.
Some guests may also pay their account in cash.
In most establishments, the cash policy relating to prepayment is:

The guest must pay one night’s accommodation at check-in, plus $100.00
extra
for any incidentals that may be used such as mini-bar or telephone. If the
guest
does not use any facilities, the money is refundable on check-out.

If a guest is staying for more than one night, it may be necessary either for all
the payment to be made in advance, or for the account to be one night in
advance
at all times.

Some establishments may have a policy of collecting cash for all

accommodation,
plus $100.00 extra per night upon check-in. The guest is then considered to be
a ‘cash customer’ and their name will be placed on the establishment’s Cash
List. A Cash List is distributed daily to the establishment’s various outlets to
inform them of the guests who don’t have credit facilities.

Guests on the Cash List must pay for their purchases when they are made –
this
includes purchases at the bar, restaurant, shops, in-house services

There may be times when a customer wishes to pay for their account in cash,
but will supply the establishment with their credit card imprint so that they
can
still charge to their room.

In this case the credit card imprint will serve as a bond, and at check-out the
guest can pay for their account in cash (and the credit card imprint will be
destroyed), or via credit card using the imprint that has been taken.

When providing change for a cash payment always double-check the amount of
change to be given and count the change out to the guest to ensure they are
satisfied they have been given the correct change.

Foreign currency
Guest’s paying by traveler’s cheque or in foreign currency are also considered
cash customers and their names are automatically placed on the Cash List.

The exchange rate (that is, the rate at which the foreign currency is converted
into local currency) in most establishments is organized by the establishment’s
accounts department and is lower than the published rate that may be offered
by the banks.

Most properties that accept foreign currency will feature a sign in the foyer,
changed regularly/ or daily, showing the exchange rate on offer.

Guests are free to accept this or go elsewhere to obtain a better rate.

Traveler’s cheques/Travel cards

It is at the establishment’s discretion to decide if they will accept payment
through traveler’s cheques. Larger properties tend to do so, and many smaller
premises will not.

If the guest wishes to pay for their account by traveller’s cheque (or simply
cash
a traveller’s cheque), it must be countersigned in front of the cashier. This is
very
important. Traveller's cheques that have already been countersigned should
not
be accepted.

Any traveller’s cheques in foreign money will be first converted into the local
currency, and the conversion explained to the guest.

Where change has to be given, it is always given in local currency.

Travel cards are used more widely today than traveller’s cheques. The guest
has
a travel card (similar to a credit card) with a specified amount of money that
has
been purchased in the local currency. This card is used just the same as a
credit
card with a PIN or signature for verification.
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Personal cheques
Depending on the establishment, personal cheques may be accepted as
payment.
Often, personal and business cheques will only be accepted as payment where
previous arrangements to do so have been organized, or in situations where the
owner/manager knows the guest personally.

If the property does allow an unknown guest to pay by cheque, the guest will
have to supply identification such as a driver's license, passport, credit card
details etc. which are then recorded on the back of the cheque.

It is standard procedure in many establishments when a guest wants to pay by

cheque that they are offered another alternative such as credit card payment or
EFTPOS. Establishments are not under a legal obligation to accept payment by
cheque.

Some premises that accept personal and business cheques use a cheque
guarantee service. This means that for a small fee (approximately 1% of total
cheque payment) the company will run a credit check on the guest and
guarantee
or refuse to support payment.

This service can be accessed by telephone 24 hours a day. The fee may be
passed
on to the guest if they insist on paying by cheque.

It is important to remember that each establishment will have their own

procedures in processing cheques. Therefore, you must be familiar with these
procedures when handling cheque-related transactions and follow these
procedures at all times.

When in doubt, ask your supervisor or a more experienced staff member –

never
be ‘bullied’ into accepting payment by cheque.

Direct charging (billing)

Direct Charging is where the establishment charges an account to a
company/employer.

This method of payment is common for regular guests, especially where they
are
of a business nature such as travelling representatives, executives or airlines
crew. Where the property provides accommodation for public servants their
stay
is usually paid using this method.

Generally, a list of the names of companies/organizations who have previously

arranged direct billing with the establishment is kept at the front desk for
quick
reference.

Note that the arrangements made with the company that is paying the account
will be very specific in nature. For example, the company may agree to pay for
the accommodation component of the stay, plus dinner and breakfast but no

alcohol, phone calls or any other charges.

When this style of account is presented, you need to be aware of what the
guest
can charge back to the company and what they need to pay for themselves.
Most
guests understand these requirements or limitations and are usually ready to
pay for the ‘extras’ that aren’t covered by their employer.

At check-out a guest whose account will be paid for via direct billing will check
their account for accuracy, sign the account, and then it will be processed in
accordance with establishment policies and procedures by the accounts
department. This means the account will be sent to the company for payment.

Accounts may be sent on an individual basis, or they may be grouped and sent
fortnightly or monthly.

Deposits
Where the guest has made a reservation, they may need to pay a deposit to
secure the room.

This deposit has to be handled in strict accordance with the house policies
where
you work.
Standard requirements may include:
Issuing a receipt for the deposit
Sending the receipt to the client along with booking confirmation, venue details
etc. This is optional: many properties keep the receipt on file and present it
when
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the guest arrives in the form of their account at check-out together with a
verbal
mention on check-in that their deposit has been received and credited to their
account

Establishing the guest account (also known as the guest folio, or just ‘folio’)
showing the deposit as the first financial entry on the document Posting this
payment to the appropriate internal account/s.

Pre-payments
Pre-payments are the full payment for a room/stay in advance.
Treatment of these payments is similar to ‘deposits’ above with the additional
requirement that pre-payments usually require a receipt be sent.

Issuing receipts
It is standard practice for all establishments to issue a receipt for all payments
received.
In some countries by law any purchase over $50 must be accompanied by a
receipt, and by law a receipt must be provided on request for any purchase
under $50.
Follow the procedures that apply in your country or workplace for receipts but
common options are:
• The print out receipt from a register/terminal where a sale is processed
through a register/terminal
• The account presented to the guest after payment has been received and
processed showing all the transactions on that account (deposits received,
purchases made during the stay, accommodation charges and the final
payment/settlement of the account) that should leave a final balance of zero
once payment has been received.

Applying discounts to guests

An establishment is likely to have a number of different room rates.
Different room rates will have been identified on the basis of different types of
guests that the establishment seeks to attract, the potential for repeat or on-
going business, and the levels of occupancy (current and advanced bookings).
Not all properties may have the options listed below: still others may more or
different options.
Common room rates include:

Rack Rate
Often referred to as ‘Standard Rate’, ‘Published Rate’, ‘Full Rate or ‘Full Rack
Rate’, this is the most expensive rate for a room.
It is the rate usually applied to walk-ins who want accommodation on the day
they call in – these guests are sometimes also known as ‘Fully Independent
Travelers’ (FITs) because they are independent of any group, discount or other
ties.
In practice, relatively few rooms attract this rate. The majority of reservations
attract another, lower rate for one of a variety of reasons (as the following
alternatives indicate).

Corporate Rate
This is a discounted rate offered to companies that are willing to guarantee a
minimum number of rooms (often 50 plus) throughout the year.
Naturally, if they guarantee more than 50 rooms per year, a better rate may be
offered just for that company - this type of booking is often called ‘Volume
Corporate’ rate.

Convention/Conference Rate
This is a discounted rate offered if the guest is attending a convention at the
establishment.

The rate reflects the fact that the guest will also spend other money in the
venue on meals or other services.

Industry Rate
This is a discounted rate offered if the guest works in the hospitality or tourism
industry.
It reflects the fact that people ‘in the industry’ are well placed to refer other
guests to us if they have a positive experience during their stay.

Crew Rate
This is a discounted rate offered if the guest works for an airline.
Air crew have limited hours they can work and many airlines require
accommodation for their crew overnight so they can rest before resuming work.
Airline business is seen as good business as it is regular and on-going.

Group Rate
This is a discounted rate offered if guests have common interests and are
making a booking together.
For example, members of a stamp collecting club who have decided to holiday
together might be offered this rate.

Tour Rate
This is a discounted rate organized between tour companies and the
establishment by virtue of the volume of rooms that will be sold.
Commonly tour operators will try to obtain the lowest room rate possible and
the venue has to be careful that it will make an acceptable profit from these
heavily discounted rates.
There is little advantage in having the property fully booked at a rate that
shows a loss.

Package Rate
This is a discounted rate offered in some establishments to increase
occupancy: also known as ‘Special Deals’ or ‘Specials’.
Packages may include a combination of accommodation, breakfast (and/or
other meals),
parking, champagne on arrival, and a late checkout. They are commonly
promoted during periods of low occupancy such as capital city hotels on most
weekends.
Other examples of Package Rates may include a ‘Honeymoon Package’, an
‘Anniversary Package’, or a ‘Theatre Package’ (which may include theatre
tickets) or Special Events packages.
The range of possible ‘Specials’ is enormous.
Many city properties develop ‘weekend packages’ because these are the times
when they are traditionally less busy (because most business people go home
at the weekends).

Explain room and house facilities and services to guests

Introduction
Part of the service that should be provided to guests should include an
explanation of the facilities and services of the property.
It must be remembered that most guests will be staying with us for the first
time and so may be unaware of some of the services and facilities available, too
shy to ask or simply be confused about being in a new city or a foreign country.
This section looks at some of the things that might be explained to guests at
check-in to enhance the quality of their stay.

Safety deposit boxes

Some establishments provide their guests with safety deposit boxes to store
valuable items.
The usual system is for a small safety box to be located in each room.

Usually, the box is placed in the wardrobe and once the guest has checked-in,
they are able to program their own combination to open and close the safe.
The guest can access the safe at their own discretion as many times as they
like without having to involve reception or other staff.
Fee-for-service may apply in some cases if this facility is used but most in-
room safety deposit boxes/safes are provided free-of-charge.
Describing the room and hotel facilities
The opportunity to describe facilities may occur at any time during a guest’s
stay. As a receptionist you are required to know about all areas of the property,
from food and beverage to housekeeping and business centre services. That is
a lot of information to absorb, and items such as restaurant opening hours will
be constantly changing, so you must ensure your knowledge is up to date.
Start with a basic list of facilities and build on it.
Once this information is obtained, it is easy to apply suggestive selling
techniques in order to promote and up-sell your establishment’s facilities. Offer
to make a reservation for the guest at one of the hotel restaurants.

Informing guests of local attractions

This information is found in a variety of directories, guide books, pamphlets
and tourist publications. Most establishments have a brochure rack which
contains a wealth of information on local attractions, activities and
restaurants.
If you do not have a brochure rack, your local area newspaper, transport
timetables, telephone book and locality directory will be invaluable. Some
industry publications, such as ‘What To Do In (your local city)...’ are worth
subscribing to.
Whatever material you have available, do not simply hand it over to the guest
when asked for directions or information. Review the information with a guest
and ensure you have answered all the questions and offered all the suggestions
or alternatives that you are able to provide. Have ready a mental list of
attractions that you know are popular and you can confidently recommend.

Using selling techniques to sell services

You should take every opportunity to ‘sell’ your establishment’s facilities. This
simply means offering information to the guests in such a way that it will
attract their attention and encourage their use of your establishment services,
rather than others.

Suggesting
What choices of room features or rates does your establishment provide?
Describing
Make your facilities sound attractive through your choice of words; get
excited about your establishment!
Explaining
A guest may not be using a particular facility because he/she did not know
much about it.
Upselling
Offer more than the guest is asking for; suggest reserving a suite on their next
stay if appropriate.
Cross-selling
If your company has other accommodation establishments in another area, or
perhaps its own car hire company, suggest the guest use these.
Informing guests of relevant information about their stay
At some point when registering a guest, the Receptionist should inform the
guest of the room rate. Often, this is written on the same document which
contains the room number and is given to the guest with the key.
Many properties offer packages to attract people to stay with them. These
special deals comprise a number of services within the property, including a
room for an all-inclusive, attractive rate. If meals are included, it is often
necessary to give the guest a coupon, docket or voucher to present in the
restaurant. Packages generally have conditions attached to them, hence the
attractive rate.
It is important that you review all conditions and inclusions of the package
with the guest at the time of registering.

Arrange for porter services

Introduction
All international hotels will have porters stationed at the Concierge or Bell Desk
in the hotel lobby. Once the guest has checked into the hotel a porter makes
him or herself available to assist the guest to their room.
Porters
Porters are responsible for:
• Carrying guest luggage to the guest’s room
• Escorting guests to their room
• Outlining the hotel’s facilities
• Showing guests how to operate equipment within the guest rooms (e.g. air
conditioning, television, alarm clock etc.)
• Arranging taxis and parking cars
• Running errands, such as taking and picking up dry cleaning
• Taking messages
• Giving directions
• Storing guest luggage for guests who check out by the designated time but do
not depart until later on in the day.
The head porter or concierge is in charge of all porters. A concierge is a very
knowledgeable person who is available to assist guests on attractions, tours,
events and shows. This may include making bookings, organizing
transportation or arranging reservations. Additionally, this is the person that
guests should be referred to for detailed maps, directions, brochures and so on.
Directing or escorting the guest to the room
Escorting a guest to the room is preferable but not always possible. If your
establishment has a Concierge department then this activity will probably be
performed by a bell attendant or porter. However, there may be times when
they are not available and a receptionist will be required to escort the guest.
If you are unable to escort the guest, give clear directions and remember to:
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• Stop what you are doing

• Look at the person you are speaking to
• Speak clearly and concisely with confidence
• Use your hands to indicate the way if necessary
• End the conversation with a smile
• Check that the guests are heading in the right direction

• If available, provide a map of the establishment to assist guests in finding

their way around
• Never say, ‘you can’t miss it’.

Handling guests’ luggage

It is Reception’s responsibility to ensure guests receive their luggage as soon as
possible after they arrive at their rooms. In some properties, a porter will take
the guests’ luggage when they arrive at the front door and hold onto it until
registration has been completed.
As soon as the guest has gone to their room, Reception will call the Bell
Desk or Concierge and advise the guest’s room number. A porter should then
identify the luggage and take it to the guest’s room. In some properties the
porter may have already escorted the guest to Reception and be waiting to take
them to their room.
If your property does not have a Bell Desk or Concierge then receptionists
escort guests to their rooms, and offer to carry the guests’ luggage. Some
guests prefer to take their own luggage, but you must at least make the offer.

Implement standard house protocols for problem situations

Introduction
There may be times when reception staff experience a problem while checking
in a guest.

It is important when dealing with problem situations that all possible action is
taken to maintain service standards even where rooms may not be available.
Overbooking
What happens when rooms have been overbooked?
It may be common practice to deliberately accept more reservations than the
property can physically accommodate – this is referred to as overbooking.
Overbooking is practiced in order to optimize room sales because the venue will
know that, on average, a certain percentage of guests who have made a
booking never show.
By precisely how much they overbook will depend on previous statistics
(historical data).
The overbooking figure will include consideration of the previous ‘No Show’
percentage (that is, people who make bookings, but don’t show up),
Cancellations and Early check-outs for the same time period over a number of
years.
An establishment may overbook by 5% or 10% (with the exception of peak
periods, such as Festivals in your city, The Grand Prix, or Major Events) when
it may not overbook at all – but operate a Wait List and fully paid reservations.
Unfortunately, where overbooking is standard practice the establishment will
sometimes get caught, and all the people who have booked will turn up!
In such instances, the establishment tries to ‘bump’ the guest to another
property.
Bumping a guest means sending them to another property, of the same
standard and same price structure. The property that has over booked will
prearrange this by making a booking for the guest in another property. They
may even pay for a taxi for the bumped guests to move to the new venue.
Properties often have arrangements between themselves to accommodate such
events. Even though they may be in competition with one another, there can be
an underlying spirit of cooperation in times of trouble.
Sometimes, the establishment may also organize a complimentary bottle of
wine (or something else deemed appropriate) with a note apologizing for any
inconvenience the oversight may have caused.

An establishment never bumps corporate clients, airline or travel agent clients,

long stays or guaranteed bookings.
Those who are bumped are one-nighters, and guests who are on a standard
rate, which means they are unlikely to return anyway. This means that guests
are not always bumped on a last-come first-bumped approach. Where
reception determines that there is likely to be an overbooking situation, there
must be a strategic attempt at identifying which guests will be bumped and
who won’t be.
Attention must turn to the reservation data to identify the one-nighters etc.
and these people need to be bumped even though when they arrive there may
still be vacant rooms.
These vacant rooms are needed for the ‘more important’ guests who tend to be
regulars.
As soon as you know an overbooking situation is about to occur action must be
taken to:
• Calculate the extent of the overbooking problem about to be faced – how
many guests does it involve?
• Identify those who will be bumped – identify the guests whose loss will have
least impact on the property
• Confirm any bookings that have still not been confirmed
• Upgrade your regular guests into suites that have not been reserved for the
night in order to free up a regular room for another guest. When the regular
guest arrives to check in let them know you have upgraded them to a better
room at no extra charge. Then you can turn an overbooked situation into an
advantage
• Check for any guests who have passed the designated arrival time (allow an
extra hour) then consider them as cancelled. You might even call the contact
number to check if they still intend to arrive at your hotel
• Contact other establishments to determine their potential to accept bumped
guests – this may include making several tentative bookings
• Notify management of the situation – they may want to be at reception to help
handle or pacify guests who arrive only to find they don’t have accommodation
for the night

• Identify when bumped guests can be moved back to your property. The
overbooking situation may only be for one night: you may be able to
accommodate a guest for the remainder of their proposed stay. Unfortunately,
once a guest has been bumped, they often do not want to return for the rest of
their trip.
Room not ready
Often, if a guest arrives early in the day before the guaranteed check-in time,
their room may not be immediately available. In these cases:
• Check your room allocation system to see if there is a room other than the
one
assigned to the guest that fits the criteria and is vacant and ready for use
 If so, change the allocation and proceed, giving the key to the guest
 It is a good idea to check the ‘room status’ i.e., whether the room is
vacant and clean, while the guest is occupied with registering. In this
way, you can change the allocation, if necessary, without the guest ever
knowing that their room number has been changed
• If it is not possible to change an allocation and a guest must wait for their
room:
 Check what time the room will be available for the guest with your
housekeeping department
 Advise the guest of a precise time
 Apologize for the inconvenience, but let the guest know you are
doing everything possible to have their room ready quickly
 Offer alternatives to the guest to occupy their time while they are
waiting
 Some establishments will have courtesy lounges specifically for
this purpose. Here a guest can read a newspaper, conduct business
and usually have a complimentary tea or coffee.

Blacklisted guests

Blacklisted guests are always turned away. Your hotel will have a policy and
procedure to deal with blacklisted guests. If you feel intimidated by the guest
call the supervisor or manager on duty to "turn away" the guest.
No reservation to be found
What do you do if there is no reservation for the guest?
• Never let the guest know you are not expecting him or her, as this can
make both you and your property appear disorganized and
unprofessional
• Check the day’s arrivals for an alternative spelling of a guest’s name
(you may have ‘McGregor’ as a reservation in the name of ‘Macgregor’)
when using a PMS to search for a guest. You may just use "one letter" for
example "m" for our guest and see all the "m guests" with reservations for
the day. This way you may be able to find the guest whose name has
been recorded incorrectly

• Hand the guest a registration card if you have a room and proceed as normal
to book him in and assign a room
• Refer the matter to your supervisor and follow the procedures outlined by
your property if you do not have a room available. Do not take it upon yourself
to inform the guest.

Monitor guest arrivals and take appropriate action as required

Introduction
Throughout all shifts, reception staff must monitor guest movement through
reception.
A key is to monitor actual arrivals and check actual arrivals against expected
arrivals. This is important to gain an appreciation of when action needs to be
taken to optimize room sales. Always remember that whatever other functions
reception has, it is still necessary to sell all your rooms.
Rooms are a unique sales area.
If you don’t sell a room today you can’t sell it twice tomorrow to make up the
loss.

Failure to sell a room tonight is a loss that can never be recovered – hence the
situation where some properties will offer significant price reductions for rooms
when occupancy levels are low.
This also explains why properties develop Wait Lists. Wait Lists are lists of
people seeking accommodation for a certain night but who can’t be roomed
because of the high level of bookings/occupancy. If the property receives a
cancellation (or an early guest departure), the people on the Wait List and
offered accommodation. It is the accommodation’s version of the airlines ‘Stand
By’ list.

Monitoring and checking arrivals

This means you must check the list of expected arrivals and compare that list
with actual guest movements to ascertain whether or not all expected guests
have in fact arrived.
A deviation is the difference between the number of guests expected compared
to the number of guests who have actually arrived. When a deviation is
identified, it must be actioned in accordance with establishment procedures.
This may include:
• Identifying No Shows and processing legitimate charges that may be levied
against them. Guests who have made a booking but have not arrived may be
charged a No-Show fee
• Check the types of reservations. Guaranteed reservations are safe because
even if the guest doesn’t arrive, you have been paid for the room
• Any guests who have passed their arrival time but have not turned up need to
be contacted using telephone or email. If you are unable to contact them then,
you exclude their reservation as if it was a no-show and give the room to
someone else. If the guest does arrive you explain you kept the room until their
designated time of arrival (usually plus one hour), tried to contact them and
have now cancelled their room. They must go to another hotel
• Notifying those on the Wait List and offering them accommodation.
Traditionally people on your Wait List will continue to try to source their own
accommodation after having been refused by you so it is common for quite a
number of people on the Wait List not to accept your offer of accommodation
because they have already found alternative rooms

• Checking the system details for accuracy. There may be instances where, for
example, the date of the booking was entered incorrectly by establishment staff
and where this is discovered the room availability boards or charts need to be
updated to show the revised situation
• Each property should have standard procedures for what they do in these
circumstances.

Title: PERFORM CHECK-IN FUCTION

Instruction:

Prepare a dialogue that you would use to a guest who is a walk-in. Detail
the
questions you would need to ask.

Equipment:
Computer
EFTPOS

Tools/Supplies:

pen and paper

FO forms

Time Allotment:

Submission date: ____________

Steps/ Procedure

Ask the following question as your guide in creating a dialogue:

• Name/company
• Contact details
• Arrival and departure times
• Length of stay
• Type of accommodation required/bed configuration
• Payment details
• Special requests
• Rates/discounts

Assessment Method: Role-play / Demonstration

TASK SHEET 3.3-1

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA CHECKLIST

PERFORM CHECK-IN FUCTION
Trainee: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________
CRITERIA YES NO

1. Guest was greeted and has been offered assistance?

2. Asked the guest’s name or the company?

3. Get the guest’s contact details?

4. Asked the guest when to arrive in the hotel and how long
do they stay?

5. Informed and describe hotel facilities to choose from?

6. Arranged payment details?

7. Noted guest’s special request?

8. Offered rates and discounts?

Comments/Suggestions
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Trainer’s Signature: _________________________ Date:

Module 3.4-1
Process room change requests

Learning Objectives:
After reading this information sheet, you should be able to:
 Address all guest requests during in-stay according to property
standards;
and

 Respond all inquiries promptly to guest satisfaction.

Process room change requests

For various reasons guests may request to change rooms and this process
must
be conducted professionally and with as little inconvenience to the guest as
possible. First, we need to check the reason for the room change. Is there
something wrong with the original allocated room or is it just not what the
guest
has expected?

Processing a room change request

1) Establish what is wrong with the original room. This will help to decide what
room you need to move the guest to and it will help maintenance or
housekeeping if there is a fault with the room.
2) Check availability to enquire what rooms are available that match the
guest’s request.
3) Advise the guest of the room that is available to check that it is suitable
before making any changes to the PMS. Advise (where appropriate) guest of the
room rate for the new room and check this acceptable. In some hotels they may
even take the guest to the new room to have a look.
4) Help move the guest into their new room. Usually, a porter will assist with
this, giving the guest the new key, moving their luggage and taking back the
old key.
5) If the guest has already spent some time in the room before the room change
you will need to advise all the service departments of this room change in case
the guest has put laundry into be done, been to the bar for a drink, or charged
a meal to their room.
6) In a PMS system the room change will change the status of the old room
from occupied too vacant/dirty. This way housekeeping knows to clean the
room again. If you have a manual system you will need to call the
housekeeping department and advise them of the room change
7) Update the guest folio to reflect the new room number and (if applicable) the
new room rate.

In some cases, a guest may request to move to another room type that is
currently not available. You can "block" or reserve the room for the guest and
advise them when the change can occur. On the day of the room change the
guest can pack their bags in their old room and the hotel will move them
across
to the new room during the day when it becomes available. All the guest has to
do is pick up the new key when they arrive back at reception.

Process extensions to stays

Introduction
No matter how often you have confirmed the departure date with a guest there
is still occasions when they have to stay longer than anticipated. If a guest
extends their stay you will need to let housekeeping knows so they can change
their cleaning schedule.

Extended Stays
Where an extension is sought, room availability needs to be checked and, if
accommodation is available, then the extension can be granted. It must be
remembered that an extension cannot simply be approved just because the
guest is already in-house.
As a standard rule, an expected check-in/reservation takes precedence over an
existing guest however you always need to take into account all relevant other
factors which may include:
• If the expected check-in has confirmed or is late
• The status of the current guest and the status of the expected guest.
Preferential treatment may be given to regular guests
• Room rate being charged. A property may elect to extend a guest paying full
rack rate and bump a guest who is paying a much lower room rate.

In addition, payment details need to be checked. If a guest is paying by cash,

they may need to pay more cash for their extra accommodation. The fact that
they have paid cash for one night may not entitle them to stay another night on
credit.

Re-rooming guests
It is preferable for extending guests to stay in the same room, but this is not
always possible; there may be an existing reservation that has made a special
request for that room.
Where the guest has to be re-roomed it is standard practice to offer porters to
assist with this.
Internal records also need to be adjusted to reflect the change in room number
for the guest, a new key/card will have to be issued and communication sent to
various departments to advise them of the change so that purchases being
charged back to the room can be accurately monitored and posted.

Process variations to guest numbers

Introduction
Some hotels base a room charge on the number of guests in the room; a single
rate and a double rate rather than a particular rate for a room. Therefore, it is
essential to make sure the correct number of guests are in each room in this
type of hotel. However, all hotels like to make sure the guest count is correct if
they can.

Guest Numbers
The best way of checking the guest count is when "turndown" service is
conducted in all occupied or expected to be occupied rooms. Turndown service
is the process of closing the curtains in the room, changing used towels,
turning on a lamp, removing and folding the bedspread, turning down the top
of the bed, placing the room service menu on the bed and a mint or little gift
from the hotel on the pillow for the number of guests in the room.

When housekeeping come into the rooms to provide this service they usually do
a check on the guest count to see if it matches what is on their occupancy
report.
If a room is recorded as one guest but housekeeping find 2 toothbrushes, 2
sets of clothes, and the room looks like it is occupied by 2 people then they will
alter the guest count from one guest to two guests. It becomes very obvious
when there are more than 2 guests staying in a room by the amount of luggage
in the room.
Any variations to the guest count is recorded and sent to reception to update
their records. In some cases, reception might phone the guest room to confirm
the double occupancy instead of single.
An increase or decrease in your guest count will alter your nightly figures such
as occupancy rate, average rate, and the yield figure for the night. So, it is
important to make sure the guest count is as accurate as it can be.

Process variations in-room rates

Introduction
The greatest percentage of revenue in an accommodation hotel comes from the
sale of the rooms. So, it is important to try to sell the right room at the right
rate
and make sure the guest is allocated to the room equal to the rate they are

paying. The exception to the rule is when the hotel has discounted rates for
different groups of travelers.

Variations in rates
An establishment is likely to have a number of different room rates.
Different room rates will have been identified on the basis of different types of
guests that the establishment seeks to attract, the potential for repeat or on-
going business, and the levels of occupancy (current and advanced bookings).

Not all properties may have the options listed below: still others may have more
or different options.

Common Hotel Room Rates:

• Rack rate
• Corporate rates
• Convention rate
• Conference rate
• Industry rate
• Government rate
• Package rate
• Groups and tours rate
• Complimentary rate.

Process upgrades
Introduction
The process of putting a guest into a better room than they are paying for is
referred to as "upgrading" the guest. Upgrades may occur for a variety of
reasons but they will inevitably mean that the hotel does not achieve the
maximum revenue for the rooms that are occupied on that night.

Upgrades

Process special requests

Introduction
There are a variety of special requests that come from guests. Some can be as
simple as requesting a room away from the lifts, or a non-smoking room while
others can be complicated such as requesting concert tickets that are next to
impossible to obtain.
Some special requests can be granted at no cost while others will incur a cost.
It is important to advise the guest if there is a cost involved with their request
at the time of making the request. Sometimes guests remember to make these
requests at the time of making the reservation whereas at other times they ask
when they arrive at the hotel or when they get into their room.

Special request
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Examples of special requests:

Process guest charges

Introduction
During the guest stay hopefully they will use some of the hotel services which
will incur charges that are processed on to their account. Most hotels make it

easy to charge services back to their room as guests don’t feel like they are
actually 'paying’ for the service at the time and this can encourage them to
spend
more. The process of recording a charge against the guest account is called
posting.

Processing charges
Processing charges can occur right through the guest cycle, starting from the
minute the guest checks in with a deposit to when they leave and finally pay
the account.
Every hotel will have a standard operating procedure to post charges to ensure
this is done accurately and accountably.
A charge is created when a guest uses one of the services available, such as
dining in the restaurant, having a drink at the pool bar, or being treated to
mud wrap spa treatment.
The guests may pay for this directly or choose to charge it back to their room.
When charging back to their room the guest is required to print their name,
identify the room number and sign the account. A signature on the account
indicates that the guest has consumed the goods and is willing to pay for the
privilege. Usually, the staff at the point of sale will check the name against the
room number to make sure it is correct. A PMS system will help with this
process otherwise the staff will check manually against an in-house guest list.
It often happens that a guest may forget their room number or mix up the
numbers of the room so some properties ask the guest to show their room key
or hotel identification that has been given to them, such as a card with their
room number and signature.
A full PMS with an integrated point of sale system will allow the guest charge to
be posted directly on to the guest’s account anywhere in the hotel. Without the
point-of-sale system the charge will be recorded in the outlet and the charge
document must be sent back to the reception area to be posted on to the
guest’s room account.
The charge document or docket will have the details of the transaction that has
been

consumed.
• Name of the department that has provided the service
• Data and time of the service
• Details of the goods and service
• Total cost including any GST or taxes
• Name of the guest
• Room number
• Guest signature.

Respond to guest queries

Introduction
The front office is the main point of contact for all guests, so it is here that
most of the queries and requests are directed. The concierge, porters and
doorman all assist in this area by responding to guest queries. Often the guest
will talk to reception about the particular query and reception will contact
other departments within the hotel to assist with these queries.
The opportunity to describe facilities may occur at any time during a guest’s
stay. As a receptionist you are required to know about all areas of the property,
from food and beverage to housekeeping and business centre services. That is
a lot of information to absorb, and items such as restaurant opening hours will
be constantly changing, so you must ensure your knowledge is up to date.

Guest queries
In the Hospitality Industry, remember that the guest is the reason you work,
not an interruption to it. If there were no guests, you would not have a job. You
are in a service industry and your job is to give good service. When a guest
asks questions, you must never think of it as an inconvenience. React
promptly, give the guest your full attention and show genuine interest in their
questions.
If you know the answer:
• Tell the guest and ask if there is anything else you can help them with

• Finish the conversation with a pleasant greeting, e.g. ‘I hope you enjoy your
stay’.
If you don’t know the answer:
• Never make it up or say, ‘I don’t know’ or ‘That’s not my department’
• Offer to find out and get back to the guest with the answer
• Do not keep the guest waiting while you try to find the answer
• Make sure you follow up and get back to the guest quickly.

Involvement of other departments

Handling guest queries might involve communication with other departments
and it is vital to establish and maintain good communication with these
departments
Departments that may be involved include:
Concierge
 Messages and mail delivery
 Requests regarding booking tickets to venues and entertainment
 Tour bookings
 Hire cars
 Handle all bookings and arrangements for facilities outside the hotel.
Housekeeping
 Extra facilities in the room such as blankets, pillows and towels, baby
goods, even an extra bed
 Unlock connecting doors
 Extra service of a room
Room Service
 Arrange for food or beverage orders to be delivered to the room
Maintenance
 To fix any faults in the room, for example; light bulb on the bedside lamp
is broken or air conditioning isn't working properly
• Restaurants, Bars and other outlets
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 Make reservations for the hotel guests

 Report any food allergies or special requests.

Module 3.5-1
Perform check-out functions

Learning Objectives:
After reading this information sheet, you should be able to:
1. Review and check departure list for accuracy; and

2. Act upon courteously or refer to the appropriate department for follow-up

guest requests assistance with departure.

Maintain and prepare guest accounts

Introduction
Communication is vital in many aspects of hospitality work.
It is essential between staff and guests, and between staff within the
organization.
At reception it is important for staff to communicate with other departments to
make sure that all legitimate charges that can be applied to a guest account
are identified and accurately posted to the relevant account/folio.

Seeking information on departing guests

The reception staff may need to gather information from other departments,
before processing a check-out.
Where an effective computerized system is being used, this may not need to
occur as the system will automatically post charges to the guest folio from

remote locations as charges are incurred. Communication may need to occur to

organize supporting documentation for these charges.
However, this usually only happens where there is a dispute, as all supporting
documentation is traditionally forwarded at set times throughout the day
rather than ‘on request’ or after every transaction purchase.
The ‘guest folio’ is simply another name for the bill. Every guest has at least
one folio and quite often more, depending on how the guest wishes the charges
to be distributed. This is called ‘splitting’ the bill. If you have a PMS, you can
print out a guest folio otherwise you will have to type it. Either way, your
property will have pre-printed forms for guest folios.
The guest folio/s will show the name of the guest, room number and the arrival
and departure dates. A guest may ask to see his/her account at any time, so
charges are usually ‘posted’ to the folio when they occur e.g. a room service
charge will be posted to the guest account as soon as the guest has authorized
the charge by signing the account.

The departments you may need to obtain information from may include:
• Food and Beverage Department – the guest may have just had breakfast and
is now checking-out
• Housekeeping Department – to identify any late mini-bar charges.

In some cases, if there was an in-house function, it is important to make sure

that all the function charges are posted on the guest’s account.
Charges may include hire fees for projectors, lecterns and speakers, as well as
charges for food and beverage supplied.

Remember, some establishments use an in-house computerized system to

notify and post charges, whereas other premises will use a paper-based, signed
docket system to support manual posting of charges to guest accounts.
It is always preferable to have copies of signed, supporting documentation at
reception when the guest checks out to assist in clarifying any queries that
may be made.

Checking for accuracy

A standard practice should be to check the supporting documentation against
the actual posted charges to verify that the charges levied are complete and
accurate.
Of course, we never want to charge a guest for a product or service they didn’t
receive.
Similarly, we also want to make sure we don’t allow the guest to depart without
paying for any legitimate charge that applies to their stay.
When making these checks, it should also be standard practice to match
supporting documentation with charges. If there is a charge that has no
supporting documentation, you should initiate action to obtain that paperwork.
Other checks may include:
• Making sure calculations on the dockets are correct – especially where these
have been calculated by manually
• Making sure the signature and name on the docket relates to the person
shown as occupying the room to which the charge applies
• Verifying the signature on the dockets against the signature provided by the
guest at check in.

Prepare and review departures lists

Introduction
The departure list provides the front office with a lisiting of all guests expected
to depart on the day. Reception needs to constantly review this list to make
changes and communicate these changes to other departments. However, not
all guests on the list depart, some guests depart before their due date (they are
not on the list) while others request extensions. That is why reception have to
constantly review the departures list.

Review departures list

A departure list for the day will be generated either early in the morning or
overnight by the night audit team. Check the report for:
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Early departures
Where guests depart at a premature date, this means that a room becomes
available for resale earlier than expected.
Housekeeping should be notified to service the room as soon as possible so it
can be placed back on the rack/board for sale.

Other issues
Other aspects associated with reviewing departure lists include checking
documentation to ensure a speedy and efficient check-out.

Issues to check could include:

Ensuring that company faxes are attached to the Registration Card where it is
a company booking.

Checking to see if guest has exceeded the Floor Limit for credit card payment
and obtaining appropriate authorization where necessary.
Gathering charges for posting to the guest folio from other departments.
Present accounts to guests
Introduction
Preparing a guest account is an important part of the guest stay/guest cycle.
Timing and accuracy are the two most important points in relation to the guest
account.
The guest account should be ready for the guest when they are ready to pay
and depart.
They shouldn’t be kept waiting while their account is prepared. This is a
common
complaint from guests.
The account must accurately reflect the guest’s stay and not include
unexpected or unexplained additional charges or charges that should have
been posted to another account, room or guest.

Generating guest accounts

The customer service component
Often, when a guest departs, the final contact they have is with the front office
staff. This maybe you as a receptionist or a dedicated cashier who performs the
check-outs, presents the accounts and accepts payment.
It is of the utmost importance that this final contact be courteous, professional
and positive. In some cases, the nature of this contact can determine whether
or not the guest decides to return, or decides to stay at other properties.
Remember that during this contact, we are giving the guest nothing, and we
are taking money off them!
Also, the money they are paying – and it will always seem like quite a lot of
money to them – is for nothing tangible.

The guests are leaving the establishment with nothing. They may have had a
room for the night, eaten dinner, had a few drinks, but they really have nothing
tangible to show for the money they have just spent.
It needs stressing, therefore, that a very high level of service is required at this
point.

There is likely to be a standard general procedure for handling a guest check-

out but it is important for reception staff to adhere to individual establishment
policies on such procedures.
The importance of accuracy when making up a guest's account cannot be
stressed too highly: an error that is in the venue’s favor will always be
misinterpreted as an attempt at ripping the guest off.

Presenting the account

The moment you identify a guest about to check-out you should immediately
acknowledge them and not wait for them to make the first approach.
The greeting should be as mentioned before:
• Professional
• Personable
• Welcoming
• Sincere
• Polite
• Friendly.
The greeting must contain:
• The guest’s name or title, if appropriate
• An offer of assistance – “Good morning, Mr Wiseman. Are you checking out?”

Ask the guest for their details

• Name and room number – and confirm information on the charts or in the
computer:
number of nights, type of room, and rate quoted.

Ask the guest if they had any other charges

• Did they use the mini-bar last night, or on the morning of their departure?
This would not be recorded from the previous day, because the mini-bar
attendant can finish work as late as 5:00pm and charges after this time may
not have been entered on to the guest’s account.
If the guest did have items from the mini-bar, a docket needs to be raised and
the amount and room number entered so the charge can be posted to the
guest’s account.
• Did they have breakfasted this morning? - if breakfast is not included in their
rate.
A hotel with a PMS and point of sale system won't have to ask this question
but a hotel without it will need to contact the outlet where the guest consumed
their breakfast and obtain details of the charge and add this to the guest’s
account.
Finally, the folio/account is printed
• Present to the guest for verification and signature/payment.

Safe deposit boxes

• If your hotel doesn’t have in-room safes during account payment it is good
customer relations to ask the guest if they have used the safety deposit box in
their room and if they have, did they remember to clear it out.

Other duties
When the account has been finalized and the guest has departed, it is standard
practice to check the date of departure. Where the date of departure is earlier
than anticipated, this is called an Early Check Out and while no charge
applies, the housekeeping department will need to be advised that the room is
now a Check-out room and not a Stay room.
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This means Housekeeping can clean the room in preparation for the next
arrival.

Explain the accounts

When the account is presented to the guest there may be a need to assist the
guest with explaining the charges.
Many guests simply pay the identified amount without question, but some can
go through the account with a fine-tooth comb.
It is important that you do not indicate your displeasure with any guest who
either check out or queries their account. They have a right to do this and your
job is to convince them that the account is honest and accurate.
We don’t want a poor customer relations exercise at check-out to spoil an
otherwise perfect stay.
It is important to remember that check-out time is usually 7:00am – 9:00am
and the reception can be very busy. There can be lots of people queuing to
check-out, all eager to get going: these people can become quickly annoyed at
being delayed by check-out problems.
This means you can often be under pressure not only from a guest who is
querying/ or disputing their account but also from others waiting in line. It can
be a pretty stressful situation on some occasions!

Explain account clearly

Part of your role is to explain the account courteously to the guest, and to
process (that is, accept payment for) the account accurately.
The account is presented to the guest for payment and, providing the guest
accepts all charges and no adjustments need to be made, the guest receives a
copy for their record, and another copy remains with the cashier for balancing
purposes at the end of their shift.
The account may be presented in an envelope or a folder. Follow house
practices in this regard. Some establishments simply hand the guest the final
folio print out without any folder.

Some establishments use a code system for charges and guests may
occasionally require your help in interpreting these abbreviations, codes or
symbols, even where a legend appears at the bottom of the account.
In other instances, there may be legitimate charges entered on to the account
that the guest did not expect such as late check outs, newspapers (that they
may have thought were provided free-of-charge). These too need to be explained
and the rationale for their inclusion made clear.
It is common for cashiers and reception staff to have some discretionary
powers when it comes to resolving disputes over accounts. This discretionary
power may be a dollar amount up to which you can use your own judgement
as to whether a charge should be dropped.
In all cases follow house policy in relation to using this discretionary power.
Such powers allow reception staff to, for example, drop the charge for a
newspaper, where the guest is adamant that they did not order or receive one,
or were specifically advised by another staff member when they made their
booking that newspapers were provided as part of the room rate.
The ability of reception staff to make such decisions will speed up check-out
and create better guest relations both with the guest who has the issue and
with all guests who are waiting to be processed.

Process payments and refunds and issue receipts

Introduction

The method of processing payments will vary between establishments. It is

advisable that those holding the role of processing payments refer to their
establishment’s policies and procedures on such matters.
The Front Office is where you process guest arrivals and departures. Both of
these require you to process financial transactions or undertake cashiering
tasks. Other financial transactions that you will be required to perform include:
• Posting charges to guest accounts (processing guest accounts)
• Signing-in for your cash float and controlling cash in and out of the cash
drawer/till
• Processing receipts, payments and non-cash transactions.
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Process payments
Take particular note of the method of payment and ask the guest if that
particular method is still the preferred method of payment. For example:

"Mr Collins do you still want to pay with your VISA card?"

In some cases, the guest might want to get rid of any extra local currency they
have and request to pay some by cash and the rest on Visa. Or they may have
had a great holiday and already spent up to the credit limit on their account so
they will pay by another means.
You might have to ask the guest for a copy of the credit card again to process
the payment. Process the credit card payment according to the hotel policies
and procedures.
Guests may dispute items or amounts that have been posted to the account,
such as food and/or beverage charges. Reference to the charge voucher may be
necessary to resolve the dispute.

In cases where a guest disputes the room rate, a supervisor or manager will
need to be called to resolve the dispute.
In cases where there are disputes, the cashier must be able to resolve them
courteously and tactfully, and as quickly as possible.
If a guest does not have any items of dispute, the account can be settled.
Process the method of payment and hand the original of the account to the
guest.
Acceptable methods of payment:
• Credit cards
• Direct Billing/Company Charge
• Cash
• Vouchers
• Traveller’s cheque or travel cards.
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http://www.visa-asia.com/ap/au/index.shtml
http://www.americanexpress.com

Exchange foreign currency

Guests may wish to change their cash into local currency or back to their own
currency and many hotels, particularly the larger ones, will provide this
service. Make sure that you are able to direct guests to the nearest bank
and/or foreign exchange bureau if your property does not offer this service.
Exchange foreign currency according to property procedures and guidelines.
For
example:
• Make sure you know which currencies your property will exchange
• Confirm exchange rate (cash, traveller’s cheque)
• Tell your guest what the hotel exchange rate is (some hotels will use a foreign
exchange docket which shows details of the exchange rate and calculates how
much the guest will receive for his foreign cash. This docket is signed by the
guest to indicate that he agrees to the amount of the transaction
• Collect foreign currency from guest
• Give guest correct amount of cash.

Receipt of payment
You should remember that when a payment has been made, a receipt for that
payment has to be issued. The method an establishment uses for the recording
of guest accounts determines the kind of receipt that will be issued.
Usually when a guest checks out a new printout of the guest folio/account is
given to the guests as a receipt, these folios are usually in duplicate so the
cashier has a copy and so does the guest. Some hotels have personalized hotel
folders to be used to present the guest a copy of their account

Obtaining the room key

Most guests will voluntarily hand over their room key/card but where they
don’t there is a need for you to ask for it.
Replacing lost keys/cards is an expense for the property that can easily be
overcome simply by ensuring that all keys/cards are collected from guests
when they check-out.
It is part of your job to recover the room key/card from the guest. Where a
cashier handles check-out and account processing, this responsibility will be
theirs.
Should the guest not have their key/card, the procedure the establishment
takes will depend on how strict they are on such matters.
If the key is a normal key, the porter may be sent to the room to retrieve the
key as often guests intentionally leave keys in the room believing they are doing
the right thing.
If the key is of the card variety, it may not be considered a problem. When the
room is ready for a new guest, the plastic key will be reprogrammed and the old
one becomes obsolete anyway as they will not be able to open the room.
Most, if not all room keys, have a relatively large tag attached to them for the
special purpose of making it harder for the guests to forget about their room
key.
If they do forget about them, most tags carry written advice asking the guest to
simply drop the key into a post box and the establishment will pay any
expenses involved in the return of the key.
When guests hand over their key/card makes sure you thank them for doing
this.

Processing keys/cards
Processing keys may involve returning the key to a key safe, or hanging it on
the hook for the designated room number.
Processing cards may involve returning the card to a box so that it can be re-
programmed for the next guest.
Where a key is identified as being lost, internal documents may need to be
completed to enable a new key to be obtained and/or to have the lock on that
room replaced.

Where a key card is lost, there is usually no special follow-up required as the
room will automatically be rendered safe through the re-programming of
another card. Attention must, of course, be paid to ensuring that there are
always ‘sufficient’ cards in stock behind reception to cater for expected arrivals
plus allow for a percentage of ‘lost’ cards.

Farewelling the guest

The final stage of the service cycle is just as important as the first since it will
leave a lasting impression on guests. Along with a welcoming smile and a
pleasant greeting,
guests need to feel that they would be welcomed back. By acknowledging the
guest and offering a meaningful smile as they leave, the guest is left with an
impression of friendliness and will be encouraged to return.

The following are basic steps which will assist you in farewelling guests:
• Assist guests with their luggage or arrange for a porter to do so
• Thank the guests for their patronage
• Give the guests time to collect their receipts and belongings without feeling
that you are hurrying them
• Remember to use their name in the farewell greeting
• Offer guests a smile as they leave.

Process express check-outs

Introduction
Not all premises offer Express Checkout.
It is more common in large establishments, especially those that cater for
business people who don’t want to be delayed at check-out.

Processing express check-outs

Express check-out provides extra service for the guest. Where this service is
offered, a couple of systems may apply.
The guest who wishes an Express Checkout may need to request this service.
When they do they receive an Express Check-Out form from reception they are
asked to complete all relevant details.
Alternatively, these forms may be provided in-room near the telephone or in the
in-room compendium.
An Express Checkout means that when departing the guest doesn’t need to
wait at reception.
They simply need to hand in the Express Checkout form at reception and the
business will charge their credit card or send the account to the company for
payment. The day prior to a guest’s departure an express check-out form is
signed by the guest. The Front Office cashier checks the signature against the
credit card imprint or guest registration form, obtained at registration and held
on the guest’s file. There is a clause in most Express Checkout forms stating
that the guest authorizes the establishment to action the above process.
In many establishments the Express Checkout process is facilitated using the
in-room television. The hotel is able to put the guest account up on the screen
so the guests can check their accounts before they proceed with the express
checkout.
Premises that offer this service will usually also have a ‘Key/Card Drop’ slot
near reception so that Express Checkout departing guests can return their
key/card.
No charge applies to guests for availing themselves of this service, and those
who use the service tend to value it quite highly as it means they can better
plan their day and don’t risk missing an important meeting, missing a flight or
getting caught in traffic jams to the airport.

Process group check-outs

Introduction
Group check-outs are potentially problematic for reception as it can mean
loads of guests and all their luggage clogging up the front office area.

For these reasons, most establishments plan the departure of groups and have
special procedures that apply, in the same way that special procedures applied
to their check-in.
Remember to find out what group check-out procedures apply where you work
and make sure you follow those.
High on the list of what to do is planning and coordination between staff. The
primary idea is to handle the group as a group and not as, for example, a
hundred or more individuals who are all checking out at the one time.

Group check-outs
The Master Account (or Master Folio as it is also known) is a list of the group’s
identical charges to be settled by the tour leader on check-out. Identical
charges can include accommodation, breakfast and any other charges that
were standard across the entire group as negotiated when the booking was
taken. On the due departure date, the cashier must obtain the signature of the
tour leader after the master account has been finalized.
Most groups will have a direct billing arrangement established, and the
property may have even required a large group booking to pre-pay (or at least
forward a significant deposit to secure) their booking. In some cases, the tour
director will bring vouchers to be used in exchange for their stay at the
establishment which the venue will then process for payment.
Where members of the group have incurred additional charges (that is, they
have bought items that were not covered as part of their ‘package’) such as
laundry or bar charges, an individual account would be created called an
‘Extras Account’.
These extras are paid for by the guests themselves. All individual accounts may
be finalized via express check-out or individuals may have to settle their
accounts at the front office. These individual accounts may be finalized the
evening prior to check-out or at the time of checkout. Check with the guest for
any further charges which need to be added to the account, such as breakfast,
in-room fridge and/or newspapers. Finalize the account and hand a copy to the
guest for checking before processing the payment.

The group leader will normally collect all room keys/cards and present them to
reception.
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While the keys/cards are being returned to you and the accounts are being
processed, the porters will load the luggage on to the coach and the group will
depart.
Group luggage
When handling group luggage, porters will usually have obtained a guest list
from Reception and made-up luggage tags well in advance.
This saves time and confusion.
The porter will:
• Count all the pieces of luggage
• Make a note on the group record
• Deliver the luggage to the transport vehicle following the instructions of the
tour group coordinator.
If group baggage is to be stored for any length of time netting or roping bags
together to avoid confusion with other groups’ bags is a security precaution
that may be used. This ensures all baggage is together and helps avoid loss or
theft.
Any missing baggage must be reported immediately to management.

Distribute departures list as required

Introduction
Departure lists are printed out and distributed to various departments to assist
the hotel to process a smooth check-out for the guests.
Departure lists
The following departments require departure lists to assist with the check-out
process.
• Housekeeping
The departure list is used to allocate checkout service rooms to the
housekeeping staff
The time of the guest departure could also help with having the room serviced
and available for resale

• Concierge and Porters

The departure list is used for staffing purposes. High check-out days,
especially if groups and tours are involved, need to be identified as more staff is
required
Time to departure is also important
High check-out days means the hotel has to have plenty of taxis or airport
transfer buses available
• Security
VIP or high-profile guests need security to be present at the time of departure
just to make sure everything runs smoothly

• Management
Various levels of management like to peruse the departures list to see who is
checking out on a particular day. Some managers may come and farewell
particular guests
• Maintenance
Departure lists help the maintenance department as they may need to have
certain rooms placed out-of-order and need to know when they are available.

Assist guest with on departure requests

Introduction
Reception staff are responsible for acting on guest requests for assistance on
their departure.
In some instances, reception staff will offer to help themselves, while on other
occasions, assistance will be provided via another department, but organized
through reception.
In all instances, the help that is provided must be delivered with courtesy.

Recording forwarding address

In some situations, a departing guest may ask you to record their forwarding
address.
This is common for some business people and for international tourists who
are touring the country.
Where this is requested, it usually reflects the fact that they were expecting
letters that have not yet arrived. It should be standard practice when such a
request is made to immediately check to see if the expected letter, fax or e-mail
has arrived but not been passed on.
The following procedure where the guest wants to leave a forwarding address is:
• Note down the address as stated by the guest
• Record it as appropriate for the system used at reception. This can mean
filing the address in a specific file or adding the address to a guest file within
the computerized system
• When any letter, fax or e-mail arrives for a guest who is not currently shown
as in-house, these files (as well as the Arrivals File) should be checked and the
correspondence forwarded as appropriate. Simply re-addressing the envelope
or forwarding an e-mail may suffice
• If the expected item is a parcel, house rules regarding payment for forwarding
such items must apply. This commonly involves advising the guest that costs
for sending the parcel will be charged to their credit card on a cost recovery
basis.

Provide lost and found services

When attending to guestrooms, staff might come across personal property of
guests who have checked out. Just because a guest has departed, does not
mean the person deliberately left these items behind, so every effort must be
taken to keep the items safe for the guest to claim.
Lost property can be defined as all the items left in check-out rooms and that
do not belong to the establishment. Common items that are left include
watches, jeweler, books, small address books, wallets, cameras, and duty-free
shopping items. Some of these items have a greater monetary value than
others. To safeguard your own reputation, those items that are of a greater
value – cameras, jewelry, wallets or their important items e.g., airline tickets,

bus/coach tickets, or theatre tickets, should be reported to your supervisor

immediately.
Baggage may be lost prior to a guest’s arrival or within a property. In either
case,
Reception may be called upon to assist in finding it. Your property will have set
procedures for locating lost bags and recording and holding lost property.
Lost property is usually taken to the housekeeping office where each item is
labelled with the following information:
• Date found
• Room number – or other location as appropriate (corridor, guest laundry etc.)
• Exact location in room where item was found – ‘under the bed’, ‘in the
bathroom’
• Description of item – such as ‘Gent’s briefcase, brown, locked, Avion brand’,
‘ladies
Seiko watch, gold with leather strap’
• Name of person who found the item
• Date item was returned to the owner - after item has been claimed or sent to
the rightful owner.
Only items that are going to be stored for a short time may be kept in the
housekeeping office. All other items, especially items of value, must be stored
in a securely locked area.
The Housekeeper will keep a log on what happens to each item, e.g. whether
the items are returned to the guest by mail, picked up personally, are to be
given to charity etc.
Where property is found in a guest room by the housekeeping staff – or handed
in to Reception by other guests – it is Reception who are responsible for
handling the lost and found/lost property paperwork.
Lost and Found items are traditionally kept in the housekeeping department.
However, some establishments will have a Lost and Found register at Reception
to trace the articles left behind while other establishments will direct all lost
property queries through to the housekeeping department.

Generally, lost property is kept for three months. However, during that time,
the
establishment may attempt to contact the owner, especially if the item appears
valuable and/or of the guest is a regular.
Where a forwarding address and/or phone number is available, the guest is
contacted and asked if they would like the item returned.
The guest may be asked to forward postage before the item is sent.
A ‘With Compliments’ letter generally accompanies the return of the item and a
copy of this letter should be filed in the lost property correspondence file.
Some items that have not been claimed within a three-month period, after all
channels to contact the owner have been exhausted, will be given back to the
finder or handed to police depending on the value of the item and what it is.
Lost property should never be taken off the premises without the correct
authorization.
You cannot assume that an item is yours simply because you found it and the
owner has departed.
Calling a taxi
In most establishments, if there isn’t a taxi stand there may be a direct line to
a taxi company.
As an alternative, you may book a taxi for a guest. This is often done under a
room number, rather than a name, as this number is used as a reference by
the taxi driver and can be a lot easier to remember than a surname.
Where a taxi stand is available, a porter or concierge may summon the next
cab off the rank to transport the guests. The taxi driver and/or porters should
load guest luggage into the taxi. The guests should not be expected to do this
themselves.
Making a booking at another establishment
On occasions departing guests may ask your advice about where to stay, or
obtaining a reservation, at their next destination. Try and sell your own
company if you have a property in the next destination. If not, this is an
excellent opportunity to provide customer service and also a selling opportunity
as the property will usually gain a commission when making a reservation on
behalf of the guests.

To accommodate guest needs you will need to:

• Identify their destination
• Determine the style and quality of establishment they wish to stay in
• Find out if they have a preference as to the hotel they want to stay with
• Use your industry knowledge coupled with information available (such as
details available through brochures, guides and the electronic information
contained within a CRS)
• Advise the guest of their available options and gain agreement as to their
preferred option
• Contact the hotel – usually by telephone – and make enquiries, lodging the
booking where suitable accommodation is available
• Obtain a booking number for the reservation and, if agreed by the guest,
guarantee the booking
• Pass the details of the booking in hard copy form on to the guest
• Thank the guest for their booking.

When the guest has departed, follow internal procedures to ensure that your
property records the booking and will receive the commission to which they are
entitled.
In some establishments, a forward booking may be the role of the concierge so
identify what applies where you work and adhere to that.

Organize a porter to take luggage

Some guests will ring from their room to organize a porter’s service at a specific
time: advice regarding this is usually contained within the in-room
compendium.
When the guest has notified Reception about their need for porter assistance,
you will need to pass this on to a porter advising them of:
• Guest name/s – which will also indicate the number of guests whose luggage
needs to be moved

• The amount of luggage – you should ask the departing guest how many bags
they have
• Room number.
Any special details that apply such as whether the departure needs to be done
immediately or if any other time limits apply.
The porter will then take a trolley, go to the guest room, and stack the trolley
with then luggage doing a check to ensure the guest hasn’t left behind any of
their belongings.
Where the amount of luggage or number of departing guests is ‘large’, several
porters may work together to affect this process.
Porters may also be required to pick up guest luggage from the reception area
and transport it to a car boot, taxi or coach.

TASK SHEET 3.6-1

Title: PROCESS GUEST CHECK-OUT

Performance objective/s:
The objective of the checkout process is to process the guest’s request
for settlement of his or her account as quickly and efﬁciently as possible.
The lodging establishment also wants to maintain a quality-control
system for both the guest and the hotel: posting errors can mean
erroneous charges for the guest and lost money for the lodging
establishment.

Instruction:

Prepare a dialogue to process a guest checkout.

Equipment:
Computer

Tools/Supplies:
FO forms

Time Allotment:
Practice until you can complete the task within 20 minutes

Steps/ Procedure

The guest checkout involves the following steps:

1. Guest requests checkout.

2. Desk clerk inquiries about quality of products and services.

3. Guest returns key to desk clerk.

4. Desk clerk retrieves hard copy of electronic folio.

5. Desk clerk reviews folio for completeness.

6. Guest reviews charges and payments.

7. Guest determines method of payment.

8. Guest makes payment.

9. Desk clerk inquiries about additional reservations.

10. Desk clerk ﬁles folio and related documents for the night
audit.

11. Desk clerk communicates guest departure to housekeeping

and other departments in the hotel if necessary.

Assessment Method: Role-play / Demonstration

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA CHECKLIST

TASK SHEET 3.6-1
PROCESS GUEST CHECK OUT
Trainee: _______________________________________ Date: _____________________
CRITERIA YES
did … NO
1. The guest requested for checkout?
2. The Desk clerk inquire about quality of products and
services?
3. The guest returned key to desk clerk?
4. The Desk clerk retrieved hard copy of electronic folio?
5. The Desk clerk reviewed folio for completeness?
6. The Guest reviewed charges and payments?
7. The guest determined method of payment?
8. The guest made payment?
9. The Desk clerk inquired about additional reservations?
10. The Desk clerk ﬁled folio and related documents for
the night audit?
11. The Desk clerk communicated guest departure to
housekeeping and other departments in the hotel if

necessary?

Comments/Suggestions
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Trainer’s Signature: _________________________ Date:

Module 3.6-1
Prepare Front Office Records and Reports

Learning Objectives:
After reading this information sheet, you should be able to:
1. prepare and update front office records within designated timelines.

Prepare front office records and reports

I. Prepare and update front office records

Introduction
It is Reception’s responsibility to prepare and update front office records within
designated timelines.

Exactly what these timelines are will vary depending on the levels of trade and
the type of record.
Accuracy and timeliness are critical to this aspect of the job.

Prepare and update front office records

Some records may be required to be updated at specific times each day, while
other records will need to be updated as you become aware of information
For example, if a guest has made a booking to arrive on the 6th of June and
depart on the 9th of June, and then calls a few days later to change their
booking to arrive on the 7th and depart on the 10th of June, the establishment
would need to update all paper-based and/or computer-based records to reflect
this.
In addition, room availability for the revised dates would need to be checked
before the alteration was accepted.
Changes to records may include:
• Updating the Room Availability boards/Charts – or PMS/electronic equivalent
• Updating Room Allocation sheets (depending on when the call to alter the
booking was made) – or PMS/electronic equivalent
• Updating the Bookings Diary – or PMS/electronic equivalent.
Where guests request certain other services such as:
• Room changes
• Early departure
• Early arrival
• Upgrade

All house policies and procedures must be followed to accurately reflect the
revised position of guests in the establishment. This may mean adjusting
paper-based forms or computerized records by:
• Altering room number/s
• Updating room rate
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• Amending room type, where appropriate

• Modifying departure dates/times
• Updating room availability – if the guest has changed room type
• Where appropriate, of course, relevant legitimate charges (for upgrades, late
check-out etc.) must also be posted to the guest’s account.
Where guests are No Shows or Cancellations, enterprise policies must again be
observed with Room Availability, Room Allocation, any prepared folios, pre-
registered cards etc. being updated.
The Accounts department must also be prepared to recover any legitimate
charges and/or refund any money the guest is entitled to receive.
Guest History needs to be updated after the guest has stayed at your hotel. The
PMS will automatically record the length of stay, room type, rate paid and even
a record of expenditure by the guest. In non-computerized hotels the guest
history will have to be manually updated by recording the lastest visit details
on to the guest history card.

II. Generate internal reports as required

Introduction
In most establishments, the compiling of reservation statistics and the
production of reports and records occurs during the night shift – between
11:00pm and 7:30am – because this is traditionally the quietest period.
Some establishments print many reports which are distributed to numerous
departments, and some properties produce a lot less for more limited
distribution.
The reports, records and statistics give managers an overview of trade, enable
them to track progress, analyze their performance, plan for future events and
needs, and identify trends.
Internal Reports
There are many reservation reports and records (also known as statistics
and/or statistical analysis) that are produced. These can include:
• Arrivals Report/Arrivals List
This is an alphabetical listing of guests arriving on a specific day.
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• Departures Report/Departures List

This is an alphabetical listing of guests departing on a specific day.
• No Show Report
This is a list of guests who have made a booking but did not show on the day.
• Room Status Report
This is a list giving the status of every guest room – vacant clean/room ready,
vacant dirty, occupied or out of order.
• Special Requests Report
This is a list of guests requesting something special in their room prior to their
arrival – cot, champagne, fruit basket.
• Occupancy Forecast Report
This is usually printed for a month (the next 30 days).
Used as an indication of the occupancy percentage expected for the next
month.
This forecast will change according to additional bookings and cancellations.
• Average Room Rates Report
This indicates total room revenue in one day divided by the number of rooms
occupied (paid and complimentary) to establish the average room rate.
• Multiple or Double Room Occupancy Report
This report specifies how many rooms in the establishment had more than one
guest in the room.
• Guest List by Name Report
This is an alphabetical list of all ‘in-house’ guests.
• Guest List by Room Report
This is a list of all occupied rooms – starting from the lowest room number to
the highest, followed by a guest name.
• Travel Agents' Commission Report
Travel agents are usually entitled to a 10% commission (or some other
negotiated percentage) on all accommodation bookings made via their agency.
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This report outlines the amounts the establishment owes to a specific travel
agent.
Failure to pay the correct commission and pay it promptly may result in that
agency referring people to another property.
• Special Packages Report
This report details how many packages – and what sort – the establishment
has sold for a specific period.
• Market Segment Report
This report displays what market the establishment is attracting, such as
corporate, industry, family, coach, group etc.
• Rooms Out of Order Report
This report lists all rooms that are out of order, the reason for their being ‘off
the board’ and the duration the room will remain in this status.
• Daily Room Revenue Summary Report
This report lists the total room revenue for a specific day
• Daily Revenue Summary Report
This report outlines establishment revenue for a specific day broken down into
departments such as food and beverage, accommodation, functions, room
service, etc.
• Weekly Trading Summary Report
This report outlines the total establishment revenue based on a weekly period,
and may compare it to the same week last year.
• Monthly Trading Summary
This report outlines the total establishment revenue based on a monthly
period, and may compare it to the same month last year.
• Year-to-Date Report
This report lists cumulative establishment revenue for a 12-month period.
• In-house Activity Report
This is a comprehensive report outlining:
Rooms occupied
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Expected departures
Expected stayovers
Expected arrivals
Walk-ins
No shows
Rooms available
Occupancy %
F.O.C. (Free of Charge) rooms
Out of order rooms
Single occupancy rooms
Multiple occupancy rooms.
• Special reports to address problems such as out-of-order rooms reports, Cash
only report, black list report.

III. Facilitate night audit activities

Introduction
Night auditing is a control procedure which is undertaken on a regular basis to
ensure accuracy of guest and non-guest accounts. It is also called the ‘end-of-
day close’ or ‘end-of-day processing’.
The transactions and records you deal with may relate to arrivals and
departures, food and beverage, mini-bar, laundry and other services, inter-
departmental vouchers, foreign currency activities and all types of payment.
Night auditors identify and rectify discrepancies which may relate to incorrect
posting, errors in guest folios, computer errors and errors in source
documentation. This work will impact on a number of financial systems
including petty cash, floats, debtor control and banking procedures.
The activities of the night auditor relate to the preparation of reports which
may relate to occupancy, sales performance, break up by department,
commission earnings, supplier activity, sales returns, commercial account
activity and foreign currency activities.

Features of night audit

• A process undertaken daily in large establishments or weekly in smaller
operations
• Undertaken during the 2300hrs - 0700hrs shift of front office when all of the
majority of outlets in the establishment have closed
• Cannot be conducted while charges are still being made by guests using the
facilities
• Has a set time for finalizing departmental charges for night audit purposes.

Purpose of night audit

• Make sure guest accounts are accurate
• Make sure departmental charges are accurate
• Provide information on the financial activity of each department
• Provide statistics on the financial activity of the establishment
• Provide statistics on the financial activity of guests.
Allow management to assess performance in relation to operational goals.
As a result of the night audit process, the management of an establishment
can monitor the activity of departments on a daily basis and not have to wait
until the end of a financial period. This allows a quick response to potential
problems or losses and provides accurate information on which to base
business decisions.

Preparing daily records and reports

Part of a night auditor’s duties is to prepare operational reports of an
informative and statistical nature. These are used by both staff and
management in the daily running of the establishment.
When compiling reports the night auditor will perform a number of simple,
basic
calculations using standard industry formulas to produce the statistics
required.

The basic statistics used include:

• Occupancy Percentage
• Double or Multiple Room Occupancy
• Average Room Rate
• Average Rate per Guest.
Where there is a computerized system many of these statistics will be
calculated
automatically.

References:
Ismail, A. “Front Office: Management and Operations”. Singapore:
Cengage Learning Asia Pte. Ltd., 2010

Juhász, L. “Hotel Operations Management Glossary”. Hungary: Hotel

Roldan, A. “Introduction to Hotel and Front Office Operations”.

Firdaus, A. “Front Office Terminology”. Indonesia. Manila, Philippines: AR Skills
Development and Management Services, Inc., 2008
ASEAN 2013 Trainee Manual Provide accommodation reception services

Internet sources:

https://hotelterminology.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/front-officeterminology/
(accessed January 10, 2017)
Asian Nations (ASEAN), 2013.
https://s3-ap-southeast1.amazonaws.com/aseanAsia/documents/toolboxes
(Accessed April 5, 2019)
http://www.rundlestone.com/roomssuites/kitchenette-jacuzzi-suites/ (accessed
March 30, 2017)

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