Exercise 4. The word in capitals at the end of each sentence can be used to form a word that fits suitably in the blank space. (See example):

Customers usually make a phone call or send a fax to make a reservation.	RESERVE
1. I am not sure of the exact dates yet so I’d like to make a … booking for the 24th to 28th.	PROVISION
2. They made a booking for twenty people but it isn’t a … booking yet.	CONFIRMATION
3. There are more guests than rooms. I’m afraid the hotel is … .	BOOKING
4. I’m sorry, but there is no … for the honeymoon suite for the period you require.	AVAILABLE
5. The records must have accurate information so the staff should … them regularly.	DATE
6. The customer has been taken ill so we’ve had a … of the booking.	CANCEL
7. There’s no one in room 507 at the moment and room 508 is also … .	OCCUPY
8. Hotels often don’t … specific rooms to specific guests until they arrive.	ALLOCATION
9. One of the first jobs to be done each day is to deal with the … .	CORRESPOND
10. When filling in the reservations form, please make sure that the … are written clearly.	ENTER

Exercise 5. In these conversations customers are making a telephone reservation. Put the lines of the conversation into the correct order and number them in the boxes on the left. For example, 'Barnes Hotel. Good afternoon. Can I help you?' is the first line in each conversation.

Conversation 1

__ 3956 7254 9984 9876. And what's the expiry date?

__ Andrew Orpheo.

__ 4 '99.

_1. Barnes Hotel. Good afternoon. Can I help you?

__ By Visa.

__ Can you give me the number?

__ Certainly. O-R-P-H-E-O.

__ Could you spell your surname?

__ So that's a single room with bathroom for two nights, __ the 16th and 17th of June.

__ Good. Could you give me your name?

__ Orpheo. And how will you be paying?

__ Thank you very much. We'll look forward to seeing you on the 16th.

__ Thank you.

__ That's correct.

__ The 16th and 17th of June. A single room.

__ What dates would you like to reserve for?

__ With a bathroom?

__ Yes, please.

__ Yes, it's 3956 7254 9984 9876.

Yes. I'd like to make a reservation.

Conversation 2

__ $42.50 a night including breakfast.

_1. Barnes Hotel. Good afternoon. Can I help you?

__ Could I have your name for the reservation?

__ Davies.

__ Double, please.

__ OK. That's fine. We'll be there in half an hour.

__ Single or double?

__ Thank you. Goodbye.

__ Thank you Mr Davies. We'll look forward to seeing you in about half an hour.

__ What are your rates?

__ Yes, do you have any rooms free for tonight?

__ Yes, we do have a couple of rooms.

Exercise 6. Below you will see parts of two letters concerned with booking hotel rooms for a company. Put the correct word or phrase in each blank. Choose from the following list. Use each item once only.

available	meet	reasonable rates	suitable
brochure	pleasure	require	training sessions
full board	provide	requirements	urge
hesitate	quotation	single	without delay

A.

We intend to hold 1. ….. for our sales representatives at the end of May next year and are looking for a hotel which provides 2. ….. facilities.

Our 3. ….. are as follows:

1 room for lectures capable of seating approximately 50 people

5 smaller rooms for seminars capable of seating 10-12 people

50-60 4. ..… rooms with bath.

If you can 5. ….. these facilities, we would be pleased to receive your 6. ….. for 3 nights 7. ….. starting with dinner on Tuesday and finishing with lunch on Friday.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for your letter of 6^th September, inquiring about our conference facilities.

I have enclosed our 8. ….. and price list.

As you will see, we should be able to 9. ….. your requirements at what we consider to be very 10. ….. .

At the moment our rooms are still 11. ….. for the end of May, but I would 12. ….. you to make your reservation 13. ….. as this is a popular time of the year with many companies.

If you 14. ….. any further information, please do not 15. ….. to contact me.

Exercise 7. Read the following statements and say whether they are true or false:

1. All hotels have unified methods of processing reservations.

2. Some types of non-guaranteed reservations are: credit card, advance deposit, travel agent, corporate, in-house voucher.

3. A partial prepayment requires the guest to remit to the property a specified amount prior to the guest’s stay.

4. Travel agent is now used more often by larger travel agencies.

5. A guest arriving without reservation is called a no-show guest.

6. A person with a reservation who does not use a room is called a walk-in guest.

7. Confirmed reservations can be only guaranteed.

8. Hotels may offer some other types of reservations for their own use.

Exercise 8. Use the information below to complete the following flow chart of a guest’s stay at a hotel:

1. allocate room

2. guest departs

3. goes to room

4. pays bill

5. inform departments of arrival

6. open bill

7. pass mail and messages

8. post charges

9. inform departments of departure

10. check registration card

11. check charges and close bill

12. receive room back to re-let

13. registration

14. uses hotel facilities

Exercise 9. Read the text and speak about advantages of guaranteed registration.

Describe a hotel’s cancellation policy.

Reservations systems in need of an update?

American Express was a pioneer of guaranteed reservations when it introduced Assured Reservations 20 years ago. The concept has since become ubiquitous. It is nearly impossible to book a room without using a credit or charge card to guarantee the reservation.

However, the challenge facing lodging companies today is transforming existing reservations policies into a tool that further increases profitability and productivity.

A series of interviews and a new survey from American Express indicate that while guaranteed reservations continue to offer benefits to the lodging industry, further consumer education is required.

A guaranteed reservation does more than remove a room from the vacancy list. It helps hotels predict peaks and valleys in occupancy, adjust prices accordingly, and develop marketing strate­gies. But the most important benefit is that guaranteed reservations reduce no-show costs and no-show frequency.

However, customer education is neces­sary to achieve these results.

While a reservation serves as a contract between hotel and guest, the charge or credit card company with which the reservation is made also is a crucial party to the reservation agreement, and the card issuer can be of great assistance as an educator.

The recent American Express Travel Index shows that while customers usually understand a hotel's reservation policy when booking a room, there is room for improvement. For example:

While 64 percent of consumers say they are "usually" informed of a hotel's cancellation policy at the time of booking, 26 percent say they are not “usually” informed of this policy.

Although 72 percent of consumers say they “normally” get a phone number for cancellation, 23 percent say they are not usually given the number.

Even though 84 percent say they "normally" receive a confirmation number when booking, 10 percent say they do not.

The charge or credit card issuer can be of enormous assistance in this regard. The first priority should be to ed­ucate cardholders of the consequences of not following proper cancellation policy. Secondly, they should push for clear consumer education on the part of lodging merchants. In that way, the guaranteed reservations system works with all parties to decrease the likelihood of no-shows.

A reservation made with assured reservations requires guests observe hotel cancellation policies.

The majority of consumers are aware of this. However, there are occasions when a customer will guarantee a room and fail to cancel when his plans change.

Ex. 10. Read the text and say why handling reservations if such a difficult job.