Special Concerns

A casual observer might think that handling hotel reservations is a rather simple, mechanical, and routine job. However, the job is not as simple as it first appears. The ideal situation, of course, is to have every room booked and every reservation honored. No hotel can hope to have all of its rooms filled every night of the year, but, when the business is available, it is uneconomical to have any rooms vacant. It is often said that there is no commodity more perishable than a hotel room. If the room is not sold on a specific night, that sale is lost forever.

On any given day, when all available rooms are reserved, a hotel is 100 per­cent booked. Experience tells us, however, that invariably there are last-minute cancellations, no-shows, and early check-outs. How does a hotel protect itself from being left with vacant rooms for which a demand existed? The usual answer is to consider the number of rooms likely to be available for sale based on previous records and reliable estimates. The more accurately a hotel can estimate the number of rooms actually for sale, the less likely it will be that service problems will occur.

For example, suppose a hotel knows that, on the average, it has about 5 percent no-shows, about 8 percent cancellations, and an overstay rate of about 5 percent (5 percent of current guests will decide to stay longer than the agreed-upon check-out date). During a period of full occupancy, the hotel may choose to accept reservations in excess of actual rooms by 8 percent (5 percent no-shows 4- 8 percent cancellations - 5 percent overstays).

If these percentages were always accurate, problems would seldom arise. But there are times when things go wrong; no one cancels, or all room reservations are honored, or inclement weather grounds all outgoing planes, greatly increasing the number of overstays. In such a situation, every room may be occupied, and other guests with confirmed reservations may be asking for rooms that simply are not available.

When this occurs, all the front desk agent can do is handle the guest in the most courteous manner and assist him or her in finding accommodations elsewhere. This is called walking a guest. Unfortunately, all the guest really understands is that, even with a confirmed reservation, no room was available. These situations can easily lose customers for a hotel.

III. Detailed comprehension

Answer the questions:

1. How can hotels maintain profitability?

2. What is the purpose of processing reservations?

3. What types of reservations do you know?

4. Characterize guaranteed reservations?

5. Who is no-show?

6. What are the main types of guaranteed reservations?

7. What is the difference between guaranteed and non-guaranteed reservations?

8. Who is walk-in guest?

9. What do you know about / have you learned from the text about confirmed reservations?

IV. ACTIVITIES

1. Find out what are the most widely used reservation systems nowadays .

2. Analyze how a hotel can use different types of reservations to maximize the occupancy rate.

3. What type of reservation do you usually use?