Types, methods and process of booking in a hotel. Theoretical aspects of the booking process

An efficient booking process ensures better planning, coordination, personnel policy and organization of activities. Since most hotel guests book rooms in advance, booking is an important function performed by the management.

The booking process often includes an important first contact between the client and the hotel. The booking agent must be able to respond quickly and accurately to an accommodation request. That's why paper work, systematization and other clerical procedures should be kept to a minimum. With an efficient organization of work, the booking agent will be able to devote more time and attention to detail and will be able to provide more hotel services when necessary. The effectiveness of the booking process depends on the established procedures for processing orders, updating information, providing information and providing confirmations.

The booking process consists of the following stages: selection of rooms corresponding to the orders from those available; registration, confirmation and fulfillment of pre-orders; and the preparation of administrative reports. Booking information is particularly important for subsequent administrative functions. For example, customer information may be issued based on information obtained during the booking process. However, the most important result of the booking is still the availability of the room at the time of the client's arrival.

The following are typical booking steps:

Booking request;

Determining the availability of rooms;

Pre-order registration;

Booking confirmations;

Fulfillment of an order;

Preparing booking reports.

But before considering these stages, it is necessary to determine the essence of the reservation.

Booking types

Guaranteed Booking

The hotel guarantees the client that the room will be provided at his disposal before the estimated time on the next day after arrival. For its part, the client guarantees payment for the room, even if he does not use it, unless the reservation is canceled in accordance with the cancellation procedure of the hotel. The term "no show" refers to customers who have booked a room but have not used it or canceled the booking. Guaranteed booking protects the hotel's income even in the event of a "no-show". The following guaranteed reservation options are available:

Prepayment. However, payment must be made in full before the day of arrival. From the point of view of the hotel administration, this form of booking is the most desirable.

Credit card. Most credit card companies have developed systems to guarantee payment for reserved rooms that remain unoccupied. If the booking is not canceled before the set time, the hotel will issue an invoice to the customer's credit card and the credit card company will charge the cardholder at a later date. This is the most common way to secure bookings abroad.

An advance payment (or partial prepayment) requires the client to pay a certain amount in advance before arrival. The amount of this contribution is usually 50% of the cost of the room. When settling in an extra bed, payment for the reservation is not made. If groups or individuals are late, in addition to the payment for the reservation, payment will be charged for the actual downtime of the rooms, but not more than one day. If the delay is more than 24 hours, the booking will be cancelled.

Travel agent. With this method of guarantee, in the case of a "know-show", the hotel issues an invoice to the travel agency.

Booking legal entities(or corporate booking). A corporation may sign a contract with a hotel in which it agrees to take financial responsibility for any "know-show" of clients it sponsors. Corporate contracts are often popular in hotels with a large number of temporary residents, as well as individuals.

Non-guaranteed booking

In this case, the hotel will provide the room to the occupant before the set cancellation time, usually 6 o'clock in the evening, on the day of arrival. There is no payment involved. If the client does not arrive before the cancellation time, the hotel may dispose of the room at its discretion; usually this number is included in the list of free numbers. If the client arrives after the cancellation time and the room remains unoccupied, the hotel will provide it to the client.

If the hotel is full, it may be decided to provide rooms only for guaranteed reservations if a certain number of expected arrivals have already been reached. When a hotel is fully occupied, the efficiency of the booking process is especially important.

Booking request

The application for booking can be received personally by phone, by mail. This application usually contains the following information about the intended stay of the client:

the date of arrival;

date of departure (length of stay);

the number of people in the group.

The Agent enters this data into the Booking Book or into the computer. See the Appendix for a sample form No. 7-g.

Booking on computer screen

Booking No.

01 - arrives:

02 - decreasing:

03 - number of rooms:

04 - man

10/6/XX Monday 10/7/XX Tuesday

Confirmed? D

Guaranteed? D

05 - room type: single

06 - number block

07 - room rate: 72.00

09: - company:

10 - address:

11 - city:

12-state:

Tourist, James Mr. "MenuFacturing Capital" 733 Lincoln Blvd.

15 - payment: credit card

16 - card type: U13A

17 - card number: 1234 5678 9098 7654

18 - expiration date: 1 1/XX 1 9 - aura count

14 - phone:

20 - group:

21 - travel agent

22 - spec. wishes

24 - notes:

Reservations can be made for individuals, groups, tours or conventions. A client arriving at a hotel individual person, not in a group, is called an individual. Persons arriving at the hotel as part of a group may be served in accordance with a different procedure than an individual. For example, bookings for group members may be registered under the group name rather than under the group members' own names.

Booking sources

In world practice, there are various market sources of booking. The three most common sources of booking transactions are central booking systems, inter-hotel agencies and bookings directly with the hotel. The above scheme 2.6.1. demonstrates the relationship between these booking systems. Hotels can handle a large number of booking transactions as a result of support various options booking. The relationships shown in the diagram are especially important for large-scale bookings in large hotels.

Scheme 2.6.1

Central booking systems. There are two main types of these systems: a network consisting of branches, and a network including companies that are not branches.

The first type is a reservation system for a hotel chain, in which there are contractual relations between all participants. Hotels in the chain are merging their efforts to speed up the booking process and reduce general expenses systems. This chain may also use other hotels that are not part of it, as additional resources. Additional resources receive reservation orders only after all numbers in the network within the geographic area are busy.

The second type is a subscription system designed to establish relations between independent (not united in one network) enterprises. This system allows independent hotel operators to take advantage of many of the benefits of Type 1 networked operators.

The central booking office usually works directly with the public using a toll-free number. Most major lodging networks in practice maintain two or more reservation centers, with calls routed to the center closest to the caller. Reservation centers are often open 24/7.

Booking central offices usually need to exchange availability information and make reservations with hotels in the network at regular intervals according to a schedule. Many central reservation offices use computers to link the central system office with other businesses in the network. In addition, some booking systems transfer phone calls to the right hotel in order to ensure further successful cooperation. Central booking systems usually provide member businesses with necessary equipment for communication and charge them a certain percentage for booking operations carried out through these systems. In turn, each hotel must provide the central reservation office with accurate current information on the availability of rooms.

Both types of systems often perform many other services besides managing the redundancy and communication process. The central reservation system can also serve as an internal hotel communication system, an accounting data transfer system, or as a local information center.

inter-hotel agencies. An interhotel agency is a central booking system that contracts to work with more than one production line. These agencies usually provide booking services for airlines. Although it is common for inter-hotel agencies to forward their room reservations to a central reservation system, they can also contact any hotel directly.

Booking directly with the hotel. Practice shows that the hotel conducts most of the booking operations on its own. With a large amount of direct contact with customers, the hotel can create its own reservation department in its state.

There are several ways to contact for the processing of room reservations addressed directly to the hotel:

telephone: customers can call the hotel directly;

mail: written orders bookings are commonly used for groups, tours, and conferences. Mail orders are usually sent directly to the hotel reservation department;

hotels usually encourage clients to pre-plan their stay;

telex, telegram, etc.: Telex is commonly used for international bookings. Telegram and other means of communication account for a small portion of all booking transactions.

Booking for a group

This type of booking includes a greater variety of contacts: meeting planners, accommodation or convention offices, tour operators and travel agencies. When booking for a group, intermediaries are usually involved, so some care must be taken when doing so. Usually, after the group has chosen a hotel, a representative of the group contacts the hotel's booking department. When space is available, an agreed number of rooms, called a block, is allocated to group members. In this case, they may be issued a special form for reservation. Rooms reserved for special clients are considered booked.

Availability of rooms for booking

Upon receipt of an order, these applications are compared with previously accepted reservations to determine the availability of remaining numbers. After that, the following options are available:

q acceptance of a preliminary order in accordance with the application;

q offering alternative room types and/or rates;

q suggestion of alternative hotels.

All booking systems must be carefully reviewed to ensure that reservations are not accepted for more rooms than available. This is necessary to establish and support existing good relations with clients. In order to avoid overbooking, hotels must control availability through coordination during the booking process: a booking control book, wall chart, computer system, or some other control device must be created and used.

Booking control book

This book usually a standard three-ring pull-out binder. Control books are used in non-computerized hotels. On each page, the rooms and suites are divided into types and each room has its own number. Upon receipt of a pre-order, a cross is placed on the highest unmarked number assigned to the desired room type on the day of expected arrival. If a room is booked for more than one day, on the following pages the corresponding rooms are circled instead of crossed.

The data in the booking control books must be updated as the hotel receives booking cancellations or changes to reservations.

wall chart

Another way to control is a specially designed booking wall chart, on which hotel rooms are arranged vertically, and days and months are horizontal. Non-computerized hotels create wall charts by entering the appropriate room numbers, rates, and codes. For different types numbers are used different colors. Availability is checked on a scheduled basis upon booking, based on the customer's arrival date, length of stay, and room type. If there is a vacancy, the booking agent can allocate a specific room to the customer by attaching a ribbon over the line representing that room. The tape stretches from the day of arrival to the day of departure. You can also enter the name of the resident on the ribbon.

Once all pre-orders have been entered into the schedule, the unfilled places can be used to judge the availability of certain numbers at a glance. If changes need to be made, the booking agent simply shifts the tape to a different location. In case of cancellation of the order, the tape is completely removed. These plots are also called booking density plots.

Computerized systems

The internal computerized booking system can track reservations in detail. In addition to accurately monitoring availability data, computer systems can generate many booking reports automatically. Here is an example of a daily report on expected arrivals, stays and departures. It shows that during January 19, 19 arrivals, 83 continuations and 4 departures are expected. This report also calculates estimated revenue based on booking information. Reports summarize pre-bookings by room type, occupants, and more.

ARRIVAL, CONTINUE OF STAY AND DEPARTURE Page 001 01/19/XX 15:03
	Arrival	Continuation stay	Residents	Not occupied

Once all rooms in a particular room category have been filled, the computer can be programmed to refuse any reservations for that room category. Some systems are set up to offer alternative room types or rates, or even nearby hotels.

Booking registration

The booking agent registers the booking after interacting with the customer, and thus begins the customer journey. Registration records determine the data about the clients and their wishes for accommodation before arriving at the hotel. In addition, they help the hotel to select individual approach in the service of each resident by appropriate personnel. The data contained in registration records can serve as a tool/base for some important administrative reports.

The booking agent makes a registration entry only after determining the availability of rooms in the hotel at the moment that meet the conditions specified in the application.

If the customer expects to arrive after the hotel's normal cancellation time, the booking agent may follow the hotel's non-guaranteed booking policy. After the agent has entered the necessary information, some hotels immediately assign a number to the client to confirm the reservation (see Appendix, Form No. 7-g).

For guaranteed bookings, booking agents need to ask for more information. Depending on the type of guarantee, the agent may need the following information:

· Credit card information; credit card type, number, expiration date, and owner's name. It is necessary to check against a cancellation bulletin or a computerized credit card validation service. Some computerized booking systems automatically check credit cards.

· Advance payment or down payment information: An agreement with the customer that the respective payment will be received by the hotel before a certain date. The guarantee of making the agreed advance payment or advance payment must be carefully checked; if the required amount is not paid by the due date, the booking may have to be canceled or treated as non-guaranteed.

· Information on corporate booking or travel agency; the name and address of the ordering company, the name of the person making the reservation, and the account number of the sponsoring organization or travel agency. For more efficient operation, the hotel may provide agents with a list of account numbers of approved organizations and travel agencies for verification during booking.

Reservations agents should review with the client the important aspects of the booking guarantee. Customers should be aware that rooms will be held for them until check-out time on the day following scheduled arrival, and that if the customer does not cancel before the scheduled time, this may result in loss of deposit or billing of the guarantor.

Hotels' policies regarding the appointment and confirmation of rates during the recording of a reservation may differ. Although published rates are subject to change without notice, the rates assigned and confirmed during the booking process must remain unchanged. Bookers should consider the following when setting rates during the booking process:

An additional fee must be paid for additional services;

Requirements for the minimum period of residence in force on the declared date (if any);

Special preferential conditions in force on the declared date (if any);

Appropriate foreign exchange rates when billing foreign tourists;

Appropriate tax percentage for rooms.

Booking confirmation

The letter confirming the room reservation contains the intention of both parties, namely the host (hotel) and the visitor (guest), respectively, to provide or use services related to accommodation. The confirmation letter clearly specifies the number of nights of stay, the cost of the room, the type of room, the number of visitors (guests). Confirmation letters usually contain the following information:

§ Date and time of arrival.

§ Cost and type of room.

§ Period of stay at the hotel

§ Number of guests in the group.

§ Type of booking: with or without guarantee.

§ Confirmation number.

In addition, confirmation letters may contain information regarding additional confirmation, possible change of dates, cancellation of the reservation.

Confirmation/cancellation information

The central reservation system may provide reservation numbers and cancellation numbers. These numbers are entered into the hotel's information system to avoid inconsistencies associated with bookings or cancellations. Such numbers can serve as proof that the booking/cancellation actually took place. In case of cancellation of the preliminary booking, the guest is exempted from paying all related fees, otherwise problems related to the proof of the "no show" cannot be ruled out.

Booking record keeping

In some cases, even if the order of the booking procedure is followed, it is necessary to make changes to the registration books. For example, when a request is received from a client for changes in dates / dates, in these cases it is necessary to make the necessary changes.

Changes to a Non-Guaranteed Reservation Claim

In most cases, preference is given to non-guaranteed reservations: as a rule, those who come to the hotel have time to use the reservation before the hour of cancellation

However, if a potential hotel client who has booked a room without a guarantee realizes that it is not possible to arrive at the hotel earlier than the cancellation hour (due to a flight delay, adverse weather conditions), he resorts to changing the booking status and books a room with a guarantee. Reservation agents handling such changes in booking status must adhere to hotel policies. The actions to be taken in such cases are as follows:

q Obtaining information regarding the name of the client and data on non-guaranteed bookings.

q Retrieve the customer's credit card information, card number and expiration date, and verify this information.

q Providing the customer with a new booking confirmation number.

q Completion of the form to change the status of the reservation in compliance with all necessary property regulations in this case, if any.

Cancellation date	Cancellation Source	Estimated date of arrival	Cancellation number

Cancel Reservation

Cancellation of the reservation means that one of the occupied hotel rooms has become free again and can be offered to potential customers.

Cancellation of non-guaranteed booking

To cancel a non-guaranteed booking, the booking agent must have the details of the client (his name, address), the number of rooms booked by him, the dates of the expected arrival and departure. This information is necessary for the correct completion of the formalities associated with the cancellation of the reservation. After the fact of the cancellation of the reservation is entered in the registration log, the agent can ask the client if he wants to book a room for some other date that is more convenient for him.

Cancellation of a credit card guaranteed booking

Most credit card companies will only validate no-show invoices if the hotel provides a cancellation number. The actions of booking agents in case of cancellation of a guaranteed reservation are as follows:

1. Get the relevant data on the client (his name and address), the number of rooms ordered by him, the dates of the expected arrival and departure. It is necessary to explain to the client that the cancellation number must remain with the hotel in order to avoid possible misunderstandings related to the billing of the booking.

2. Find an entry about this booking in the registration log, mark it as canceled, and indicate the cancellation number of the booking. If the booking was canceled on behalf of a guest, note the name of the person who canceled the booking.

3. Enter the number of this cancellation in the cancellation log.

4. Use a journal with marked cancellation numbers in the future.

Cancellation with deposit

In case of cancellation of a booking with a deposit paid, the deposit must be returned to the client.

Other types of guaranteed reservations

A person who contacts a hotel to cancel a booking made by a business or travel agency, most often is a representative of the enterprise / travel agency, and not the guest himself. The name of the person canceling the booking is then noted in the registration book. Cancellation of the reservation must be recorded in the registration book.

Booking Reports

Efficient system Booking reporting helps to calculate the number of available rooms and predict the income from their booking. The booking report includes the following:

Ø transaction report; this report contains information on daily booking, namely, the number of rooms booked, changes in dates, cancellations. Reports on the number of occupied rooms, the number of "know-shows", etc. are possible.

Ø failure reports; these reports contain the number of refusals to provide rooms to customers due to the fact that the ordered rooms were busy.

Ø Income Forecast Report: The report contains a calculation of the possible income from the booking, indicating its amount obtained by multiplying the booked rooms by their cost.

Dates of expected arrival/departure

Lists of expected arrivals and departures are compiled daily. The lists contain information about the dates of arrival / departure of guests, their names, as well as the number of guests who extended the visit.

The information on the lists is checked every evening. Lists are compiled in alphabetical order and are kept at the reservations department or at the porter service. In hotels with computer systems, such lists can be printed out and maintained by the receptionist, which will facilitate the registration procedure.

Using computers, special registration cards for incoming guests can be prepared, which are compiled taking into account the reservation data and require only the signature of the visiting client. Such cards make the registration process even easier.

Booking Chronicles

By analyzing the booking history, the hotel management and employees will get more detailed information on the booking system as a whole, and will be able to predict the expected trends and revenues from the booking. Booking history includes booking information such as number of occupants, source of booking, number of no-shows, number of extended stays and early departures (prior to estimated departure date).

Assumed view of the booking chronicle table:

legal aspect. The booking agreement can be concluded between the hotel and the potential client in writing or orally. A verbal statement by the hotel that a potential customer will be provided with a room on a specific day and for a specified period is a form of contract under which the hotel is obliged to provide the guest with a room for a specified period.

If the booking is confirmed in response to a request from the potential client, the latter in this case becomes a party to the contract with certain obligations.

Queue lists. In some cases, the client may be denied a booking due to the lack of available rooms in the hotel. However, if the time interval from the date of booking to the actual date of arrival of a potential client is large enough, the client can be put on the queue, i.e. placed on the waiting list. Queue lists are compiled and maintained as follows:

ü Inform the guest that at the moment the hotel is fully booked and booking for the booked period is not possible.

ü Invite the guest to leave their data (address, phone number).

ü Immediately provide the guest with a room if someone cancels the order.

ü Help the guest choose an alternative date for booking a room if none of the previously booked rooms is available at the moment.

Group bookings:

Reservations for meeting and conference attendees. The close working relationship between the hotel staff and the meeting/conference group coordinator is an important factor for successful deployment. Below are recommendations for hotel employees when settling groups.

Resettlement, organizations responsible for resettlement. Sometimes, for large groups visitors book rooms in several hotels. Often, several coordinating organizations are responsible for resettlement at once. Each hotel involved must decide on the number of rooms it can provide for accommodation of meeting participants. The purpose of the activities of the accommodation organizations is to coordinate the number of rooms provided with the number of booking requests. Employees of the organization inform the hotel regarding the number of rooms booked. In turn, the hotel notifies the settling organization about existing bookings and cancellations. Through this exchange of information, the accommodation organization helps each hotel to meet the challenge of group bookings.

Tourist groups. Usually, for tourist groups, accommodation, transportation and other related services are planned and paid for in advance. When working with tourists, hotel employees

Procedure for servicing groups coming to conferences

1. Have information about the professional orientation of the group, know its list of its "know shows", cancellations of bookings, last minute bookings.

2. Coordinate the settlement procedure with the coordinator of the group.

3. Make sure that the registration agent has information about the schedule of the conference to which the group is arriving.

4. Regularly draw up reports on the group's accommodation, coordinating with the current situation.

5. Compile a general and relevant list of registered guests.

6. Immediately correct found inaccuracies and errors made by the group coordinator.

7. Confirm the booking of group members.

8. When canceling a booking by group members, inform the group coordinator about this.

9. Distribute among the hotel staff a list of the accommodation of the group, send a copy of the list to the coordinator of the group.

Procedure for servicing tourist groups

1. Specify the number and type of rooms required for the accommodation of a group of tourists, including drivers and guides.

2. Specify the departure dates of the group in order to immediately provide the vacant rooms to other guests.

3. Specify the date of submission by the group organizer of the resettlement list.

4. Set the date and amount of the advance payment.

5. Mark all the services provided to the group during the tour.

6. Include in the list of the group the name and telephone number of the responsible representative of the group or agent.

Common booking issues

§ The booking agent mistypes arrival or departure dates, misspellings of guests' last names or first names, interchanges the guest's first and last names (Troy Thomas may be spelled as Thomas Troy).

§ The name of an authorized person of a potential client who books a room for accommodation by phone is taken as the name of the guest, and his name is entered in the booking log, or, calling on behalf of the guest, inadvertently gives his name instead of the guest's name.

To avoid the above problems, the booking agent must verify the information received from the caller with the caller. You need to be especially careful in cases where rooms are booked for foreign citizens. Failing to find the required entry in the registration book may negatively affect the establishment of a good relationship between the hotel and the guest.

Misunderstandings due to terminology

q A family with a confirmed booking arrives at the hotel immediately after the cancellation hour and finds out that the hotel is not available. As it turned out, the phrase "booking confirmed" was mistaken for "guaranteed booking".

q Two businessmen book a double room, expecting it to have two beds. In fact, they find a room with one double bed.

q A family that has booked an “adjoining room” for children instead of a “paired room” finds upon arrival that the rooms booked are opposite each other.

In order to avoid the above misunderstandings, the booking agent must be extremely careful, finding out exactly what the potential client wants to order, and, if necessary, explain the meaning of professional terms and the difference between them. Once a booking has been received, the booking agent should repeat all the information received to the client in order to avoid possible misunderstandings.

Errors that occur during the exchange of information between the central and external systems booking

Ø The central reservation system, serving several hotels in the same city, reserves a place for the guest in another hotel; for example, in an airport hotel, instead of a city hotel.

Ø A system serving hotels in cities with similar names books a room for a guest in a hotel in another city.

To avoid such misunderstandings, the booking agent must provide the guest with all information about the hotel (its correct name and address) in which the room was booked for him.

Malfunctions in the work of the central booking system

ü The hotel fails to inform the Systems in a timely manner about the number of available rooms and current changes in their cost.

ü The booking system does not inform the hotel quickly enough about the number of accepted bookings.

ü The means of communication between the hotel and the System has become unusable due to a mechanical failure.

ü The hotel disconnects from the System too soon or too late.

To avoid such problems, the booking agent must clearly know the communication schedule between the System and the hotel. By notifying the System of the disconnection on a given day, the hotel should be informed of the number of booking requests received but not yet fulfilled.

Mechanical failures in the operation of equipment can damage the flow of the entire process of information exchange between the hotel and the System. For more effective interaction, a good partnership should be established between the employees of the hotel and the Booking System.

In a hotel, the process of serving guests begins precisely with booking, which is understood as a preliminary order of places and rooms. Booking functions are carried out either by managers of the hotel reservation department, or directly by the reception and accommodation service. After all, going on a trip, a tourist or a businessman who does not want to face the difficulties of hiring temporary housing will definitely contact such a service and apply for a place or room reservation.

The reservation service is engaged not only in the collection of applications, but also studies the demand for hotel services at one time or another. In addition to seasonality, the level of demand can be of great importance, for example, cultural or sports events taking place in a given region (for example, a film festival, or a world championship, etc.). Great importance also has a political situation in the region where this hotel is located. After all, it is no secret that during periods of political instability, the interest of tourists in this region is significantly reduced due to the inability to ensure the safety of their stay. Taking into account all these factors, managers of the reservation department, together with the marketing department, plan the activities of the hotel.

Sometimes hotel complexes can also use double booking, as a rule, this happens either at the time of mass events or at the peak of the season. A double booking is a confirmation of the provision of rooms in the hotel at the same time to two guests on the same date. Of course, using this technique, the hotel administration takes a certain risk. If one of the clients canceled the application, then this technique justifies itself. But what if both clients arrive? And in such a situation, the reception and accommodation service should be able to place the client, while it is possible to establish mutual relations with nearby hotels, where the client can be redirected, or with companies that rent out housing, etc.

There are several ways to book a room: written, oral or via the Internet. In any case, the following information must be indicated in the application of the client who makes the reservation:

· Length of stay in the hotel;

· Full Name;

· Form of payment;

Organizations applying for a reservation also indicate the details of the organization (name, address, telephone, fax, bank account number, etc.)

Suppose an organization sends two of its employees to attend a seminar.

At the same time, using a fax, the organization sends a letter of application form No. 10-G to the hotel (see Appendix 3). It may look like this:

Trading company LLC "Segment"

Tula, st. Mayakovsky 83/1

Account No. ________________

In the bank_________________

Tel/Fax

Director hotel complex

"Tourist"

mr. ________________________

APPLICATION

Please book for the employees of our organization Ilyin P.M. and Fedorova N.S. two single rooms from 10.01.04. until 15.01.04, check-in at 15:00.

The purpose of the visit is a business trip.

We guarantee payment.

Please confirm your booking by fax 345-56-73.

Director of Segment LLC Mishin Yu.V.

Chief Accountant Smirnova L.S.

08.01.04

Having received such an application, the reservation service is obliged to register it. In the event that the hotel can provide its accommodation services, then the confirmation of the application must be sent to the enterprise. If the hotel company cannot satisfy the application, it must send a refusal.

Hotel "Tourist"

In reply to your fax dated 08.01.04. we confirm the reservation of two single rooms from 10.01.04. to 15.01.04 The cost of living per day is 800 rubles.

If your plans change, please cancel your booking by 18.00. 01/09/04 in order to avoid billing for idle number.

Checkout time at the hotel "Tourist" 12 noon.

Director Golovin M.P.

Chief Accountant Novikova O.S.

08.01.04

Note!

Each application for booking and cancellation of the order is registered without fail. Otherwise, for example, if the canceled order is not registered in time, then the probability that the number will remain unsold is high. We have already noted that one of the features of the hotel product as a service is the impossibility of storage. If the number remains unsold, then the potential income from such a service is lost.

Applications for booking places by telegrams, phone calls, letters are registered in the journal "I" in the form containing the following details:

The application received from enterprises (organizations) is registered in a special journal "P" in the following form:

The "Rules for the provision of hotel services in the Russian Federation" does not specify the amount of the booking fee. This size is set by the hotel administration. As a rule, it ranges from 30% to 50% of the rate of a room or a place in a room per day.

The hotel may receive booking requests from various sources. There are several ways hotel reservations .

Most of the bookings made directly at the hotel are made by fax requests. Faxes containing a request to book a room usually come from companies or travel agencies that cooperate "with this hotel. Thus, the faxes are printed or written on the company's letterhead, which contains the details of the company - name, contact phone number and fax, address, from This is especially necessary for those companies with which the hotel has contracts for lower service prices.Only a request on company letterhead can serve as the basis for confirming the contract price for the room.

In addition to the request to book a room for the specified person for the specified dates, the request must also contain information about the method of payment and, if any, other wishes. Depending on availability, the hotel makes a reservation and sends a booking confirmation containing information about the guest's name; dates of residence; number type; price, services included in the price of the room; additional services: which can be booked in advance (eg meeting guests at the airport), and a confirmation number. Confirmation Necessary so that the hotel can always prove that the customer has received all the necessary information regarding the reservation

All processed faxes are then stored to avoid possible problems related to the guests' stay in the past, to clarify any details

If the booking is impossible for one reason or another, then in this case the agent sends an official refusal containing an apology, the reason for the refusal and expressing hope for further cooperation

Bookings made by phone are mostly from private individuals. Bookings made by phone are quite rare, but they do occur. If booking is possible, it is general scheme In this case, the customer is given a confirmation number

Affiliated Booking Network

An affiliated booking network is a hotel chain booking system that includes all hotels in the chain. Chain hotels link their databases to streamline the booking process and reduce overall system costs.

A big plus of the affiliated chain is the fact that a room reservation can be made from any hotel in other Hotels located in other cities and countries. This is especially important for large hotel chains, whose hotels are located all over the world.

Such a system booking significantly increases occupancy not only in this hotel, but also in other hotels in the chain (about 33% of the average annual occupancy of Holiday hotels is provided by the Holidex system, 15% of all bookings for places in Crest hotels go through the Crestar system) Overall, the whole chain wins Also this allows you to share all the statistical information that is necessary for planning further activities to increase sales.

Unattached Booking System

A non-attached booking system allows you to connect independent hotels and hotels not included in the chain This system allows independent hotels to take advantage of many of the benefits of connected booking systems

Most major hotels have contracts with two or more reservation system centers These centers operate 24 hours a day During busy periods, centers can hire additional staff to process incoming information Booking system centers exchange hotel occupancy information with each other and with hotels

Central booking systems can be divided into. global computer reservation systems owned by airlines (AMADEUS, SABER, GALILEO, WORLDSPAN, etc.), computer reservation systems owned by independent consortiums (UTELL, SRS (Stemgerberger Reservation Service), FIDELIO)

Global computerized booking systems owned by airlines are discussed in detail in the literature, so let's take a closer look at booking systems owned by independent consortiums, using the FIDELIO system as an example. The FIDELIO system is a product of the German company FIDELIO, which is a manufacturer of automated systems for the hotel and restaurant business. The main office is located in Munich FIDELIO is the manufacturer of systems such as FIDELIO FO (FIDELIO FRONT OFFICE), FIDELIO F&B (FIDELIO FOOD & BEVERAGE) and FIDELIO ENG. The FIDELIO system is an integral part of global computerized booking systems such as AMADEUS, SABER, GALILEO, WORLDSPAN, so all hotels represented in 201

FIDELIO are automatically loaded into these global booking computer systems.

The interests of FIDELIO in Russia are represented by HRS (HOTEL AND RESTAURANT SYSTEMS), which not only implements and configures FIDELIO software products, but also provides technical support for these systems and conducts user training. HRS has a "hot line" where you can get clarifications and advice at any time of the day. The FIDELIO computer system is one of the most popular systems for the hotel industry. It is installed (if we take Russia) in such hotels as Balchug Kempinsky, Sherraton, Holiday Inn, Marriott, Golden Ring, etc.

The FIDELIO FO system works under operating system MS DOS (although new versions that are already starting to appear work under WINDOWS NT), NOWELL is used as a network shell.

Hardware requirements are not very high - it is quite enough to have computers with 486 processors with a frequency of 33 MHz and RAM 4 MB (for new versions under WINDOWS, a Pentium with a frequency of at least 120 MHz and 16 MB of RAM is required). Some problems may arise with laser and inkjet printers, with dot matrix printers the system works very well.

The cost of the system depends on the number of rooms in the hotel and on the set of system modules. For a hotel with about 100 rooms, the cost of the system is approximately $30,000, which includes installation, configuration, system support, and user training.

FIDELIO F0 system produces:

Booking and check-in of guests;

Charges for accommodation and other services provided by the hotel;

Accumulation of information about unpaid customer invoices received by various points sales;

Issuing interim and final invoices for settlements with clients;

Accounting for information on non-cash payments;

Obtaining financial and statistical reports

The main groups of functions in terms of maintaining information about clients and client accounts include:

Maintaining customer history;

Booking;

Settlement;

Account management;

Extract;

Cashless payments with clients,

In terms of maintaining information about the room fund, the software module is designed for operational control over the state of the room fund and the work of the maid service (the system monitors whether the room is cleaned or not, and issues a warning if the client is settling in an uncleaned room, and it is also possible to receive various reports according to the state of the number of rooms), for the collection of statistical and financial information on the load of the number of rooms.

The program uses the following concepts:

Guest card;

Room and account of the client;

Service code;

redirect instruction.

Guest card contains the following information about the client: last name, first name, language, VIP code, address, country of residence, telephone, fax, date of birth, favorite number, etc. If the guest has already stayed at the hotel before, then after entering the last name and first name into the computer, the system provides complete information about the number of nights spent earlier in the hotel, about the characteristics of the rooms in which the guest stayed, his passport data, payment methods, etc. In the process of repeated visits, the guest card may be supplemented or changed. Maintaining a guest card allows, knowing about the arrival of the client, the necessary preparation and satisfaction of his desires.

Booking starts for the period of time during which the number will be removed. Further, the reservation can be canceled or changed. The reservation is always associated with the guest card. There can be multiple bookings for one guest card, but one booking can only be associated with one guest card. The following information is included in the booking:

Length of stay. The length of stay is measured in nights.

The number of people living in the room. If there are children among them, then this should be noted, since in many hotels children up to a certain age stay free of charge. Room type. Determination of the type and category of the room in which the guest will stay depends on his preferences, as well as on the availability of rooms of this category. The rooms differ by category, and, consequently, by the price and the number of beds. Usually the cheapest rooms are sold first, and only then the more expensive ones. Each room has a certain number of distinctive features that can be both attractive and repulsive to guests (facing a busy street or courtyard; located next to a staircase or elevator; located in a corner or center, etc.)

When booking, it is advisable to be guided by the wishes of the guest when choosing a room that will be booked for him. Price code. Typically, the price code is indicated by several letters or numbers that are easy to remember and often carry a semantic load: they contain the first letters or a combination of the first letters of the words contained in the company name, prices for groups, etc. For companies and travel agencies that regularly send booking requests and provide a sufficient number of nights, the hotel sets special discounts, which is fixed by a special price code. The task of the reservation service is to monitor the correctness of the price determination for the company or travel agency: This is necessary for the subsequent determination of the number of nights that guests from the company or travel agency lived in the hotel. This figure leads to a subsequent reduction in the price or, if there are not enough nights, to the termination of the contract.

Travel agencies are paid commissions based on this. Booking type. Bookings can be of two types - guaranteed and non-guaranteed.

Guaranteed booking allows you to keep the room until the guest arrives, i.e. the guest can arrive at any time and he is guaranteed to get a room. In turn, the guest guarantees to pay for the room, even at. in the event that it was not used in case of no-show, or cancel the reservation before a certain hour set by the hotel, the day of arrival Thus, if the guest makes a reservation, but does not arrive and does not cancel the reservation at all or before the deadline, then 204

penalties are imposed on him. There are the following ways to guarantee a booking: Transferring the prepayment to the hotel.

Notification of the transfer of the prepayment must be received by the hotel before the day of arrival of the guest. Usually this is a bank transfer. The term for confirming the prepayment is determined by the hotel, and ranges from several weeks to one day. Credit card guarantee.

Major credit card companies have developed a system that allows you to charge a no-show fee for guaranteed bookings. If a credit card guaranteed reservation is not canceled before the hour set by the hotel and the guest does not check in, the hotel may charge the credit card a penalty (usually the cost of the night). Then the bank will transfer this amount to the hotel account and: notify the cardholder about this.

Making a deposit

A deposit is usually required if a bank transfer or credit card guarantee is not possible. The guest or his representative pays a certain amount of money to the hotel cash desk before arrival. This amount of money usually exceeds the cost of a night's stay in a hotel and often includes a deposit for the use of telephones, laundry, etc. If the booking is cancelled, the deposit will be refunded. If the arrival date changes, it will be rescheduled. Subsequently, the deposit is used by the guest to pay for accommodation and services provided by the hotel.

Company guarantee.

This type of booking guarantee is most often used by companies with which the hotel has entered into an agreement. In this case, a "letter from a company representative is required, containing the phrase "in case of no-show. the name of the guest, and the impossibility of canceling the reservation before 6 o'clock on the day of arrival, the company. company name. guarantees payment for one night's stay" -. This phrase

is approximate and depends on hotel policy. In case of issuing penalties, the company undertakes to pay it. Care must be taken when accepting such a guarantee. It is advisable to accept a guarantee by the company only from those companies that have positively proven themselves in the process of cooperation, whose financial situation is stable and does not cause any concern. Otherwise, there is a risk of not being able to receive a fine.

Using a payment document - voucher. Guaranteed booking with a voucher is typical for tour operators. A voucher is a payment document that confirms payment for the entire stay and some additional services consumed during the guest's stay at the hotel. The voucher is issued if the guest pays for their stay at the travel agency. The tour operator puts his profit in the voucher, and does not receive a certain percentage of commission for the guest's accommodation in this hotel. The difference between the actual price of a room and the price that the tour operator asks the guest for him often exceeds the standard price of the hotel To avoid misunderstandings, the price provided to this tour operator should be kept secret from the guest

In the event of a non-guaranteed booking, the hotel agrees to keep the room unsold until a certain hour. This type of booking does not guarantee that the hotel will receive payment for the room if the guest does not show up. If the guest does not check into the room before 6 pm, the hotel has the right to cancel the reservation for him and add the room to the list of rooms available for sale

Payment method cash, credit card (card type is indicated), company payment, etc.

Additional services included in the room rate (for example, breakfast, pay TV, local, long distance or international calls, etc.).

If the requested room type is not available at the time of booking, the booking can be placed on a waiting list. When any of the rooms of this type is released, the system itself will warn that there are reservations in the waiting list that refer to this type of room.

The FIDELIO FO system consists of the following main modules; Reservation Module, Porter Module, Cashier Module, Accountant Module, Reservation Module is designed to process customer bookings. This module allows you to perform the following operations

Establishment, reservations for the client

Group booking establishment;

Cancellation,

armor adjustment,

Transferring the reservation to the waiting list,

Assignment of specific rooms according to a previously made reservation,

Booking confirmation printing,

Receiving a deposit for booking.

The porter module is designed to accommodate hotel clients who have a reservation. In many ways, the functionality of this module is similar to the booking module. This module allows you to perform the following operations:

Booking search;

Assignment of rooms and accommodation;

armor change,

Cancel Reservation,

Print confirmations,

sharing,

Receiving messages for arriving or arriving guests;

Receiving a deposit for booking,

Moving a booking to a waiting list

Calling a reservation from the waiting list;

Setting up office accounts of the hotel.

The cashier module is the most complex module of the FIDELIO F0 system. The user working in this module can perform the following main functions:

Current work with customer accounts;

Issuing interim invoices

Relocation of the client to another room,

extract,

Managing the main cash register

Conducting operations of the exchange office;

Making a deposit for booking,

Printing reports for cashiers,

Correction of the client's reservation;

payment acceptance,

Transfer of accruals from one account to another;

Division and consolidation of accruals;

Manual charges to customer accounts.

Accounting system module FIDELIO F0 - FIDELIO A\R is a highly simplified accounting program (more specifically, a hotel service sales book) aimed at tracking customer debts that have already been issued and billed for services. The functionality of this module of the system is not very rich, but it allows you to perform some manipulations with accrued amounts (transfer accruals from one account to another, enter payment for each position, track customer history, print reports and letters to customers).

The operating day of the hotel in the FIDELIO FO system is closed by conducting a night audit. This procedure is usually carried out at 6 o'clock in the morning. The night audit procedure has several goals:

Program date translation;

Analysis of user actions in the system;

Indication of the incompleteness of some operations;

printout of a package of reports on the work of the hotel for the day, which will be transferred to the management and accounting department the next day; automatic accrual of the cost of the room to the accounts of guests;

Saving data and statistics for the day;

Performing system procedures.

A night audit can only be started when all operations for the past day have been completed, which determines the timing of the audit.

The FIDELIO FO system provides the ability to compile various kinds of reports and forecasts. These reports and forecasts are necessary for the further planning of the hotel's activities. Forecasting is an important function of the hotel reservation service, since the correct coordination of the work of other hotel services depends on the correct preparation of the forecast. All hotel services are closely interconnected. Therefore, an increase or decrease in hotel occupancy leads to a change in the work schedule of all services. Based on the forecasts, services such as housekeeping, restaurant service, etc. compile the staff work schedule, the number of employees per day, and the restaurant predicts food consumption based on the estimated load.

Forecasting the load of the hotel is done on the basis of data from previous periods. In hotels, using the FJDELIO F0 system, the following types of reports are compiled:

Daily activity report.

This report is a comparison of information about the activities of this hotel with other hotels of the same type in the region. The first part of this report contains information about hotel activity over the past day. It includes data on the number of rooms sold (disaggregated by market segments), on profits received from each market segment. The second part contains information about the activities of other hotels, including the number of rooms sold, the percentage of occupancy and the average room rate for that day. This report provides an opportunity to get a complete picture of the activities of hotels in the region. Based on the data in this report, some forecasts are made. Demand change report.

The demand change report allows you to analyze how the hotel occupancy has changed after each passing day. Typically, demand analysis begins one and a half months before the designated date. This report is filled out on a daily basis and provides an opportunity to visualize the dynamics of growth in demand for rooms. This report is usually broken down by day of the week. This is done in order to be able to predict the possible number of rooms booked. The information is grouped in such a way that it is possible to compare the change in hotel occupancy with previous days. Nine day forecast.

This forecast is made for the next nine days. It is based on a daily activity report. By comparing the occupancy data of previous periods with the occupancy growth rate obtained from the demand change report, it is possible to predict the occupancy of the hotel for the coming periods. The forecast is made taking into account events that affect the load (exhibitions, conferences, etc.). The forecast takes into account not only the possible percentage of hotel occupancy, but also the possible profit from various market segments. In this case, the average cost of a room is predicted.

Monthly report,

The monthly report is a statistical summary of the past month. It is based on daily sales reports. The profit received from the sale of rooms is summed up, you calculate the number of rooms sold per month but 209

measures. Based on these data, the average cost of the room and the average occupancy percentage are calculated,

The FIDELIO F0 system provides for confidentiality when working with information. That is, for each user there is a certain set of system modules with which he can work. The user is identified by name and password.

For convenience, the system provides for “locking” (implemented via the F8 key) the system by the user (in case of a short absence from the workplace), for subsequent work, you need to enter a name and password.

The system also maintains a log of operations, i.e. it is possible to display a report on the actions of each user in the system for the period of interest. In addition, the guest card, reservation, accrual have a field where the name of the operator (user) who created them is entered.

Dignity FIDELIO systems FO is the presence of communication with other systems and external devices:

1. The software interface with the MICROS restaurant system allows you to close accounts in restaurants, bars and other points of sale to the customer's number if he lives in a hotel. The interface is designed in such a way that when closing a check in the MICROS restaurant system, the waiter or bartender can select the type of payment "Assignment to the room", check who currently lives in this room and, having received the client's signature, send the accrual to his account in the hotel. Together with the accrual amount, the name of the point of sale, the date and time of closing the check, the check number, and, in the case of the extended interface, the details of the check (i.e. a detailed invoice from the restaurant with a list of dishes and prices) are sent to the client's account. Accruals go to customer accounts online, i.e. At once.

This brings great convenience both to hotel customers - they do not need to carry cash with them, they have the opportunity to pay their bills one time, etc., and to the hotel management - to quickly receive financial information.

2. The interface with the hotel telephone exchange software works with several types of PBX used in hotels (including the MERIDIAN telephone exchange). This interface allows you to control phone calls from hotel customers, automatically charge 210

customer accounts fee for telephone conversations in accordance with the established tariff scale.

3. Interface with accounting systems allows you to automatically make postings in the accounting system. This greatly facilitates the work of the accountant, since according to the rules of accounting, the accountant is obliged to show the implementation daily, separately for each type of client, and this, depending on the size of the hotel, its load and the range of services provided, up to hundreds of transactions daily.

There are software interfaces to such accounting systems as SUN and SCALA.

4. Software interface with television systems.

5. Software interface with the FIDELIO F&B restaurant and warehouse system, which allows the restaurant staff to receive information about the hotel load and plan the number of visitors to restaurants and bars.

6. Software interface with FIDELIO ENG engineering system, which allows you to quickly monitor the state of the number of rooms.

7. Software interface with automatic locking and unlocking of doors in the rooms, which will allow you to unlock the door of each room if the check-in operation has been completed.

8. Software interface with the system of electronic authorization of credit cards.

To carry out the process of serving tourists in the hotel, there is a set of basic services that provide the provision of basic hotel services. These include the reservation service, which is responsible for booking hotel rooms. It performs the following functions:

1. Acceptance of applications and their processing. The channels for receiving applications for booking hotel rooms can be: telephone, fax, mail, centralized booking and Internet booking.

2. Drawing up the necessary documentation: check-in schedules for each day (week, month, quarter, year), maps of the movement of the number of rooms.

Goals of the booking process:

Formation of a preliminary order for places and rooms in the hotel

· Marketing researches of the market of hotel services

Booking process period:

In relation to a single service: from the moment of receiving a booking request until the moment the client arrives at the hotel for the purpose of settling

· In relation to the complex of services: within a certain period (day, month, quarter, year).

Responsible for the booking process: senior administrator. His rights include receiving information about the progress of the process and determining the need for its adjustment. Responsibilities of the responsible: planning, providing, implementing, analyzing and adjusting the process.

Resources allocated to the disposal of the senior administrator: a) labor (administrators); b) material (office furniture, computer and office equipment); c) intellectual (software product); d) forms strict accountability.

Regulatory documents:

Rules for the provision of hotel services in Russian Federation(As amended by Decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 2, 1999 No. 1104, of September 15, 2000 No. 693);

· GOST R 50646-94 Public services. Terms and definitions (approved by the Decree of the State Standard of the Russian Federation No. 34 of February 21, 1994);

· GOST R 50691-94 Model for ensuring the quality of services (approved by the Decree of the State Standard of the Russian Federation No. 181 of 06/29/1994);

· The Civil Code of the Russian Federation (as amended on February 20, 1996, August 12, 1996, October 24, 1997, July 8, 1999, December 17, 1999, April 16, 2001, May 15, 2001);

· Federal Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights" dated 07.02.1992 No. No. 2300-1 (as amended on November 2, 2004);

· International hotel rules (approved by the Council of the International Hotel Association 02.11.1981, Kathmandu, Nepal).

Subprocesses

The work of the booking service consists of several sub-processes, each of which is mandatory and is an integral part of the activity of this service.

1. Preparing the workplace for work

a) requirements: telephone connection, Internet access, strict reporting forms (form No. 10-G - at least 50 pieces), a register for registering applications of individuals with free entries of at least 50, confirmation forms for booking applications at least 50, at least 50 forms of refusal in booking applications, fax readiness to receive messages;

b) implementation period: daily;

c) responsible for the procedure: duty administrator

2. Parsing and registration of application letters received from legal entities and individuals must have a note from the duty administrator on the time and date of receipt of the application and a registration number. The response to the application by e-mail must be given within three hours by phone specified by the customer; a response to an application handed personally to the duty administrator is given within three hours in the form proposed by the customer;

b) deadline: daily as applications are received from legal entities and individuals;

c) responsible duty administrator.

3. Search in the database of hotel rooms required by the client (legal entity and individual), according to the received application, places (rooms):

a) requirements: ability to work with the software product (confirmed by the appropriate certificate); compliance of the map with the loading of the room fund with the loading in the hotel;

4. Entering into the database "Loading of the number stock at the date and time" of the software product or into the map of loading the number of rooms, the places (numbers) required by the client (legal or natural person), according to the application:

a) requirements: ability to work with a software product (confirmed by a certificate); compliance of the map with the loading of the room fund with the loading in the hotel; a response to an application received by mail, telephone, fax, is given within two days in writing; the answer is sent by mail with acknowledgment of receipt;

b) implementation period: daily as applications are received;

c) the administrator on duty responsible for the procedure.

5. Cancellation or modification of applications at the request of the client, expressed in writing(by mail, telegraph, fax) or verbally (by phone, in person).

5.1. Changes are made to the database "Loading of the room fund on the date and time of the software product" or to the map of the load of the room fund, according to the application for changing or canceling applications;

a) requirements: ability to work with the software product (confirmed by the appropriate certificate); compliance of the card with the load of the room fund with the load in the hotel; changes to the database are made within one hour from the moment of receipt of information about the cancellation or change of the application;

b) implementation period: daily as applications are received;

c) the administrator on duty responsible for the procedure.

5.2. Informing the client that the desired changes to the booking have been made:

a) requirements: the client is informed about changes in the booking within two hours from the moment of such changes;

b) deadline: daily as such requests are received;

6. Formation of a schedule for the arrival of guests for each day, week, month.

Work with the software product is carried out; either automatically or manually, a schedule for the arrival of guests for the required period of time is generated:

a) requirements: ability to work with the software product (confirmed by the appropriate certificate); correspondence of the room fund occupancy card with the occupancy at the hotel;

b) deadline: daily at the end of the shift of the administrator on duty;

c) person responsible for the procedure: duty administrator.

7. Planning the activities of the booking service.

A monthly duty schedule for administrators is drawn up, and the need for strict reporting forms and journals is calculated:

a) requirements: the monthly duty schedule of administrators is drawn up in accordance with the work schedule established for administrators;

b) implementation period: monthly until the 25th day of the month preceding the planned one; c) responsible for the procedure: senior administrator.

Analyzing the booking process at the hotel, we can conclude that the activities of the hotel booking service must be clear, consistent, well-functioning and competent. The specialist (administrator) responsible for this process must have the necessary qualities that will allow him to perform this responsible work. This is a person who has knowledge of the software product, has the appropriate certificates, regulatory documents, knows how to negotiate with customers, quickly respond to their needs, be polite and responsive.

The booking service is the first thing a client encounters and, to a large extent, the maximum occupancy of the hotel, competitiveness and success in the hospitality industry market depend on the activities of this service.