Rooms Division
CHAPTER
1
The guest’s experience 8329 room division management h113 13
13-12-2007 16:03:30
1.1 Selection and reservation
Hotel associates must look at a guest’s stay from the guest’s perspective. How does the guest experience his stay at the hotel? What does the guest need and what are his wishes? In order to fulfil these needs and wishes, hotels must gather as much information about the guest as possible. Therefore it is essential that hotel associates know about the different reservation possibilities the guest can choose from, understand the importance of a full house, know what causes an overbooking and how the Front Office deals with this problem.
A hotel without guests cannot survive and will soon go bankrupt. Therefore, it is essential for hoteliers to make the whole process from reservation to checkout run smoothly for their guests. Management is responsible for enabling these processes to produce the desired results. They must manage the human resources, the infrastructure, security, the building and equipment, the communication etc. In order to add value a process must improve a product or service in order to satisfy guests at a price they are willing to pay.
A typical hotel has the following core processes:
– guest’s selection of a hotel
– guest’s arrival at the hotel
– guest’s stay at the hotel
– guest’s departure.
A selection process may differ from guest to guest. The first introduction to a hotel can be:
On Internet through the hotel’s website
PhoCusWright Inc., an independent travel, tourism and hospitality research firm, predicts that the Internet will contribute over 27% of all hotel bookings by 2007. This means that Internet has become one of the most important sources of reservations for hotels.
An advertisement in a newspaper or magazine
Special offers which include travel and hotel accommodation are popular during the holidays. Business hotels have a low occupancy during the holidays, when
1
The guest’s experience 8329 room division management h113 13
13-12-2007 16:03:30
1.1 Selection and reservation
Hotel associates must look at a guest’s stay from the guest’s perspective. How does the guest experience his stay at the hotel? What does the guest need and what are his wishes? In order to fulfil these needs and wishes, hotels must gather as much information about the guest as possible. Therefore it is essential that hotel associates know about the different reservation possibilities the guest can choose from, understand the importance of a full house, know what causes an overbooking and how the Front Office deals with this problem.
A hotel without guests cannot survive and will soon go bankrupt. Therefore, it is essential for hoteliers to make the whole process from reservation to checkout run smoothly for their guests. Management is responsible for enabling these processes to produce the desired results. They must manage the human resources, the infrastructure, security, the building and equipment, the communication etc. In order to add value a process must improve a product or service in order to satisfy guests at a price they are willing to pay.
A typical hotel has the following core processes:
– guest’s selection of a hotel
– guest’s arrival at the hotel
– guest’s stay at the hotel
– guest’s departure.
A selection process may differ from guest to guest. The first introduction to a hotel can be:
On Internet through the hotel’s website
PhoCusWright Inc., an independent travel, tourism and hospitality research firm, predicts that the Internet will contribute over 27% of all hotel bookings by 2007. This means that Internet has become one of the most important sources of reservations for hotels.
An advertisement in a newspaper or magazine
Special offers which include travel and hotel accommodation are popular during the holidays. Business hotels have a low occupancy during the holidays, when