SHOT2034: Front Office Management First Question Two hours before the noon check-out hour, a walk-in party

requests five rooms. The following scrambled data have just been completed as part of the desk's hourly update. Should the front-office

supervisor accept the walk-ins? Develop a suitable calcution in order to do so.

Rooms in the hotel Rooms occupied last night Understay minus overstay as a percentage of occupied rooms Total forecasted departures for the day Group reservations due (rooms) Total reservations expected today from all sources (including group rooms) General no-show factor No-show factor for groups Early arrivals expected Rooms that are out of inventory

693 588 8% 211 250 360 10% 2% 2 7

Second Assignment
EXPLAIN BRIEFLY ABOUT OVERBOOKING RESERVATION PROCESS
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SHOT2034: Front Office Management Forecasting Availability & Overbooking An Adjusted Room Account 1st solution : Without taking no shows factor into account Rooms Available in the hotel Occupied last night Due to check out today Understays (8% of occupied last night) Equals adjusted number of rooms to check out today Equals adjusted number of stayovers Todays reservation Early arrivals Equals today adjusted reservation without considering any no shows factor Adjusted total of rooms committed for sale Adjusted number of rooms available for sale Overbooking = 6 rooms Explanation: From the above calculation, without inserting the value of no shows factor, we can see that the hotel is already overbooked. The situation is indicates by the bottom line the above calculation which shows that the hotel has 6 rooms in status unavailable for sale. Thus, I think that there is no way for the front office supervisor to accepts another 5 rooms requested by the walk-in guest.
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686 588 211 47 258 258 330 330

360 2 362 362 692 - 6

SHOT2034: Front Office Management 2nd solution : With consideration of no shows factor into account Rooms Available in the hotel Occupied last night Due to check out today Understays (8% of occupied last night) Equals adjusted number of rooms to check out today Equals adjusted number of stayovers Todays reservation Early arrivals No shows for group No shows for general Equals today adjusted reservation without considering any no shows factor Adjusted total of rooms committed for sale Adjusted number of rooms available for sale Explanation: This calculation shows that if we assume that the no shows will occur on that day, thus the adjustment is made by subtract the value of estimated no shows from the total reservation. 211 47 258 258 330 330 588 686

360 2 5 36 321 321 651 35

SHOT2034: Front Office Management At the end of calculation, the hotel seems like still having 35 rooms available for sale.

Therefore, there will be no matter if the front office supervisor wants to accept the 5 rooms requested by the walk-in. However, the risk of the guests that have been projected not to come, will come somehow is still possible.

Anticipated occupancy percentage = adjusted total of rooms committed for sale / number of rooms available in the hotel X 100% = 651 x 100% 686 = 94.9 %

SHOT2034: Front Office Management

Forecasting Availability & Overbooking

Calculations Involved
No. Method and Equation Involve
1 Understay = % per occupied room x occupied room = 8% x 588

Answer

47

Overbookin = number of rooms available in the hotel adjusted total of rooms committed for sale = 686 692

-6

No Shows for Groups = No shows % for groups x group reservation = 2% x 250

No Shows factor for General = No show % for general x (total reservation + early arrival ) = 10% x ( 360 + 2 ) = 10% x 362

36

Adjusted number of rooms available for sale = number of rooms available in the hotel adjusted total of rooms committed for sale = 686 - 651

35

Anticipated occupancy percentage = adjusted total of rooms committed for sale / number of rooms available in the hotel X 100% = ( 651 / 686 ) X 100%

94.9 %

SHOT2034: Front Office Management

OVERBOOKING
Overbooking, by looking to the Wikipedia definition, the term is used to describe the sale of access to a service which exceeds the capacity of the service. From the hotel reservation management aspect, it is such a considerable strategy or a better solution to account for the tendency of no shows and uncertainty. Generally, any business that involves in reservation management must be able to cope with no shows. No shows, is actually refer to the customer that make reservation, but fail to honor. In fact, no shows is worse than cancellation because failure of fulfilling the reservation is not being reported anyhow, neither the reservation is made by an individual nor by the group-related guest. Thus, the hotel management projects overbooking as to protect themselves from revenue lost. In addition, overbooking also do have models in order to calculate displacement cost so that clearer or real situation of overall reservation status can be revealed, at the end of the calculation process. Furthermore, if we explore more on overbooking, we can actually determine no shows forecasting rates, arrival uncertainty, pricing policies, forecast and, in advance we might be able to explore risk and presents strategies which can minimize costs. The authority of managing overbooking only can be done by the expertise, like the widely experienced Reservation Manager and also the Front Office Manager due to the significant role of predicting yieldable and nonyieldable business or revenue opportunities.

SHOT2034: Front Office Management

On the other hand, overbooking also has been practiced in transportation sector. However, by looking at the impact, overbooking, for both industries will cause an over sale. Beware that once it comes to over sale, the company need to handle guest complaints that arise patiently, apologize to the guests, and even ask them to tolerate, in exchange for kinds of compensation, to persuade the guest later then eliminate the dissatisfaction.

SHOT2034: Front Office Management

Reservation Process
Reservation is the first contact for the guest or person making the reservation for the other guest. In addition, reservation is the tremendous importance of the hotel because of the potential and actual revenue realized. Although the contact may be by telephone, a distinct impression of the hotel is registered with the guest. There is no matter on how the reservation has been made, the process is still the same. As reservation is a contract booking, therefore, it needs to be conduct in proper steps. There are four main steps including reservation inquiry, checking availability, making reservation, and last but not least confirming reservation.

Reservation Inquiry

Confirming Reservation

Checking Availability

Making Reservation

For the first which is reservation inquiry, this section needs to be handled promptly and efficiently. First and foremost, greeting will be the only channel to make the guest feel very pleasant, to go through with the next process of room reservation.
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SHOT2034: Front Office Management

The staff on duty needs to collect the accurate information and details about the guest identity. When it comes to the second step which is checking availability, the staff will briefly inform the guest about the room rates and the availability. In a meanwhile, this is the time when any special request will be remarks to some particular guest who comes to the hotel for specific purpose, for example the honeymooners. Thirdly, making reservation is about recommending the room that best suit to the guests, then the guests need to be ask if they want to proceed with the reservation or not. Lastly, in confirming reservation, the reports will be the final end. All the reservation data need to be recorded an organized in structural way. It is become a compulsory to thank guests pleasantly, besides convincing them that the guests have made the right decision of making room reservation at the hotel. This will attract the guest and help the hotel to increase repeat business.

SHOT2034: Front Office Management

REFERENCES

John R. Walker, Introduction to Hospitality, 5th edition, 2009. Publish by S4Carlise Publishers.

Mohd Fadil et all, Management of Hotel Operation, 1st edition, 2009

Overbooking in Reservation Management Retrieve on March 20, 2010 from http://www.ecornel.com

Overbooking : Retrieve on March 20, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/overbooking

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