Guest cycle in a hotel

hotel guest cycle. the four stages and the important tasks performed by front office at various stages.

1. Guest Cycle and Room Reservation

2. Inquiry & Reservation Arrival Stay Departure Post- Departure

3. What is a Cycle? Cycle ˈ sʌɪk (ə)l/ noun a series of events, that are regularly repeated in the same order.

4. Guest Cycle Every hotel guest has almost the same steps of interaction with hotel. In fact, all activities around us are cyclic in nature. Day- Night, Seasons, Week- Month etc. Guest cycle helps to understand the overall work-flow in a hotel. Cycle is also an indicator that the work is routine, repetitive and skill-based. The interactions have two aspects; service & financial

5. The G uest Cycle Activities Inquiry Reservations Activities Registration Room Assignment Issuance of Room Key Baggage Handling Activities Preparation of Guest bills Settlement of Guest accounts Transportation Future reservation Activities Mail and Message handling Maintenance of Guest accounts Paging , travel assistance Safe deposits , currency exchange Phase 1 Pre Arrival Phase 2 Arrival Phase 4 D eparture Phase 3 Stay in hote l

6. Pre-Arrival ‘Pre-’ means, before; so pre-arrival is the stage before guest actually comes to the hotel. Inquiry by the guest and reservation confirmation by the hotel are the two most important activities here . Knowledge of availability of rooms, types of rooms, rates, features, services and local knowledge are a must to handle this process efficiently.

7. Previous experiences with the hotel; Advertisements & promotion of hotel; Recommendations from travel agents, friends, or business associates; The hotel’s location or reputation and pre-conceptions based upon the hotel’s name or chain affiliation; Ease of making reservations; How the reservations agent describes the hotel and its facilities, room rates, amenities; The attitude, efficiency, and knowledge of the front office staff may affect a caller’s decision to stay at a particular hotel or not. The guest’s choice can be affected by many factors:

8. Pre-Arrival Interaction between a guest and a hotel before the guest arrives. Reservation is an essential activity in this stage. This phase includes : Selection of hotel by guest. Contacting the selected hotel by guest. Receiving of reservation request by staff Confirming or denying a reservation by staff. Noting of any special arrangement on arrival, such as wheelchair , airport transfer, extra bed etc. Accepting any advance deposit and opening a guest account.

9. Arrival This stage includes the following activities: a. Registration Function, a mandatory (legal) process for all visitors to hotel; Indian & Foreign, paying or non-paying; b. Rooming Function, a procedure to allot a correct type of room, according to guest needs & budget. c. Opening an account for recording charges & payments

10. Arrival Reception and welcome of guest. Registration of guest with identity proof, for all guests. Room rate and Room allotment to the guest. Handing over the room key and key card to the guest Luggage assistance to the guest by bell desk. Delivering the mail and messages that the hotel may have had received on behalf of the guest.

11. The front desk agent should determine the guest’s reservation status before beginning the registration process. Guests with reservations may have already undergone pre-registration activities, meaning that the form may already have been filled and room allotted in advance. Guests without reservations – or walk-in guests –present an opportunity for front desk agents to sell guestrooms at rack rate. To sell successfully, the front desk agents must be very familiar with the hotel’s room types, features, USP and guest services, and also, be able to describe those in a pleasing way. A guest will not register if he or she is not convinced of the value of renting a particular hotel room .

12. Registration Begins when the front desk agent extends a cheerful & sincere welcome to the guest. The procedure by which an incoming guest re-confirms his or her wish to stay at a property, by completing and signing a registration card. A signature is the proof of accepting responsibility. To a great degree, registration depends on the information contained in a reservation record.

13. Stage 3: Stay in Hotel The focus of day-to-day front office activities, where the front desk is responsible for coordinating guest services and resolving guest complaints .

14. A major front office objective throughout the guest cycle is to encourage repeat visits. Strong guest relations are needed to achieve this objective. Guest relations depend on clear, constructive communications between the front office, other hotel departments, and the guest. Security is another primary front office concern during occupancy.

15. Stay hotel Here the guest gets a first hand information about the facilities and services offered by a hotel. Functions include : Creation and maintenance of Guest accounts . Accepting mail of guest and delivering same to them. Handling guest queries and complaints . Providing travel assistance & arrangements .

16. Various guest service Handling guest mail. Massage handling. Custody and control of keys. Guest paging. Safe deposit locker. Guest room change. Left luggage handling. Wake-up call. Guest complaints.

17. Departure At this phase the departures from the hotel. Functions are : Preparation and presentation of bill . Settlement of guest accounts. Luggage handling by bell desk. Left luggage handling . Sales and marketing activity. Giving a warm farewell at the point of departure.

18. Front Office Accounting: Introduction A front office accounting system records the transactions of guests and businesses, agencies, and city-guests using the hotel’s services and facilities .

19. The guestroom charge is the largest single entry on the guest account. Additional expenses can be charged to a guest’s account if he or she shows an acceptable credit card at the front desk on arrival. Front desk accounting records must be checked everyday for accuracy and completeness. This need is met through the night audit procedure . Although the name implies that this process takes place in the night, this is not always the case. In hotels with computerized front office accounting system, the audit can be conducted at any time during the day. Some computerized properties call the audit the Day-End process or system update.

20. An effective guest accounting system consists of tasks performed during each stage of the guest cycle. In brief, a front office accounting system: Creates and maintains accurate accounting folio for each guest or non-resident guest; Tracks financial transactions throughout the guest cycle; Ensures internal control over cash and credit transactions; Records final payment and settlement for all goods and services provided.

21. Guest Accounting Cycle

22. At check-out, the guest vacates the room, receives an accurate statement of account for settlement, returns the room keys, and departs from the hotel. Once the guest has checked out, the front office updates the room’s availability status and notifies the housekeeping department. During the check-out, the front office determines whether the guest was satisfied with the stay (Feedback Form) and encourages the guest to return to the hotel – or book room in another property in the chain.

23. The last step of guest accounting is settlement of the guest’s account. The purpose of account settlement is to collect money owed to the hotel. Depending on the guest’s credit arrangements, the guest will pay cash, sign a credit card voucher, or verify direct billing instructions. Account balances should be verified and errors corrected before the guest leaves the hotel. Problems may occur in guest account settlement when charges are not posted to the guest’s account until after the guest checks out. These charges are called late charges .

24. Settling accounts for departed guests is generally handled by the accounting department – not the front office. However, the front office is responsible for providing complete and accurate billing information, to assist the back office accounting division in these efforts. Once the guest has checked out, the front office can analyze data related to the guest’s stay. Front office reports can be used to review operations, isolate problem areas, where corrective action may be needed, and observe business trends. Operation analysis can help managers establish a standard of performance which can be used to judge the success of front office employees & operations .

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