Asian Development Foundation College

Tacloban City
LIBERAL ARTS DEPARTMENT

HMPE 22 – FRONT OFFICE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

MODULE 2
Operate Computerized Reservation System
Course Description
This course is designed to enhance the knowledge, skills and attitude of Front Office
personnel in accordance with industry standards. It covers the basic, common and
core competencies on receiving and processing reservations, operating a
computerized reservation system, providing reception and accommodation services,
conducting night audit, providing club reception services and providing porter
services.

Course Outcomes: At the end of the course, the student will be able to:
CO1. Attain a thorough understanding of the overall concepts of Front Office
Management and Operation;
CO2. Explain the vital role of Front Office Management in the hotel operation,
customer service relation and revenues;
CO3. Apply confidently the knowledge and skills of providing effective
customer service, accommodation reception services, club reception and porter
services;
CO4. Receive and process reservation system;
CO5. Perform night audit.

Prepared by

JENNIFER L. BONGCARAS, LPT

Module #2 Operate Computerized Reservation System

Module Descriptor This module deals with the knowledge, skills and
attitude required to operate a computerized
reservation system in a range of settings within
the hotel and travel industries work-place
context.
Learning Outcomes:
After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, YOU MUST be able to:
 Computerize reservation system is operated based on property
standards;
 Create and process reservations;
 Send and receive reservation communications.
Required Knowledge  Role of Computerized
Reservations System (CRS)
within the tourism industry
 Range of products and services
offered by CRS
 Procedures and codes required
to enter and exit a system
 Mandatory fields
 Requirements for specific
formatted entries
Required Skills  Basic keyboarding skills
 Encoding and decoding
common CRS entries
 Procedures for confirming,
storing and retrieving
reservations
 Procedures for amending and
canceling reservations
 Procedures for sending and
receiving messages
 Operating a computerized
reservations system to process
multiple product bookings

INFORMATIO Computerize Reservation System is Operated Based on

N SHEET #2.1 Property Standards

Introduction
Computerized reservation systems have become an essential part of any
hospitality and tourism organization. It is a necessary tool to store and access a wide
range of information that can be easily accessed by a range of people in any location.

These industry sectors use a diverse range of computerized systems to manage

reservations, operations and sales administration functions, so the system will vary
depending upon the organization and industry sector.
It also covers other industry-wide systems used by inbound tour operators,
outbound tour wholesalers and meetings and events management organisations.

A hotel reservation system, also known as a central reservation system (CRS) is a

computerized system that stores and distributes information of a hotel, resort, or
other lodging facilities.
CRS or Central Reservation System is a type of reservation software that is used to
update and maintain information of a hotel pertaining to inventory and rates so that
hotels are able to manage guest reservations and the process around such
reservations in real time.
A central reservation system is a tool to reach the Global Distribution System as well
as internet distribution systems from one single system. A CRS assists hotel
managers in managing their online marketing and sales, allowing them to upload
their rates and availabilities to be seen by sales channels that are using the CRS.
Sales channels may include conventional travel agencies as well travel agencies.

Hotel software is designed for all areas of hotel operation including:

 Property management
 Accounting
 Internet / GDS reservations Central reservations
 Reception
 Point of sale (POS)
 Spa, club and golf management
 Guest management
 Inventory management
 Yield / revenue management.

Small hotel software is available for properties with less than 100 rooms
and focuses on basic front and back office functions or reservations and guest
management.

One of the major types of hotel software used by the hotel industry is hotel
property management software (PMS). PMS is a comprehensive software package
that manages all aspects of hotel operations, which has front desk, and back office
modules that handle reservations, guest profile/folio, reporting, night auditing, and
housekeeping, accounting, payroll and asset and inventory management.
For reservations, there are two types of hotel software:

1. A CRS (central reservation system)

2. An IBE (Internet booking engine) - an IBE allows guests to remotely make
reservations accessing the hotel's website.
Hotel reservation systems will also have reservation software capability that allows
guests to make reservations using a GDS service.

A CRS is either included in the PMS or can be a stand-alone solution. It’s closely
related to the front-desk, as it passes all the information about the new reservations
for further processing.

Common CRS Information

Information commonly stored in a CRS includes
  Room types
 Rate plans architecture
 Room rates and conditions - guarantee, deposit, customized cancellation rules,
minimum length of stay, maximum length of stay, closed to arrival, arrival not
allowed, departure not allowed
 Room inventories
 Generic hotel information - address, phone number, fax number
 Distribution content descriptions, amenities, pictures, videos and local
attractions are stored in the CRS or in a content management system
 Reservation information
 Nearby IATA cities and airports.

This is how a CRS typically works:

The guests of hotel or sales agents call for checking room availability. It is forwarded
to the front office reservation staff. The staff finds out details about the requirement
and checks the availability of desired accommodation in the database. According to
the reservation policies and procedures, the reservation staff member then notifies or
suggests the reception about the accommodation availability and takes further
appropriate action.

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (GDS)

GDS – the system that consists of the companies that connect hotels offering rooms
for sale with individuals and travel professionals worldwide who will potentially
purchase them.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Property Management Systems ( PMS)-Computer -based applications

A Property Management System (PMS) is a software system employed to handle basic

objectives of all the departments in the hotel business and coordinate functions
between them for optimum business outcomes.

Why is PMS Required?

A PMS is required for the hotel staff for the following reasons −
  It integrates all critical operations of the hotel on one platform.
 It provides real-time information on accommodations, reservations,
restaurants, spas, bars, and about every working arm of the hotel.
 It provides highly accurate information which is helpful for the management to
plan new goals and handle the investments in a better way.
 It boosts the efficiency of the front office staff and in turn maximizes the
performance of the hotel business.
 It simplifies the time-taking or complex operations otherwise done manually.
 It works for the convenience of the hotel staff, managing body, as well as the
guests.

Popular Property Management Systems

Some popular PMS: Autoclerk, Skyware MSICloud, CloudPM, eZee Frontdesk,

Hotelogix, Hetello, Hoteliga, OpenHotel, OPERA PMS, are to name a few.

Common Software Options in a PMS

A PMS takes care of each department in the hotel. These are the commonly available
features among PMS −
PMS Features for Front desk
 Reservation
 Registration
 Accommodation status
 Guest and non-guest accounts
 Cash handling
 Night auditing
 Reports

PMS for Sales and Marketing

 Guest database for market segmentation
 Guest history
 Yield management
 Travel agents information as clients
 Reports for goals
 Performance evaluation by comparative analysis
PMS for Housekeeping
 Lost and found
 Accommodation status
 Laundry charges
PMS for Food and Beverage
 POS sales
 Material inventory
  Periodic sales reports
 Standard recipes
PMS for HRM Department
 Individual staff member’s records regarding shifts, attendance, and appraisals.

PMS for Accounts

 Account payables and receivables
 Payroll
 Balance sheet
 Profit/Loss reports

PMS for Communication

 Outgoing and incoming call records with date, time, place, duration, and
charges.

Concerns in Selection of Appropriate PMS

The following concerns are considered while selecting an appropriate PMS –

Property and Business Domain Concerns

 Size of the property: The number of accommodations
 Number of locations
 Number of employees
 Property service policies
 Budget for technical resources and training
 Nearest future growth

PMS Domain Concerns

 User-friendly design that fosters intuitive navigation through logical order of
tasks.
 Training expertise and time period required to train the staff.
 Hotel’s online presence.
 Guest-oriented functionality.
 Scalability.

Learn more about CRS and PMS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McPpqbG4yUY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF1OGj2MIEw
ACTIVITY
1. What are the benefits of using CRS?
2. What are the systems that have codes to depict various pieces of
information? Discuss each usage.
3. What are the two things that require you to become proficient in the use
of CRS.

INFORMATION Create and Process Reservations

SHEET #2.2

INTRODUCTION
Faced with the challenge of increasing room sales while responding to inquiries and serving guests in a
timely manner, work at the Front Office can get hectic. Computer technology makes it more
manageable. A Property Management System (PMS) has been a convenient tool that allows hotel
employees to –among other tasks- manage room availability, record reservations and process other guest
transactions efficiently.
RESERVATION AVENUES
Reservation Avenue- means by which a guest is able to make a reservation at a hotel.
Most Common Reservation Avenues:
 GDS (Global Distribution System)
 CRS ( Central Reservation System)
 Direct Travel agent contact
 Direct guest contact

Other Sources of Reservations

People travel for various reasons such as personal as well as for MICE. There are various sources from
whom the requests of reservation pour in:
 Direct Request from Guests: The prospective guests can approach individually to the hotel for
reservation of accommodation mostly when they are single travelers or family travelers.
 Request from Travel Agent: They can approach the hotel for booking accommodations for group
travelers.
 Request from Corporate Agent: An organization can request a hotel to reserve accommodations for
their employees, clients, or visitors.
 Request from Airlines: The airlines can reserve accommodations for their working staff for routine
stay as well as in case of flight cancellations.
 Request from Institutions: Various SMERF or NGO institutions request to reserve hotels for sports
people, delegations of embassies, or performing-art program groups, workshop groups, and alike who
travel to different location.
Other Avenues or Sources for Room Reservations
 Letters
 Email or Internet Access
 Fax
 Telephone
 In Person
 Call Centers
 Via Central Booking Offices

Completed reservation includes:

 Documents issued which may include:
o Credit notes
o Invoices
o Confirmation letter
o Confirmation number
o Receipts
o Vouchers
 Deposits attained from customers
 Form of settlement

Managing Reservations
The first step in reserving an accommodation is to check if the requested kind of accommodation is
available for selling for a specific period of time. It is done by checking forecast boards or computerized
systems.

Accepting Reservation of Accommodation

Reservation of an accommodation is accepted if the desired type of accommodation is available in the
hotel for selling. If it is not available during a rush season or if the guest is in urgent need, the staff
member suggests for almost similar alternative accommodation by stating its amenities and facilities.
Reservation is accepted in the following cases in conjunction with the availability of the
accommodation:
 Is the guest new to the hotel?
 Does the guest have good credentials with the hotel regarding payment and behavior?
 Is the guest a VIP?
Denying Reservation of Accommodation
Denial of reservation directly means loss of revenue. But there are certain situations when the
reservation staff turns down the reservation for the guests or agents. The potential causes of denying
reservation are:
 All accommodations in hotel booked: In such case, the reservation staff refuses the reservation politely
and suggests an alternative hotel in the same area or different property of the same owner in a nearby
area.
 Requested type of accommodation not available: In such case, the reservation staff suggests an
alternate accommodation.
 Guest/Agent blacklisted: Some guests or agents are blacklisted due to their history of payment dues
against the hotel. In such case, the reservation clerk seeks for reservation manager’s advice.
Finally, the reservation section of the front office prepares the list of the reservations for the day and
sends it to the front desk. The list also contains vital information such as if the guest is new or repeat,
guest preferences about room location or décor. The rooms are then prepared by housekeeping.
Cancelling a Reservation of Accommodation
This is yet another event when the hotel loses business with a guest. Though the fact is overt loss of
revenue, the front office staff must react to it politely and gracefully. The staff member also needs to
convey any cancellation charges the guest must pay while cancelling the reservation. Cancellation is
done in the following steps:
 Finding out details of the guest and respective reserved accommodation.
 Verifying charges of cancellation, if any.
 Notifying the guest about cancellation charges.
 Cancelling the reservation in the system.
 Updating the system for accommodation availability.
 Confirming the guest about the cancellation.

ACTIVITY
Research and study on the procedures of taking reservations and prepare a pair simulation activities on
processing reservations. What information is included in processing reservations?

INFORMATIO Send and Receive Reservation Communications

N SHEET #3.3

INTRODUCTION

There are many, many ways in which the data and statistics in a CRS can be manipulated, configured
and presented.

Most reports or the ability to generate and print reports are protected from unauthorized access and an
appropriate User ID must be entered, in addition, to a recognized password, to activate or access these
reports.

Some reports require quite a deal of number crunching and may take quite a while to develop before
they can be displayed or printed.

Many reports are generated daily as part of the Night Audit process and are printed and distributed to
management ready for perusal at the start of the next day.
TYPES OF REPORTS

Depending on the system being used, it is possible that available reports may include:
 Accounting Reports
 Sales Reports
 Reservation Reports

Generating Reservation Report

Reservation reports are generated for the sake of helping the management find trends and making
forecast about business.
The reports typically are of the following types:
 Occupancy report
 Special arrival report
 Revenue forecast report
 Turnaway report
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS AND RECORDS FOR PROCESSING RESERVATIONS
 Individual Reservation Forms or Cards
 Reservation Chart
 Reservation Rack and Reservation Slips
 Hanging Folder
 Confirmation Notice Form
 Reservations Diary
Accept and Create A Reservation on the Computerized Reservation System
To create a new reservation you will need to access the Front Office/Front Of-House area of the CRS.
Usually, guest information or guest details must be entered before a booking can be made, however
where the guest has stayed with you previously their details may already be stored in the system and this
information can provide the basis for their new reservation.
Note, though, that people's details change and this must be updated as necessary including telephone
numbers, address, married name etc.
A link (tab or icon) from the Guest Details will take you to the Reservation section or screen.
Creating New Reservations
To make a new reservation you will need to enter or confirm certain information that will vary
depending on the type of reservation being process. The information that may be required by the system
can include:
 Date of arrival — this can usually be manually entered (DDMMYYY format), or selected
from a drop-down calendar where relevant days, months and years are highlighted and
clicked
 Date of departure
 Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) — where applicable you may enter the guest's ETA.
This can be useful where they are expected late or are arriving by air, which is frequently
unreliable. Some systems will insert an automatic default time
 Manual times will be in either a 24 hour clock format (such as 22.30 for 10.30pm) or in
the AM/PM format (such as 02:00PM for 2 0'clock in the afternoon)
 Estimated Time of Departure (ETD)
 Number of Nights
 Room Type
 Number of adults and children
 Package Type
 Room rate
 Booking Taken by
 Notes/Comments
 Room Number
 Marketing Information
Inputting Customer Details
The inputs will depend on the system, the software and the set-up,
Most systems contain prompts to ensure that all the details regarded as 'necessary' by the system are
captured and recorded before the system will allow you to finalise the procedure.
To create a new guest or someone who has never stayed with us before, the Front Office/Front-Of-
House will be used and a tab such as 'Guest', 'Guest Details', 'New' or similar will be actioned.
In the appropriate guest details display, you will be required to input information such as:
 Name
Fields will exist for Surname and a given name together with a Title field such as Mr. Mrs, Ms, Dr, Prof,
and Sir Etc.
Most systems will provide room for you to enter multiple guest names enabling you to identify all
people who are to be roomed in the one room or under the one booking.
 Name/code/initials of person entering the data
 Account type
Most guests pay by cash or credit card but many guests, especially businesses and government bodies,
will have been extended credit facilities so they will pay by account.
Other guests may be paying via vouchers, charge back to travel agents or be activating some contra deal,
a promotion or complimentary prize or offer.
 Business name
Where the guest is a company booking, the name for the account is entered here for billing purposes.
 Addresses
This is where the guest/business residential and where applicable, separate postal addresses are entered.
Most systems will auto insert a suburb or town when the post code is selected.
 Method of payment
You may type this in or select from a drop-down list of options.
Where a credit card (CC) is selected, you may be required to select type of card and enter a card number
and other card details
 Discounts
 Phone, fax and e-mail details
 Vouchers
 Guest Status
Print Reservation Details from the Computerized Reservations System

It is a common practice for a confirmation to be sent to the guest. In today’s age, this is normally sent to
the guest in electronic format. However, reservation details may be printed.
In addition, in-house reasons to print the information exist where:

 There is a query about the booking

 There is a conflict regarding the reservation
 Special requests for a hard copy is made for a certain reasons, such as to assist a porter comply
with a special request.

Downloading and printing reservation details

The process of downloading reservation deatials will occur when the appropriate “OK”, “ENTER”,
“SAVE” , or “ APPLY buttons are clicked or when the “Modify” tab is clicked after making updates.
Printing of reservation details is achieved by clicking the “Print” button or icon within the reservation
screen.

In addition, the system may allow the printing of a confirmation slip and cancellation slip.

This is commonly achieved by retrieving the booking, processing the booking or cancellation and then
clicking on the “Print” button.

THE CHANNEL MANAGER

The channel manager connects the PMS and all distribution interfaces. It collects information about the
room availability and rates from the CRS and shares it across multiple channels, such as GDSs,
OTAs, wholesalers, metasearch sites, and the hotel’s own website through different types of APIs. As
rooms get booked, it syncs the inventory information throughout all the online platforms to prevent
overbooking and also maintains rate parity. A channel manager can also come as a part of the
comprehensive PMS, as part of the CRS if the latter is designed separately, or as an independent
software to be integrated with the existing hotel software.

Learn more about channel manager:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nFVXaiSoAE

A booking engine is software that is integrated into the hotel’s website and social media pages that
helps customers book, pay for, and manage their stay directly. It gets the ARI from the CRS through the
channel manager and sends back the booker’s reservation information.

Hotel search and booking process steps

Hotel reservation software is designed to automate and facilitate all the booking-related processes. So,
let’s take a closer look at how reservations are created and how technology is involved. A typical hotel
reservation process can be broken down into several steps as described below.

Hotel booking process

1. Searching for the options. Nowadays there is a multitude of search engines and platforms to
find accommodations. Companies and travel agencies often use a GDS, and individuals mostly
browse through metasearch websites and big OTAs. To have all these sources present your
hotel’s information to potential customers, you have to integrate with them first and then
distribute your ARI through a channel manager.

2. Receiving an availability inquiry. The channel manager delivers these inquiries to your CRS to
get the availability information.

3. Checking availability and sending response. At this stage, it’s necessary to verify in the
system if the requested room type is available on indicated dates and get back with the result.
The two-way integration through a channel manager allows this to be done in a flash, pulling the
data from the CRS and shooting it back to the booker.

4. Receiving a reservation request. If the booker is satisfied with the rate and decides to stay at
your hotel, the reservation request is created with the help of the booking engine (either the
booking engine on your side or the OTA’s, depending on the channel) and sent to the CRS. It
contains all the essential information about the number of guests, arrival and departure dates,
room type, contact details, special requests, etc.
 5. Confirming and blocking. In case the requested room is still available, it has to be blocked to
prevent double-booking. At the same time, a reservation record is created in the CRS that
contains all the information related to this booking. An email notification is then generated and
sent to the booker to confirm the reservation. Also, it usually contains payment details and
cancellation policy.

6. Receiving payment. This step is optional as many guests still prefer to pay on arrival. Many
OTAs do not require paying in advance, but having a secure payment tool included in your
booking engine is a big advantage, as it gives travelers the opportunity to pay in a convenient
way and save time during check-in.

7. Transferring information to other departments. The reservation record shares all the
reservation details with other PMS modules. For example, the housekeeping staff has to be
informed about all the expected arrivals in order to appropriately prepare all the reserved rooms;
the front desk should have all the information to ensure a smooth guest check-in; the reporting
module uses this data to create reports, and so on.

8. Optional reservation modifications. Prior to arrival, the booking details might be adjusted. A
guest might want to change arrival or departure dates, type of room or desired amenities, number
of visitors, etc. If that happens, changes have to be confirmed by the hotel, registered in the
reservation record, and shared with other modules.

9. Cancellations. Sometimes reservations are cancelled. In this case, the room has to be unblocked
to allow for further booking, and, if prepayment took place, a refund has to be issued (if
envisaged by the hotel’s policy). As soon as availability changes in the CRS, the channel
manager shares this information across different channels.

Learn more about booking engine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGtxdPa-J2U

ACTIVITY
1. Prepare to receive a reservation request from your teacher and take down notes
of the information details given by the teacher. A sample of reservation data or
form will be used for the entries. (30 points for this activity)