9 ROOM STATUS

S. Thilagamani

Objectives:

The module on room status will enable the learners to

1.      Understand the room position at the hotel and the status of the rooms on each day.

2.      Forecast reservations and increase the occupancy rate and thereby room sales

Introduction:

The process of assigning the rooms to the guest during the arrival phase of the guest is mostly determined by the room status, availability of rooms and room rates. The room status of the room alerts front office department for sale of the room to the guest, the housekeeping department to get ready the used rooms and make it ready for sale again to the customers and also links the maintenance, engineering and safety department to service all equipments and put

in working condition.

The process of assigning rooms

The terms related to room status are

• Free sale – Rooms are available for sale
• Minus position – When guests expected exceeds room available
• Plus position – When rooms available exceeds guest arrivals
• Sold out – Rooms not available
• House count – Number of guests staying in the hotel
• Walk in – Guest who registers himself without a prior reservation.
• Wake call – A call given by the front office staff to wake a guest on the specified time given by the guest

These terms will help the front office staff while dealing with guests and staff should be aware of all the terminologies related so that the guest services are done at the best possible manner. And also as the rooms are described as the perishable commodity, the sale of rooms has to be done with utmost care that the services of the staff in all departments are done efficiently without any delay. Proper coordination of staff in all departments both front of the house and back of the house operations are done with optimum utilisation of all the resources.

Determining Guest Needs:

Each hotel has a variety of rooms to meet the needs of guest. A single guest would like to stay in a single room to be cost effective, while a couple find a double room more convenient. A family may have to choose a suite to have more leg room for children to move around. A business executive may want a special suite to entertain privately or show off the financial status to his or her clients.

Room types are based on intended number of occupants. The standard room type is understood to be based on one occupant. This is called single occupancy. The single room type has one bed.

Although not universal, single occupancy room rates will often be lower than those with two people in the room, or double occupancy room rates.

Room rates intended for three occupants are triple occupancy and quad occupancy house for four guests. It is a rare for standard room to house more than four people.

The types of rooms are:

1. Ordinary Rooms :

• Single room
• Twin room
• Triple room
• Quad room
• Double room
• Double-double room
• Hollywood twin room
• Queen room
• King room

2.  Suite  Rooms :

• Suite room
• Junior suite
• Single suite
• Double suite
• Duplex suite
• Penthouse suite
• Deluxe room / Suite
• Cottages – suite
• Hospitality Suite

3.  Special Category Rooms/Othe r Types Of Rooms :

• Studio room
•  Cabana room
• Parlor rooms
•  Lanai room
• Corner room
• Conference room
• Banquet halls/room
• Inter-connecting room
• Adjacent room
• Adjoining room
• Secretarial room / business centre
• Efficiency Room

A.    Ordinary Rooms Single room:

•      A room assigned to one person.

•      It is  for single occupancy.

•      A bed size approximately 6 feet by 3 feet.

Twin room:

•      A room has two single beds

•      It’s for double occupancy.

•      The bed size is normally 6 feet by 3 feet for each be d

•       It’s suitable for sharing accommodation among delegates of a meeting.

Triple room:

•      A room has three separate single beds.

•        It can be occupied by three guests, for Triple occupancy.

•      It’s suitable for groups & conference guests.

Quad Room:

•      A room has for separate four single beds.

•      It can accommodate by 4 persons together in the one room.

Double Room:

•      It has one double bed.

•      It is for double occupancy.

•      The size of bed is generally 4.5 feet by 6 feet.

Double – Double Room:

•      It has two double beds.

•      It can accommodate four persons together.

•      It normally preferred by a family or group.

Hollywood Twin Room:

•      A room has two single beds with a common head board attached.

•      It generally occupied by two persons or guests.

Queen Room:

•      A queen room has a queen size bed.

•      The size of the bed is 5 feet by 6 feet.

•      Extra bed is available on request.

King Room:

•      A king room has a king size bed.

•      The size of the bed is 6 feet by 6 feet.

•       An extra bed may be added to this room on request & charged accordingly.

B.  Suite  Rooms

Suite :

•      A suite comprises more than one room.

•      A room has separated living room & bed room area.

•      A parlor or living room connected to one or more bedrooms.

•      The décor & color sche me used gives its name.

•      A room made of adjoining rooms (two separated).

•      Aim to please the affluent (rich) guest.

•      For who can afford the high tariff (rate) of the room category.

Junior Suite / Mini Suite:

•      It is s maller size of suite room.

•      A single room with a bed & a sitting area.

•       The sleeping area may be in a bedroom or separated from the parlor or living room

Single Suite:

•      A room meant for single occupancy.

•      A room with a bedroom & a sitting room.

Double Suite:

•      A room meant for double occupancy

•      It have a sitting room.

Duplex Suite:

•      This type of suite has two rooms.

•      Which are situated on two different floors

•        It connected by an internal staircase

Penthouse:

•      A room with a terrace or open sky space.

•      It located on the topmost floor of a hotel.

•      It is very opulent (lavish / luxury) décor & furnishings.

•      It among the costliest rooms in the hotel.

•      It preferred by celebrities & major personalities.

Deluxe room / Deluxe Suite

•      A room has good vie w in the hotel.

•      It offers a high level of comfort and has a bigger space.

•      It is not a suite room but it got bedroom & a small living room.

Cottages:

•      An independent set of rooms located away from main hotel building.

•       Each house has balcony, living area, bedroom with attached bathroom.

•      It may have dinning area with an attached kitchen.

•      It commonly found in resort hotels.

Hospitality Suite:

•      It is generally a banquet room.

•      A room hired by a guest on hourly basis to entertain his guest.

C.  Special category Rooms/Other types of rooms

Studio Room:

•      Generally used as a living room.

•      A room with a bed & convey in to sofa – cum – bed.

Cabana Room:

•      A room located nearby s wimming pool or beach.

•      Mostly used as a changing room but not a bed room.

Parlour Room:

•      A living room without bed.

•      It may have sofa & chairs for sitting.

Lanai Room:

•      It generally has a vie w of garden or sea beach.

•      A veranda or roofed patio, furnished & used as a living room.

Corner Room:

•      A room located at the corner of the hotel building.

•      It have generally a two exposures (view) .

Conference Room:

•      A room as different size having different capacity to accommodate .

•      For conference, meeting etc.,

Banquet Rooms / Halls:

•     Its used to entertain banquet (function) guest.

•      Specially for parties, receptions, and we dding etc., Inte r Connecting Room:

•      A room with individual entrance door from outside.

•      A connectivity door is in-between the rooms.

•       Guest can move between the rooms without going through the corridor.

•      It can be sold as two separate rooms – during demand / peak time.

Adjacent Room:

•      It is a room that is very close to another room perhaps across the hall.

•      They do not share a common wall.

Adjoining Room:

•      Two or more rooms side by side without connecting door between them.

Secretarial Room / Business Centre:

•      It usually found in 5 star hotels.

•      It specially meant for business people.

•      This room provide the services like Typing, Photocopying, Fax & Steno services.

Efficiency Room:

•      A sort of complete self-sufficient unit itself .

•      It usually found in hill stations and beaches.

•      This room contains a bedroom,

a)      Living Room,

b)      Dining Room,

c)      A Small Kitchen &

d)       Bathroom

Based on the rooms available and the room requirements, the room allocation has to be decided by the staff for assignment of rooms.

ROOM STATUS RECONCILIATION

The review of guest room was important to conduct before introducing the next section. Hotels monitor each and every guest rooms very closely. They are in business to sell rooms, and that includes each room type, configuration, and designation. The most important aspect of this monitoring process is discerning what guest rooms are available for sa le and when. This is to avoid the obvious embarrassment of checking two guests into the same room, as well as to maximize room revenue by selling every room as soon as it becomes available. The hotel industry assigns a status to every guest room. Reconciling the guest room status is the way a hotel is able to manage availability.

Room status reconciliation is defined as ensuring that rooms are properly designated by their current status, and assigned new status as it changes. Both housekeeping and the front desk maintain room status. Each coordinates with the other to make sure that rooms are assigned, cleaned, and assigned again to maximize room revenue, while avoiding a miss – assignment. Room status categories / designations are grouped by the guest room’s state of occupancy, state of cleanliness, and state of exception. The most commonly used room status codes are occupied, vacant, dirty, clean, ready and out of order.

STATUS OF ROOMS

State of Occupancy

• Occupied – applies to a room that has been assigned to a guest and that guest has checked in
• Vacant – the guest has checked out of the room
• Ready – room is available for new occupancy

Status of Cleanliness

•  Dirty – room has not been cleaned by housekeeping
• Clean – room has been cleaned but not yet verified as clean

Status of Exception

Out of Order – room was removed from inventory for a specific reason ( e.g., repairs of renovation)

The room status can be thought of as the “life cycle” of a guest room. Describing the status of a guest room requires determining its “readiness” for new occupancy. Therefore, a hotel must know its current state of occupancy and cleanliness. When determining a room’s state of occupancy and state of both occupancy and cleanliness information.

Room Status Codes

• OCC – Occupied
• VC – Vacant & Clean
• VD – Vacant & Dirty
• OR – Occupied & Ready
• OC – Occupied & Clean
• OD – Occupied & Dirty
• CO – Check Out
• OOO – Out of Order
• DND – Do Not Disturb
• V/O or O/V – Status Unclear
• LO – Lock Out Room
• DO – Due out Room
• DNCO – Did not Check Out
• VCI – Vacant, Cleaned & Inspected
• HL – Heavy Luggage
• LL – Light Luggage
• NL – No Luggage
• DL -Double Lock
• CL – Chain Lock
• HU – House use
• NCI – Newly checked In
• NS – No Show
• SO – Slept out
• BLO – Blocked
• V -Vacant Room
• MUR – Make Up Room
• VR – Vacant & Ready

Web references

• www.littlehotelier.com
• www.capterra.com/reservations-software
• www.softwareadvice.com › Hotel Management Software
• www.xotels.com/en/hotel-reservation-system
• www.codeproject.com

Book References

1. Aggarwal, R. Hotel Front office – Systems and Procedure, Sublime Publicat
2. ions, Jaipur, 2002.
3. Bhatnagar, S.K. Front Office Management, Frank Bros, New Delhi, 2004.
4. Andrew, S. Text book of Front Office Management and Operation, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company Ltd, New Delhi, 2008.
5. Ismail, S.A. Front Office Operation and Management, Thomson Asia Pvt Ltd, 2004.