5 Registration

S. Thilagamani

OBJECTIVES

This module on Registration will enable the learners to

•  understand the formalities during registration process
•  describe the importance of registration for the various departments in the hotel

1.      INTRODUCTION

One of the first opportunities for face-to-face contact with a hotel occurs when the guest registers. At this time, all the marketing efforts and computerized reservations systems should come together. The front desk clerk who is well trained in the registration process must be able to portray the hotel in a positive manner. This good first impression will help ensure an enjoyable visit.

The registration process is arguably the most important part of the hotel experience for the guest. It is during this time the lasting impressions are made. It has been said that 75 per cent of the guest’s total satisfaction with the hotel is determined during this process. A successful hotel must do whatever it can to ensure that the guest is satisfied with every aspect of registration.

GUEST REGISTRATION PROCESS

The first step in the guest registration process beings with capturing guest data such as name, address, zip code, length of stay, company, affiliation which is needed during his or her stay and after departure. Various departments in the hotel require this information to provide services to the guest. The registration process continues with the extension of credit, room selection, room rate application, opportunity to sell hotel services, room key assignment and folio processing. Continually efficient performance of the registration process is essential to ensuring hospitality for all guests and profitability for the hotel.

2.  IMPORTANCE OF THE FIRST GUEST CONTACT

The first impression a guest receives of a lodging facility during registration is extremely important in setting the tone for hospitality and establishing a continuing business relationship. The guest who is warmly welcomed with a sincere greeting will respond positively to the hotel and will expert similar hospitality from other hotel employees. If the guest receives a half hearted welcome she or he will not be enthusiastic about the lodging facilities and will be more likely to find fault with the hotel during his or her visit. Today’s guest expects to be treated with respect and concern and many hotels make the effort to meet those expectations. Those who do not should not expect the guest to return next time.

3.      CAPTURING GUEST DATA

It is important to note at the outset the value of capturing guest data at registration. The information is used by many employees in the hotel to provide service and hospitality to the guest. It will be used to transfer messages to guests to inform the staff of a guest’s needs to check credit background and to process charges.

Guest will undoubtedly receive phone calls messages, mail, fax, transmissions that the hotel must deliver. Recording the proper spelling of a guest name, including the initial during the registration will assist the telephone operator and bell boy in locating the correct guest.

Guests special needs such as certain room furnishing, facilities for the physically challenged, separate folios for guests splitting costs, wake up calls or request for rooms on lower floors that were not indicated when the reservation was made, should be noted and communicated to the appropriate hotel staff during registration.

4. GUEST REGISTRATION PROCEDURE

The guest registration procedures involve several steps which if followed accurately will allow management to ensure a pleasant, efficient and safe visit. The guest registration process involves the following steps and will be discussed generally as they relate to effective front office management.

1.    Guest requests to check into the hotel.

2.  Front desk clerk projects hospitality towards the guest

3.  Front desk clerk inquiries about guest reservation.

4.  Guest completes registration card.

5.  Front desk clerk reviews completeness of registration card.

6.  Front desk clerk verifies credit.

7.  Front desk clerk room selection.

8.  Front desk clerk makes room assignment.

9.  Front desk clerk assigns room rate.

10.  Front desk clerk discusses sales opportunities for hotel products and services with guest.

11.  Front desk clerk provides room key.

12.  Front desk clerk processes folio.

5. GUEST HOSPITALITY

The registration process begins when a guest requests to check into the hotel. The guest may arrive alone or with a group. The front desk clerk begins the check-in process with a display of hospitality towards the guest important elements include eye contact, a warm smile, an inquiry regarding travel experience, an offer to assist the guest in a dilemma, etc. As mentioned earlier, the importance of a warm welcome to a guest’s positive impressions of the hotel and its staff cannot be overemphasized. Most travelers expect common courtesy along with a quality product and a well-developed delivery system.

6.  INQUIRY ABOUT REGISTRATION

After the front desk clerk has welcomed the guests, he or she asks if a reservation has been placed. If the guest responds, the reservation is retrieved. If the guests are a walk-in, then the receptionist must first check the room availability before registering the guests. If a room is available, it will be offered, and the guests must be informed of room tariff. Upon acceptance the guests will be requested to complete a registration form. If the rooms are available, the next step is the guest completes a registration form.

7.  COMPLETION OF REGISTRATION FORM

The registration card provides the hotel with the guest’s billing information and provides the guest with information on check out time and room rates. Even if the guest has a reservation, the completion of the registration card is important, as it verifies the spelling of names, address, phone numbers, anticipated date of departure, number of people in the party, room rate and method of payment.

A portion of the registration form supplies information about the guest so the hotel and has an accurate listing of registered guests. This record is also used for billing purpose. The registration form has the following details to be filled by the guest themselves.

8.   THE REGISTRATION FORM

• Arrival date Departure date Arrival time
• Number of rooms Room type
• Daily rate
• Number of guests Advanced deposit Room number Package plan
• Name Address
• Passport number and date and place of issue Nationality
• Company Payment
• Departing to Signature

Receptionist signature

The purpose of registration is to record a guest’s arrival and confirm their personal details as well as to satisfy the legal requirements. In addition to the registration form, a form called C form is to be filled by the overseas guest. According to the THE IMMIGRATION ORDER 1972 (HOTEL RECORDS), the following details must be recorded for all guests over the age of 16

• Full name:
• Nationality:
• Date of arrival to India:
• Purpose of Arrival:
• Passport number and place of issue:
• VISA details:
• Reference if any (local):
• Next destination (if known)
• Date of departure:

The front desk staff should quickly review the completeness of the registration card.

9.  REVIEW THE COMPLETENESS OF THE REGISTRATION FORM

Any areas remaining blank should be called to the guest’s attention. Such omissions may be oversights or there may be an effort by the guest to commit fraud. The front desk clerk should also be sure to complete the sections of the registration card for which the staff is responsible, including the projected check out date, room number, number of guests in the room, room rate and signature of the staff. The registration card is then filled with the folio in the folio well.

10. ROOM SELECTION

The part of the registration process includes the front desk clerk, selection of a guest room, which can be confusing for the front desk clerk and for the guest. This selection involves blocking guest rooms to a guest’s arrival, maintaining an accurate room rack used in traditional registration procedures, meeting the guest needs, maintaining a room inventory system. If the guest is assigned a room that does not meet his / her personal requirements, the guests then request a different room. The front desk staff responds with a list of available options that seem to meet the guest request.

11. BLOCKING PROCEDURE

The blocking procedure is very important in ensuring an even flow of processing guests who want to check in. Blocked rooms allow the front desk clerk to immediately assign a room to guest without searching through confirm and guaranteed reservations as well as available room inventory. Otherwise, guest clerks could have to review reservation and available rooms at the guest arrival.

The blocking procedure begins with the review of confirmed and guaranteed reservation as well as expected check outs for a particular day. For example, if a 200 room hotel has 125 rooms occupied on the night of November 1 with 25 room checkouts scheduled for the morning of November 2, the front office manager could determine that 100 rooms are available for guest to use on November 2.

200 rooms available in the hotel

–    125 rooms occupied on November 1

=    75 rooms available for sales on November 1

+    25 room checkouts on November 2

=    100 rooms available for sale on November 2

From this 100 room availability, the front office staff should be able to determine which room should be assigned to which guest reservation.

12. ROOM RACK

In many hotels that use a Property Management System (PMS), the room rack has been replaced with an electronic room rack within a computer system in the early stages of adopting a PMS; the room rack is retained as a mental support mechanism. Just in case, the system goes down, however the front desk clerk becomes comfortable with operating the PMS, reliance on the room rack for guest room information is discontinued. It is important for those students who are aspiring for a career in hotel management to understand the vital components of the room rack which are now “inside” the PMS. A review of the features of the room rack will assist in understanding the room selection process. The physical features of the manual room rack include the listing of all hotel room numbers in numerical order. The first digit in this series of the room number indicates the floor level and the remaining digits indicate the exact room number.

13. MEETING GUEST REQUESTS

Guest needs usually include bed requirements, room location, floor plan arrangements and ancillary equipments, room design and equipped for special needs, immediate availability and price. If the guest has a reservation, the room selection will be blocked prior to the guest arrival. The walk in guests presents the opportunities to the front desk clerk to optimize sale and meet the needs of the guests. Meeting guest needs comprise.

• SPECIAL ACCOMODATION
• LOCATION
• LAYOUT AND DÉCOR
• EQUIPMENT
• SPECIAL NEEDS
• AVAILABILITY
• PRICE CONSTRAINTS

13.1SPECIAL ACCOMODATION

The first issue in room selection is meeting the guest’s requests for special accommodation. The general trend in designing hotel rooms include placing two beds, usually a king size, queen size, double beds in the room which can accommodate the single guests, business clients sharing a room, a family of two adults along with children and various other guests parties. This design permits the front desk staff more freedom in assigning a room. Since so many different needs can be met.

13.2 LOCATION

The guests often request a certain room location on the lower level of the hotels, near the parking lot, away from the elevator, in the corner of the building, far from a convention. Also, certain views of the area may be requested. For example, ocean, bay, or city square. Rooms with special views are priced higher, as the guest is willing to pay more, feelings this will enhance the visit. Although these rooms are limited by the design and location for the building, they add a certain character to the lodging property. The marketing and sales department will usually promote these rooms very heavily. Sometimes the guest request for specific location or views can be easily met “other times a lack of available rooms will force for the guest to compromise”. 13.3 LAYOUT AND DECOR

The guest may request a certain floor plan or room décor. If a business person wants to use a room as a small meeting room as well as a sleeping area, a room with a Murphy bed, a bed that is base of the head board and swings up to wall for storage should be assigned, if available. A guest who is on extended business trip may request a room with a kitchenette. Several people sharing a room for a visit may appreciate a room where the sleeping and living areas are separate.

13.4 EQUIPMENT

The guest also request various ancillary equipment and amenities although cable television, telephones are now standard room furnishings, Large screen television, recorders, satellite reception, computer and internet , more than one telephone may be requested. Some hotels provide computers and convertible desks that would accommodate business guest needs.

13.5 SPECIAL NEEDS

Guest often request room design and furnished with equipments to meet special needs. Room equipped for the hearing impaired, guests in wheel chair are very common. Advances in hotel marketing, building design and construction and electronic safety features allow the guest with physical disability to enjoy the facilities of the hotel.

13.6 AVAILABILITY

Immediate availability is of great concern to most guests. Usually the traveler has spent many hours in transit and wants to unload baggage, freshen up and move on to other activities. For the guests, registration is the last stop before collapsing from a tiring day of travel and activity. The guest is very vulnerable at this time often willing to accept a higher rate that meets his or her immediate needs.

13.7 PRICE CONSTRAINTS

Price is often another guest concern. Guest with budget constraints may request a room for the lowest price. This is their primary concern. Room location, floor plan, room arrangements, ancillary equipments and immediate occupancy play lesser roles in the room selection when guest request the least expensive room available, a front desk staff should try to accommodate them from the available inventory of rooms.

13.8 ROOM INVENTORY

Maintaining a room inventory system involves constantly updating and checking a data base that indicates the house keeping status, a term which indicates the availability id the room, such as OCCUPIED, STAY OVER, ON CHANGE, OUT OF ORDER, UNAVAILABLE.

This fact of registration requires constant communication efforts among front office, housekeeping, maintenance and reservation staff. Accurate, upto date room status reports are vital to the operation of the front desk for providing guest hospitality and financial availability. The desk clerk who assigns a dirty room to a guest conveys incompetence. Assigning a room that already has occupancy creates hospitality embarrassment for both new and the current guest.

14.  TYPES OF ROOM RATES

14.1 RACK RATE

A rack rate is the highest room rate charged by the hotel. It is the rate given to the guest who does not fall in to any particular category such as a walk in who request a room for a night.

14.2 CORPORATE RATES

Room rates offered to business clients staying in the hotel. This category can be further broken down in to business client who are frequent guest and guests who are employees of a corporate that has contracted for a rate that reflects all business from that corporate.

14.3 COMMERCIAL RATES

Room rates for business people who represent a company and have infrequent or sporadic patterns of travel.

14.4 MILITIARY AND EDUCATIONAL RATES

Room rates established for military personnel and educators, because they travel on restricted travel expense accounts and are price conscious. These groups are a source of significant room sales because their frequent visits may supply a sizeable amount of repeat business.

14.5 GROUP RATES

Room rates offered to large groups of people visiting the hotel for a common reason. The marketing and sales departments usually negotiate with the travel agency or with a professional organisation.

14.6 FAMILY RATES

Room rates offered to encourage visit by families with children, are offered during seasonal or promotional times.

14.7 PACKAGE RATES

Room rates that include goods and services in addition to rental of room, or developed by marketing and sales departments to guests in to a hotel during low sales periods.

15. REGISTRATION WITH A PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

PMS have many capabilities including registration to review the basic applications of PMS, registration module comprise

1.      Retrieve reservation forms

2.      Check room inventory option

3.      Check room status option

4.      Verify room rate

5.      Issue room key

15.1 Retrieve reservation forms

The registration module is put to use before the guest arrives at the hotel to register. The guests who have placed reservations with the hotel have already been entered in to the PMS data base.

15.2 Check room inventory option

If the guest cannot produce a confirmation number and no reservation can be found, the front desk clerk will try to provide accommodation. The room inventory and room status options of the registration module are checked to determine if rooms are available.

15.3 Check room status option

The desk clerk also needs to know which rooms are ready for occupancy, which can be determined by activating the room status option of the PMS. This option is similar to the room inventory option but does not include rates and has a column on status telling the desk clerk which rooms are being cleaned and serviced by housekeeping, which are being repaired, which are occupied by guests, which are available for sales.

15.4 Verify room rate

The guest may remember a verbal quoted rate at this time of registration, which is not on the confirmation form or in the PMS. It is wise to discuss any discrepancy with the guest to avoid problems at check out.

15.5 Issuing room key

If the guest can be accommodated, the new key for the guest room is prepared with an electronic key preparation device. This device produces a new key encoded with an electronic combination for each new guest. The combination for the door lock is controlled through the electronic security system of the hotel.

CONCLUSION

The process of registration begins with emphasizing to the staff the importance of making a good first impression on the guest, which sets the stage for an enjoyable stay at the hotel. Obtaining accurate guest information during registration serves as the basis for a sound communication system for all the departments in the hotel that provides services to the guest. Registering guest involves extending credit to the guest, selecting a room, constructing and applying room rates, selling hotel services, assigning room key, and processing the folio. Different techniques are used to register guest depending on whether the hotel has a PMS or uses a traditional system.

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.