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1、Guest CycleI-Guest Cycle: The guest cycle describes the activities that each guest passes by from the moment he/she calls to communicate a reservation inquiry till he/she departs from the hotel. In fact, the guest cycle encompasses 4 different stages, which are depicted in the underneath diagram:Pre
2、-Arrival Arrival Occupancy Departure Each stage of the guest cycle is associated guest service, and guest accounting activity (ies).1. Guest services:Reservation Registration Occupancy services Check-out and history2. Guest Accounting:Establishment of credits Posting charges Night auditing settlemen
3、t of accounts Below is a description of the activities undertaken at each stage of the guest cycle:1. Pre-arrival: At the pre-arrival stage, the hotel must create for every potential guest a reservation Record. Doing this initiates the hotel guest cycle. Moreover, reservation records help personaliz
4、e guest services and appropriately schedule needed staff and facilities The reservation department should, then, complete all the pre-registration activities and prepare guest folios (applicable only for automated systems). Doing so will eventually maximize room sales by accurately monitoring room a
5、vailability and forecasting room revenues2. Arrival: At the arrival stage, registration and rooming functions takes place and the hotel establishes a business relation-ship with the guest. The check-in clerk should determine the guests reservation status (i.e. pre-registered guests versus walk-ins).
6、 Later, he/she shall prepare a registration record or make the guest sign the already-printed pre-registration record (under some of the semi-automated and all fully automated systems). The registration records shall include the following personal and financial items:a) Personal information:1. Name
7、and Surname of the guest along with billing address, telephone number, and any other coordinates2. Passport number, birth certificate, and/or driving license number (whatever applicable)3. Any special needs or requests4. Guest Signatureb) Financial information:1. Date of arrival2. Expected date of d
8、eparture or length of stay depending on how the system in the hotel is designed3. Assigned room number4. Assigned room rate5. Guests intended method of payment Registration records can be used for various purposes:a) Satisfy guest needsb) Forecast room occupanciesc) Settle properly guest accountsd)
9、Establish guest history records at check-out personal & financial informatione) Assign a room type and a room rate for each guestf) Determine long-run availability i.e. reservation information versus short-run availability i.e. room statusg) Satisfy special categories of guests such as disabled peop
10、le through barrier-free designs3. Occupancy: At the occupancy stage, the front office department shall coordinate guest services in a timely and accurate manner. Moreover, front office clerks should encourage repeat guests by paying a great attention to guest complaints. This is ensured by placing c
11、omplaint and/or suggestion cards in every public place and revenue centers in the hotel. Moreover, the hotel shall, at least on a daily basis, collect comment cards, proceed with their analysis, and provide positive feedback to guest as soon as possible. In addition, shall design effective procedure
12、s in order to protect the funds and valuables of guests. This might be ensured through guest key control, property surveillance, safe deposit boxes, and well designed emergency panels and exits Another activity at occupancy is to process posting of guest charges i.e. post room rates, F&B charges, ad
13、ditional expenses, and taxes to various guest folios, master Folios While doing so, front office clerks shall continuously check for deviations from the house limit, and take corrective measures as to change the status of the guest to Paid-in-advance. Finally, front office clerks shall periodically
14、review Account Balances in coordination with the night auditor.4. Departure: At the departure stage, the guest shall be walked out of the hotel. Moreover, front office clerks shall create guest history record. Finally, cashiers shall settle guest account outstanding balances i.e.: balance the Guest
15、account to 0 In general, a proper checkout occurs when the guest:a) Vacates the roomb) Receives an accurate settlement of the guest accountc) Returns room keysd) Leaves the hotel At departure, checkout personnel should encourage guests to consider returning to the hotel on any future date. Thats why
16、 cashiers should act like a true sales person, and might eventually accept guest future reservations. That way, the stages of the guest cycle become really a cycle (i.e. start from where it ends). If at departure, the guest account is not fully settled, then late charges accumulate. In such an undes
17、ired case, the responsibility of collection lies within the accounting department, however the front office department shall provide all necessary types of information to make this collection easier, quicker, and feasible.II- Front Office Systems: Until the 1960s, nearly all hotels were operating un
18、der the manual system. At late 70s, with the introduction of computers, hotels shifted to semi-automated systems. Nowadays, most of the five-star hotels operate under the fully automated system. Below is a brief description of the three different systems under which hotels might operate.1. Non-autom
19、ated manual systems: This very system is the one characterized by the sole usage of hands. In fact, all formats, procedures, and different kinds of calculations are done manually.2. Semi-automated Electro-mechanical systems: This system gets use of some Electro-mechanical equipment. In fact, under t
20、he semi-automated system, each department might have its own computer system under which it handles all its operations.3. Fully automated computer based systems: Thats the best system ever used in the hotel industry. In fact, it is characterized by the excessive use of departmental software package
21、programs integrated and connected to a main frame or terminal situated at the front office department.III-Guest Cycle under Three Different Systems: At this stage, it is essential to notice that the following stages of the guest cycle under the three different systems do not conflict with each other
22、. In fact, the only differences are due to the nature of the system use. Therefore, what will be discussed above is not the repetition of the sequence; rather only differences will be highlighted. 1. Non-automated systems:A- Pre-arrival activities:At the pre-arrival stage, reservation requests shoul
23、d be introduced in a loose-leaf notebook or index card. Moreover, only reservations up to 6 months horizons shall be honored. Lastly, it is not practical, under this very system, to issue reservation confirmation numbers, initiate pre-registration activities (at the exception of VIP and groups) and
24、prepare occupancy forecasts. The reason is time and money loss along with insufficient labor force to manually conduct all the above mentioned activities. B- Arrival activities: At the arrival stage, guests shall either sign a page in the registration book or fill manually a registration record. Und
25、er this very system, the most widely used front office equipment is the room rack, in which registration records are inserted to serve as room rack slips. Moreover, registration books and records shall be time stamped as an internal control proving when the guest exactly came, who registered him/her
26、Lastly; guest folios shall be opened for each registered guest.C- Occupancy activities: Under the occupancy activities, registration records shall be prepared with multi-copies. In fact, one copy shall be distributed to room rack, another stamped to the guest folio, another given to switchboard oper
27、ators, and a final copy handed to the uniformed service personnel. Lastly, guests with charge privileges charges and payments shall be posted to respective guest folios.D- Departure activities:At departure stage, cashiers should settle each guest accounts outstanding balance and get room keys back f
28、rom guests. Moreover, cashiers shall notify the housekeeping department that the room is no more occupied (i.e. room status change) to let this very department clean the room and prepare it for new arrivals. In addition, cashiers shall remove room rack slips from room racks to indicate departure. La
29、stly, these very rack slips of departed guests shall be filed in a cardboard box to serve as a guest history record2. Semi-automated systems: This very system is less common in small and middle size hotels. For, these very hotels, financially wise, might not afford the huge investments associated wi
30、th the installation of different hardware and software. The main advantage of this very system over manual system is that various reports can automatically be generated. However, the major disadvantages associated with this system are various complexities of operating and controlling devices due to
31、the fact that this equipment are not integrated with other systems and are subject to frequent maintenance problems.A- Pre-arrival activities: At this very stage, guests can either call a national reservation network or directly contact the hotel. Moreover, reservation clerks can prepare pre-registr
32、ation records, guest folios, and information rack slips.B- Arrival activities: At this very stage, already reserved guests shall verify their pre-registration forms and have only to sign it. On the other hand, walk-ins shall complete a multiple copy registration record from the beginning. C- Occupan
33、cy activities: At the occupancy stage, in order to track the different guest charge expenditures and all other possible guest transactions, hotels get an intensive use of various kinds of vouchers. Moreover, the most widely used equipment, under this very stage, is the mechanical cash registers and
34、front office posting machines. Lastly, under this very stage, night auditor shall continuously resolve any discrepancy in guest accounts and efficiently reconcile guest folios.D- Departure activities: At this very stage, cashiers shall relay room status information to the housekeeping department. Mo
35、reover, they should place registration records of departed guests in propertys guest history files. 4. Fully automated systems:A- Pre-arrival activities: Under this stage, the reservation department is equipped with a software package, which is interfaced and connected with one or more central reser
36、vation office(s). Moreover, the reservation department can automatically generate letters of confirmation, produce requests for guest deposits and handle pre-registration activities for all types of guests and generate daily expected arrival lists, occupancy and revenue forecast listsB- Arrival acti
37、vities: At this stage, various reservation records can be transferred to front office department. Moreover, hotels might be equipped with an on-line credit authorization terminals for timely Credit Card Approval, self check-in / check-out terminals. Lastly, all guest charges and payments are saved i
38、n electronic guest folios. As far as walk-ins are concerned, all registration activities should be initiated from the very beginning.C- Occupancy activities: Under this very stage, guest purchases at different revenue outlets are electronically transferred and posted to appropriate guest accounts. M
39、oreover, the front office department can run and process continuous trial balances and, therefore, eliminate the tedious work for the Night Auditor.D- Departure activities: At this very stage, cashiers can automatically produce bills to be sent to various guests with direct billing privileges and cr
40、eate electronic guest history records.IV- Front Office Forms: At different stages of the guest cycle different forms are used depending on which operating system a hotel chooses. Below are some of the common forms used:1. Pre-arrival activities:a) Reservation record or a reservation fileb) Letter of
41、 confirmationc) Reservation rack and reservation rack slips2. Arrival activities:a) Registration card (or record) or registration fileb) Room rack and room rack slips3. Occupancy activities:a) Guest folio: shall be of duplicate forms and pre-numbered for cross-indexing control purposesb) Vouchers: s
42、upport documents detailing facts of a transaction, but does not replace the source document (i.e. the invoice). Examples of vouchers might include charge vouchers, allowance vouchers, paid-out voucher, and correction vouchersc) Information rack slips4. Departure activities:a) Credit card vouchersb)
43、Cash vouchersc) Personal check vouchersd) Transfer voucherse) Guest history recordsV- Front Office Functional Organization: Whatsoever system and setting the hotel might use, it should reflect easy access to the equipment, forms, and supplies necessary. Moreover, the setting shall reflect position f
44、lexibility. Moreover, nowadays trend shows that traditional mail, message, and key racks are unnecessary at the Front Desk. Rather, they shall be stored in drawers or slots located under or away from the Front Desk. For, this would ensure security and safety of guests.1. Front Desk designed alternat
45、ives:a) Circular or semi-circular structure: this very structure provides an effective service to more guests and appears more modern and innovative but since guests will approach the Front Desk from all angles, more staff is needed.b) Traditional straight desk: Under this very design, fewer staff i
46、s needed, but fewer guests can be served at the same time.c) Deskless environment: Under this design, there is no Front Desk at all. This is usually replaced by a hostess, or steward welcoming the guest, seating him or her on a chair/sofa, and conduct registration activities there while, for example, having a cocktail or a drink.VI- Front Office Equipment:1. Room rack2. Mail, message, and key racks3. Reservation racks4. Information racks5. Folio trays or folio buckets6. Account posting machine7. Voucher racks8. Cash registers9. Telephone equipment
