Hotel Front Office Management, 3rd Edition

144 CHAPTER 5: RESERVATIONSTypes of ReservationsADVANCED RESERVATIONSA guest usually chooses the advanced reservation option when he or she is in transitand is calling to determine if a property has rooms available for a particular time period.The guest does not want any commitment from the hotel to secure the room reservation.The hotel will hold the reservation until a specified time. This type of reservation hasbeen dropped by some lodging reservation systems in favor of confirmed reservations,which specify a certain arrival deadline with no commitment by the guest to pay if he orshe does not show.CONFIRMED RESERVATIONSThe confirmed reservation is comparable to a contract that becomes void at a certainhour of a certain day. The confirmed reservation allows the hotel to project the numberof guests that will check in by the deadline hour. After that deadline, the hotel is free tosell that room to walk-in guests or to accept overflow guests from another property. Thehotel usually keeps track of the number of no-shows and compares them to the totalnumber of confirmed reservations that were made; these historical records help in predictingoccupancy—and revenue—accurately. (They are also used in overbooking, discussedearlier in this chapter.)GUARANTEED RESERVATIONSGuaranteed reservations enable lodging establishments to predict revenue even moreaccurately. They commit the guest to pay for a room night and the hotel to provideaccommodations, regardless of arrival time. If the guest does not show up (without priorcancellation), the hotel may process a credit-card voucher for payment. Likewise, nomatter when the guest arrives on the reserved night, the hotel must have the reservedaccommodation available. The guaranteed reservation requires the hotel to determine themethod of guest payment. The guest may secure the method of payment with a validcredit card, an advance payment, or a preauthorized line of credit (each of these methodsis described in detail in Chapter 9).Reservation CodesReservation codes are a sequential series of alphanumeric combinations that providethe guest with a reference for a confirmed or guaranteed reservation. (Reservation codesare also referred to as confirmation numbers.) This code indicates that accommodationshave been secured for a specific date with a commitment to pay for at least the first roomnight. The code, which usually consists of several letters and digits that do not necessarilyhave any meaning to the guest, may identify the hotel in the chain/referral group, theTLFeBOOK