Hotel Front Office Management, 3rd Edition

210 CHAPTER 7: GUEST REGISTRATIONFigure 7-13. A blank registration screen in a PMS is activated to register a walk-in guest.REGISTRATION—ENTER GUEST DATANAME:COMPANY:BILLING ADDRESS:ZIP:PHONE NUMBER:CREDIT CARD: TYPE: NUMBER: EXP. DATE:AUTO MAKE: MODEL: LIC. PLATE: STATE:TYPE OF ROOM: NO. GUESTS: RATE:DATE IN: DATE OUT: CLERK:FUTURE RESERVATION? DATE: TYPE ROOM: NO. GUESTS:HOTEL ID NO.: CONF: YES NO GUAR: YES NOCONF NO.:guest to avoid problems at checkout. The guest who thought she was being charged foran $85 room rate when in fact it was a $125 room rate could be embarrassed at checkoutif she doesn’t have adequate financial resources to pay. Desk clerks should have guestsacknowledge the room rate by asking guests to initial the room rate on the registrationform. It is also important to discuss room taxes or any local municipal charges, whichmay be added to the room rate.Issuing Room KeyIf the guest can be accommodated, the new key for the guest room is prepared withan electronic key preparation device (Figure 7-14). This device produces a new “key”(the size of a credit card, composed of plastic) encoded with an electronic combinationfor each new guest. The combination for the door lock is controlled through the hotel’ssecurity system.Obtaining Reports from the PMSThe PMS can also produce an alphabetical listing of the guests and their room numbers.This option, a variation of the registered guests report option shown in Figure 7-15, is available to the switchboard operator.The front office manager can access various report options of the registration modulefor effective front office management. The registration module options just discussedprovide the basis for gathering and organizing information the front office manager needsto monitor. For example, the guest arrivals report option informs the front office managerTLFeBOOK