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Reservation DepartmentDiploma in Applied Travel and Tourism

Sales and Marketing - Accommodation

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Opening Dilemma

A front office manager has received a phone call from the housekeeper,

who is inquiring, “Why wasn’t I informed about the 45 extra rooms

for the General Insurance Convention that checked in last night? I heard from one of the

guests from that group that they plan on staying through the

weekend!”

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Reservation Department

• The role of the reservation department is twofold:

– Gain maximum occupancy for the hotel, ideally 100% being sold at the optimum level

– To gain maximum revenue for each room

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Reservation Department

• Manage and maintain guest room reservations

• Maximise room yield

• Sell rooms

• Control travel agent commissions

• Prepare sales forecasts

• Plan promotional activities

• Generate room occupancy related reports

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Traditional Guest Cycle

Pre Arrival

Occupancy

Departure

Arrival

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The Role of reservationists

• Key tasks:

– Duties

– Human resource responsibilities

– Systems and procedures

– Health and Safety

– Customer Service

– Other

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Job description for reservations sales agent

• Using the headings in the above slide, consider your job role.

• Think about your role within the reservations team, front office team and wider hotel team.

• In your group, discuss your operational role and what you would be expected to do.

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Importance of Room Rates

• Two major factors to be considered:

– Occupancy

– Average Room Rate

• Room rates

– Rack Rate, Corporate, Off Season/In Season, Weekend, Airline, Group, Day Rate, FOC, Other Rates

• What can influence room rates?

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Other rate influences

• Star rating

• Location

• Room types

• Market Segment

• Room availability

• Packages offered

• Length of stay

• Number of rooms booked

• Meal plans

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The accommodation product

• The sale of rooms is one of the main products to be provided by a hotel, it is also the principal source of hotel revenue.

• The accommodation product consists of more than a room with a bed. A guest purchasing accommodation also receives other facilities and benefits, such as ambience, décor and security.

• What complimentary products would you expect in a hotel room?

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Guest rooms

• To cater for the different needs of their customers, hotels usually provide a variety of different room sizes, décor, views and bed configurations.

•  Rooms can be classified in a number of different ways. For example, one way is according to the number or size of beds in the room; others are by the décor, the room size or the view. In addition some hotels may even offer special types of accommodation for particular types of guest, e.g. the executive floor for business people and suites for VIP guests.

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• Think about some of the following guests, what can a hotel do to make their stay more comfortable, or exceed their experience.

• Think about Carlzon’s “moment of truth”

• Airline crew, corporate, families, a sports team, FIT

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