IMPORTANCE OF RESERVATION AND ITS FUNCTION

It is a process of booking and blocking of rooms in advance for a prospective guest to provide him right kind of accommodation and at the same time give sufficient time to the hotel staff to arrange for the right kind of accommodation as requested by the guest at the time of his reservation. This process of booking or blocking a room or number of rooms for the guest is known as reservation. Reservation is very important for the hotel as it gives them sufficient time to plan for various activities and actions for a guest, who would arrive after some time or some days, approximately 90% rooms sales business comes through the reservation dept, thus making it the major revenue earner for the hotel, and if the reservations for the day are not sufficient in number then a hotel might loose revenue for that day, at the same time, advance reservation provides the hotel staff, sufficient time to look for the right type of accommodation, which matches the requirement of the guest. The amenities such as hard bed, fruits and flowers etc., Can also be provided before the arrival of a guest. Hotels can also forecast their future revenue generation easily and have enough time to improve by taking actions in generating revenue for a particular day; also they can schedule their staff more accurately to avoid any chaos on a busy day due to inadequate staff being available on that day. As far as a guest is concerned reservation for a room is very important for him because once he is sure that he will get accommodation when he will arrive at his destination and there will not be any disappointment for not finding any room at the time of his arrival in the hotel and he can plan his holiday or business activity without any worry. The main function of a reservation section of the hotel is to receive and process the request or inquiry made by a prospective guest for future room availability in the hotel. Two subsidiary features or functions, which arise out of this main function, are:(1) Attending & processing of a request made by a guest for a cancellation of a booking made

earlier;(2) Attending to & processing of a request made by a guest for any amendments made in the

bookings earlier.The processing of a request includes the requirement of the guest, matching the requirement of the guest, showing the bookings in various charts and diaries, racks, and computers (depending upon the system used by the hotel) & communicating the prospect to the guest accordingly. After filing all the documents, all the concerned departments and the front desk are informed through a movement list (expected arrival list) about the room position in the hotel.

DAILY REPORT OF EXPECTED ARRIVALS AND DEPATURES

Date ………… Expected Arrivals Expected DeparturesRoom Name No of Person

Adult ChildTime of Arrival

Staying up to

Remarks Room No.

Name Time of Departure

Remarks

VIPs Expected

Groups in next 3 days

Front Office Manager Lobby Manager Cashier Food & Beverage Department House Keeper

REMARKS Total Rooms Occupied Total number of Guests in House % Room Occupancy % Guest Occupancy __________________________________ (Signature Receptionist)

1

AMENITIE VOUCHER

Hotel ABC113, Zero Road, New Delhi – 110001

From : Front Office Date: ________________To : Room Service/ Housekeeping/ Pantry

Please Supply Fruit Basket-Single-Double-Special Flowers Soft Drinks

To ………………………………….Room No…………………………………… at ………………………………

(Name of the Guest) (Time)

Authorized by…………………………….

Card to be attached …………………………… Signature…………………………….

Copies: Room Service/ Housekeeping/ Pantry/ Food & Beverage Controls/ File

The location of the reservation section will depend upon the size of the hotel in other words, total volume of business done by the hotel. For a small hotel where the volume of business is low, reservation function can easily be carried out from the front desk itself, whereas a separate reservation section is required to carry out the various reservation activities in a hotel having large volume of business. It is therefore suggested to have the reservation section located right behind the reception counter in the back office so that both the departments can work with close co-ordination. To carry out the various functions in this department following equipment’s are required to:(1) Working table and chairs;(2) Filing cabinets;(3) One or more telephones;(4) Photo copying machine;(5) Fax machine; / Telex machine;(6) Whitney racks ( if Whitney system is used by the hotel);(7) One or more computer terminals ( if computer system is used by the hotel);(8) Type writer;(9) Printer; etc Every hotel has its own system for recording reservation, which is suited best for that establishment. It is not necessary that a system used in a particular hotel will be suitable for another hotel. Rooms are considered to be the most perishable commodity in a hotel and it is for this reason that an efficient system is needed to receive record and store reservation request. A reservation system need not be expensive and should not involve complicated equipment’s. The system should be so devised so that it is time saving and proper utilization of human resource is done.

2

RESERVATION FORM

Name Number of Persons

Arr

ival

Date

Address/ Company Flt NoType of Accommodation TimeBooked by

Address

Depa

rture Date

Date of Booking TimeLetter/Tel/Telex/No. Phone No.Phone Personal Confirmed W.L.Deposit Recd: Cash Cheque No.Spl. RemarksBilling InstructionsINITIAL (Reservation Assistant) No. R. (J) ARRIVAL

G.R.No. (Optional)

A reservation request may come to the hotel from various sources. Anyone may write or communicate with the hotel or request the hotel to book a room or number of rooms for himself, friends, families or company. We can classify these sources as follows: (a) Free individual traveler(FIT);(b) Groups;(c) Travel agents and tour operators;(d) Airlines;(e) Companies;(f) Embassies, high commissions, govt. offices;(g) Hotels of the same chain; or other hotels,(h) Airport representative

Modes of reservation:

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DIAGRAMMATIC REPRESENTATION OF A TELEPHONE REQUEST PROCESS1

Prospective guest or someone on his behalf telephones2

Requirements are ascertained

Accommodation not available Accommodation available

3a 3Alternative dates suggested and an Reservation form filledalternative accommodation offered to guest

No time for Time for

Caller refuses Caller accepts the Confirmation Confirmationall offers alternative offer 4a 4 Documents filed and guest Caller told about the terms & given4c 4b arrival awaited an option date & asked to confirmGuest is waitlisted & Reservation form filled & Reservation form filed temporatily;informed about it. All reservation slip in duplicate reservation slip preparednecessary documents made. Original kept in provisional booking made in diaryprepared, waitlisted rack & then filed till the chart, rack or computermarked. date of expected arrival

 5a Confirmation not 5

In case some cancellation or amendment received Confirmation receivedis received and room becomes available, Wait listed guest is confirmed & informed. Reservation form transferred 6Charts & Racks etc. are also updated. to another file mentioned Reservation comfirmed in

confirmation not received' records & confirmation letter sent to guest    

  5a 4b 4a 8 7 Guest requested to

send acknowledgement   8 Documents filed till the arrival of guest

PERSONAL RESERVATIONS ACTIVITY FLOW CHART

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1 Prospective guest or someone on his behalf calls at the reservation section

 2 Requirements are ascertained

 Accommodation not available         Accommodation 

available   

3a Guest informed about this. He may be 3 Reservation form filled, advancewaitlisted & a separate file maintained collected; receipt issued

      

4a Option date given 4 Entries made in

  Chart/racks/computer system

5 Set of documents 

5a Set of documents   filed till the date of arrival

temporarily filed           

       6a Confirmation 6 Confirmation Received  

not received 7 Entries made in chart & files/racks/    

  computer system  7a Reservation form filed in file    

marked 'reservation not confirmed'    

  8 Set of documents filed 

till the date

  7a 8 5of arrival  

         

TELEGRAM RESERVATION ACTIVITY FLOW CHART 1

5

                         Telegram received 

2                                         Requirements ascertained

          

Accommodation not available Accommodation available   

      33b 3a Reservation form filled

Guest informed Accommodation arranged  through a telegram in some other hotel 4

    Entries made in diaries/charts/racks, etc.

  4a    Entry in diary only 5  Reservation confirmed               

4 /8Set of documents filed

CORRESPONDENCE RESERVATIONS ACTIVITY FLOW CHART1

6

First letter received from prospective guest2

Requirements are ascertained 

         Accommodation not available Accommodation available

   3a 3

Guest informed. A letter making Offer sent to guestan alternative offer may be sent.  

  4Guest does not Guest accepts     Documents filled & filed 

temporarilyaccept the offer the offer    

             Documents filed Steps 5,6,7 & 8 5 5a

in a separate file.

followed & set of Offer accepted  Offer not 

accepted

documents filed. by guest by guest       6  Guest letter received       7  Entries made in chart/diary/computer       8  Confirmation sent to guest  4 /8  

 Set of documents filed

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FINDING OF ROOM AVAILABLITY: - Before accepting a request made by a prospective guest for booking of a room in the hotel it is importantent for the reservation assistance to know about the room availability position in the hotel on that day ADVANCE LETTING CHART OR CONVENTIONAL BOOKING CHART: This chart tells us about the booking and the availability position of all the rooms of the hotel in terms of their room number and their location. This chart covers one calendar month and the dates are marked clearly on the top of this chart, room numbers with their description are marked on the side of this chart. Reservation are recorded with the help of a pencil for the concerned dates by drawing a line against the room numbers to show that a room is blocked for a respective guest, name of the guest is written on top of this line. If any room is taken for renovation or maintenance it is also marked on this chart for the time the room is off. Provisional bookings are shown with the help of a dotted line. If there are any cancellations or amendment in the guest reservation it can be corrected by erasing the entries and fresh entries will be made. Thus this chart gives a clear vision as to how the business is shaping for the future. This chart is not very effective for large hotels but is very useful for hotels having 30to 40 rooms and where guest stay is for longer duration.

NAME OF THE HOTEL

DATE/ROOM NO

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24                                                                                              

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

DENSITY CONTROL CHART: This chart is mainly used for large hotel having large volume of business & is designed to show the receptionist the number of rooms with their category available for letting. Individual reservations are not marked on this chart, only the actual numbers of rooms are marked on this chart. A glance at this chart tells us whether a room of the requested type is available or not. Pencil is used to record the booking in this chart.

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DENSITY CONTROL CHARTMONTH ___________ YEAR ____________

Room

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 28 29 30 31

                   

                     

                  

                  

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

 SGL 6 5 4 3 2 1 TWN 4 3 2 1 DBL 3 21SU1  

ROOM STATUS BOARD/ PREPETUAL YEAR PLANNER: (256) (154)

As the name suggests, this chart shows the room booking position for one year on continuous basis.The status are shown under three categories i.e. sold out , on request, and free sales by three difrent colour code. Sold out is red colour means no rooms are available , on request is yellow means rooms can be blocked subject to cancellation, free sale is green colour means room are available for booking. As the bookings keep coming free sale status will change to on request and further to sold out and with every cancellation sold out status will change to on request and then to free sale. SYSTEM OF RESERVATION: All over the world various hotel, various system of reservations are followed depending upon the finance and volume of business.

WHITNEY SYSTEM OF RESERVATION:This system was introduced by Whitney duplicating company of New York, hence the name Whitney. This system to a large extent has replaced the old system of reservation, which was the dairy system of reservation, and the hotels have adopted Whitney system because:(1) The reservation under this system could be taken well in advance which is not possible in

the dairy system of reservation,(2) It minimizes the paper work,(3) Since the system involves double checking there are less chances of mistakes taking

place, (4) Dairy system can only be used successfully in small hotels where Whitney system is not

recommended.

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Following tools are necessary to successfully adopt the Whitney system:(a) Room reservation form,(b) Advance letting chart,(c) Density control chart,(d) Whitney slips(4”x1.5”), SHANNON(e) Whitney carrier,(f) Whitney racks.Reservation form is used to record the following information as soon as a request for the future reservation is received:1. Date of arrival,2. Name of the guest,3. Type of accommodation,4. Length of stay,5. Arrival time,6. Expected time of departure,7. Rate & plan,8. Source of booking,9. Complete address of the guest,10. Billing instructions,11. Deposits (if any).

ALC or DCC are required to check the availability of rooms,Whitney slip is used to record the information about a guest staying in the hotel,Whitney carrier which is made up of aluminum metal is used to hold the Whitney slip,Whitney rack is used to hold the information written on the Whitney slip put into a Whitney carrier date wise.To distinguish between the various categories of guest the hotel adopt a color coding scheme such as:

WHITE ------- FITPINK----------- FOR RESERVATION THROUGH TRAVEL AGENTS,YELLOW------ FOR GROUPS,GREEN--------- FOR VIP.

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PROCEDURE: At the reservation section in the back office Whitney racks are hanged against the wall, thirty-one Whitney racks are kept for the current month and each rack is for

one particular date, eleven Whitney racks are kept for the following months and one for the following year. As soon as a request for the future reservation is received information is first noted down in the reservation form and then with the help of this form it is noted down on the Whitney slips, which is typed in duplicate (in some hotels it is typed in triplicate). The original is kept in the Whitney carrier, which is placed in Whitney rack arranged date wise and alphabetically, the carbon copy is attached with the room reservation form and correspondence. On a day prior to the arrival of the guest, the Whitney racks pertaining to the current date are taken down, and if possible room number are duly allotted in advance. The second copy of the Whitney slip is arranged alphabetically and sent to information counter which becomes the information rack for the date of arrival and once all the reservation for the day have taken place it is sent back to the reservation section, in this way the rack move ahead each day.

BOOKING DIARY OR THE RESERVATION DAIRY: One of the various systems of reservation is diary system of reservation and is one of the oldest systems still in use in small hotels, resorts, before another system popularly known as the Whitney system of reservation and later on computers were introduced in the hotels. The booking dairy is useful, economical, and labor saving for small hotels, resorts, residential hotels, tourist hotels etc. The system consist of a bound book and each page in the dairy represents one day, hence this dairy contains 365/366 pages for a year. All the information received from a guest and recorded on the reservation form is transferred to the dairy. The booking dairy records the reservations that have been received into their date of arrival. Each page in this dairy displays the list of all expected arrivals for that date and the entries are made according the date of receiving the request from a guest. Although one page for one day is sufficient to record all entries but in case of more entries page can be added in the dairy. Cancellations for the day is done by drawing a line with the help of a pencil, and later when expected list of arrivals are prepared all special request are recorded.

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PROCEDURE: On receiving the request from a guest the reservation asst. will first check the room availability with the help of the charts and in case the room is available , reservation form is filled and entries in the chart is made , after this the dairy is updated. One night before the arrival of the guest a movement list of all expected guest is prepared with the help of dairy and then this list is sent to the front desk. All the relevant records such as dairy and reservation forms are kept available for any further reference till the guest leaves the hotel.DISADVANTAGES OF THE BOOKING DAIRY:(a) It is bulky and not movable so all the records are confide to one place and can not be moved to

various places in case a need for reference is necessary.(b) Since it is constantly used by one person or other there is every possibility of it getting dirty or the

pages may get torn.(c) Cancellation and amendments also create problems and the sequence gets disturbed.(d) Not suitable and practical for hotels with transient business or where guest stay is very short.(e) Cannot be maintained in alphabetical order.(f) It is time consuming and difficult to know the status of a guest and room number at a glance.ADVANTAGE OF BOOKING DAIRY:(a) This system is useful for small hotels and resorts.(b) It provides the record of reservation for each day in a consolidated form on a page and does not

involve the transfer of information to other slips or forms, and in case any information is required.(c) It is easy to store and maintain.(d) Dairy is good for those hotels where the guest stay is for longer duration.

BOOKING DAIRY

HOTEL XYZ

S.NO.

DATE OF BOOKING

NAME OF THE GUEST

PAX

ADDRESS &TELE.NO.

ETA

TYPE&NO.OFRoom

ROOM RATE & PLAN

DOD

BOOKED BY&ADD.

BILLING INST. REMARK

SIG. OF CLERK

1                        2                        3                        4                        5                        6                        7                        8                        9                        10                        

CENTRAL RESERVATION SYSTEM: There are basically two types of central reservation system followed by the hotels i.e. AFFILIATE RESERVATION NETWORK SYSTEM & NON-AFFILIATE NETWORK SYSTEM. An affiliate network is a hotel chains reservation system in which all the hotels of the same chain are connected through this network, which reduces the overall system cost and also streamlines the processing of reservations, at the same time a hotel may get business for another hotel of the same chain. Non-chain hotels if allowed to function through this network are referred to as

12

overflow facilities and a Reservation requests may be routed to this facilities only after all the available rooms in the chain hotel in the city has been booked. A non-affiliated reservation network is a subscription system meant for independent hotels or non- chain hotels. This network enables independent hotel operators to enjoy many of the same benefits as that of affiliated network. This non-affiliated network accepts only a limited number of hotels in an area to keep the value of their services high to the participating members. A central reservation office deals directly with the general public or the travel agents, and they exchange room availability information with other hotels and also communicate the reservation transactions as they occur. Now a day all the central reservation network is connected with computers which helps them to pass the information regarding a reservation immediately to the hotel concerned. This Rapid access to the reservation system ensures that both the hotel and the central reservation office must have accurate, up-to-date information on room availability.Affiliate and non affiliate central reservation system often provides a variety of services in addition to managing reservation processing and communications, it also works as an inter property communications network, an accounting transfer system or a destination information center also. GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM: Most modern hotels central reservation systems connect with one of the GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (GDS). The largest and the best-known Gds. are SABRE, GALILEO INTERNATIONAL, AMADEUS, & WORLDSPAN. An airline or consortium of airlines owns Gds. and they provide worldwide distribution of hotel reservation information and also allow selling of hotel reservations around the world. In this system the hotel central reservation system is connected with an airline reservation system. By having hotel accommodation and car rentals available in the computer and at one place a travel agent can have access to all the facilities at one place and can sell all of these facilities to a guest in one transaction. With over 200,000or more terminals around the world Gds. have become a powerful source in hotel reservationRESERVATION THROUGH THE INTERNET: INTERSELL AGENCIES: An intersell agency is a central reservation system that handles reservations for more than one product line such as airline ticket, car rental and hotel properties- “a one call does it all” type of approach. The fact that a hotel participates in an intersell arrangement does not prevent its participation in another from of central reservation systemType of reservationsA guest can make reservations in different ways GUARANTEED RESERVATIONS: a guaranteed reservation assures the guest that the hotel will hold the room for the guest until a specific time of the day (till the cut off time), the guest in turn guarantees to pay for the room even if it is not used or the reservation is cancelled by the guest, guaranteed reservation provides revenue to the hotel in case of a no-show and if a hotel fails to provide a room for a guaranteed reservation, legal penalties can be applied by the guest, Variations of guaranteed reservations are: 1. PREPAYMENT: this type of reservation is received from those guests who are not known to the

hotel management and a guest is to pay for one night’s stay.2. CREDIT CARD: major credit card companies ensure that a hotel receives payments for no show

through credit card guaranteed reservations. Unless the guest does not cancel a credit card guaranteed reservation a hotel may charge the guests credit card account, which is normally one night rent plus taxes.

3. ADVANCE DEPOSIT: in this type of reservation a guest pay the hotel a specified amount of money before his arrival in the hotel.

4. TRAVEL AGENT: in this type of reservation a travel agent guaranteed the reservation for a guest in the hotel and in case of a no show the travel agent is charged the retention charges which he will collect from the guest later on.

5. CORPORATE: A company may sign a contract with the hotel in which the company will agree to settle all accounts of a guests stay in the hotel and in case of a no show they will pay the retention charges.

13

NON- GUARANTEED RESERVATIONS: in this type of reservation the hotel agrees to hold the room for a guest till the cutoff time on the day of his arrival and in case of a no show will not charge retention charges to the guest. At the same time the hotel is free to release the room and sell it to some other guest who may be a walk in. If a guest with non-guaranteed reservation arrives after the cutoff time he will be accommodated if room is available.

***********************VISITOR TABULAR LEDGE

A hotel maintains various types of ledgers to keep the records of debtors, creditors, purchases, sales, assets, expenses etc. Visitor tabular ledger is one of these ledgers. This ledger is meant to keep the record of all the guests registered in the hotel in an analyzed form .It serves the purpose of the day book on one hand and registered guests personal accounts on the other. Visitor tabular ledger is maintained in loose-leaf form, a separate sheet is maintained for each day and the number of tabular sheets used for the day depends upon the number of columns in the sheet and the number of rooms available to the guest, this ledger is maintained by the front office cashier and is a complete record of individual guest account of the resident guest on a particular day. It gives the following information:(a) Number of occupied rooms,(b) Number of guest staying in the hotel on a particular day,(c) plan on which a guest register himself,(d) The total sales for the day and also total income derived from various sources- sales from

breakfast, lunch, dinner & revenue from laundry, telephone, newspaper etc. VTL has two sides- debit and credit, debit side shows various receipts and deposits made by a guest on the day tabular sheet is written & the credit side shows any allowance granted during the day or any transfers made in the guest accounts. As a guest registers himself, at the front desk, the receptionist prepares arrival notification slip (ANS) and sends a copy to each of the following departments:1. Front desk, (three copy)2. House keeping, (one copy)3. Telephones, (one copy)4. Food & beverage (one copy)5. Room service. (One copy) This ANS has the guest name, room number, duration of stay, time of arrival, plan and the status of the guest. On the receipt of ANS, the front office cashier opens an account in the VTL allocating one block to be used for one guest and the charges are posted in the VTL, as soon as vouchers are received from various service outlets. The guest account in the ledger is closed as soon as a guest settles his bill and checks out from the hotel, but in case a guest continues to stay in the hotel his account for the day is closed and the balance is carried forward into the next day’s sheet. When a guest settles his bills and his accounts are closed, a line is drawn in guest column and no further charges are posted into the room being vacated. Now a day’s all manuals VTLs have been replaced by mechanical ledgers or computers, but small hotels, resorts, and supplementary accommodations still use VTL. ADVANTAGES: 1. All personal accounts of registered guests are opened in daily VTL, so the names of all the guests

with their room no. Can be seen at a glance.2. Personal accounts are debited directly with the help of the vouchers received from various service

outlets so there are less chance of mistakes.3. Takes less time and each account is complete unto a minute,4. Allowances and credit limit of a guest can be checked,5. Department wise income can be taken from the total of each horizontal totaling,6. Control can be executed efficiently.

DISADVANTAGES: 1. Since VTL is maintained on loose leaf sheet, there are chances of it being misplaced,2. Since this is the only record of guest expenditure in the hotel if the sheet is lost , hotel will suffer

losses,3. There are too many column in the sheet and they are very close to each other , therefore there is

every possibility for wrong posting,

14

4. In the VTL there is no provision for narration of any entry made. At times it becomes difficult to explain as to the actual item for which the guest was charged,

5. If any mistake is committed, it is very difficult to locate it unless otherwise pointed out by the guest and such error leads to wrong summaries and wrong postings in other journals .

Room No. 101 102 103 104Guest NamePaxRegistration No.Arrival TimeDeparture TimePlanRate ApartmentRate BoardApartmentBoardBREAKFASTLUNCHDINNERTEACOFFEESNACKSSOFT DRINKSWINESPIRITSBEERSALES TAX ON FOODSALES TAX ON BEVERAGESALES TAX ON HARD DRINKSERVICE TAX LOCAL CALLSTDMAGAZINESLAUNDRYVISITORS PAID OUTMISCELLANEOUSTRANSFERDAILY TOTALBALANCE b/f DEBITEDBALANCEb/f CREDITEDGRAND TOTAL drGRAND TOTAL cr.DEPOSITALLOWANCETRANSFERBALANCE C/D DR

15

BALANCE C/D CR NET TOTAL

GUEST WEEKLY BILL

This bill is a detailed record of all guest transaction that takes place between an individual, a group and a hotel. As soon as a guest checks in the hotel, the front office cashier opens a guest folio upon receiving the ANS (arrival notification slip) from the front desk and in this folio the minute to minute expenses incurred by the guest in the hotel premises are shown either manually, mechanically or with the help of computers. In this folio there is a provision for recording the deposit as an amend made by the guest. This bill is therefore a record of charges and deposits for a week and is known as GUEST WEEKLY BILL.

In this folio there are seven columns for seven days and a provision to record important guest information such as guest name, his date of arrival, time of arrival, room number, plan etc. and at the end of each day balance is noted in the balance carried forward columns.(c)

MAGAZINESLAUNDRYVISITORS PAID OUTMISCELLANEOUSTRANSFERDAILY TOTALBALANCE b/f DEBITEDBALANCEb/f CREDITEDGRAND TOTAL drGRAND TOTAL cr.DEPOSITALLOWANCETRANSFERBALANCE C/D DRBALANCE C/D CR NET TOTAL

16

GUEST WEEKLY BILL NEW DELHI SERIAL NO.23465

ROOM NO……………………......................................................................NAME OF THE GUEST MR./ MS…………………………………………..NATIONALITY……………………………………………………………….OFFICE ADDRESS…………… EMAIL…………….…..T.NO………….. PERMANENT ADDRES ……..EMAIL………………….T.NO…………..DATE AND TIME OF ARRIVAL………...DATE AND TIME OF DEPARTURE………TYPE OF ROOM…………………….NO.OF PAX....................................RATE …………APARTMENT…………BOARD…………………….

DATEDAY MON.

RS.TUESRS.

WEDRS.

THURSRS.

FRIDAYRS.

SATRS.

SUNRS.

APARTMENTBOARDBED TEABREAKFASTLUNCHDINNERTEA/COFFEESNACKSFOOD SUNDRIESSOFT DRINKSWINE/BEER

HARD DRINKSSALES TAX/ VATLUXURY TAXSUR-CHARGETELEPHONELAUNDRYTOBACCOFLOWERIESTNEWS STANDV.P.O.MISCELLANEOUSTRANSFERDAILY TOTALBALANCE B/F DR CRGRAND TOTAL DR CRDEPOSIT / CASH

17

ALLOWANCES/ DISCOUNTLEDGER

BALANCE C/F DR CRTOTAL DR CR

CHECKED AND FOUND CORRECT.

PLEASE FORWARD THE BILL TO……………………………………..…………………………………….. CASHIER………………………

SIGNATURE OF THE GUEST

CITY LEDGER

It is maintained by the bill section where all the outstanding amounts of a guest are noted. These are those guests who check out from the hotel without settling their bills but with an understanding with the hotel management that they will settle their bill later on within a specified time frame. City ledger contains: 1. Name and address of those guests who settle their bills through credit card. An account of

the guest is opened in the city ledger and when the payment is received from the credit card company it is debited into the guest account,

2. Names of those guests who settle their bills through company account. At the time of guest check out his signatures are obtained in the final bill and then only this bill is credited into the companies account,

3. Name of those guests whose bills have to be sent to airlines or to the travel agents for settlement,

4. Account of a skipper is also opened in the city ledger and every effort is made to recover this money from this guest within a specified time frame, but if no money is received after this time then this amount is shown as bad debt in the ledger,

5. In the city ledger, accounts of those guests are also opened who have arranged for conference, wedding or a banquet function in the hotel and have deposited advance money with an understanding that they will settle their final bill at the end of the function. The deposit when received is shown in the credit column of the ledger, and later when the guest makes the final payment it becomes the income for that day. The city ledger is therefor a DEBTOR LEDGER.

Deposit means any amount of money paid in advance to ensure reservation for a guest. When the front office cashier receives the money from a guest,

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a receipt is prepared by him and entries are made in the reservation form, VTL etc. and the top copy of the receipt is given to the guest. Later when a guest utilizes the facilities in the hotel this amount is adjusted in his final bill.

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