Chapter 3 Guest Cycle PDF
Chapter 3 Guest Cycle PDF
Chapter 3 Guest Cycle PDF
Guest cycle refers to the distinct stages of guest interaction between the hotel and guests. On
the basis of the stage of interaction and activities involved, the Guest Cycle is broadly,
classified into four main stages based on the activity type. These are: Pre Arrival, Arrival,
Stay and Departure.
Thus the function of front office in the pre-arrival phase include the following –
Confirmation of the room reservation request of the guest
Receipt of advance payment and creation of guest folio
Confirmation and blocking the room for the guest
Taking note and communicating special arrangements required, if any (extra bed, crib,
wheelchair, amenities etc if required)
There is a lot of data collected during the process of reservation. This is utilized during
further Front Office and sales activities’ interactions and operations. A reservation system
which is well organized and managed maximizes room sales and revenue by closely and
constantly monitoring the room status and forecasting the room revenue.
Pre-Arrival Records
Pre Arrival List (Expected Arrival List)
Notification to other department using the Notification Slip
Amenities Voucher
Welcome / Welcome back letter with a mention of hotel inclusions in room rate
Preparation of Guest Registration Card
Another important part of the inventory management plan, is calculation of the Room
Position. It is the room availability status for the following day and is based on the
expected arrivals and expected departures. It also includes factors such as overstays,
understays, no shows, and out of order rooms.
Amenities Vouchers are also prepared for the arriving guests, and these are sent to
the concerned departments such as housekeeping and F&B service. These vouchers
instruct the type of amenities to be placed in each arrival room. Details of placement
of amenities in guest room such as cookies, fruit platter, flowers, is done prior to guest
arrival.
HOTEL ABC
DATE: DAY:
PLEASE SEND COMPLIMENTARY
Tick Tick Tick
____ Flowers Single_____ Double______ Special ____________
____ Fruits Single_____ Double______ Special ____________
____ Cookies Single_____ Double______ Special ____________
____ Soft drink Bar/
Full Bar
To , Mr/Ms________________________________________Date of Arrival__________
Room No Card to be attached:
Remarks:___________________________________________________________________
________
Authorised by Duty Manager:
Cc: Housekeeping, Room Service, Bakery
The FO agent prepares the Guest Registration Card (GRC) in advance as part of pre
registration. The information that is required to be filled in the GRC is gathered from
two sources: the reservation form and the guest history card. When this is done, it
enables guests to experience a quick check-in when they arrive at the registration
desk. This is because they only are required to verify information already entered in
the registration card, and once done, guests have to only sign the registration card to
check-in.
In case of a walk-in guest, since the details are not present and a GHC has to be made
afresh, all guest details are taken over the counter, hence the walk in guest takes
comparatively longer as it is not supported by preregistration.
Depending upon the hotel’s system, preregistration may be carried out either
manually in manual and semi-automated systems, or fully automated Front Office
system. The task is essentially transfer of guest data from reservation and guest
history directly onto the registration form. In case of manual system, it can be a
laborious process.
The preregistration process is crucial for inventory management function as it reflects
the expected arrivals and the room availability status. This allows the front desk staff
to make necessary arrangements and welcome walk-ins. Apart from that, pre-
registration makes check-in for guests faster.
Creating the registration record
After the guests’ arrival at the hotel; it is important for the front desk agent to create
record registration which is a collection of important guest information and is
mandatory as per the laws of the country. It requires the guest to mention his / her
details, such as: full name, address and other information.
The formats used during the check-in of the guests are:
Guest Registration Card (GRC) – Registration card is filled by the guest during
check-in. It is a very important document, maintained in hard copy from where a front
desk agent gets all the information about the guest. It consists of details of guest like
name, address, organization name and address, nationality, arrival time and date,
expected date of departure, purpose of visit, room number, number of person, room
rate etc.
Hotel ABC
Guest Registration Card
No. _____
Name of the guest: ____________________ Date of birth: ____________________
Company: ___________________________ Designation: _____________________
Address of the guest: ___________________________________________________
C Form – A foreigner is any person who does not an Indian National. He holds a
passport for a country other than India except Bhutan and Nepal. C Form is a legal
document which has to be filled by all foreign nationals except those from Bhutan and
Nepal. Non Resident Indian Guests with green cards do not have to fill this card.
Children up to 16 years and diplomats from other countries are also exempted from
filling C form.
All places of accommodation, including hotels, guest houses, dharamshala,
universities, hospitals, institutes, hostels or any other place that provides
accommodation to foreigners, must submit the details of the residing foreigners in
Form C. This helps registration authorities in locating and tracking the foreigners.
The hotel is liable to send the information in the C form to the nearest (Foreigners’
Regional Registration Office (FRRO), mostly located only in metropolitan cities. or
in case of absence of FRRO in the city, it must be sent to Local Intelligence Unit
(LIU). In smaller cities or towns, the C form has to be sent to the local police station.
This is to be done within 24 hrs of arrival of any foreigner national; in case of
Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese nationals, this information should reach
within 12 hours of the guests’ arrival in the hotel premise. Pakistani forms are
directly sent to special branch of FRRO called Pakistan Cell. A Pakistani after
reaching India has to report in person to the office within 24 hours.
The C Form is made in triplicate, whereby the first original top is sent to the FRRO,
the second copy is sent to the local police station, and the third copy is kept as office
record with the hotel. With digitalization, the same information can be now uploaded
on the official website. This is speedier and convenient.
Fig. Form C
Hotel ABC
Form C
(Rule 14)
S. No. _____
Date: ______
Proposed duration of stay in India: ____ Proposed duration of stay in the hotel: ____
Proceeding to: __________________ Purpose of visit: __________________
Passport – The Front Office staff should verify the passport of foreign nationals. A
passport is a document issued by the government to allow its citizens to travel abroad,
and requests other governments to facilitate their passage and provide protection on
reciprocal basis.
The External Affairs Ministry issues passport to the citizens of India after verifying
the details of the applicants. In India, the following types of passports are issued under
the provisions laid in the Passport Act 1967. Ordinary (dark blue cover), Official
(White or grey, to government officials on government mission), Diplomatic (red
cover, consul status).
Visa – Foreign nationals visiting India need to possess a valid passport and a valid
Indian visa. Visa is an endorsement on the passport, allowing the holder to enter the
territory of the issuing country. It is a document or more frequently a stamp,
authorising the bearer to visit a country for a specific length of time. However, the
issuance may not be treated as a guarantee to enter into the foreign territory. The
bearer may be subjected to inspection at the port of entry and may be asked to
produce the documents presented at the time of procurement of visa. Types of visas:
Immigrant / Permanent, Temporary / Non Immigrant which include Tourist, Student,
Business, Work and Transit Visas.
Arrival and Departure Register – It is a register maintained by the Front Desk
Agent which monitors all the arrivals and departures on a particular day. It monitors
the rooms allocated and those just vacated for helping the Housekeeping department
for making rooms ready again for guests. It also helps to find out the number of
people checked in so as to calculate the house count.
Assigning the room
Assignment is an important part of the registration process. It involves identifying,
blocking and allocating available rooms in a specific room category to a guest. Room
and room rates may be pre assigned on the basis of information as confirmed during
reservation. Room assignments assigned as part of pre-registration, but finalized only
during registration.
Establishing the method of payment
Hotels insist that all reservations be paid for in advance, preferably fully or at least
partly. Especially in case of periods of high demand, it is important to confirm
bookings. There are various modes by means of which a guest may choose while
making a payment both in advance as well as on departure or end of the stay. These
are:
Cash- Cash is the best method of payment especially for the scanty baggage or no
baggage guest. These guests are required to make cash deposits at least for the first
night. Beyond Rs. 50,000/- PAN card details are required for cash transactions. Also,
local currency is accepted and foreign currency will have to be converted and then
payment made.
Credit Cards– Nowadays most of the guests prefer to pay through their credit cards, as
they get the advantage of credit payment depending upon their payment cycle, and
also earn loyalty points. It safer and less bulky and may be used across borders. The
front office agent must verify some credit card details such as expiry date, credit card
number and should also check whether the card is accepted by the hotel.
Debit Cards- This is another type of card used by the guest. In this method the amount
is directly deducted from the guest’s bank account.
Miscellaneous charge orders / voucher– These are payments made in advance to
Airline Reporting Corporations (ARC) or Travel Agents for the hotel services. The
ARC or travel agent issues an MCO or voucher respectively which is presented to the
hotel to adjust charges. The MCO/voucher is redeemed later by the hotel from the
ARC/travel agent.
Special Promotions Payment Methods – Some guests may present vouchers, coupons,
gift certificates, or special incentive awards received from businesses, airlines or other
authorized agencies. The front desk agents must be aware of hotel agreements to
honor such vouchers and take care because such documents may differ in value,
conditions or terms.
Bill to Company – For the bills to be sent to the company for settlement involves
deferred payment and also a risk of delayed payment, sometimes leading to a bad
debt. This facility is offered to companies that are approved by the Finance
department, after studying their financial standing and historic payment record. Also,
the Front Office Agent must confirm that a billing letter is received for each such
booking.
Personal Checks – Most hotels have a strict policy against accepting personal checks,
though some may accept them. Hotels may accept checks only during standard
banking hours to allow the front office staff to obtain bank verification of the check if
necessary.
Verifying the guest identity
It is mandatory nowadays for the guests to provide photo identification in the form of
a passport or a citizen card to ensure positive identification of the guest’s name,
address, signature and photograph. Verifying the guest’s identity is compulsory in all
hotels. The type of identification and identification number on the card or passport
should be recorded in the guest record. As an additional security measure, if the guest
does not speak the local language, it should also be noted in the guest’s record. This
information helps the hotel staff to identify guests requiring foreign language
translation and is also helpful in emergency situations.
Issuance of room key
By issuing a room key the front office agent completes the registration process. For
the security of both the guest and the property, room keys must be very carefully
controlled.
Also for safety and security reasons, the front desk agent should never announce the
room number when handing a guestroom key to a guest. If the hotel provides bell
service, the front desk agent should introduce the bell attendant to the guest, hand the
guestroom key to the bell attendant and ask him or her to show the guest to the room.
On the way to the room, the bell attendant should familiarize the guest with hotel
information such as special feature, locations of emergency exits, emergency
procedures, restaurant locations, retail outlets and their hours of operations, and other
appropriate information.
Once inside the guestroom, the bell attendant should explain the features of the room,
answer any questions and hand the room key to the guest.
If the guest is displeased with the room, the bell attendant should listen attentively and
bring the matter to the attention of the front desk agent for immediate action.
Check- in of a Group
The evening before the date of the arrival of the group reservation section send the
details of the group expected to arrive to the reception. These details include the name
of the group, name of travel agent or company, date of arrival/ departure, arrival
details, type of accommodation required, meals plan, rooming list from these details
the receptionist will carry out pre registration of the group, prepare key envelopes
with room keys and meals coupons, if required a separate group arrival counter may
be set up to receive and register the group. The bar is informed for the welcome drink
and the HK department is informed to check for a confirmed availability of rooms.
The bell captain is informed in order to arrange for the required number of bellboys at
the time of arrival of groups.
Luggage handling during check in is also important. The luggage of the group is
identified, individually tagged and transferred to the rooms. The bell boys carry the
luggage of the group together.
Requisition given to Room service for group welcome drinks and hot / cold towel.
These are pre-prepared and kept ready to be served promptly on arrival.
The group leader completes the registration process for the entire group and fills
GRCs and take signature on them
Group Welcome letter is prepared, neatly folded and kept in envelope. Apart from
rest, inclusions and incidental charges are mentioned.
Guests may proceed to their respective rooms and the group leader confirms meal
preferences, wake up calls, day’s activities and special needs.
At the bell desk:
The bellboys unload the guest luggage and bring them to the bell desk.
At the bell desk the baggage of individual group members is separated, nametags are
put on the baggage in order to separate them.
The bellboys then load the luggage on to the luggage trolley and the errand card is
filled.
After registration of the group is completed, the bellboys will transfer the luggage to
respective guest rooms.
Check-in of a Group: At the front desk:
On arrival group is welcomed by the GRE and the group members are seated in the
lobby. A welcome drink is provided.
The group leader is taken to the check in counter where he is asked to sign on
registration form and to confirm the rooming details.
All the group members are given the pre-registered registration from to verify the
details and to sign on the form.
After all members have signed in the registration form and group leader has checked
the rooming arrangements, the FO assistant will hand over the key envelopes to the
group leader.
The group leader distributes the key envelope to the group members and the bellboy
escorts them to rooms.
The FO cashier opens a common master folio for entire group and individual folios
for each group member.