Different hotels adopt different systems of processing reservation that suit them. The various systems of reservation are:
Diary system Whitney system Computerised system
Diary System of Reservation
The system is known as diary system because in this system, the concept of ‘diary’ is used. In this system, the hotel maintains a diary in which the name of the guest is written on the diary page, as per the date of arrival. Every page of the diary has a date as per the calendar. Thus, all the guests who have requested reservation are enlisted date-wise (according to the date of arrival) onto the respective page of the diary. Thus, checking and preparing the movement list becomes easier. The diary system is used only in small hotels and cannot be used in medium- or large-sized hotels because of some disadvantages.
Tools Used
The tools required for the operation of the diary system and their uses are discussed below.
1. Room Status Board
While a reservation request is received, fi rst the RSB is referred, which gives an idea of the room avail- ability position against the requested month.
2. Advance Letting Chart
By referring to ALC, the room status can be known against the requested period of a particular month.
3. Room Reservation Form
This tool is used to record all the necessary and relevant information regarding the prospective guest by the reservation assistant.
4. Hotel Diary or Booking Diary
This is another tool used by the reservation section to record all necessary and relevant information re- garding the prospective guest for the purpose of processing. The information is recorded on a particular page of diary according to the date of arrival. The hotel diary is a bound book register containing 365 (366) pages arranged in serial order as per the date of arrival. The Room Reservation (RR) forms are optional, but hotel diary is a permanent record. To avoid untidy work on the diary, it is recommended to use the RR form.
5. Movement List or Expected Arrival List
By using the movement list, the reservation section intimates the reception section and other depart- ments about the arrivals for the next day (Fig. 3.8).
Reservation Procedure
The reservation procedure through the diary system is carried out in the following manner:
1. As soon as the reservation request is received, the room availability position is checked by refer- ring to the RSB and subsequently the ALC, if required.
2. If the reservation section is in a position to accept the reservation request, the ALC is updated and subsequently the RSB, if required.
3. Then, the RR form is fi lled up with the information, if in use.
4. An entry is made in the booking diary on the proper page according to the date of arrival of the guest.
(BI - Billing Instruction) Fig. 3.8 A sample of movement list
5. Before closing the section, the movement list is prepared for the next day and distributed to the following sections/departments:
Reception Housekeeping Room Service General Manager F&B Manager
Executive Chef (in case of group arrival) Security (in case of VIP arrival)
File
Disadvantages of Diary System
The diary system has the following drawbacks:
1. Reservation cannot be taken far in advance in the diary system of reservation.
2. The booking diary is bulky, so it is diffi cult to handle.
3. The diary cannot be maintained neatly because of continuous use.
4. The entries in the diary cannot be made in an alphabetical order.
5. Guest status is not known at a glance from the diary.
6. The diary system is not a scientifi c system because, if a page is lost, then the entire information on the page is lost.
7. Diary system cannot be used in large hotels because of limited availability of space on each page.
8. Cancellation and amendment becomes diffi cult as entries are made permanently on the diary pages.
Figure 3.9 shows a sample of hotel diary.
INDIAN HOTEL HOTEL DIARY
Day _________ Date ________ Month _______________ Year ______________
SI No
Room No
Name &
Address
Pax Room Type
Booked on
Rate &
Plan
Duration of Stay
Arr.
Time Booked by
Advance Details
BI Signature Remarks
Fig. 3.9 A sample of hotel diary
Whitney System of Reservation
Whitney system of reservation is a well-accepted system worldwide because of its simplicity. This is a foolproof system as double checking is done. It was developed by a company called Whitney Duplicating and Check Company of New York and the system had been named after the company. This system can be used by hotels of any size.
Tools Used
Various tools required in this system are discussed below.
1. Room Status Board
When a reservation request is received, fi rst the RSB is referred, which provide the room availability position against the requested month.
2. Density Control Chart
By referring to DCC, the room status can be found against the requested period of a particular month.
3. Room Reservation Form
This tool is used to record all the necessary and relevant information regarding the prospective guest by the reservation assistant.
4. Whitney Slip
It is used to record some of the vital information that is taken from the RR form. The Whitney slip is 3” × 1½” in size. Name of the guest, pax, arrival date and time, departure date, room rate and plan, billing instructions, booked by and signature of the reservation assistant are the pieces of information mentioned on the Whitney Slip (see Fig. 3.10). The Whitney Slip is always prepared in duplicate and is always typed.
Walker Mr. C. H. 2X 13/04/06 10/04/06 Arr: IC239
Rate: Rs. 8000.00 MAP Bill. Eastern Travels Resv: Mr. A. Chawla
9810056548 AB
Fig. 3.10 A sample of Whitney slip
5. Whitney Carrier
It is used to hold the Whitney slips in the Whitney rack and is made of metal (usually made of aluminium).
Reservation Procedure
The reservation procedure under the Whitney system entails the following steps:
1. As soon as a reservation request is received, the room availability position is checked by referring the RSB and subsequently the DCC, if required.
2. If the reservation section is in a position to accept the reservation request, the DCC is updated and subsequently the RSB, if required.
3. Then, the RR form is fi lled in with the information provided by the guest and is kept in the correct slot of the rotary rack according to the date/month/year of arrival, as the case may be.
4. During the day, whenever free time is available, the fi lled-in RR forms are taken out from the rotary rack and the Whitney slips are prepared in duplicate with the required information.
5. The original Whitney slip is placed on a Whitney carrier that is then placed on the proper Whitney rack in an alphabetical order.
6. The duplicate Whitney slip is attached to the RR form.
7. The RR form is then kept in the RR form fi le. The Reservation Section maintains 43 RR form fi les that are maintained in the same way as that of the Whitney racks. The RR form fi les are kept under lock and key which is under the supervision of reservation supervisor.
SEP 1
DERSON Q 3 11DAVIS
PICOX S SM
ITH
Fig. 3.11 Single Whitney rack
Fig. 3.12 Multiple Whitney racks
8. At the end of the day, before closing the reservation section, the RR forms as well as the Whitney rack for the following day are taken out. The movement list is made by referring the Whitney slips and RR forms. While distributing the movement list, next day’s Whitney rack is handed over to the reception. The empty Whitney rack that was handed over to the reception on the previous day is taken back. The Whitney rack acts as guest alphabetical index rack at reception. This is how the Whitney rack moves ahead each day.
9. Every last but one day of the month, the Whitney rack of the following month is taken out and the Whitney slips are arranged in the Whitney racks that are empty, according to the date of arrival in an alphabetical order and are placed against the wall in serial order.
Whitney Colour Code
Whitney slips of different colours are used to denote the status of the guest. This helps the reservation section to fi nd out various guests of any status at a glance. For example,
White: FIT Yellow: Group Blue: VIP Pink: CIP
The colour of the Whitney slips for denoting guest status may vary from hotel to hotel.
Advantages of Whitney System
The Whitney system has the following advantages:
1. Reservation can be taken far in advance.
2. Reservation can be maintained in an alphabetical order.
3. Guest status can be known at a glance.
4. It is scientifi c, as an option for double checking is established.
5. It can be handled very easily.
6. Maintenance is very easy.
7. Cancellation and amendment is very easy.
8. The system can be used in hotels of any size.
Cancellation and Amendment
Cancellation is obliterating a reservation that had been done by a guest with a hotel while amendment is a change in the reservation. The change can be regarding any one or all of the following:
Date of arrival Date of departure Duration of stay Type of room Number of rooms Number of person Food plan, etc.
For any cancellation of room reservation, a minimum of three days’ notice is required for FIT guests.
This is known as cut-off date or cut-out date. If this condition is not fulfi lled, a retention charge is taken from the guest. The cut-off date for a group reservation is normally 30 days.
Cancellation Code
When a cancellation is accepted, a cancellation code is developed and given to the guest, which can be used as a reference in future. An example of cancellation code is given below:
0980610AS153
With the help of the cancellation code given above, we will now understand how different digits and characters of the cancellation code denote different pieces of information:
The fi rst three digits (0980610AS153) represent the day of a particular year. Here, 098 stands for the 98th day of the year, i.e. 8th of April.
The following two digits (0980610AS153) stand for the year, i.e. 2006.
The sixth and the seventh digits (0980610AS153) together stand for the property code that is applicable for chain hotels only. The reason is that in chain hotels, booking and cancellation of rooms of one of the hotels can be done from another hotel of the same chain.
Next two characters (0980610AS153) are the initials of the reservation assistant who takes the cancellation.
The last three digits (0980610AS153) is the serial number of the cancellation, which is main- tained in the cancellation register, kept in the reservation section. (Figure 3.13 shows a cancel- lation register.)
Indian Hotel Cancellation Register SI No Date of
Cancellation
Cancellation Code
Times of Guest
Type of Room
Date of Arr.
Source of Resv.
Signature Remarks
Fig. 3.13 Sample of cancellation register
Cancellation Procedure
The cancellation procedure is carried out in different ways in the diary and Whitney system.
In the Diary System
1. As soon as a cancellation request is received, a cancellation code is developed and informed to the guest.
2. The cancellation form is then fi lled up, if in use, and is stapled with the RR form.
3. The cancellation code is written clearly on the cancellation form and kept in the cancellation fi le together with the RR form.
4. The entry in the hotel diary is cancelled by drawing a line across, and is marked as cancelled.
5. The ALC is updated and then the RSB, if required.
6. The cancellation code is noted down in the remarks column of the hotel diary along with the signature of the reservation assistant.
7. The cancellation register is then fi lled in.
In the Whitney System
1. As soon as a cancellation request is received, a cancellation code is developed and informed to the guest.
2. The cancellation form is then fi lled in and the cancellation code is mentioned on it.
3. Original Whitney slip is then taken out and marked as cancelled.
4. Cancellation form, RR form and the original copy of the Whitney slip along with the duplicate copy are stapled together, and kept in the cancellation fi le.
5. Cancellation register is then fi lled in.
6. The DCC is updated and subsequently the RSB, if required.
Amendment Procedure
The amendment procedure in the diary and Whitney systems is discussed below.
In Diary System
1. As soon as an amendment request is received, the room availability position is checked by refer- ring the RSB and subsequently the ALC.
2. If the amendment request can be accepted, then an amendment form is fi lled in, if in use, then kept in the RR form fi le after being stapled with the RR form, generated at the time of reserva- tion.
3. The ALC is updated followed by the RSB, if required.
4. The previous entry in the diary is cancelled by drawing a line across and marked as ‘AMENDED’.
The reservation assistant signs on it.
5. A fresh entry is made in the diary as per the date of arrival.
In Whitney System
1. As soon as an amendment request is received, the room availability position is checked by refer- ring the RSB and subsequently the DCC.
2. If the amendment request can be accepted, then an amendment form is fi lled in.
3. The DCC is then updated followed by the RSB, if required.
4. A new Whitney slip is made as per the amendment in duplicate.
5. Old original Whitney slip and the RR form are then stapled together.
6. Original Whitney slip is placed on the Whitney rack after mounting on a carrier, in an alphabeti- cal order.
7. The duplicate Whitney slip is stapled with the amendment form and the RR form and then placed in the proper RR form fi le in alphabetical order.