Planning Operations

Planning Operations

1.1 Management Function…………………………………………………………………………                     03

1.1.1 Planning, Organising, ………………………………………………………………………                     03

1.1.2 Co-ordinating, ………………………………………………………………………………                     03

1.1.3 Staffing, Leading, …………………………………………………………………………..                     03

1.1.4 Controlling, Evaluating…………………………………………….………………………                      03

1.2 Establishing Room Rate………………………………………………………………………                      03

1.2.1 Different Approaches for pricing rooms……………………………………………………                     03

1.2.2 Market Condition Approach, ………………………………………………………………                      04

1.2.3 Rule of Thumb, ……………………………….……………………………………………                      04

1.2.4 Hubbart’s Formula-Determining single and doublerate.…………………………………                                    04

1.3 Special Room Rates Offered…………………………………………………………………                       05

1.3.1 Corporate / Commercial Rate, ………………………….…………………………………                       06

1.3.2 Group Rate, …………………………………………………….…………………………                                    06

1.3.3 Promotional Rate, …………………………………………………………………………                       06

1.3.4 Incentive Rate, ………………………………………………………….…………………                       06

1.3.5 Family Rate, ………………………………………………………………………………                                    06

1.3.6 Package, ………………………………………………………………………………….                         06

1.3.7 Complimentary Rate………………………………………………………………………                                    06

1.4 Forecasting Room Availability……………………………………………………………...                                    07

1.4.1 Forecasting Data……………………………………………………………………………                       07

1.4.1.1 Percentage of No-show, …………………………………………………………………                       07

1.4.1.2 Percentage of Cancellations, …………………………………………………………….                       07

1.4.1.3 Percentage of walk-ins, …………………………………………………………………                                   07

1.4.1.4 Percentage of overstay, …………………………………………………………………                                    07

1.4.1.5 Percentage of under stay, ………………………………………………………………                                    08

1.4.2 Forecast formula; ……………………………………………………………………….                          08

1.4.3 Sample 3 and 10 days forecast; …………………………………………………………                          08

1.4.4 Refining Forecast…………………………………………………………………………                         08

1.5 Budgeting for Operations……………………………………………………………………                        08

1.5.1 Three Day Forecast; ………………………………………………………………………                                    08

1.5.2 Forecasting room revenue, …………………………………………………………………                      09

1.5.3 Estimating expenses, ………………………………………………………………………                       09

 1.5.4 Refining budget plans ………………………………………………………………………                    09

Evaluating Operations……………………………………………………………………………..                     09

2.1 Evaluating front office operations……………………………………………………………                      09

2.1.1 Daily Operations Report, ……………………………………………………………………                    09

2.1.2 Monthly Income Statement…………………………………………………………………                      10

2.1.3 Occupancy Ratios; ………………………………………………………………………….                      10

2.1.3.1 Occupancy Percentage……………………………………………………………………                      11

2.1.3.2 Room Count………………………………………………………………………………                      12

2.1.3.3 House Count………………………………………………………………………………                      12

2.1.3.4 Double Occupancy percentage……………………………………………………………                      13

2.1.3.5 Bed Occupancy Percentage………………………………………………………………                       13

2.1.3.6 Foreign Guest Percentage…………………………………………………………………                     13

2.1.3.7 Average Daily Rate……………………………………………………………………….                      13

2.1.3.8 Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) …………………………………………………                    14

2.1.3.9 Average Rate Per Guest (ARG) ……………………………………………………………                   14

2.1.4 Yield Statistic. ……………………………………………………………………………….                    15

2.1.5 Market Share Index/ Fare Market Share………………………………………………………                  15

2.1.6 Evaluation of Hotels By Guests………………………………………………………………                   16

Handling Foreign Currency…………………………………………………………………………                   17

3.2 Foreign Currency Exchange…………………………………………………………………….                   18

3.3 Procedures to be followed while exchanging Foreign Currency……………………………….                   19

3.4 Currencies accepted by RBI…………………………………………………………………….                   19

3.5 Foreign Exchange Certificate- Format………………………………………………………….                   20

3.6 Foreign Exchange Settlements using Credit Cards.……………………………………………                    20

3.7 Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme (EPCG)……………………………………………..                  20

4.0 Key Terms……………………………….……………………………………………………….                  21

Planning Operations

1.1            Management Function

Planning

At the planning stage, the front office manager shall determine the department’s goals. Later, the front office manager shall use these goals as a guide for planning more specific and measurable objectives. Lastly, the front office manager shall determine the strategies and tactics to reach these objectives.

Organizing

The front office manager shall organize the work to be done through dividing it among staff members. While doing so, the work shall be distributed fairly and shall be completed in a timely manner.

Coordinating

Involves bringing together and using the available resources to attain planned goals.

 Staffing

Involves recruiting applicants, selecting those best qualifies for positions, and scheduling employees.

 Leading

Involves overseeing, motivating, training, disciplining, and setting an example for the front office.

Controlling

 Ensures that the actual results of operations closely match planned results.

Evaluating

Determines the extent to which planned goals are, in fact, attained. Moreover, it involves reviewing and, when necessary, revising or helping to revise front office goals.

1.2           ESTABLISHING ROOM RATE

The front office manager shall assign to each room category a rack rate. In accordance, front office employees are expected to sell rooms at rack unless a guest qualifies for an alternative room rate (ex: corporate or commercial rate, group rate, promotional rate, incentive rate, family rate, day rate, package plan rate, complementary rate…).

1.2.1   DIFFERENT APPROACHES FOR PRICING ROOMS

While establishing room rates, management shall be careful about its operating costs, inflationary factors, and competition. Generally, there are three popular approaches to pricing rooms:

1.      Market condition approach

2.      Rule-of-thumb approach

3.      Hubbart formula approach

1.2.2 MARKET CONDITION APPROACH

Under this very approach, management shall look at comparable hotels in the geographical market, see what they are charging for the same product, and  “charge only what the market will accept”. Some drawbacks of this approach are that it does not take into consideration the value of the property, and what a strong sales effort may accomplish.

1.Competition : Rates must be competitive( but at the same time it should be able to able to produce adequate revenue to meet the fixed obligations.) with other hotels of the same standards and providing almost same services and facilities as provided by the other hotels situated in the same vicinity of the city. 

2. Customers’ profile: It is depending upon the profile of the guests who are coming to the hotel. Their social and financial status i.e. paying capacity, should keep in the mind while fixing up the rate. 

3. Standards of service: Standard of services provided by the hotel are also important. The Unique Selling Point (U.S.P.) of the hotel should be kept in the mind while deciding the Room Tariff.

4. Locality of hotel: The locality in which the hotel is situated is also important while the tariff is fixing.

5. Amenities provided: It is also important that a hotel is providing the various amenities to the guest so that the guest can get value for money. So the rate can be depending upon either the rooms are air-conditioned or not, provision of swimming pool, Carpeting, Tennis court, Health Club etc.

6. Room location: The location of the rooms plays an important role. Front side rooms and the rooms are facing to the better view would be cost more than dark rooms.

1.2.3 RULE OF THUMB

In this very approach, the rate of a room shall be $ 1 for each $ 1,000of construction and furnishing cost per room, assuming a 70% occupancy rate. This approach, however, fails to take into consideration the inflation term, the contribution of other facilities and services towards the hotel’s desired profitablity, and assumes a ceratin levelof occupancy rate.

1.2.4 HUBBART’S FORMULA-DETERMINING SINGLE AND DOUBLERATE

This very approach considers operating costs, desired profits, and expected number of rooms sold (i.e. demand). The procedure of calculating a room rate is as follows:

a)      Calculate the hotel’s desired profit by multiplying the desired rate of return (ROI) by the owner’s investment.

b)      Calculate pre-tax profits by dividing the desired profit  by 1 minus hotel’s tax rate.

c)      Calculate fixed charges and management fees. This calculation includes estimating depreciation, interest expense, preperty taxes, insurance, amortization, building mortgage, land, rent, and management fees.

d)      Calculate undistributed operating expenses. This includes estimating administrative and general expenses, data processing expenses, human resourecs expenses, transportation expenses, marketing expenses, property operation and maintenance expenses, and energy costs.

e)      Estimate non-room operating department income or loss, that is, F&B department income or loss, telephone department income or loss …

f)       Calculate the required room department income which is the sum of pre-tax profits, fıxed charges and management fees, undistributed operating expenses, and other operating department losses less other department incomes.

g)      Determine the rooms department revenue which is the required room department income, plus other room department direct expenses of payroll and related expenses, plus other direct operating expenses.

h)      Calculate the average room rate by dividing rooms department revenue by the expected number of rooms to be sold.

·Doubles sold daily = double occupancy rate * total number of rooms * occupancy %

· Singles sold daily = rooms sold daily – number of double rooms sold daily

· Singles sold daily * x + doubles sold daily * (x + y) = (average room rate) * (total number of rooms sold daily)

· Where: x = price of singles; y = price differential between singles and doubles; x + y = price of doubles.

1.3            SPECIAL ROOM RATES OFFERED

Ø  Rack Rate: Rack is a term which refers to the normal room rate of the Hotel. This is the rate of the room which is published in the Room Tariff Card. This is also the rate which is written on the Shannon slip which is slipped in room rack of those Hotels which operates on the Whitney system. This rate is usually negotiable and many type of discount can be given to various categories of Guests.

Ø  Government Rate: Usually government employees are given per day allowances for their traveling; accommodation and food by their office and some hotels offer them a rate which give them room and accommodation within that price.

Ø  Corporate Rate: Corporate travelers receive preferential treatment as the “bread and butter” clientele of the typical commercial logging establishing. A corporate rate program encourages business from employees traveling on the behalf of the participating company. To earn a corporate discount, the company may have be required to guarantee a minimum number of rooms to be occupied during a set period of time. It is also known as C.V.G.R. or Company / Corporate Volume Guaranteed Rate.

Ø  C.G.R.: Also known as Company/Corporate Guaranteed Rate, it is mainly given to those potential companies to attract them for the business. This type of rate given from the Hotel side only.

Ø  Agent Rate: The agent rate is the hotel’s discounted rate for the travel agents and airline personnel. An agent rate is generally not valid during periods when the hotel is sold out.

Ø  Package Rate: The hotel’s package rate usually include promotional discounts to encourages occupancy during slack or off-season periods, or to introduce new prospective to the facilities. The following types of rate package are examples:

Ø  Weekend rate: A commercial hotel, which relies heavily on the business travelers typically, has a low occupancy rate on weekends. A special weekend rate may apply for weekend packages – usually Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. This package may include a food and beverage allowance at the hotel’s restaurant.

Ø  Promotional package rate: Resorts hotels with strong weekend and holiday business often experience low occupancy during the week. To boost occupancy levels during these slack periods, the hotel may offer a promotional package rate, normally based on the double occupancy for the stays of three days to one week. The package may include food and beverage at the hotel’s restaurant, or such amenities as free gambling chips at the hotel’s casino.

Ø  Group Rate: A published tariff price given to group operators which is commissionable only to retail travel agents, tour operators, and wholesalers of the travel industry.

Ø  Crib rate: A special rate applicable to children below 12 years of age accompanied by the parents.

Ø  Extra bed rate: A rate applicable to a third person occupying the room, and is provided with an extra bed in the room. Generally is 1/3 or ¼ of the applicable tariff.

Ø  Crew rate: Special rates offered to crew of airlines however dependent on total room nights on consistent and continuous basis given by the respective airlines over a period generally of one year.

Ø  Seasonal rates: Season and Resorthotels which usually have fluctuating demand change their rates as per the season and offer different rates. In season and Off season rates.

Ø  Membership rate: Some Hotels give special rates to the members of various esteemed organization. This may vary from 50% to complementary on accommodation only some discount may given on Food & Beverage Service also. This is also called “Industry Rate” when it is offered to Hospitality trade organization such as FHRAI and TAAI etc.

Ø  Advance Purchase Rate: This type of rate generally given to the Tour Operators. Usually tour operator are confirmed the no of accommodation well in advance with the hotel and certain percentage of discount offered by the hotel on the same. It may also applicable for the guaranteed reservation.

Ø  Premium Rate:  This type of rate generally used by the valued guests who are having the various tie-ups with the Chain group of Hotel or the Air lines or they are holder the renowned Card holder of a famous banks etc. for e.g. Priority Card holders are getting the discounted rate in all the Holiday Inn property around the world, Amex platinum card holders are also getting various discounts in the hotels and airline as well. 

Ø  FIT Rate: These rates are applicable to a wholesaler Travel Agents ho publishes packages where by an individual guest may arrive any day and stay as long as he wishes. Science these package rates are normally sold through retail travel agents they are normally constructed 15% off the individual rate. 

Ø  Agent Rate  :The agent rate is the hotel’s discounted rate for the travel agents and airline personnel. An agent rate is generally not valid during periods when the hotel is sold out.

Ø  ADHOC Rate Code: These are normally non-standard rates which is offered as a special one time rates for first time corporate.

Ø  Incentive Rate Code: The Rate offered to individuals who belong to an association or holders of special membership cards or Credit cards.  Eg: Amex / VISA / Master card holders get 5% discount on Rack Rate, Lufthansa Frequent Flyer members get 25 % discount etc. For hotels these rates always give potential referral business.

Ø  Family Rate: A rate reserved for families with children. Usually these rate include Extra Bed charges and may also include some free add-on activities for children

·         Complimentary Rate: A Room rate with zero room charge which is  offered to special guests, industry leaders, Gov. officials etc.

·         House use Rate: A Room rate with zero room charge which is used for rooms stays for hotel purpose. Eg: Manager or duty room, In house General / Resident  manager room etc.

·         Zero Rate Code: These kind of rates are used as system requirements for PMS's as these would be tagged to Dummy rooms, Paymaster rooms and Group Master rooms.

1.4            FORECASTING ROOM AVAILABILITY

Room forecasting though a difficult skill to develop needs to be as accurate as possible since it is used as a guide to staffing levels within the hotel. Various types of information used in forecasting room availability are as :

- a thorough knowledge of the hotel and its surrounding

- Profiles of the market the hotel serves

- The occupancy history of the hotel in the recent past and the corresponding period the previous year.

- A listing of the events scheduled during the forecasting period

- Profiles of groups who are booked during the forecasting period.

- History record of No-shows, under-stays, over-stays, walk-ins, cancellations, amendments etc.

- Information about any proposed renovation which could affect the availability of rooms in the hotel.

FORECASTING DATA

Forecasting room availability is forecasting the number of rooms available for sale on any future date. This type of forecasting helps manage the reservation process, guides the front office staff for an effective rooms management, and can be used as an occupancy forecast, which is, further, useful in attempting to schedule the necessary number of employees for an expected volume of business.

PERCENTAGE OF NO-SHOW

The percentage of No-shows indicates the proportion of guests with reservations who failed to register on their arrival date. This ratio helps to decide when to sell rooms to early walk-ins.

The percentage of no-shows is calculated by dividing the number of no-shows for a specific period of time, by the total number of reservations for the same period.

Percentage of No-shows =     

PERCENTAGE OF CANCELLATIONS

It is the percentage of total number of cancellations as against total number of reservations

PERCENTAGE OF WALK-INS

The percentage of walk-ins is calculated by dividing the total number of walk-ins for a specific period by the total number of arrival for the same period. A high percentage of walk-ins make it difficult for determining the room availability position. However walk-ins help fill rooms which have not been reserved in advance. Walk-ins can help improve occupancy and room revenue.

Percentage of Walk-ins =

PERCENTAGE OF OVERSTAY

Over-stays represent rooms occupied by guests who continue their stay beyond their originally scheduled departure dates.

The percentage of over-stays is calculated by dividing the number of over-stays for a specific period by the total number of check-outs for the same period.

Percentage of Over-stays =

PERCENTAGE OF UNDER STAY

Under-stays represent rooms occupied by guests who check-out before their scheduled departure dates.

The percentage of under-stays is calculated by dividing the number of under-stays for a specific period by the total number of check-outs for the same period.

Percentage of Under-stays = Number of Under stays

FORECAST FORMULA

Once relevant occupancy statistics have been gathered ,the no. of rooms available for sale on any given date can be determined by the following formula.

Total no. of guest rooms

(-) Minus Number of Out of Order rooms

(-) Minus Number of Stay-Overs

(-) Minus Number of Reservations

(+) Plus No. of Reservations X Percentage of No-Shows

(+) Plus Number of Under-Stays

(-) Minus Number of Over- Stays

(=) Equals Rooms Available for Sale

· Forecasted number of rooms available for sale = total number of guest rooms – number of out of order rooms - number of stayovers rooms – number of reserved rooms + number of no-show rooms + number of understay rooms – number of overstay rooms

SAMPLE 3 AND 10 DAYS FORECAST

Under non-automated and semi-automated systems, number of rooms available for sale forecasts are calculated upon demand and need and vary from three-day to ten-day forecasts. However, under fully automated systems, forecasts can be done at any moment for any future period of time. For, computers run forecasts on a room count considerations, hence eliminating tedious labor work and human error margins.

REFINING FORECAST

Though, it is not necessary that these above forecasting tools help always. We do sometimes need to add some extra points as well.

1.5            BUDGETING FOR OPERATIONS

At least once per year, hotels shall prepare annual budgets, which are profit plans that address all revenue sources and expense items for the following calendar year. Moreover, the hotel annual operating budget represents standards against which management can evaluate actual results of operations. In the annual budget preparation process, close coordination efforts of all management personnel is vital.

· The hotel’s annual operation budget is commonly divided into monthly plans, which in turn are divided into weekly and even daily plans, for better control over actual results.

· While preparing the front office department annual budget, the front office manager shall coordinate with the accounting department as to estimate only rooms revenue and related direct expenses. The hotel controller and the general manager, then, shall revise this very budget

1.5.1    THREE DAY FORECAST

A 3-day room availability forecasting is an updated report that reflects a extra current estimate of room availability. It details any tremendous alterations from the ten-day forecast. The three-day forecast is meant to advisor management in quality tuning labor schedules and adjusting room availability understanding.

1.5.2    FORECASTING ROOM REVENUE

In order to forecast room revenue, the front office manager might consult historical financial information such as past room revenue, past number of rooms sold, past average daily rate, and past occupancy rates.

1.5.3 ESTIMATING EXPENSES

Due to the fact front office manager is responsible only for his/her department direct expenses (i.e. variable costs), the front office manager can, also, consult historical financial data depicting variable cost to room revenue ratios, in order to estimate department expenses.

1.5.4 REFINING BUDGET PLANS

Sometimes, if external uncontrollable factors change significantly, in an unexpected way, then the actual operating budgeted figures shall be revised.

EVALUATING OPERATIONS

1.6  Evaluating front office operations

A successful front office manager shall continuously evaluate the results of department activities on a daily, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. While evaluating, the following items and tools shall be used:

a)      Daily operations report

b)      Occupancy ratios

c)      Rooms revenue analysis

d)      Hotel income statement

e)      Rooms division income statement or schedule

f)       Rooms division budgets report

g)      Operating ratios and ratio standards

DAILY OPERATIONS REPORT

Every hotel produces a ‘daily business report’ AKA ‘Manager flash’  that recaps all the activity within the last 24 hours. This daily report includes hotel statistics, like the total earnings from hotels revenue centres  (eg:- Rooms, Food and Beverage outlets, Laundry, SPA, Shop rentals etc.)

Figures from each revenue centres  is represented  in  FTD ( Figures today). MTD ( Month to date) and YTD ( Year to date), This figures are also compared with the Last year FTD, MTD and YTD figures.

In most of the cases actuate generated revenue of each revenue centres  is often compared with the budgeted figures  to calculate the variance ( + / - ).  This will also help the management to track if these revenue centres are doing well or not and also in par with their forecasted budgets.

The hotel General manager reviews this  daily business report in the morning meeting which is attended by all revenue centre managers / heads. They then discuss on the performance of each revenue centres after reviewing the revenue generated by them. Strategical decisions are then taken by the General Manager if certain revenue centres are not achieving their targeted budgets.

DBR many also includes customer requests, or any complaints that have occurred during the day. It also includes maintenance issues.

1.6.1    MONTHLY INCOME STATEMENT

The hotel's income statement provide important financial information about the results of hotel operations for a given period of time. The period may be one month or longer, but should not exceed one business year' Since a statement of income reveals the amount of net income for a given period, it is one of the most important financial statements used by management to evaluate the overall success of operations. Although front office managers may not directly rely upon the hotel's statement of income, it is an important

Financial indicator of operational success and profitability. The hotel income statement relies in part on detailed front office information that is supplied through the rooms division income statement. The rooms division income statement is discussed in the next section.

The hotel's statement of income is often called a consolidated income StatementbecauseitPresentsacomPositepicfureofallthehotel,financial operations. Rooms division information appears on the first line' under the category of operated departments. The amount of income generated by the rooms division is determined by subtracting payroll and related expenses and other expenses from the amount of net revenue produced by the rooms division over the period covered by the income statement Payroll expenses charged to the rooms division may include those associated with the front office manager, front desk agents, reservations agents, housekeepers, and uniformed service staff. Since the rooms division is not a merchandising facility, there is no cost of sales to subtract from the net revenue amor.mt'

Revenue generated by the rooms division is usually the largest single amount produced by revenue centers within a hotel. Based on the figures in Exhibit 2' the amount of income earned by the Eatonwood Hotel's rooms division during the year was $4,528,486-o1 81.7 Per cent of the total operated department income of $5,544,699.

2.1.3 OCCUPANCY RATIOS

Part 1

Formula 1: Potential Average Single Rate:

¨Potential Average Single Rate = (Single Room Revenues at Rack Rate) / (Number of Rooms Sold as Single)

Formula 2: Potential Average Double Rate:

¨Potential Average Double Rate = (Double Room Revenue at Rack Rate) / (Number of Rooms Sold as Double)

Formula 3: Multiple Occupancy Percentage:

¨Multiple Occupancy Percentage = (Number of Rooms Occupied by more than 1 Person) / (Total Number of Rooms Sold)

Formula 4: Rate Spread:

¨Rate Spread = (Potential Average Double Rate) – (Potential Average Single Rate)

Formula 5: Potential Average Rate:

¨Potential Average Rate = (Multiple Occupancy Percentage * Rate Spread) + (Potential Average Single Rate)

Formula 6: Room Rate Achievement Factor:

¨Room Rate Achievement Factor = (Actual Average Rate) / (Potential Average Rate)

Formula 7: Yield Statistic:

1.      Yield Statistic = (Actual Rooms Revenue) / (Potential Rooms Revenue)

2.      Yield Statistic = ((Rooms Nights Sold) / (Rooms Nights Available)) * ((Actual Average Room Rate) / (Potential Average Rate))

3.      Yield Statistic = Occupancy Percentage * Achievement Factor

Formula 8:Identical Yields Occupancy:

¨Identical Yields Occupancy = (Current Occupancy Percentage) * (Current Rate / Proposed Rate)

Formula 9:Equivalent Occupancy:

1.      Equivalent Occupancy = (Current Occupancy Percentage) * ((Rack Rate – Marginal Cost) / (Rack Rate * ((1 – Discount Percentage)) – Marginal Cost)

2.      Equivalent Occupancy= (Current Occupancy Percentage) * ((Contribution Margin) / (New Contribution Margin))

Part 2

• Average Room Rate (ARR)
• Occupancy Percentage (Occ %)
• Percentage of Walk-Ins
• Percentage of Overstays
• Percentage of Understays
• Forecast Formula          
• Occupancy Percentage
• Multiple Occupancy Percentage
• Average guests per room sold
• Percentage of No-Shows
• Average Rate per guest
• Yield
• Rev Par

2.1.3.1 OCCUPANCY PERCENTAGE

Occupancy Percentage = Number of rooms Sold

Number of rooms available

Multiple Occupancy Ratio

Multiple occupancy ratios (Double occupancy ratios) are used to forecast the food and beverage revenue, to indicate rooms provision requirements and to analyze daily room rates.

Multiple occupancy can be calculated by determining the multiple occupancy percentage or by determining the average number of guests per room sold.Either of these ratios may be used provided it is used consistently.

Multiple Occupancy Percentage = No. of rooms occupied by more than one guest

Number of rooms occupied

Average guests per room sold = Number of Guests

Number of Rooms sold

2.1.3.2 ROOM COUNT

It is important for Front desk agents to know exactly how many rooms are available, especially if the hotel expects to operate near 100 percent occupancy.

Once procedures for gathering room count information are established, planning procedures can be extended to longer periods of time to form a more reliable basis for revenue, expense, and labour forecasting.

Below points will help the front desk team to do a accurate room count :

·         Make counts of the rack and reservations. On tight days, a count should be made at 07:00 Am, Noon, 03:00 PM, and 06:00 PM. On Normal Days, a 07:00 AM and 06:00 PM Count will be OK.

·         Check Room Rack against the folio bucket or Open balance report to catch sleepers and skippers.

·         Check housekeeping reports against the room rack to catch sleepers and skippers

·         Check for rooms that are due out, but still have balance on their folios, especially where credit cards are the indicated source of payment.

·         Check reservations for any Duplications.

·         Check all the reservation systems to make sure reservation status of all cancelled reservations has been marked as cancelled on the system.

·         Check the Switchboard, Telephone Rack, Or Alphabetical room rack to make sure that the guest is not already registered.

·         Call the local airport or Airport representative  for a report on cancelled flights.

·         Check the weather report for cities from which a number of guests are expected.

·         Check reservations against convention blocks to catch duplications.

·         Check with other hotels for duplicate reservations if a City event team had booked the hotel room as a second choice.

·         Check arrival dates on all reservation form with the arrival list from the PMS to make sure none was entered wrongly.

·         Check room cancellation list.

·         After the property's cut-off time, if it becomes necessary, pull any reservations that were not guaranteed or pre paid.

·         If any rooms are out-of-order or not presently in use, check to see if they can be made up. Let housekeeping know when a tight  day is expected, so that all possible rooms are made up.

·         Before Leaving from work, convey in writing all pertinent information to the oncoming staff.

2.1.3.3 HOUSE COUNT

House count is the number of guests staying in a hotel on a particular night...

House count: (H.C)

(the number of guests staying on a particular night)

H.C = Previous H.C + Arrivals – departures.

 Total number of guests in the hotel can also be calculated as follows:

Total guests = single rooms + 2 x (double rooms) + extra beds.
  OR
Formula to calculate house count:
H.C = previous night's house count + arrivals for today - departures for today

2.1.3.4 DOUBLE OCCUPANCY PERCENTAGE

Occupancy Percentage = (Number of Rooms Occupied) / (Total Number of Rooms Available For Sale) * 100

·Multiple Occupancy Percentage = (Number of Rooms Occupied by More Than One Guest) / (Total Number of Rooms Occupied) * 100

·Single Occupancy Percentage = (Number of Single Rooms Occupied) / (Total Number of Single Rooms Available For Sale) * 100

·Double Occupancy Percentage = (Number of Double Rooms Occupied) / (Total Number of Double Rooms Available for Sale) * 100

·Triple Occupancy Percentage = (Number of Triple Rooms Occupied) / (Total Number of Triple Rooms Available For Sale) * 100

2.1.3.5 BED OCCUPANCY PERCENTAGE

Bed occupancy percentage: (guest occupancy or sleeper occupancy)

Average room rate =

2.1.3.6 FOREIGN GUEST PERCENTAGE

Foreign Guest Percentage   =  100 – Percentage Domestic Guest

Now how to calculate Percentage Domestic Guest

Percentage Domestic Guest = 

2.1.3.7 AVERAGE DAILY RATE

Average Daily Rate= (Actual Room Revenue) / (Total Number of Rooms Sold)

2.1.3.8 REVENUE PER AVAILABLE ROOM (REVPAR)

From a room revenue business point of view, the goal is to achieve the highest occupancy (100% ideal achievement) with the highest ADR on the market.

The average daily rate (ADR) is a figure that expresses in a selected currency the average price that was achieved at a given time.

Occupancy is a figure that reflects occupancy as percentage for the period, where 100% occupancy reflects a condition when all rooms in the hotel are sold (occupied).

RevPAR is the key performance indicator that includes ADR and Occupancy indicators. There are two possibilities for the RevPAR indicator calculation.

The formula for the first method of calculation of RevPAR is as follows: ADR for the period x Occupancy for the same period = RevPAR

Example: 200 USD (ADR) x 50% (occupancy) = 100 USD RevPAR

The formula for the second method of calculation of RevPAR is as follows: Total room revenue / Total number of rooms (total capacity) = RevPAR

Example: 10 000 USD (total room revenue) / 100 (total capacity) = 100 USD (RevPAR)

Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR)  =

2.1.3.9 AVERAGE RATE PER GUEST (ARG)

Average Rate per Guest  (ARG) =  Revenue Per Available Customer (RevPAC)=

Let’s consider the following example: Cordoba Hotel has 120 rooms: 53 of them are single and 67 are double. On the night of 09/12/03, Cordoba Hotel’s Night Auditor counted a total of 85 rooms occupied, 42 of which were occupied by more than one guest. Moreover, on the same night 127 guests were registered. In addition, 2 rooms were on a complimentary basis. From the Housekeeping Room Status Report (for the night of 28/11/07), there were a total of 4 rooms Out of Order, 3 of which were Single. Lastly, the Actual Room Revenue for the same night was at the order of $ 6,960. a)      Calculate the Average Guest Per Room Sold b)      Calculate the Average Daily Rate c)      Calculate the Average Rate Per Guest (RevPAC) d)     Calculate the RevPAR Answer: ·         Average Guest Per Room Sold = 127 / (85 – 2) = 1.53 Guest Per Room Sold ·         Average Daily Rate = $ 6,960 / (85-2) = $ 83.86 ·         Average Rate Per Guest (RevPAC) = $ 6,960 / 127 = $ 54.80 Per Guest ·         RevPAR = $ 6,960 / (120 – 4) = $ 60.00

2.1.4 YIELD STATISTIC.

Yield Statistics is an operational ratio that needs to be calculated on a daily basis by the Night Auditor and communicated to the Rooms Division Manager to show how successful the Rooms Division Department is selling its rooms at a rate very near the rack rate!

· Yield Statistic is one approach to come up to a solution to Yield Management, which is:

“Maximize Room Revenue Subject to Space”

· Yield Static can be computed in the following way:

·Yield statistic = (Actual Room Revenue) / (Potential Room Revenue)

Let’s consider the following example:

The following data is pertinent to the room price and room type rack rates of Sinan’s Hotel for the Night of December 10^th, 03:

Number of Rooms Room Type Room Rate Rack Rate 54 Single $ 40 $ 55 40 Single $ 45 $ 55 19 Double $ 52 $ 70 39 Double $ 55 $ 70 14 Triple $ 60 $ 80 16 Triple $ 63 $ 80 13 Triple $ 70 $ 80

Could you calculate Sinan Hotel's Yield Statistic? Answer:

Number of Rooms Room Type Room Rate Rack Rate Actual Room Revenue Potential Room Revenue 54 Single $40 $55 $2,160 $2,970 40 Single $45 $55 $1,800 $2,200 19 Double $52 $70 $988 $1,330 39 Double $55 $70 $2,145 $2,730 14 Triple $60 $80 $840 $1,120 16 Triple $63 $80 $1,008 $1,280 13 Triple $70 $80 $910 $1,040 Total $9,851 $12,670

· Sinan Hotel’s Yield Statistic = $ 9,851 / $ 12,670 *100 = 77.75 %

2.1.5 MARKET SHARE INDEX/ FARE MARKET SHARE

Market Share is the number of rooms in our hotel as a percentage of the rooms in our hotel’s competitive market set. Market Set is the total number of rooms we are in direct competition with, within our area’s market and/or segment. 

Assume:  
 

We are a full-service, 200-room Holiday Inn. Our Market Set is other full-service hotels that we are in direct competition with–i.e., Ramada Inn, Hilton Inn, etc. Not included in the market set would be high-end–Hyatt and Marriott–or the lower end of the market segment of limited-service, such as Super 8 or Motel 6. 

A survey of the area reveals the total rooms of our competitive Market Set is 1,000. 

Our Holiday Inn (200 rooms) divided by Total Market Set (1,000) equals our Market Share of 20%. 

As upper mid-priced, full-service hotels are added or leave our Market Set, or our room count is adjusted, our Market Share percentage will change. The larger the Market Share percentage, the bigger player we are in the market

MPI (Market Penetration Index)

This index reflects the market share which was, during a selected time period, achieved with regards to the occupancy.

If the index is equal to 1, it means that the achievement of market share is equal to the nominal market share. If the index is greater than 1, it means that the achievement of market share is greater than the nominal market share. If the result for the users’ hotel is greater than 1 it means that the hotel was more successful than the competitor group.

The formula for calculating the MPI is as follows: Percentage availability of the users’ hotel for the period / Percentage availability of the entire market in the same period = MPI

Example: 100 rooms (50% occupancy users’ hotel) / 500 rooms’ (50% occupancy total market) = 50% / 50% = 1 MPI

OR

200 rooms (100% occupancy users’ hotel) / 600 rooms’ (60% occupancy total market) = 100% / 60% = 1,67 MPI

Fair Market Share 

It is an indication that a hotel’s overall performance stacks up against its immediate competitors.

A hotel within a competitive set can work out if it’s getting its Fair Market Share through a simple calculation:

Fair Market Share = Total number of rooms at the hotel / Total number of rooms in the comp set

However large or small the comp set, a hotel trying to make itself more competitive can use a Fair Market Share tool to compare its individual percentage to their comp set.

During peak times, a hotel can gather important info about the performance of the other hotels in their comp set. Then, using a Fair Market Share tool, it can discover how it compared to other hotels during those busy times. This can help when planning ahead. There are several ways to measure your fair market share

2.1.6 EVALUATION OF HOTELS BY GUESTS

Despite hotels staff efficiency and attentiveness, guests will occasionally be disappointed or find fault with something at the hotel. Staff should anticipate guest complaints and devise strategies that help staff effectively resolve the situation.
Hotel staff should be attentive to guests with complaints and seek a timely and satisfactory resolution to the problem. Nothing upsets guests more than having their complaints been ignored or not listened too.

When guests find it easy to express their opinions, both the hotel and the guest is benefited out of it. The hotel learns of potential or actual problems and has the opportunity to resolve them. In the other hand you also will have a happy and satisfied customer.

One of the best way to identify guest complaints is by giving feed back forms to guests at the time of departure or by placing it on the guest room.

Feedback and suggestions of the guest about the hotel services, room, restaurants , staff etc. can be collected on this forms, And hotel can identify do necessary service recovery steps if required. Below you can find sample format of feedback form or guest perception detail used in hotels.

3.1 HANDLING FOREIGN CURRENCY

Dealing with new money can be one of the most overwhelming parts of travel, particularly if it’s your first time overseas. In our world of credit cards, it can be tempting to ignore foreign currency entirely, but you’ll probably wind up spending more in card fees and you’ll also miss out on supporting local economies and fine tuning your money management skills.

Cash versus credit

Plastic may reign supreme in the United States and other Western countries, but you shouldn’t plan to rely solely on your credit card while traveling. Some establishments don’t accept credit cards, even in more economically developed nations, because the processing fees can quickly become unmanageable for small businesses. If you’re supporting locally owned restaurants and shops, you should consider paying in cash regardless of their credit card policy, so that money will stay in the local economy. Reserve your credit card for larger purchases so you’ll have ample time to review the charges, and if your card charges foreign transaction fees, you should plan to use it even more sparingly. Having a little cash on hand will also come in handy if your credit card is lost, stolen, or placed on hold for some reason.

You shouldn’t plan to rely solely on your credit card while traveling

How much to take

Naturally, for safety reasons, you shouldn’t carry more cash than you can reasonably lose. If you’re concerned about finding a good exchange rate overseas, before you depart, you can contact your bank to order foreign currency. (You should be contacting your bank anyway to notify them of your travel plans and prevent any holds being placed on your card.) Start with enough money to get you through small purchases for the first couple days of your trip, plus a small emergency fund to be kept separate from your daily cash supply. If you’re traveling in a remote area where ATM access may be limited, you should increase your initial cash holdings.

3.2 FOREIGN CURRENCY EXCHANGE

If you don’t stock up on foreign currency before leaving, there will be plenty of places overseas where you can exchangeyour money, and you’ll likely get a better exchange rate doing so. Whatever you do, don’t exchange at the airport. Airports regularly charge the worst exchange rates on the market. Install a currency converter app on your phone – XE.com makes a good one – so you can keep on top of exchange rates yourself and stave off potential rip offs. Banks and post offices typically offer strong exchange rates, while train stations and touristy areas tend to fall in the same camp as airports. Black market establishments are also best avoided.

When exchanging, feel free to shop around and find the best rate available. Make sure you read carefully and are being offered the correct buy rate, not the sell rate. Other factors that may affect your rate include how much money you’re converting and whether you’re using cash or travelers’ checks.

Don’t keep all your money in one place

Hospitality industry deals with guests all over the world. That’s why foreign currency transaction in hotel or restaurant is one of the most frequent tasks. The tourism business of any country is the most important source for integrating foreign currency in the country. Therefore the Government closely monitors all foreign currency that has taken place in the country. Government introduces a strict system of checks and records for the foreign currency which is extended by hotels as well.

A Hotel has to follow the following steps in order to exchange the foreign currency:

§  A hotel has to obtain a license to exchange foreign currency.

§  To exchange foreign currency, there has to be authorized personnel to deal foreign exchange transactions. For example the front office cashier.

§  Foreign exchange is done only in local currency.

§  The rates of exchange must be exhibited significantly at the exchange point. Central bank governed the exchange rates and the updates the exchange rate on a daily basis.

§  Hotel will extend foreign currency exchange only for resident guests of the hotel. If the nonresident guests want to exchange foreign currency then they may have to go to exchange bureaus and banks to exchange their currency.

3.3 PROCEDURES TO BE FOLLOWED WHILE EXCHANGING FOREIGN

CURRENCY

The central bank has fixed some actions and procedures which every front office cashier has to follow while receiving foreign exchange. The actions or procedures which are followed are as follows:

 
Front office cashier asks the guest for passport and will verify some identification from the passport, for example name and photo, place and date of issue, date of expiry of the passport.

  Front office cashier asks the guest for room number to confirm his/her status of being resident.

  In case of nonresident guest the front office cashier direct the guest to go to the lobby manager for getting authorization who will only extend this facility to VIPs or regular guests of the hotel.

  If the foreign exchange is accepted by the Government then transactions are done in Dollars, Sterling pounds, Euros and Yen.

  Front office cashier receive the cash or Travelers Check.

  Compute the total amount of local currency to be paid by multiplying the total amount of foreign currency by the exchange rate that is exhibited at the cabin.

  Fill the details in the Foreign Exchange Encashment Certificates. The Foreign Exchange Encashment Certificates come in serially numbered books for better control.

  Front office cashier request the guest to sign the Travelers Check in case of exchange this check and make sure that the sign is matched with the earlier signature of the guest.

  Request the guest to sign the Foreign Exchange Encashment Certificate and compare the sign with passport sign.

  Provide the total amount of local currency with the original Foreign Currency Encashment Certificate to the guest.

  Affix the second copy of the Foreign Currency Encashment Certificate to the Travelers Check.

§ 
Leave the third copy of the certificate in the certificate book.

§  Fill the details in the Record of Foreign Currency Transacted, which is a control sheet of all foreign currency transactions in a sheet.

§  Under the Foreign Exchange column, fill the details in the Front Office Cashier’s Report. 

These are some general procedures which are subjected to change according to laws of  different countries & states and rules set by particular hotel itself.

3.4 CURRENCIES ACCEPTED BY RBI

The expression 'permitted currency' is used in the Manual to indicate a foreign currency which is freely convertible i.e. a currency which is permitted by the rules and regulations of the country concerned to be converted into major reserve currencies like U.S. Dollar, Pound Sterling and for which a fairly active market exists for dealings against the major currencies. Accordingly, authorised dealers may maintain balances and positions in any permitted currency. Authorised dealers may also maintain positions in Euro of the European Currency Area.

3.5 FOREIGN EXCHANGE CERTIFICATE- FORMAT

A foreign exchange certificate, sometimes abbreviated to FEC, is a tool for foreign exchange control in countries where the national currency is subject to exchange controls or is not convertible.^[1] The arrangements vary significantly case by case. Some of the main types of FEC are:

·         A certificate for purchasing foreign currency at a specified rate, often for a specified purpose, such as financing imports. This type of certificates were required in many European countries after WWII.

·         A certificate denominated in local currency, which the foreign citizens are required to use for some or all of their purchases. The exchange rate may be more favourable for the visitor than the official commercial rate. The purpose is to channel the foreign exchange to the state coffers instead of the black market. This type of FEC's were in use in China in 1980 - 94.

·         A certificate denominated in foreign currency, to which the local citizens are required to exchange any foreign currency they manage to get possession of. These certificates may be accepted as payment in specific stores, which otherwise sell goods only to foreign citizens in exchange for foreign currency. This type of FEC's were applied in the Soviet Union in 1961 - 91.

3.6 FOREIGN EXCHANGE SETTLEMENTS USING CREDIT CARDS.

DCC  (Dynamic Currency Conversion) is a service that allows foreign customers have convert the cost of a transaction into their local currency at a point of sale* by enabling them to select their home currency (10 currencies including the US dollar, Korean Won, Australian dollar, Taiwan dollar, Euro, etc.) when they use credit cards issued in their countries (Visa, MasterCard®). It alleviates concerns about exchange rate fluctuations for the customers, such as not being able to tell the exact purchase amount until they receive a statement.

Flags has introduced DCC in addition to the existing method of payment in Japanese yen, in order to create environment in which foreign customers can shop with ease. Among all the shopping centers in Tokyo, Flags is the first to introduce this service in all of its stores.

 [DCC service outline]

1. Supported transactions: Credit card payments by card holders of Visa and MasterCard® cards issued in foreign countries

 2. Supported currencies: 10 currencies (U.S. dollar, Korean Won, Australian dollar, Taiwan dollar, Euro, Hong Kong dollar, Singapore dollar, Great Britain Pound, Thai Baht, Canadian dollar)

 3. Target stores: All stores in Flags

 4. Service start date: June 9th (Mon.), 2014

*The amount presented to the customer includes the specified foreign-exchange fee.

3.7 EXPORT PROMOTION CAPITAL GOODS SCHEME (EPCG)

A foreign exchange certificate, sometimes abbreviated to FEC, is a tool for foreign exchange control in countries where the national currency is subject to exchange controls or is not convertible.^[1] The arrangements vary significantly case by case. Some of the main types of FEC are:

·         A certificate for purchasing foreign currency at a specified rate, often for a specified purpose, such as financing imports. This type of certificates were required in many European countries after WWII.

·         A certificate denominated in local currency, which the foreign citizens are required to use for some or all of their purchases. The exchange rate may be more favourable for the visitor than the official commercial rate. The purpose is to channel the foreign exchange to the state coffers instead of the black market. This type of FEC's were in use in China in 1980 - 94.

·         A certificate denominated in foreign currency, to which the local citizens are required to exchange any foreign currency they manage to get possession of. These certificates may be accepted as payment in specific stores, which otherwise sell goods only to foreign citizens in exchange for foreign currency. This type of FEC's were applied in the Soviet Union in 1961 - 91.

KEY TERMS

1. Who is a Skipper?

     Ans: A guest who leaves the hotel without settling his bills.

 

2. What is Transit hotel?

     Ans: A hotel catering to short stay guest i.e. a transient guest who stops en route to another    destination.

 

3. What is Room Count?

     Ans: The number of occupied rooms.

 

4. What is Penthouse?

     Ans: Luxury suite on the terrace of the hotel.

 

5. Define No-Show?

     Ans: A guest who does not arrive on the scheduled date of arrival after making a confirmed     reservation. Also called Did Not Arrive guest (DNA).

 

6. What is CVGR?

     Ans: Corporate /Company Volume Guaranteed Rate.

 

7. What are the modes of reservation?

     Ans: Telephone, Personally, Letter, Telex, Telegram, Fax , E-Mail.

 

8. Who is a FIT?

     Ans: Those guests who are not sponsored by any company or organization and come to the    hotel directly for getting their rooms.

 

9. Who is a Bell Boy?

     Ans: He is responsible for transportation of luggage from lobby to guestroom as well as from    guestroom to lobby during arrival and departure of the guest. Also responsible for the Lobby.

 

10. What is key card ?

     Ans: A sort of an identification card given to guest by receptionist at the time of check in.     Usually contains general information facility, Catering out lets, location of  hotel,etc.Should be produced when asked by the hotel staff. Also called as Room Key Card.

 

11. What is Lanai Room ?

     Ans: A room from the balcony of which a waterfall or a water body can be seen.

 

12. What is inter sell agency?

     Ans: A reservation system that handles reservation for many products such as airlines ,car   rentals and hotels etc.

 

13. What is Hollywood bed ?

     Ans: When holly wood twin beds are joined together with one common head board to make one bed its called Holly wood bed (the length of one twin bed is 80’’-82’’ instead of the usual 75’’s.

 

14. What is Floor Limit?

     Ans: The credit limit set by the hotel for its guests also known as House Limit or Credit Limit..

 

15. Define Guest Folio?

     Ans: The bill sheet kept up to date by F.O. Cashier reading the details of the charges for each   individual guests of all events.

 

16. What is Garni Hotel?

     Ans: A hotel which has no food and beverage service facility.

 

17.What do you mean by Free Sale?

     Ans: Term used when rooms are available for sale.

 

What is FHRAI?

     Ans: Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India.

 

19. What is ISD?

     Ans: International Subscribers Dialing.

 

20. What is HRACC?

     Ans: Hotel and Restaurant Approval and Classification Committee.

 

21. What is FRRO?

     Ans: Foreigners Regional Registration office

22. What is Demi-Pension?

     Ans: Also called half-pension or Modified American Plan. It means the room tariff includes    room rate, Breakfast, and one major meal.

 

23. Define Bumped Reservation?

     Ans: Refusal of accommodation to a guest holding confirmed reservation and subsequently   putting him in some other hotel.

 

24. Define Bounced Reservation?

     Ans: Sometime due to some error in planning a guest with reservation may be refused     accommodation. This situation is called bounced reservation situation; also called Walking the Guest.

 

25. What is Back Office?

     Ans: Back Office is the place situated in the back side of the Front Office.   Generally,allthe   Executive offices like General Manager, F&B Manager, Banquet Manager,Front Office      Manager, Sales & Marketing Offices aresituated and all the paper works of the Front Office    are being done here.

 

26. What is APC?

     Ans: All Payment Cash.

 

27. What is Bermuda Plan?

     Ans: This is a type of meal plan where the room tariff includes along with      roomratethe   American Breakfast rate.

 

28. What is Brunch?

     Ans: A meal served between breakfast and lunch and usually served in      place of these two meals.

 

29. What is CIP?

     Ans: Commercially Important person.

 

30. What is casino Hotel?

     Ans: A Hotel with gambling facility.

 

31. Who is Chambermaid?

     Ans: A house keeping staff normally responsible for cleaning of Guestroom and making    the bed.

 

32. What is Check in?

     Ans: Procedure of receiving , assigning and allocation of room andregistering of the   Guest in the hotel.

 

33. What is Check-out?

     Ans: The procedure involved at the time departure of the Guest likebaggage handling,bill    settlement etc.

 

34. Who is Concierge?

     Ans: The staff responsible to provide various guest services like providingtheinformation,     travel arrangement, medicine, postal stamps, cinema tickets etc.

 

35. What is Call Sheet?

     Ans: A sheet which records the room numbers and time requiring to be calledalso called as   wake call sheet.

 

36. What is Card Key?

     Ans: An electronic or magnetic small plastic card used in electronic locking system  that    operates through master control console at front desk.

 

37. What is cash discount?

     Ans: A discount offered to the Guest to encourage prompt  payment.

 

38. What is cash flow?

     Ans: It is the time period between the service sold to the guest  and to theperiod actual cash     is received.

 

39. What is cash register?

     Ans: A device used to record and maintain cash balances.

 

40. Who is a chance guest?

     Ans: A guest who comes directly to the hotel and request for the room. Alsoknown as Walk in    guest.

 

41. What is charge back?

     Ans: Sometime the credit card company refuses the payment of a vouchersigned by the    guest which is sent by the hotel for payment.

 

42.  What is City Account?

     Ans: The account basically other than the registered guest.

 

43. What is City Ledger?

     Ans: A ledger where all the city accounts are entered.

 

44. What is Close of the day?

     Ans: A specific time fixed by the hotel which separates the records of one day to next day.

 

45. What is closet bed?

     Ans: A standard size bed that swings in the wall or cabinet in the form of a closet. Can   accommodate one or two persons by simple removal from floor    area as they are built into a     closed wall.

 

46. What is the Commercial Hotel?

     Ans: A Hotel which is normally occupied by the Business class Guest /      Commercial Guest.

 

47. What is Commercial Rate?

     Ans: Special Discount offered to the frequent visiting Guest.

 

48. Who are known as Commissionaire?

     Ans: Member of uniform staff whose place of duty out side of the main entrance of the Hotel. Also called Door Man, Link Man and Carriage Attendant

 

49. What is conversion ratio?

     Ans: This is equation between the no of transient guest booking made and noof call received.

 

50. What is Complimentary?

     Ans: Usually the free accommodation given to the Guest  for a business      promotional or Good     will activity. Also known as “Comp”.

 

51. What is Control Folio?

     Ans: The main folio refers to a group. Also known as Master Folio.

 

52. What is Cot?

     Ans: As per American terminology it refers to the Extra Bed and English   terminology it refers   the  child’s Bed some time it is also known as Rollaway beds are also called Cot.

 

53. What is Credit Authorization?

     Ans: This is the maximum credit limit authorize by a credit card company totheir card    holders beyond the Floor limit of the card.

 

54. What is Credit Card Volume?

     Ans: This is the proportion of the total sale which is on Credit Card.

 

55. What is Credit Limit?

     Ans: This is the limit of amount of money up to which the Guest is allowed       Credit  facility. After the limit is reached the hotel request the guest to settle their bills    either partly or fully. Also known as House Limit or Floor Limit.

 

56. What is Cut-Off-Date?

     Ans: The date is fixed by the Reservation section to the Guest for confirming the     Reservation   otherwise the block of rooms are to released to the general Guest.

 

57. What is Cut-Off-Time?

     Ans: A time is fixed by the Front Office for the unclaimed Reservation arereleased and can     be sold to the other Guest. i.e.,  if the Guest who hadbooked the Room and comes after this     hour, the Guest may be refused theaccommodation.  

 

58. What is Day Rate?

     Ans: Special Room Tariff offered to the Guest who stays only during the daytime. Also known      as ‘Day use Rate”.

 

59. What is Demi Pension?

     Ans: It is the Modified American Plan means Room tariff includes theAmerican Breakfast and    one major meal either Lunch or Dinner. Also known as Half Pension.

 

60. What is Double-Double?

     Ans: A Room with two Double Beds i.e. sleeping accommodation for fourpersons also known as “Quad” or “Twin Double”.

 

61. What is Double-Up?

     Ans: When a room is occupied by two unrelated Guest is called Double-up.

 

62. What is Duplex?

     Ans: A costly suite where two rooms are situated on the two successive floors are connected    with a internal staircase.

 

63. What is ECO?

     Ans: Express Check-Out. An activity which involves compilation an early     morning distribution    of Guest folios to all those Guests who are expected toCheckout that morning.

 

64. What is Efficiency Accommodation?

     Ans: Accommodation that includes the kitchen facility.

 

65. What is ECR?

     Ans: Electronic Cash Register. An electronic cash control device.

 

66. What is EPABX?

     Ans: Electronic Private Automatic Branch Exchange. An electronic device used for the     telephone system.

 

67. What is Early Bird?

     Ans: A term used in automatic system in Night Auditing and referring to mainly creating and distribution of reports. It is also called as “Flash”.

 

68. What is EP?

     Ans: European Plan. Where the Room Tariff includes only the Room Rate.

 

69. What is FERA?

     Ans: Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.

 

70. What FFIT?

     Ans: Foreign Free Independent Travelers.

 

71. What is FIT?

     Ans: Free Independent Travelers. Any individuals who are not in a group or belongs from any    company.

 

72. What is Farm Out?

     Ans: Assignment of the Guest with Reservation to other unit of chain or otherproperties in   case of Full House.

 

73. What is Guest Folio?

     Ans: A statement of Guest account , shows the balance of Guest’s financialobligations to      Hotel. Also known as Guest Bill or Account Card. 

 

74. What is forecast?

     Ans: A future projection of estimated business.

 

75. What is Franking machine?

     Ans: A machine used for printing postage stamp value on the envelope.

 

76. What is GIT?

     Ans: Group Inclusive Tour.

 

75. What do you mean by Graveyard Shift?

     Ans: A work shift which beings from mid-night.

 

76. What is Green Fees?

     Ans: An amount to be paid by Guest for using the Golf course.

 

77. What is Guaranteed Reservation?

     Ans: Type of Reservation where the Hotel is sure to get Room rate whether the guest with the   confirmed reservation comes or not. 

 

78. What is Handicap Room?

     Ans: Room with specially designed features for handicapped Guest.

 

79. Who is High Balance Guest?

     Ans: When the Guest’s outstanding bills is near or over the credit limit balance set by the     Hotel.

 

80. What is Hot List?

     Ans: A list of los t/ stolen credit cards sent by the credit card company to theHotel. This is      also called “Stop Bulletin” or “Cancellation Bulletin” .

 

81. What is House Count?

     Ans: Total no of Guest staying in the Hotel in a particular time.

 

82. What is House Phone?

     Ans: Telephone usually in the Lobby of the Hotel from where the visitor can contact with the      Guest in the Room.

 

83. What is House Keeper’s Report?

     Ans: A report prepared by the Ex-House Keeper by checking the physical status of the Guest     Room.

 

84. What is Hubbart Formula?

     Ans: A formula developed by Mr Ray Hubbart for determining Room rate      keepingin     consideration operating expenses, Room sale and pre desired return on investment.

 

85. What is the full form of IATA?

     Ans: International Association of Travel Agents./ International Air Transport Association.

 

86. What is the full form of IATO?

     Ans: Indian Association of Tour Operation.

 

87. What is IDD?

     Ans: International Direct Dialing.

 

88. What is IH&RA?

     Ans: International Hotel & Restaurants Associates.

 

89. What is the full form of IMF?

     Ans: International Monetary Fund.

 

90. Define the term Lock out.

     Ans: This is a kind of situation when a guest is not allowed to access to theroom due to the   unpaid bill.

 

91. What is Log Book? 

     Ans: A Book or Register which is used to record activities and to communicatethe next shift.   It is also known as Record of Happenings.

 

92. Define the term Late Hold.

     Ans: When a reserved Guest expected to arrive late.

 

93. What is Lost and Found?

     Ans: An area or Section all all the found items by the staff are stored and recorded generally     in the House keeping.

 

94. What is Managerial Reports?

     Ans: All documents providing feedback on financial status, productivity and overall     effectiveness of business operation to the management.

 

95. What is Market Mix?

     Ans: The distributions (Percentage wise) of the Hotel Guests into various categories like      conventioneer, businessman, tourists, educationist, excursionists, sportsman etc.

 

96.  What is Master Key?

     Ans: A key that unlocks on the rooms on a particular floor. Also known as Floor Master Key.

 

97. What do you mean by Market Share?

     Ans: It is the representation of the share of market in terms of Revenue, No of Guest, or any      other index , which is hotel captures from the market.

 

98. Who is MOD?

     Ans: Manager On Duty. The Manager who is performing the other ManagersDuty in absence      of them generally in the night shift. Also known as Manager On Duty or Duty Manager.

 

99. What do you mean by Multiple Occupancy?

     Ans: When the hotel room is occupied by the more than one guest.

 

100. What do you mean by Night Audit?

     Ans: An activity performed by the Night Auditor in night  to check and verify allthe days transactions correct or not.

 

101. What is Par?

     Ans: Cash balance is equal to the cash bank.   

 

102. What is Petty Cash?

     Ans: Small amount of authorized money issued to staff

 

103. What do you mean by Occupancy Load?

     Ans: It is an occupancy percentage i.e. the ratio of no of rooms occupied/soldto the no of    rooms available for sale.

 

104. What do you mean by Occupancy Mix?

     Ans: Percentage of break-up of sold rooms on single, double and the other categories of     rooms available and the annual occupancy.

 

105. What is On the House?

     Ans: The term refers to Complimentary means no charge.

 

106. What is Overbooking?

     Ans: This is a situation in which hotel books the more room than available rooms to sale      100% rooms or nearer by that.

 

107. What is Overstay?

     Ans: A situation in which guest does not leave on the day of schedule departure and continues staying in the hotel.

 

108. What is Over Selling?

     Ans: The situation when more rooms than actually available are sold by the Hotel.

 

109. What is No show?

     Ans: The Guest who does not arrive in spite of having confirm Reservation. Also called as DNA (Did Not Arrive).

 

110. What do you mean by Occupancy?

     Ans: Sale of rooms and is occupied by the Guest.

 

111. What is Airline Contract Rate?

     Ans: A special negotiated rate for airline crews

 

112. What do mean by Diplomatic Rate?

     Ans: A negotiated discounted rate to attract diplomatic business

 

113. What is Option Date?

     Ans: This is the Designated date by which a prospective guest is required toconfirm his/her   Reservation also known as Cut Off Date.

 

114. What is Room Night?

     Ans: A room that is blocked for a night against which room rates are applicable.

 

115. What is Room Plan?

     Ans: A package proposal of rooms and meals.

 

116. What is Package Tour?

     Ans: The term usually refers, when the consolidated rate is charged to a    Guest or the Group of people for their Accommodation, Transfer and meals.

 

117. What is Paid in Advance (PIA)?

     Ans: When the guest is requested to pay the room rent in advance at the time of Check-In.

 

118. What is PSO & MAO?

     Ans: Passenger Service Order & Meal and Accommodation Order. This is usually offered by the Airline Company     to their Passenger when the flight get delayed for any reason by which     passenger can get their Accommodation & meals after showing this couponson the    desired hotel.

 

119. What is Parlor?

     Ans: The leaving room, part of the Studio Room. Also known as sitting room.

 

120. Define the term Pax?

     Ans: No of person.

 

121.What is POS?

     Ans: Point Of Sale. Means from where the revenue are generated by selling the product.

 

122. What is PRPN?

     Ans: Per Room Per Night.

 

123. What do you mean by Plus Position?

     Ans: When the rooms are available after the expected guest arrival.

 

124. What so Position?

     Ans: Status of the No of Rooms available for sale.

 

125. Define the term Potential average rate.

     Ans: The average rate that is to be calculated when all the type of available rooms are sold on the rack rate means without any discount.

 

126. What is Pre-Arrival?

     Ans: This is the phase which is before the arrival and after the reservation has been done.   Activities during this period is called Pre Arrival activities.

 

127. What is Pre-Assignment?

     Ans: Assignment the Room even before the Guest Arrival. Also called as Pre-Key. Further   when the Room Key is pre-assigned and kept into the envelope is called Key Pack.

 

128. What is Pre-Registration?

     Ans: This is an activity before the arrival of the Guest where the Guest’s   RegistrationCard   (GRC) is filled-up with all the necessary informationavailable in the Guest History. This      activity generally done for the VVIP,VIP, SPATT and regular Guests.

 

129. What is Quad?

     Ans: A room occupied by four persons.

 

130. What is Queen Bed?

     Ans: As per the American term refers to the Double Bed of  60”X80” in size.

 

131. What is Rack Rate?

     Ans: The normal published Room Tariff which is generally mentioned in the Tariff Card. Also   known as Top Retail Rate.

 

132. What is Reservation?

     Ans: The process by which a prospective Guest can reserve his/her Room/s prior to his/her      arrival.

 

133. What is Registration?

     Ans: This is a process by which a prospective Guest can Register himself/herself by providing      their necessary information to the Hotel before    he/she is taking the Room Key at Reception.

 

134. What is Rate Structure?

     Ans: Combination of all the Rates offered by a Hotel.

 

135. What is G.R.C?

     Ans: Guest Registration Card. Also known as Registration Card. A document where a Check- In Guest writes details such as name, address, passport details, nationality, date of arrival,      date of departure, date of birth/anniversary, purpose of visit etc. some times it is also called    as Reg. Card. 

 

136. What is Reservation Activity Fee?

     Ans: The amount of money paid as commission to various agencies such as Travel Agents   for giving the business to the Hotel.

 

137. What is Reservation Form?

     Ans: A document where all the detailed information about the desired Guest are recorded at   the time of reservation process.

 

138. What is Reservation Horizon?

     Ans: The period up to which the booking for future can be accepted. Also known as Booking   Lead time.

 

139. What is Reservation Rack?

     Ans: A part of Whitney Rack. Where all the information of the prospective Guest received   from Him/Her are recorded. The slips are kept in alphabetical order. The Racks are kept chronologically by arrival date order.

 

140. Who is the Resident Manager?

     Ans: Usually responsible for the Front of the House, and may act as a Hotel Manager in   absence of General Manager.

 

141. What is Room Cost?

     Ans: Calculation of  fixed cost a Hotel incurs in preparing a Room for sale.

 

142. Define the term Residential Hotel?

     Ans: A Hotel where long term guest on special terms and conditions stays. Guest are   generally required a sign a lease bond.

 

143. What is Resort Hotel?

     Ans: A hotel is situated at the resort places such as hills, beaches etc. Generally a centre of   recreational activities.

 

144. What is Retention charge?

     Ans: This are the charges which may be collected from the guest/agency for making a confirmed reservation in the Hotel and when the Guest does not come on the schedule date     of arrival due to any reason best known to him/her. Though the Guest did not stay in the Hotel    but due   to loss of revenue the hotel may charge the guest.

 

145. What is Revenue Centre?

     Ans: All those sections of the hotel which generate the revenue.

 

146. What is Revenue Forecast Report?

     Ans; Expected future revenue calculated by multiplying forecasted occupancy by current    room rate.

 

147. What is the term mean by RNA?

     Ans: Room Not Assigned. Means due to any reason when a guest did not assign the room    by the Hotel.

 

148. What is Room Assignment?

     Ans: Allotting a specific room to a check-in guest.

 

149. What is Room Availability?

     Ans: Rooms which are available for letting/sale.

 

150. What is Room Count?

     Ans: The number of occupied rooms.

 

151. What is Room discrepancy report?

     Ans: A report showing the discrepancy as per House Keeping and Front Desk in occupancy status.

 

152. What is Room index?

     Ans: Room index is a chronological system of dates record of the occupancy of each Bed   rooms and Suite.

 

153. What is Room rate variance report?

     Ans: A report listing rooms which have not been sold at rack rate.

 

154. What is room revenue?

     Ans: A sum total of money generated by the sale of rooms for a given period of time. Also    called as room sale.

 

155. What is Rooming a Guest?

     Ans: The procedure of escorting the guest and carrying of the luggage to the assigned room    by the bell boy.

 

156. What is Rooming list?

     Ans: A list sent by the travel agent to the hotel of the names, nationality, and other details of     the group members in advance.

 

157. What is Rule of Thumb?

     Ans: A traditional method of fixing room tariff. Here for each Rs.1000/- investment Re.1/- per   day will be the each room tariff.

 

158. What is STD stands for?

     Ans: Subscriber Trunk Dialing. To obtaining the correct area code from the Telephone directory subscriber may dial all most all the places.

 

159. What do you mean by S.O.P?

     Ans: Standard Operating Procedure. It means by maintaining a certain standard for operation.

 

160. What is safe deposit box?

     Ans: Individual lockers like bank vaults allotted to the Resident guest for keeping their      valuables and documents by the Front Office.

 

161. What is Sales Journal?

     Ans: A permanent summarized record of a particular day’s business.

 

162. What is Self Check-out?

     Ans: Computerized system that allow the to review his folio and settle the account with the    help of his/her credit card. Also known as Express Check-out.

 

163. What is Self Registering Kiosk?

     Ans: A freestanding machine capable of Registering a Guest and dispensing a room key.

 

164. What is Self Registration?

     Ans: A system that automatically registers a guest and dispense a key, based on guests    reservation and credit card information. Also known as Express Check-In.

 

165. What is Up-Selling?

     Ans: Convincing a prospective guest to take a higher priced room.

 

166. What is Sales Position?

     Ans: Refers to the room availability status.

 

167. What is Service Charge?

     Ans: A certain percentage of bill amount added to the bill of the guest. This amount is   distributed to the service staff in place of tips after deducting certain percentage of amount for     the breakage and spoilage of the crockery, cutlery and other hotel property.

 

168. What do you mean by Shoulder period?

     Ans: A mid price period between full season and off season.

 

169. What is Siberia?

     Ans: A term normally used for inferior quality of rooms such as near by the Guest and service     elevator. Guest must be informed about the situation and condition before selling it.

 

170. What is six P.M. release?

     Ans: Means that the room for a guest with reservation will be held only up to 6 P.M. and   released after that time. Usually done in case where there is no guaranteed reservation, (Credit Card, Company or other guarantee) or deposit reservation. Also called as time    cancelled reservation.

 

171. Who is called as Skipper?

     Ans: A guest who leaves the hotel without settling his/her bill.

 

172. What is sleep-out?

     Ans: A sold room where the guest did not stay during the night.

 

173. What do you mean by sleeper?

     Ans: Rooms available for sale but not sold out.

 

     Ans: As per American terminology due to the negligence of the Front Desk Staff rooms   appears to be occupied but it is vacant and as per English terminology the guest staying in   the Hotel.

 

174. What do you mean by Slippage?

     Ans: The term used when analyzing the group room performance. It is the difference between what is contracted and what actually arrives.

 

175. What is Sold Out?

     Ans: Rooms not available for sale.

 

176. What do you mean by SPATT?

     Ans: Special Attention Guest.

 

177. What do you mean by Split folio?

     Ans: Folio in which Guest’s charges are separated into two or more folios.

 

178. What is term refers to Spoilage?

     Ans: The term refers to the “Rooms going unoccupied”.

 

179. What do you mean by Stay Over?

     Ans: The continuing guest means left out guest (Last night occupied guest minus check-out   for the day).

 

180. Who are the stop over guest?

     Ans: This refers to the guest who en route from one destination to another and stops in    between on a third place to break the journey or to change the flight. This is generally on airlines expense.

 

181. What is suite?

     Ans: A combination of two or more rooms out of which one room is used as a sitting room and   others as bed room.

 

182. What do you mean by Supper?

     Ans: The term referring to a late night meal.

 

183. What is tariff?

     Ans: The published Room Rate list.

 

184. What is stands for T.A.A.I?

     Ans: Travel Agents Association of India.

 

185. What do you mean by Target Market?

     Ans: Market Segment the Hotel wants to penetrate.

 

186. What do you mean by Target Rate?

     Ans: An average rate goal a hotel sets to achieve for a certain day/month/year.

 

187. What is Time Shared Hotel?

     Ans: A relatively new concept where an investor buys a unit which shared by the other users    to whom it may be rented out when not in use by the investor. Also called as Condominium.

 

188. What do you mean by Traffic Sheet?

     Ans: A control sheet maintained by the Telephone department usually stating the long   distance telephone calls record.

 

189. What is Transcript?

     Ans: A form which is used by the Night Auditor whereby he separates the day’s charges by    room and department.  

 

190. What is Transient Hotel?

     Ans: A hotel catering a short stay guest or transient guest who stops and en route to the     another destination.

 

191. Define the term Travel Agent?

     Ans: An entrepreneur who coordinates various contracted services such as Hotel, Food and Beverage, Transportation etc. provided by various contractors to the traveler who needs them at the various stages of their tour For providing these services he/she gets the commission from Hotel and other contractors.

 

192. What Turn Away?

     Ans: Refuse the accommodation to a Walk-In guest because the rooms are not available.     Also called as Displacement.

 

193. What do you mean by Turn In?

     Ans: The cash deposited by Departmental Cashier to The General Cashier at the end of the

     day.

 

194. What is Twin Bed?

     Ans: Generally two single beds (size approximately 37”X81”) are to be kept in the double room for the double occupancy instead of a large bed.

 

195. Who is a Typsy Guest?

     Ans: A drunkard guest Who may misbehave with the staff.

 

 

196. What is stands for UNESCO?

     Ans: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

 

197. What is stands for UNICEF?

     Ans: United Nations International children’s Emergency Fund.

 

198. What is stands for UFTAA?

     Ans: Universal Federation of Travel Agents Association.

 

199. What is Under booking?

     Ans: Due to error on planning it is wrongly belief that all rooms are sold but practically it is not.

 

200. What is Under stay?

     Ans:  A guest who checks out before his schedule departure date.

 

201. What is Upgrade?

     Ans: To move a reservation or staying guestto a better accommodation or class of service.

 

202. What do you mean by U.S.P.?

     Ans: The special features or benefits that differentiate our product from the competitors and     becomes the basis of promotions of sales (Unique Sales Proposition/Unique Selling Point). A   Special point of competitive differential in product. Also known as Signature Attractions.

 

203. What is V.P.O.?

     Ans: Visitors Paid Outs. If the petty payments made on behalf of the guest by the Front Office    Cashier then a V.P.O. voucher is prepared which is signed by the guest and debited to his/her account. Also called as Paid out voucher.

 

204. What do you mean by variable cost?

     Ans: Costs that vary in direct proportion to sale. For e.g. Housekeeping costs with Room Sale     and Food and Beverage Sale with Restaurent Sale.

 

205. What is Voice Mail Box?

     Ans: An electronic device used for storing, recording and playing back message through    telephone system.      

 

206. What is W.A.T.S.?

     Ans: Wide Area Telephone Services.

 

207. What is stands for W.H.O.?

     Ans: World Health Organization.

 

208. What is stands for W.T.O.?

     Ans: World Trade Organization or World Tourism Organization.

 

209. What is Wait-listed?

     Ans : Guest who could not be given confirmed reservation status because of Sold out. Also    called as Stand by reservation.

 

210. What do you mean by Walk-out?

     Ans: A guest who leaves the hotel without settling his/her bill. Also called as Skipper.

 

211. What is Walk Through?

     Ans: A through examination/inspection by the hotel executive of the whole property.

 

212. What is Walk-In?

     Ans: A guest who comes to the  hotel for room without prior reservation. Also called as Chance Guest or Off-The-Street Guest.

 

213. What do you mean by Wash Factor?

     Ans: Deletions of the unnecessary rooms from the group reservation according to the   previous history.

 

214. What is Who?

     Ans: An unidentified guest in a room that is vacant as per Front Desk Record.

 

215. What is Zeroing Out?

     Ans: At the time of departure to bring the account balance to zero debits and credits offsetting     one another.

 

216. What is yield?

     Ans: The ratio of actual revenue to potential revenue.

 

What is ARR?

        Ans    Ratios of rooms income to the no of rooms occupied

                =     Total room revenue

                     -----------------------------

                 Total rooms sold

 

What is on request?

        Ans     A status when guests are kept waiting for a room booking confirmation

 

What is Displacement?

              Ans.   When a Hotel decides to accept the group business even if the hotel has to turn away the transit guest.

 

What is C- Form ?

Ans.   C-Form is a legal document and is to be completed for foreign guest coming to the hotel except Nepalis and NRIs.

 

What is  D-Form?

          Ans.   A disembarkation card is sent by the Airport authorities to the arriving foreign travelers.

 

What is Blacklisted guest?

          Ans    A list which records  the name of all persons who are not welcome at the hotel.

 

What is Express Check in?

          Ans. The arriving guest can self register himself through self registering machines located in the lobby

 

What is Account Balance?

          Ans. Difference between charge and credits transactions

 

What is Account?

          Ans. Summary of all cash and credit transactions

 

What is Accounts Receivable?

     Ans. Amounts due to the hotel.

 

What is Adjacent Room?

     Ans. Two rooms beside each other across the corridor

 

What is Adjoining Room?

     Ans. Two rooms beside each other.

 

What is Allowance?

     Ans. A benefit given to the guest in cash or credit

 

What is Amendments?

     Ans. Changes made of records concerning his stay

 

What is Baggage?

     Ans. Guest Luggage

 

What is Bed and Breakfast?

     Ans. Charges for room and English Breakfast

 

What is Blocking?

     Ans. To reserve a room on the room rack for a guest expected to arrive

 

What is Briefing?

     Ans. A two-way communication between management and staff at the beginning of an operation

 

What is Cabana?

     Ans. A room with a sofa-cum bed ideally situated beside swimming pools or beaches

 

What is Cancellation?

     Ans. A confirmed  booking that has been withdrawn by the guest

 

What is Capacity Management?

     Ans. A control on the supply of rooms to market segments

 

What is a Cash Bank?

     Ans. Cash amount provided by the hotel for daily transactions

 

What is a Cash Voucher?

     Ans. Receipt of payment made by cash

 

What is a Check?

     Ans. Bill of a revenue outlet

 

What is Connecting Room?

     Ans. Two rooms with an interconnecting door, ideal for a family

 

What is Corporate Rate?

     Ans. A rate for business houses that guarantee a minimum number of room nights per year

 

What is Credit?

     Ans. Facility that enables a guest to use goods and services now but paid later

 

What is Crib Rate?

     Ans. A cradle or basinet provided in a room for infants

 

What is Due Bank?

     Ans. Cash amount owned to the cashier

 

What is Due Out?

     Ans. An occupied room expected to be vacated

 

What is Encashment Certificate?

     Ans. Exchange for local currency

 

What is a Layover?

     Ans. Airline passenger checked-in by the Airlines who are catching a connecting flight sometime later

 

What is Miscellaneous Voucher?

     Ans. Bills for minor services of the hotel

 

What is Non- Guest Account?

     Ans. Account of transactions of companies and non- resident individuals given this privilege.