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Guest Cycle

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Guest Cycle

I- Guest Cycle: Introduction
• The guest cycle describes the activities that each guest passes by from the moment he/she calls to communicate a reservation inquiry till he/she departs from the hotel. In fact, the guest cycle encompasses 4 different stages, which are depicted in the underneath, diagram:

Pre-Arrival Þ Arrival Þ Occupancy Þ Departure

• Each stage of the guest cycle is associated guest service, and guest accounting activity.

1. Guest services:

Reservation Þ Registration Þ Occupancy services Þ Check-out and history

2. Guest Accounting:

Establishment of credits Þ posting charges Þ Night auditing Þ settlement of accounts
• Below is a description of the activities undertaken at each stage of the …show more content…

4. Departure:
• At the departure stage, the guest shall be walked out of the hotel. Moreover, front office clerks shall create guest history record. Finally, cashiers shall settle guest account outstanding balances [i.e.: balance the Guest account to 0]
• In general, a proper checkout occurs when the guest:
a) Vacates the room
b) Receives an accurate settlement of the guest account
c) Returns room keys
d) Leaves the hotel
• At departure, checkout personnel should encourage guests to consider returning to the hotel on any future date. That 's why cashiers should act like a true sales person, and might eventually accept guest future reservations. That way, the stages of the guest cycle become really a cycle (i.e. start from where it ends).
• If at departure, the guest account is not fully settled, then late charges accumulate. In such an undesired case, the responsibility of collection lies within the accounting department, however the front office department shall provide all necessary types of information to make this collection easier, quicker, and feasible.

II- Front Office Systems:

• Until the 1960 's, nearly all hotels were operating under the manual system. At late 70 's, with the introduction of computers, hotels shifted to semi-automated systems. Nowadays, most of the five-star hotels operate under the fully automated system. Below is a brief description of the three different systems under which

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