1. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Guest Checkout

2. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Chapter 9 Focus Points
 Organization of late charges to produce an
accurate guest folio
 Procedures necessary to perform the guest
checkout
 Transfer of guest accounts to the back office
 Checkout reports available with a property
management system
 Guest Histories

3. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Organizing Late Charges to Ensure Accuracy
 Review financial significance of assembling
late guest charges (refer to Table 9-1) p. 238
 Importance of POS/PMS interface with other
departments that aid in accurate and
complete processing of late charges

4. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Guest Checkout Procedure – p. 239
 Inquiring about quality of products and
services
 Relay of problem areas to various departments
 Retrieving the room key
 Discuss this important part of the checkout
process
 Guest security
 Cost involved in replacement of hard keys

5. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Guest checkout procedure (cont’d.)
 Retrieving and reviewing the electronic folio
 Procedure to retrieve electronic folio
 Empowerment concepts
 Importance of reviewing the electronic folio
 Room and tax for number of nights spent
 Incidentals
 Inquiry for late charges

6. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Guest checkout procedure (cont’d.)
 Note on In-room guest checkout
 Procedure for the guest to use in-room guest
checkout
 Guest views a final version of the folio of television
set
 Front office prepares a hard copy of folio and
delivers it to guest’s room early in the morning
 Credit card imprint made at time of
registration is used to process charges

7. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Guest checkout procedure (cont’d.)
 Guest determines method of payment
 Credit cards
 Review various types of credit cards
 Bank – Visa, MasterCard, JCB
 Commercial – Diners Card
 Intersell – Hilton Honors Card
 Procedure to suggest to the guest to use a certain
credit card with a lower discount rate for the hotel
 Procedure to process a credit card as listed in
chapter

8. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Guest checkout procedure (cont’d.)
 Bill-to-account (direct billing)
 Concept of direct billing
 Concept of house limit of credit
 Procedure to process direct bill as listed in chapter
 Cash and personal checks
 Cash option is not favored
 No credit rating has been established
 Procedures to process a cash payment and
personal check as listed in text

9. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Guest checkout procedure (cont’d.)
 Traveler’s checks
 Tips on accepting traveler’s checks
 Ask for proof of identification
 Guest signs in presence of cashier
 Compare signatures
 Check list of traveler’s check numbers
which are non-negotiable (procedure to
process traveler’s checks are identical to
cash method)

10. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Guest checkout procedure (cont’d.)
 Debit cards
 Debit card is a card that authorizes the
hotel to deduct money directly from the
guest’s checking or banking account in
payment of a bill
 Float is a delay in payment that allows
the guest to charge now and pay several
days later

11. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Guest checkout procedure (cont’d.)
 Assisting the guest with method of payment
 Money wire
 Establish as an option prior to the need of this option
 Phone number and address of nearest money wire
center should be posted for front desk clerks’
reference
 Travelers Aid Society
 Establish as an option prior to the need of this option
 Phone number and address of nearest Travelers Aid
Society should be posted for front desk clerks’
reference

12. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Guest checkout procedure (cont’d.)
 Auto clubs
 Establish as an option prior to the need of this option
 Phone number and address of nearest club should
be posted for front desk clerk’s reference
 International currency exchange
 Wall Street Journal
 Method used to convert international currency into
native currency as listed in text p. 248
 Web site daily international currency
http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html#

13. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Guest checkout procedure (cont’d.)
 Obtaining future reservations
 Procedure to follow in obtaining future
reservations as listed in text p. 249
 Employee training program to learn this
procedure
 Incentive program for employee motivation

14. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Guest checkout procedure (cont’d.)
 Filing documents
 Need to properly file paperwork (folios,
transfers, paid-out slips, etc.) with
regard for the night audit preparation

15. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Guest checkout procedure (cont’d.)
 Relaying guest departures to other
departments
 Housekeeping and front office communication
via the PMS
 Guest departures
 Stayovers
 Room availability status
 Other details as they occur

16. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Relaying guest departures to other departments (cont’d.)
 Food and beverage department, gift shop, and other
departments and front office communications
 Guest’s checkout to prevent him or her from charging to folio
 Personal efforts of staff to make the communication system
work
Removing guest information from the system
 Guest data removed and stored for future processing –
financial and marketing
 “Sleeper” – rooms that appear to be occupied but are in reality
vacant – financial implications (note: checkout in a PMS
automatically deletes the guest from the database and the call
accounting system) (refer to p. 196 in text)

17. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Guest checkout procedure (cont’d.)
 Transfer of guest accounts to back office
 Role of the back office in the accounting
process
 Provides a billing service for bill-to-accounts
 Monitors the accounts receivable process for credit
card receivables and aging accounts
 Allows for adjustments and transfers to guest
accounts

18. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
Guest checkout procedure (cont’d.)
 Checkout reports available with a property
management system
 Figure 9-3 (Method of Marketing Analyses
Payment) p. 251
 Figure 9-4 (Room Sales Report) p. 252
 Figure 9-5 (Room Status Report) p. 252
 Figure 9-6 (Understay Reservation Report) p. 252

19. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Guest Checkout Procedure (cont’d.)
 Guest Histories
 A listing of guests’
geographic and
demographic information
and guest activities
during their stay
 Components
 Obtained from
reservation forms and
registration cards:
 Business affiliation
 Date of arrival
 Date of departure
 Length of stay
 Zip code
 Telephone exchange
 Method of arrival
 Type of room and
amenities requested

20. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Uses of Guest History
 Zip code provides geographical indicators of people
who have tried your products and services
 Match with media used for advertising
 Demographics (age, sex, income, occupation,
marital status, etc.)
 Psychographic (life style)
 Group sale contacts
 Corporate client needs for meeting space
 Origin of reservation from certain travel agents

21. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Uses of Guest History (cont’d.)
 Origin of reservation from certain
administrative assistants or secretaries
 Advertising methods used to obtain sales
(refer to Figure 9-7) p. 254
 Frequency of visit (refer to Figure 9-8) p. 255
 Type of rooms frequently requested
 Acceptability of room rates
 Occupancy patterns for scheduling personnel

22. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Last Impression of the Hotel
 Front desk staff opportunity to advance
previous efforts of marketing and operations
staff members for further relationships
 Marriott’s At Your Service®
- local weather
reports, information on airport shuttle

23. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
rights reserved
In-class assignment
 Choose any question at the end of the
chapter. Write the answer. Discuss with the
person sitting next to you. Hand in your
response at end of class today.