B) Use the information from the dialogue above to fill in this reservation card.

Reservation Card
Name:
Arrival Date:
No. of nights:
Room type:
Company / Individual:
Stayed before:
Method of payment:
Credit card No.
Address:
Reservation No.

VIII. Fill in the gaps with the words from the box:

 

a)	access	d)	merge	g)	windows
b)	screen	e)	data	h)	format	j)	software
c)	processor	f)	network	i)	password

1) We have our guests' addresses on the computer, so it's easy to ________ them and send them a publicity letter.

2) I find it difficult to read the words on the_________ because there's too much light behind it.

3) You can work on different things at the same time —for example, you can work on two letters and use the calculator, and they appear in different _________.

4) I don't use a typewriter any more — all our docu­ments are done on the word- ________.

5) I don't really like the way your letter looks — why don't you try doing it again in a differ­ent_______?

6) We gather as much information about our guests as we can and we store the _________ on a hard disk.

7) The new program makes it much easier to _________ the information that you need to find.

8) Before you can get to the information about the hotel's finances, you have to type in a secret ________.

9) Our computers are linked together in a ________ we can all exchange information.

10) Whether or not a computer is easy to use depends on the ________rather than the machine itself.

IX. Read out the lecture and answer the ques­tions:

Today I'm going to talk about some of the traditional ways of recording reservations. Of course some hotels use computers nowadays, but one thing is the same for almost all hotels, and that is that when the guest makes a reservation, the details of the reservation are written down on a piece of paper — that's before we enter the information into any other record, and before we key into a computer, or anything else. The reservation is noted down.

How do we do this? Well, in most hotels, you would find a standard reservation form. Now, you can see a reservation form is useful in several ways. First of all it acts as a check-list. It helps you to make sure that you get all the necessary information from the person.

Secondly, it standardizes the information. It gives the information in the same place and the same order for every guest, and that means we can find the information very quickly when we want it. And thirdly, it reminds us to tell the guest certain things — things he should know, like the rate for the room.

OK, so we've filled in the reservation form. Next, we can enter all the reservations into a reservation diary under the date when the guests are due to arrive... under the date of arrival. Of course, this is a loose-leaf diary,you can take pages out and put them in as you want. So you have a new page for each day of arrival. Each new page goes at the back of the diary, and each old page is removed from the front, after the guests for that day have arrived. Of course each page may have the names of several arriving guests. Remember that these names aren't in alphabetical order. They are written down m the order in which they make their reservation.

OK, the diary is fine for checking for arrivals, but it doesn't tell at a glance which of your rooms are going to be occupied and for how long. It's useful to know the advance occupation of each room, especially in hotels with many different types of room.

So we record the advance reservations on a reservation chart. It's useful when there are many different types of room because you can see immediately which type of room is available and match each room with the guest's requirements. And of course it's also useful in hotels where guests stay quite a long time, I mean three nights or more. Without a chart you may not easily see when the room will become available. So it is often used in the older, resort type of hotel, where guests often stay for several days and book a long time in advance.

Questions:

1) Give two ways in which a reservation form is useful.

2) Where do new pages go into the reservation diary? Front or back?

3) Are names in the diary written in order of booking or in alphabetical order?

4) Why is the reservation chart useful when there are many different types of room?

5) Complete this sentence:

A reservation chart is also useful in hotels where guests...

 

X. Complete the text below using the words in the box:

 

а)	computer	d)	received	g)	date	i)	traditional
b)	occupation	e)	recorded	h)	number	k)	recording
с)	computers	f)	key in	i)	terminal

Nowadays, more and more hotels use _________. As soon as the reservation is ________ it is _________ on the ________. Then later, when the Receptionist wants to know about the _________ of a room, all she has to do is _______ the room ________and the _______ on the computer. However, in this unit we are going to look at other, _______ ways of ________ information which are still widely used.

XI. Read the first part of the lecture again and complete the sentences spoken by a hotel staff trainer using the words in the box:

 

a)	reservation form	d)	reservations diary	h)	reservation chart
b)	reservation	e)	room	i)	types
c)	date	f)	arrive
		g)	advance (x 2)

1) As soon as a guest makes a ________, we write the details on the________..

2) Next, we can enter all reservations into a _________, under the ________ when the guests are due to _________.

3) It's useful to know the _______ occupation of each _________, especially in hotels with many different ________ of room. So we record the _______ reservations in a ________.

XII. Read the final part of the lecture and sum up the information you've learned:

Now, none of these records we've talked about so far will let you check through the names of guests alphabetically.

So I'm going to deal with one type of record which lets you do this. It's a reservation rack,and it was a system called the Whitney System. This system is rather like a reservation diary... but instead of putting the reservations in a diary, you write them on a special slip of paper. The information on the top of each slip is the most important information, and that is the date of arrival, the name, and the room type required.

OK, as I say, you don't have this information in a diary, but you put it on a slip, and you put the slips into a rack.

All the slips for a particular arrival date are put together, in a particular place in the rack, and within each date they are arranged alphabetically. So you can check very quickly to see if a guest has a reservation.

Think and answer:

How useful is the information in the lecture? Give your reasons.

What practical advice would you use in your work? Why?

Can computers replace every procedure of registration? Why (not)?

How important is the system of registration for the overall operation of a hotel?

Do employees need special training to work at the registration desk? What sort of training?

Would you like to work at the check-in desk? Why (not)?

XIII. Read out the two dialogues and complete the information in the chart below:

Telephone Call 1. H – Hotel

R – Reservations

C – Caller

 

H. Hotel Melissa. Can I help you?

C. Yes, I'd like to make a reservation, please.

H. I'll put you through to Reservations. Hold the line, please.

R. Reservations, Alex speaking. Can I help you?

C. Yes, I'd like to make a reservation.

R. Certainly. What name, please?

C. Lewis, David Lewis.

R. Right, Mr. Lewis, when would you like to stay?

C. I'd like to reserve a double room for three nights from the 21st April.

R. OK. 21st April, three nights, double. I'll just check availability... Yes, we can do that for you. Is this a company booking or an individual?

C. Oh, it's individual.

R. Have you stayed with us before?

C. No, I haven't.

R. Would you like one of our Executive rooms, Mr. Lewis, in the top floors with some wonderful views?

C. Well, actually, no, I wouldn't. My wife doesn't really like using the lift and also she's got a bad leg, so I was hoping we could have a room near the ground floor.

OK. I'll make a note of that and when you check in the receptionist will allocate a room on the first floor for you.

С Thank you.

R. Will you be paying by credit card?

С Yes, I will. It's Visa.

R. And what is the number?

С Hold on... It's 4335 17136 094

R. So that's 4335 171 36 094. And your address?

С 14 St John's Road, London.

R. OK, Mr. Lewis, that's reserved for you. Your reservation number is PS 1462. We look forward to seeing you on the 21st.

С Thank you.

R. You're welcome.

Telephone Call 2. H – Hotel

R – Reservations

C – Caller

H. Hotel Melissa. Can I help you?

C. Good morning. I'd like to reserve a couple of rooms.

H. Certainly. I'll put you through to Reservations. Hold the line, please.

R. Reservations, this is Alex speaking. How can I help you?

C. Good morning. This is Jane Priestley from Imperial Plastics. I'd like to reserve a couple of doubles for April 13th.

R. Two doubles for April 13th... Right. Availability is fine for that night. Is that a company booking?

С Yes, Imperial Plastics. The rooms are for a Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Johansson, spelt J-O-H-A-N-S-S-O-N. They'd like the Executive rooms.

R. OK. You have an account with us, don't you?

С. Yes, we do. _;

R. But the guests haven't stayed with us before, have they?

С No, I don't think so.

R. And how is the account be settled?

C. Full bill on the company account.

R. Can I just check your contact details? It's Miss Jane Priestley, Imperial Plastics, Old Dock Road, London.

C. That's correct.

R. Right, Miss Priestley, the reservation number is PS 43307. I would be grateful if you could just confirm in writing, by fax if you like.

C. Certainly. Thank you for your help.

R. You're welcome. Good bye.