Legal aspects
1.3 The significance of a guest’s contractual capacity to a booking contract
A hotel receptionist should be sure that the prospective guest is 18 years or older. Should such a guest leave the hotel without settling the bill, and court action is brought against the guest to recover the debt, the action will fail because the contract is unenforceable.
1.4 The three ways in which a contract of booking may end A booking contract will normally come to an end in one of the following ways:
• Performance A contract ends by performance when the terms of the contract have been performed by both parties, for example the hotelier has supplied the accommodation contracted for and the guest has paid the contract price for the accommodation services rendered.
• Frustration Frustration is where a contract is terminated by an event that has arisen through no fault of either contracting party. Te most likely way in which a booking contract may be frustrated is through severe illness on the part of the guest. Other circumstances that may amount to frustration of a booking contract are the flooding of the hotel which makes it impossible for guests to stay there or if the hotel burns down.
• Breach Breach of contract occurs where one of the parties fails to perform any one of the contract terms. (For example, when the hotel advertises that it is 100 m from the sea and it is, in fact 5 km from the sea.) Te effect of the breach will depend upon the nature of the terms breached, if the term breached is a condition, i.e. a fundamental term of the contract, the victim of the breach may treat the contract as at an end and sue for damages.
1.5 Apply the concepts studied in this theme to situations in the front office by means of role-play or simulated situations
Tis section can be explained using the following example. Mr Simpson phones the Upington Hotel to make a reservation for Wednesday night. Lerato, the receptionist at the Upington Hotel answers the phone. Lerato informs Mr Simpson that they do have rooms available and that the rate is R1 500 per room per night, including breakfast. Tis can be seen as an offer from the hotel. Mr Simpson accepts the offer from Lerato and informs her that he would like to confirm the reservation by giving her his credit card details. Tis can be seen as Mr Simpson’s acceptance of the offer.
Lerato will inform Mr Simpson of the terms and conditions applicable to the booking contract (or reservation) including when payment for the booking should be made. Te hotel will send a confirmation of the booking. Lerato will inform Mr Simpson of the cancellation policy of the hotel. Te liability of the hotel for the guest’s property and during unforeseen occurrences at the hotel should also be discussed with the guest.
Te booking contract will come to an end when Mr Simpson stays in the hotel and settles his account the next morning. In other words, the hotel offers Mr Simpson the room for the night; he stays over and pays the next morning. Should Mr Simpson get ill, the booking contract will end due to frustration. If the hotel burns down, the booking contract will also end due to frustration. Should Mr Simpson simply not arrive at the hotel without cancelling the booking, breach of contract takes place.
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