Reception 5.4 Confirming reservations
Many hotels send a letter of confirmation to people who make reservations. Tis serves a number of purposes. It can be evidence of a contract, and is obviously easier to prove than a verbal contract. Te law is in favour of the person booking the room. A contract exists when the guest posts/e-mails the letter of confirmation and can only be cancelled by the hotel when the guest receives the letter withdrawing a previous offer. If the guest is not accommodated, then he or she may be able to sue the hotel for material loss as a result of the breaking of the contract.
5.4.1 The various methods and terms used when confirming reservations
Standard letters As individual letters of confirmation become more time-consuming to type, some hotels use a standard letter of confirmation (template) sent to guests booking accommodation. Te template can be set up so that the receptionist can simply type in the guest name and details of the booking. Te confirmation letter can be e-mailed or faxed to the guest. Some hotels and CROs make use of computerised reservations systems that have a feature than can automatically generate a confirmation letter that can be e-mailed to the guest instantly.
Deposit For some categories of guests, hotels ask for a deposit to be sent in advance. Tis is very common in resort hotels where guests may be asked to pay a non-refundable deposit when confirming the booking. Hotels also request deposits from people when confirming the booking. Hotels also request deposits from people who will be arriving late, or from overseas visitors. A receipt (proof of payment) is normally sent back with the confirmation. Te details of the deposit are entered on the reservation and credited to the guest’s account on arrival, or departure, according to the policy of the hotel. A deposit is useful if the reservations manager feels there may be some difficulty in claiming a charge for the non-arrival of the guest. It would be difficult, for example, to follow up a non-arrival charge to a guest from the other side of the world.
Cancellation If a guest cancels a booking, then the reservation procedure has to be reversed; the booking is cancelled although not deleted in the reservation chart/system used. Te hotel may sue the guest for loss if the guest cancels the booking, but the hotel must make every attempt to re-let the accommodation, and can only claim for actual loss incurred.
When a computerised system is in use, cancellations may continue to be displayed on the screen but are clearly marked as cancelled. Tis can be particularly useful in the case of amended arrival dates when it may be helpful to refer to previous information. If a guest cancels a booking for the week beginning 7 June and the hotel is able to re-let the accommodation for the last three nights of the week, a claim can only be made for the first four nights of the booking rather than the whole week. To claim for the whole week would be equal to selling the room twice.
While some seasonal hotels press claims for compensation when a guest cancels at short notice, it is very rare for city centre hotels to do so. Obviously this may vary if a tour cancels at very short notice, and the hotel has no chance of re-letting the accommodation, but this is normally covered by the terms of a special contract between the hotel and a tour operator.
No Confirmation For a booking that is for the same day or in the next few days some hotels adopt the policy of not bothering to send a letter of confirmation, feeling that it will serve no purpose as the guest will not receive it in time. With most guests having access to e-mail and being able to access their e-mails ‘on the go’ the hotel will be able to send a confirmation even if the guest is due to arrive the same evening that the booking is made.
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