Front Office, 2nd Edition

Chapter 5

Hospitality

Introduction

In the first section we looked at the procedures required to ensure that the guest gets a room, enjoys possession of it until he is ready to depart, and (to quote the Hotel Proprietors Act 1956 again) ‘pays a reasonable sum for the services and facilities provided’. These are important, but we must now turn our attention to what lies behind them.

In reality, complaints about booking or billing errors only account for a small proportion of guests’ criticisms of hotels. Most hotels have accommodation to spare on all but the very busiest of nights, so even if you've made a mistake over a booking and the guest arrives unexpectedly you can usually room him, if necessary with an apology and perhaps a reduction in ...