CHAPTER 8

The Guest Arrival, Registration, and Rooming Process

Objectives and Student Goals:

Student Objectives for this chapter are to:
• understand the various steps involved in the guest check-in process. Restate the
information obtained, signatures received, and items, which change hands in the
course of a three- to five-minute check-in regimen. Explain how a self-check-in
terminal performs similar functions.
• develop a working knowledge of the job descriptions and tasks assigned to each of the
employees a guest might encounter upon arrival at a full-service hotel. List each
employee encountered and their role in the overall arrival and check-in process.
Describe how these tasks are handled in a limited-service operation.
• utilize and define basic vocabulary terms and industry jargon specific to arrival and
registration activities.
• develop a practical working model of a registration card. Recount the role of the
registration card as a legal document, as a reservoir of information for both the hotel
and the guest, and as a marketing tool.
• develop a conceptual awareness of queuing theory and how management might use
such a model to ease the guests’ wait in long registration lines.

At the conclusion of this chapter, the student should be able to:

• restate the staff members a guest might meet upon arrival at a full-service hotel. 
• identify the information and items that change hands between the front desk and the
• guest during the room registration encounter. 
• detail the room selection process.
• list key points of information on the guest registration card. 
• describe the service responsibilities of the bell staff during the guest rooming
• process.

Chapter Summary:
Chapter 8 identifies the flow of the guest from arrival through the rooming process. The
arrival pattern differs with the type and quality of hotel in question. In a limited-service
property, the guest is likely to speak with only one front office employee. In a full-
service hotel, a valet parking attendant, a doorperson, one or more bellpersons, and
several front office employees may greet the guest before even registering for the room!
At the time of registration, many things happen in concert. A room assignment is made,
a registration card is printed and presented, a hotel account (or folio) is established, hotel
information is disseminated, questions are answered, and a bellperson is summoned. A
lot happens in a relatively few minutes. These steps cannot occur smoothly however
without plenty of advanced preparation. For example, the room number cannot be

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assigned without first verifying the room type requested, checking availability in the
property management system (PMS), trying to upsell the guest to more expensive
accommodations, checking to see if a room was pre-blocked by front office staff earlier
in the day, and establishing the guest's method of payment.

The registration card is another example of a seemingly simple step with a number of
hidden causes and effects. Information printed on the registration card was likely input
into the PMS days or weeks earlier, at the time of original reservation. A guest's
signature on the registration card verifies a wealth of information, including date of
departure, method of payment, address, spelling, and other clerical content. In addition to
verifying personal information, the signature also serves as legal documentation that the
guest accepts responsibility for charges incurred to the room and an assortment of other
listed disclaimers.

Once registered, the guest is presented to a bellperson. Bellpersons play a key role in
enhancing the overall guest experience. In addition to physically escorting and rooming
the guest, the bellperson promotes hotel facilities, handles the guest's luggage, checks
operation of key elements in the room (including the television, air-conditioner, and
lights), acts as final room inspector verifying overall cleanliness, and develops a close,
professional relationship with the guest.

Although the registration process is an important part of the guest experience, many
corporate hotels have had great success with self-check-in terminals. Located in the
lobbies of the world's finest hotels, self-check-in terminals are not viewed as a reduction
in service. Instead, they offer sophisticated travellers a quick and simple solution to
queuing up in a long front desk check-in line.

Key Concepts of the Chapter:

Bell Department. The bell staff operates on a rotation system. The next bellperson to
room a guest is referred to as a "front." In addition to actually rooming the guest, the
bellperson verbally discusses and promotes hotel facilities, transports the guest's luggage,
verifies the operation of various in-room functions, gives the room a final inspection, and
develops a professional relationship with the guest.

Guest Arrival. The guest arrival process provides the hotel an opportunity to
demonstrate its level of customer-service. Budget properties offer little or no service
aside from a front desk clerk who registers the guest. On the other side of the spectrum,
full-service operations offer a wealth of opportunities for guest-employee interaction.
These moments of truth might include encounters with the valet parking attendant, the
doorperson, the bellperson, the front office clerk, and the concierge.

Guest Registration. During registration, front office clerks wear a number of different
hats--they greet the guest, attempt to upsell the guest to a nicer (and costlier)
accommodation, check the guest's credit and open a hotel account, assign a room and a

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rate, verify personal data (e.g. departure date, party size, corporate name, spelling,
address), obtain a signature on the registration card, and promote other hotel facilities.

Room Selection. In tight occupancy situations, clerks pre-block guest accommodations

in an effort to align reservation requests with available room types. When assigning the
room at check-in, many property management systems prompt the clerk to upsell the
guest to a nicer accommodation.

Self-Check-In Kiosks. In an effort to provide guests an alternative to waiting in a check-

in line, many corporate hotels provide self-check-in terminals or kiosks. Most such
systems require the guest to have an existing reservation and major credit card. Because
of the impersonal nature of such systems, hotels experience higher rates of upselling with
self-check-in terminals than with personal selling by front office clerks.

Professional Vocabulary:
Algorithms. Algorithms are "if-then" statements against which a computer makes a
decision. They are often used when displaying lists of information. At the front desk,
computer algorithms are commonly used for room assignments. Among other purposes,
algorithms can be used to rearrange the display of available rooms.

Front. The next bellperson whose turn it is to room a registered guest is known as a
front. Because the best chance at receiving a gratuity comes when rooming the guest,
bell departments operate on a rotation system where each bellperson must move through
the other positions before having a turn as the front.

Last. The bellperson who has just completed rooming the guest (a “front”) returns to the
back of the rotation sequence. This known as the "last" position.

Moment of Truth. Whenever a guest encounters an employee, there is a moment of

truth. Most pass successfully because the trained employee is capable of providing a
level of service in keeping with the guest’s expectations. Poor training causes failed
moments of truth, which result in dissatisfying encounters.

Mystery Shoppers. In an effort to accurately assess customer service levels being

provided the average guest, many hotels employ outside mystery or “secret” shopper
services. Acting as a typical guest might, these companies provide management with
detailed observation reports on all areas of the front-of-the-house.

Queuing Theory. This is the name assigned to waiting line management. Adequate
attention to staffing, training, high-expected arrival and departure patterns leads to a
reduction in guest wait time. Shorter lines translate into happier guests.

Registration Card. Information collected during the reservation is pre-printed on

registration cards for use on the day of arrival. At check-in, guests are asked to read and
sign the reg card. The signature serves a legal purpose (that the guest has read and agrees

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to all disclaimers and legal agreements set forth on the reg card) as well as to verify the
accuracy of personal information on the reg card (name spelling, address, departure, etc).
In Canada the process also fulfills the requirements of the Hotel Guest Registry Act.

Upgrading. Assigning a nicer room accommodation at no additional charge is known as

upgrading. One common reason for upgrading is when there are no accommodations of
the room type reserved still available. As an added thank-you, corporate hotels routinely
upgrade business guests when the hotel is not filled.

Upselling. While upgrading provides a nicer room at no additional charge, upselling

charges the guest for the nicer accommodation. Attempts at upselling are usually made at
time of reservation as well as at check-in.

Answers to End-of-Chapter Questions:

1. The sequence of events should be as follows:
a. Preblocking rooms.
b. Valet parking attendant.
c. Doorperson.
d. Registration card.
e. Room status report.
f. Upgrading/up-selling.
g. Room selection.
h. CAA/AAA discounts.
i. Obtaining guest identification.
j. Establishing guest credit.
k. Pet deposit.
l. Room assignment.
m. Check-out reminder.
n. Registered, not assigned.
o. Rotation of fronts.
p. Bellperson.
q. Rooming slip.
r. Rooming the guest.

2. Only in cases where local authorities require personal information will the hotel need
to comply. In Canada, basic information should suffice. Security and service levels are
not truly dependent on knowing about the personal details of the guest. Some personal
information like birthdates might be found on a frequent guest program application. At
the front desk, the only justification for knowing personal details like mother's maiden
name might have been when guests kept valuables in the front desk safe, but with in-
room personal safes becoming common, this need is also generally unnecessary.
Knowing the guests’ next stop after check-out might help in terms of lost and found
items, but most such items are held until notice from the guest or possibly sent to the
address listed on the registration card.

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3. Some reasons management might reprogram the property management system
algorithms to alter the sequence of rooms appearing on the system at check-in might
include: energy consumption (on the sunny side or away from the sunny side), equal wear
and tear assuring that all rooms are rented roughly the same number of times, higher
priced rooms as a means of nudging the clerk towards up-selling, certain wings or floors
because of group assignments, or as a means of restricting new arrivals from locations
scheduled for renovation or maintenance, etc.

4. See what interaction is generated in class when two students role-play the scenario.
Remember, the rooms’ manager is new to the position. We can assume the bell captain
has been with the hotel for years. Indeed, the discussion might revolve around old school
(bell captains historically kept such commissions and may or may not have shared them
with other bell staff) versus new school (because the hotel is the primary source of these
commissions— hotel guests buy commissionable services—the hotel should keep the
commissions). The discussion might turn to bell person compensation. Would it change
the class consensus if the bell captain were a salaried individual with medical and
retirement plans as opposed to being an hourly employee with a pay scale just slightly
above the other bell staff?

5. The practice of upgrading corporate guests is designed to reward friends and regular
guests of the hotel by providing them a nicer accommodation during slow periods when
such rooms are readily available. The front office should make a bit of fanfare about the
act of giving the nicer accommodation, so the corporate guest understands the assigned
room is not the standard hotel facility or the room type normally included in the guest’s
corporate rate. If properly explained at the time of upgrade, the corporate guest will not
expect a similar room type with each subsequent stay. If the desk does a poor job
explaining what they are giving the guest, subsequent problems and misunderstandings
may occur the next time the guest visits the hotel.

Answers to Case Study Questions:

1. The hotel could have a staff member check with the provincial bus tour association for
local membership as most bus companies belong to the associations. Local tour
associations and offices may also be able to help. Even a simple look in the Yellow
Pages or through the Internet could narrow the search.

2. It depends on the market the tour company wishes to target. Traditionally bus tours
have been for seniors (over the age of 50), who like the advantage of travelling in the
safety, comfort, convenience as well as the social aspect of travelling together in a group.
However bus tours could be designed to attract any market – what about a party bus tour
designed to attract young people or a singles bus tour designed to attract singles of all
ages.

3. Other things that could be included in the hotels package to beat the competition could
be:

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Free room for both the escort and driver
Host a free punch party while guest luggage is being delivered
Deliver free ice to the guest rooms – the first thing that even seniors want is a cold drink
and not necessarily water.
Host a bingo, cards or some other fun activity for the group in a vacant meeting room
Have the general manager greet the guests at the punch reception and welcome them to
the property while offering things for them to do
Plan special menus for the group at a preset price

4. Groups should all be pre-registered and keys put in envelopes marked for each of the
guests. The keys can be distributed on the bus before the guests disembark or given out as
soon as they arrive into the lobby.

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