A hotel receives various types of guest arrivals almost every month of the year. Guests come to the hotel for multiple reasons. Guests who come in this way should be well received, and it should be done correctly and more successfully. It can be called the first impression given to the guests by the hotel. Providing the best first impression is very important. Most of the guests come to the hotel after making a reservation. Therefore, the hotel can be ready to welcome them as soon as possible. In this article, when guests arrive at the hotel, the staff will explain how to handle a guest’s arrival correctly. People like receptionists and guest relation offices mainly contribute to managing a guest’s arrival. So this article is helpful for them too.
How to prepare for guest arrival?
The hotel staff must prepare before the guests arrive at the hotel. When the receptionist reports to the shift daily, paying attention to today’s arrivals on the reservation file or reservation details is mandatory. In addition, the receptionist should do a better study of the room allocation. In this way, you can get a good knowledge of the rooms allocated to the guests who are about to arrive. It is essential to know whether the spaces allocated in this way are Ready rooms (rooms cleaned by the room attendant and checked by the floor supervisor (also called Vacant Rooms)). For that, attention should be paid to the room status report. Then, if the allocated rooms are not ready, it is mandatory to inform the housekeeping floor supervisor through the housekeeping attendant and prepare the rooms. Next, check the guest reservation voucher or booking details to see if special decorations or other requests have been made for that room. For example, guests request unique room decorations for anniversaries, honeymoons, birthdays etc. Likewise, a complimentary fruit platter and a wine bottle are given to the room when a VIP guest arrives. Similarly, the hotel provides flowers or other cultural elements, such as dance groups. The receptionist should check whether such things are properly provided.
Next, we should prepare a cool towel or a hot towel for the guests to relax and refresh. If they are correct, the members of the bell desk should also be informed about the arrival list on the day.
Sometimes, the receptionist calls the guests based on their reception information and asks for information. There the receptionist can know the data if the guests are closer. Also, you can know if any other additional service is required.
How to Welcoming the guest?
Guests who come to the hotel are usually welcomed by the hotel’s guest relation officer, guest relation executive or receptionist. (The point to be remembered is that before those mentioned above, the first person the guests see and meet may be the gatekeeper or someone from the hotel’s security department. Therefore, those officials also need to know the value of the guests who come to the hotel. Consequently, it would be more effective for the hotel to provide them with knowledge and explanation about how to welcome the guest).
There are a few things you should think about before welcoming a guest. How do you welcome a guest to your home? You always greet them with a smile. The luggage they bring will be taken to the rooms arranged by you. Then you take them to your sitting area and start a conversation more comfortably by giving them a drink you have prepared. You are always happy with guests. The process itself is done in a very professional manner at the hotel.
Before welcoming a guest, you should always be clean and appropriately dressed in the correct uniform. If you are a woman, always apply your makeup correctly. You should be ready to welcome the guest in an as good manner because you can see many guests from the start of the shift to the end of the day. But the guest is seeing you for the first time. So the first sight should be more pleasant.
It is very important always to smile when welcoming guests. Etiquette words can be used according to the times of the day (Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening, but some hotels use words to welcome guests according to the country or culture. Therefore, it is more important to act according to the hotel policy). Some hotels perform special cultural activities while welcoming guests. For example, lighting coconut oil lamps, and performing small dance activities. If such a thing is done in your hotel, if the guests are not tired and they also like it, then do it. Keep eye contact with the guest as always, with a pleasant smile. If you know the guest’s name, you call him/her name (especially repeat guests).
Bring guests to their seats to make them more comfortable. If they have their luggage, use the bell boy to handle it (the bell boy should take the bags from the guest’s entrance and bring it to the hotel, and apply a baggage tag to the baggage according to the room allocated to the guest. (because of that, baggage can be handled correctly without mixing with other guests’ bugs). After that, give them a cool towel or hot towel to refresh them (if your hotel is in a hot area, the guest can refresh better by receiving a cool towel. Likewise, if your hotel is in a cold area, give a hot towel to the guest would be preferable). Avoid giving and collecting cool towels with your bare hand to guests. (Many hotels use tongs to offer a regular towel to the guest. It varies from hotel to hotel. Follow your hotel’s policy). It is more important for you and the guest for hygiene reasons. Instead, collect it after using it. After that, Send this towel to the laundry for cleaning at the end of your shift. Before sending it, calculate the number of towels and mention it in the log book. Some hotels use towels that can only be used once. If your hotel uses them, collect them after use by guests and dispose of them properly.
Then offer welcome drinks to the guest to make them more comfortable. Before providing the welcome drinks to the guest, explain the drink’s contents. Some guests may be allergic to various fruits or ingredients used to make welcome drinks (for example, some guests may be allergic to tamarin, tomato, lime, pineapple, curd etc. They may want to avoid receiving the welcome drink in such a case. (Ask them if they would like to have any other fruit juice or drink the hotel can provide(for example, Tea/coffee). If they want it, then you can serve them proper manner). Next, Guest registration should be done. Before that, Collect the glances that the guests have finished drinking and send them to clean. Clean it immediately if there is water or anything else on the table where the guest is.
How to register the guest?
All guests who buy a room from a hotel must be registered. Registering makes the stay in the guest hotel legal. Likewise, data and information about the guest can be recorded. The data and information obtained in this way will help the future marketing programs of the hotel. Especially the offers in the hotel can be sent to the guest through their email address. Likewise, if the police or any responsible party inquires about a person who has committed a crime and is staying at the hotel as a guest, the hotel will have the correct data to provide them. Due to such issues, guest registration becomes more important.
At the time of registration, the receptionist/guest relation officer asks for guest registration information. After the guest has booked the rooms in the hotel, they should get the booking confirmation. The receptionist needs to collect that. If payment or advance payment has been made, related documents can also be obtained. If the guest comes through a travel agent, the travel agent booking voucher can be obtained. Photocopies of these documents are taken, and original copies need to give to the guest. Based on this information, the guest’s booking can correctly identify.
At the time of registration, the hotel gives the guest a registration form to get the guest’s information and confirm it with a signature. In some hotels, it is also known as a guest registration card. At the time of registration, the guest has to provide some important information to the hotel. For example, guest’s full name, Residence address, Passport/Identity card no, check-in date, check-out date, meal plan, number of Pax, next destination, the reason to visit, any special request (vegetarian meals only they need, extra bed or boycott they need, early check-out, alarm calls etc.) This registration card/form contains policies that guests should need to know. For example, the check-in and check-out time, if a room key is missing, the order is to be followed.
As a receptionist/guest relation officer who registers a guest, there are times when you have to fill out this registration form on behalf of the guest. For example, in cases where it is difficult for a guest to read and write, in cases where a guest has a small child in his hand, for the elderly, for those with special needs, for those who do not have an accurate idea about the language, etc. After filling in this information, most hotels take a photocopy of the guest’s passport or identity card, attach it to a guest registration card, and keep it for future work.
After getting the information, the receptionist should give the room key, which is allocated to the guest. Then according to the guest’s meal plan, the receptionist should provide information to the guest, such as restaurant opening and closing time and meal serving time. If any other important information is to be given to the guest, it should be given.
After that, the guest should accompany to his room. Bellman is used in many hotels for that. In addition, a receptionist/guest relation officer is used in some hotels to accompany the guest to the room. Here, you can engage in a friendly conversation with the guest while taking them to the room. There you can know brief details about their last visited places. But there are a few topics that should be of more concern. In such cases, the guest’s personal, religious, and political information should never be discussed. You should always promote things in the hotel. For example, something like the spa, yoga classes, and special dinner in the hotel.
Similarly, you can provide information to the guest about the tourist attractions and places around the hotel. Then, you take him/her to the guest’s room. After you enter the room, tell them again that room no. At the time of entering the guest room, their baggage should also be brought by the hotel porter.
Turn on the curtain and the windows in the guest’s room. Ask the guest if they need to explain about the room. If they give permission, describe the things in the room either clockwise or anticlockwise. For example, the place of the safety box, laundry service and the related laundry bags and the price list, the television/Aircondition remort, the minibar location, the tea/coffee bags, how the lights work etc. Also, offer it if you need to provide more information to the guest. Provide phone numbers to call the reception or telephone operator if the guest has a need (in many hotels, the number to contact the reception or telephone operation is 1 or 0). The receptionist should thank the guest for booking the room at the hotel and leaving the room.
What is a guest arrival notification?
After all, this is done correctly, and the receptionist should indicate to other departments that a guest has arrived at the hotel. Therefore, a guest arrival notification should be sent to other departments. The arrival notification includes the guest’s information, the guest’s name, arrival date, departure date, meal plan room no, no of Pax, special request, and the name and signature of the receptionist writing the notification should be mentioned.
Hotel receptionists send the notification through the hotel porter, and all carbon copies should be given to other departments. The original notification must be signed that the arrival notification has been received from that department. The receptionist should file the original notification in the guest arrival notification file and keep it for future work.
Plans the work of all other departments based on the guest arrival notification. Therefore, it is the receptionist’s responsibility to give the guest arrival notification to other departments accurately. But delivering the guest arrival notification manually through the hotel porter is currently done by a hotel property management system. All departments have networked with the property management system used by the hotel. After a room arrives, the receptionist fills in all the details using the system and sends a massage. It is much faster and more convenient. But still, some hotels use the manual method, which explains before.
After sending the guest arrival notification, the next thing the receptionist should do is update the system in the front office. For example, in the room allocation, it should be mentioned that the guest’s room has arrived. In some hotels, it is mentioned in the system as an occupied room. Likewise, the room key given to the guest should be mentioned as occupied in the key list.