Walk Guest to another Hotel
Walk guest to another hotel some people say about it the turn away guest
Because of the highly competitive markets, It is should be the goal of the front office department to have zero room vacant in order to maximize revenue generated from room and also to achieve full Occupancy. And the turn away one of the diffecult and hard decisions which front office manager can take as he need to be sure 100% fully booked. Also it is hard and difficult for the guest if he make a booking for your hotel and suddenly when he arrived there are no available rooms. This can change all the plan from the guest side, but the hotel has the responsibility to handle his turn away and handling all his stay until he go back to them hotel. Including transportation and all the services.
Rooms are like perishable items because if the opportunity to earn revenue from that room is gone forever every time it goes vacant.
In many instances, Front desk and sales team requires very aggressive selling tactics to compensate for noshows, cancellations and early departures. That means that hotel should accept more reservations / overbook than the hotel can accommodate, based on historical noshow, cancellation and early departure statistics.
When an unanticipated number guest stayovers occur and the hotel is not able to accommodate all the guest expected to arrival that day then that result in an over booking situation which lead to walk situation. And those guest who had been shifted to other hotels is known as ‘Walked Guests’.
When a walk situation occurs, the following procedure is to be followed:
- The Front Office Manager, Reservation Manager, Director of Hotel Sales should review all arrivals and decide which guests should be protected from a potential walk situation (i.e., Frequent Guests, VVIP guests, meeting planners and Secretaries’ Club reservations).
- All Group / conference guest arrivals should be reviewed. Many groups guarantee payment. In addition, individuals attending group meetings being held at the hotel, as well as those transient guests representing major corporate producers and group guests who have called to confirm their reservation should also be given preferential treatment.
- Review room availability at competitors where “walk rates” have been established. Consider reserving a block of rooms depending on the severity of the situation.
- Ensure that a senior member of the Front Office management team and Duty Manager / lobby manger is aware of the situation and readily available to personally handle relations with all guests to be walked.
- When the guest who is supposed to be walked arrives at the hotel, the situation and the alternate arrangement which is done should be carefully explained. As the situation is explained, the guest should receive a sincere apology on behalf of the hotel.
- Once the guest understands the situation, they should be asked if they have a preference in alternate hotels in that area. If so, make arrangements for the guest at that hotel, if available. As stated above, local room availability should be determined before the “walked guest” arrives.
- If the guest has no preference, secure a reservation at the nearest hotel of similar standard.
- According to the [ hotel management policy ] Hotel will pay for room and tax at the alternate hotel for one night, one long distance phone call, and local phone calls if it is necessary for the guest to notify home and/or business associates of his new location.
- If the guest does not have transportation, we should arrange transportation to and from the alternate hotel, using our hotel vehicle, or taxi, if necessary hotel should also pay for these transportation costs.
- The Telephone operator and the front office staff should be briefed about the details of the ‘walked guest’ and the hotel where these guest has been relocated this will later be helpful in case any calls or messages received for the guest.
- The Front Office Manager or Night Manager must complete a relocation list and distribute to the General Manager and Rooms Director/Director of Operations by 8:00 AM the following morning.
- If the guest had planned to stay for more than one night, we should offer to bring the guest back the next day regardless of hotel occupancy. If the guest elects to stay at the alternate hotel, it must be understood that we are responsible only for the first night’s room and tax and the same to be briefed to the guest.
- Upon the return of the guest, they should be pre-registered and upgraded to the best accommodations available. A gift or VIP package should be sent to the guest with a note of apology from the General Manager / Hotel Manager .
- The Rooms Director/Director of Operations or Front Office Manager must contact the guest and extend every possible courtesy.
- A guest who has been walked must have their reservation cancelled with the appropriate cancellation code ‘Walked’ and also a notation made in his/her guest history in order to prevent a second occurrence.
- If the guest was booked for only one night or elects not to return to our hotel after the first night, the General Manager is to send a letter of apology the next day.
- When walking a guest whose reservation is commissionable to a travel agent, full payment of the commission must be made as if the guest had stayed at our hotel.
- A “Walked Guest Log” should be maintained, including the guest’s name, where they were walked to, and the guest’s attitude to be updated on to the guest profile.
- All walked guests should be also marked as a “VIP Guest” with auto-popup remarks to ensure acknowledgement and apology for the previous walk situation and this will also ensure VIP treatment on the next stay.
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