Traditionally, the central reservation system is operated independently of the reservation systems in individual hotels. The reservation made through the central reservation had to be manually transferred to the property-based system periodically. Hence, the two systems would often not be in sync with each other. Nowadays, however, automatic real-time postings of reservations that are directly fed into an individual property’s reservation system are available.
The central reservation office offers its services via 24-hour toll free telephone numbers. These offices charge a fee using their services. Depending upon toll-free telephone numbers. These offices charges a fee for using their services. Depending upon agreement, a flat fee or variable fee is charged. A percentage of the potential room revenue, actual room revenue, and a gross profit of the rooms division may also be charged.
For a hotel group, a central reservation system has marketing benefits as it acts as ac valuable channel of distribution. Customers-direct clients or travel agents-have access to room availability and rates from one source. Some companies also use this facility to cross-sell their hotels. If the hotel requested for is sold out, the central reservation system will automatically suggest the nearest hotel has rooms available to try and keep the sale within the group. Valuable information that is of use to the management is also provided by the central reservation system. The average rate at which bookings are made by each travel agent can also be found out and thus, with whom it is preferable to do more business.
Thus a Central reservation system is vital for any Hotel or chain of hotels.
