Front Office Operations and Hotel Accounting Terminologies

Comprehensive review flashcards covering key front office operational procedures, room statuses, hotel accounting terminologies, account types, and billing methods.

What is the Front Office responsible for in hotel operations?

Handling guest reservations, registration, check-in, guest inquiries, account management, and check-out.

How is a hotel reservation defined?

An arrangement made in advance to secure a hotel room or other accommodation for a specific date or period.

What is the registration process in a hotel?

The process of recording and verifying a guest's information upon arrival at the hotel.

What procedures are included in the check-in process?

Formally accepting a guest into the hotel, completing necessary registration procedures, confirming payment arrangements, and assigning a room.

What procedures take place during check-out?

Completing a guest's stay, reviewing the guest's account, settling outstanding charges, and completing departure procedures.

What factors determine a room assignment?

Reservation details, availability, room type, and hotel policies.

What does room status refer to?

The current condition or operational availability of a hotel room.

What is the definition of a Vacant room?

A room that is not currently occupied by a guest.

What is the definition of an Occupied room?

A room currently assigned to and occupied by a registered guest.

What is meant by the room status Vacant Clean?

An unoccupied room that has been cleaned and is ready for inspection or assignment, subject to hotel procedures.

What is meant by the room status Vacant Dirty?

An unoccupied room that requires cleaning after the previous guest's departure.

What does Out of Order (OOO) mean?

A room that is unavailable for normal use, generally because of a significant maintenance problem or other issue requiring it to be removed from sale.

What does Out of Service (OOS) mean?

A room temporarily unavailable for normal use, often because of a minor or short-term issue, depending on hotel policy.

What is a walk-in guest?

A person who arrives at a hotel without an advance reservation.

What defines a no-show in front office operations?

When a guest with a reservation fails to arrive as expected and has not canceled according to the applicable reservation conditions.

What is a late check-out?

A guest's departure after the hotel's standard check-out time, subject to hotel approval, availability, and applicable charges.

In hotel accounting, what is an account?

A financial record used to track transactions associated with a guest, company, department, or other party.

What is a guest account?

A record of the charges, payments, and credits associated with an individual guest's stay that allows the hotel to determine total charges, payments received, and remaining balance.

What does a debit entry commonly represent in a typical hotel guest folio?

A charge added to the guest's account, increasing the amount payable.

What are common examples of debit entries in a guest folio?

Room charges, restaurant charges, laundry charges, minibar charges, and other authorized service charges.

What does a credit entry commonly represent in a typical hotel guest folio?

A payment received or an approved credit adjustment that reduces the guest's outstanding balance.

What are common examples of credit entries in a guest folio?

Payments received, approved discounts, authorized billing adjustments, and other applicable credits.

In a typical guest folio, what is the effect of a debit versus a credit on the guest's balance?

A debit usually increases the amount owed, whereas a credit usually reduces the amount owed.

What is posting in front office operations?

The process of recording a financial transaction in the appropriate account to ensure guest charges, payments, and adjustments are reflected.

What are the common types of posting in hotel front office operations?

Room Charge Posting, Restaurant Charge Posting, Laundry Charge Posting, Payment Posting, and Adjustment Posting.

What is a folio and what items does it generally contain?

A detailed record of financial transactions associated with a guest's stay or billing arrangement; it generally contains charges, payments, credits, adjustments, and outstanding balances.

What is the formula for calculating an outstanding balance?

$$\text{Outstanding Balance} = \text{Total Charges} - \text{Payments and Credits Applied}$$

What is a deposit in hotel operations?

Money collected in advance to secure a reservation or cover anticipated expenses, subject to the hotel's terms and conditions.

What does advance payment refer to?

Money paid before the corresponding goods or services are fully provided.

What is a credit limit?

The maximum amount of credit authorized for a guest or company under an approved billing arrangement.

What is a credit card pre-authorization?

A temporary authorization request to determine whether a payment card can cover a specified amount, which is not necessarily a completed payment.

What is settlement in hotel accounting?

The process of paying an outstanding amount or completing a financial transaction to clear an account's outstanding balance.

What is a refund?

The return of money to a guest when a payment is eligible for reversal or repayment under the hotel's policies.

What is an adjustment in a financial account?

An authorized correction made to a financial account to reflect the proper amount owed or credited.

What is reconciliation and what does it help identify?

The process of comparing financial records with actual transactions or balances to verify accuracy; it identifies missing transactions, incorrect entries, duplicate postings, payment discrepancies, and cash shortages or overages.

What is the city ledger?

A ledger containing accounts for amounts owed to the hotel by individuals or organizations that are billed after their stay or transaction, such as approved company accounts and travel agencies.

What is the difference between Accounts Receivable (A/R) and Accounts Payable (A/P)?

Accounts Receivable refers to money owed to the hotel by customers, companies, or other parties, whereas Accounts Payable refers to money the hotel owes to suppliers, service providers, or other parties.

What is a master account?

An account used to consolidate charges for a group, event, company, or other approved billing arrangement under one account rather than assigning them entirely to individual guests.

What is an individual account?

An account that records transactions assigned to a specific guest, which may contain charges payable by the guest personally depending on agreed billing arrangements.

What does complimentary (comp) mean?

A product or service provided without a charge to the recipient, properly authorized and recorded according to hotel policy.

What is house use in front office terms?

A hotel room used for hotel business or operational purposes rather than sold to a paying guest.

What is a package rate?

A rate that combines accommodation with selected additional services or benefits for one advertised or agreed price.

What is a room rate?

The price charged for occupying a hotel room for a specified period, which may vary by room type, season, demand, booking conditions, and applicable discounts.

What are incidental charges?

Additional expenses incurred during a guest's stay separate from the basic room rate, such as minibar purchases, laundry services, and paid room service.

What is split billing?

The process of dividing charges between two or more accounts or payment methods according to an agreed arrangement.

What does direct billing allow?

It allows authorized charges to be invoiced to a company or approved party instead of requiring the guest to pay all eligible charges at check-out.

What is a Property Management System (PMS)?

Software used to manage hotel operations, including reservations, room status, guest accounts, and billing.

What is a rack rate?

The hotel's published standard room rate before applicable discounts or special arrangements.

What is a walk-in rate?

The room rate offered to a guest who arrives without an advance reservation.

What is the difference between an upgrade and a downgrade?

An upgrade assigns a higher room category than originally booked, while a downgrade assigns a lower room category than originally booked.

What is overbooking?

Accepting more reservations than the number of rooms available for sale in a particular category or period.

What is a no-show charge?

A charge that may apply when a guest fails to arrive for a reservation, depending on its conditions.

What is the purpose of the night audit?

Reviewing and balancing daily transactions and updating hotel records at the end of the business day.

What is key control?

Procedures used to manage room keys and access credentials securely.

What is a room move?

The transfer of a guest from one room to another during the stay.

What is a late charge?

A charge posted after the usual billing time or after an initial account review, when permitted by hotel policy.

What is a paid-out?

Money disbursed by the front office cashier on behalf of the hotel under an authorized procedure.

What is a cash float?

A starting amount of cash provided to a cashier to facilitate transactions and make change.

What is the difference between cash over and cash short?

Cash over occurs when the actual cash counted exceeds the expected recorded amount, whereas cash short occurs when the actual cash counted is less than the expected recorded amount.

What is service recovery?

Actions taken by the hotel to address a service failure and restore guest satisfaction.