Tentative Reservation: This is when a request from a guest is received for some future day arrival and the hotel blocks the room for this guest provisionally in the hotel records such as charts and diaries and racks or computer and sends a letter of offer to the prospective guest. The offer has a cutoff date by which the guest should send his confirmation which may be in the form of a letter, guarantee by company, credit card or deposit and whichever the hotel may require. Once the confirmation from the guest is received by the hotel till the cutoff date the hotel makes the tentative booking into confirmed booking otherwise the tentative booking is cancelled and records updated.
Waitlisted Reservation: A reservation is waitlisted when the requested category of room is not available for the requested dates. The waitlisted reservation is confirmed when the hotel receives a cancellation request for the room of the same category. The hotel does not guarantee a room for waitlist reservations.
Confirmed Reservation: Once a uest confirms a reservation request, the hotel blocks a room for specified stay dates and sends a written confirmation of the same to the uest.
A confirmed reservation can be of the following two types.
- Guaranteed Reservation
- Non-guaranteed Reservation
Guaranteed Reservation means that the guest has paid for the reservation in advance, and the hotel must hold the room for the guest, it ensures that the hotel will hold the room for the guest until a specific time of guest’s scheduled arrival.
Non-guaranteed reservation is when the hotel agrees to hold a room for the guest until a stated reservation cancellation hour (usually 6p.m) on the day of arrival.
