Lesson · 24 min

Front Desk and Reservations

The operational core of a property: reservations, check-in, occupancy, and the money.

By the end of this lesson you can

Describe the guest cycle from reservation to departure
Explain overbooking and how a walk is handled
Interpret the core occupancy and revenue metrics
Handle payment and personal data appropriately

📘 Reading Lesson

Lesson Notes

Read through the key concepts before you try the challenge.

The guest cycle, and where it goes wrong

On the job

You are working the front desk on a full night.

The property is at 100% and two more guests arrive with confirmed reservations. This is overbooking, it is deliberate, and how you handle the next ten minutes is the difference between a guest who returns and one who posts about it.

Your task: Understand the operational reasons behind the situations you will be asked to manage.

Stage	What happens	Where it fails
Pre-arrival	Reservation, confirmation, special requests	Requests recorded but never actioned
Arrival	Check-in, identification, payment authorization	Room not ready; rate disputed
Occupancy	Housekeeping, service requests, issues	Requests not passed on or not followed up
Departure	Check-out, folio review, payment	Charges the guest does not recognize
Post-departure	Feedback, loyalty, follow-up	A complaint arriving publicly rather than to you

The guest cycle

Properties overbook deliberately, because a predictable percentage of reservations do not arrive and an empty room earns nothing. When the prediction is wrong, a guest is walked — relocated to a comparable property. Done properly, that means the property pays for the room and the transport, arranges it before telling the guest it is settled, and the guest leaves feeling looked after rather than turned away.

Metric	Means	Calculated as
Occupancy	Share of rooms sold	Rooms sold ÷ rooms available
ADR	Average daily rate	Room revenue ÷ rooms sold
RevPAR	Revenue per available room	Room revenue ÷ rooms available, or occupancy × ADR
Length of stay	Average nights per booking	Room nights ÷ number of bookings
No-show rate	Reservations that never arrive	Drives how much the property overbooks

The metrics a property runs on

RevPAR is the one to understand, because it exposes a trade-off occupancy alone hides. A property at 90% occupancy with a low rate can earn less per available room than one at 70% with a higher rate. It is why management sometimes declines business that would fill rooms — the room is sold, but not profitably.

Front desk staff handle payment cards and identity documents constantly. Never write a full card number anywhere, never store one outside the property management system, and never read a card number aloud where it can be overheard. Under PCI DSS, mishandling card data is a serious matter for the property, and a guest's passport or license details deserve the same care.

Check your understanding

A property is at 90% occupancy with an ADR of $100. Another is at 70% with an ADR of $150. Which has the higher RevPAR?

Challenge

Apply what you've learned in this lesson.

Work with the real numbers — they are how the industry talks.

A 200-room property sells 150 rooms for $30,000. Calculate occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR.
Research how a walk should be handled and write down what the property should pay for.
Look up PCI DSS basics and note three rules that apply directly to a front desk.
Map the five stages of the guest cycle for a property you have stayed at, and note where your experience broke down if it did.

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