Pearson New International Edition International pcl tp indd 1

FRONT OFFICE SEMANTICS
Paper trail:
Accounting term for trackable, physical evidence that a financial transaction has occurred.
MODERN FRONT OFFICE ISSUES AND TACTICS
Do You Get What You Pay For?
D. K. Shifflet & Associates analyzed Internet reservations for hotel chains and found that
guests who booked through the chain’s own Web site rated their experience higher in serv-
ice and value than did guests who booked through third-party merchant sites such as
Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity.
1
This finding suggests that room assignments may be
made based on the reservation distribution channel. The result, it appears, is that guests who
reserve rooms through merchant model sites receive substandard rooms and reduced serv-
ice. Of course, all of a hotel’s rooms should be in good condition. It should come as no sur-
prise to third-party site operators, however, that a hotelier wants to place guests who pay
the highest rate in the best rooms. Certainly this is more likely than is a practice of placing
the lowest-paying guests in the best rooms. The significance to front desk agents as they
check out guests is this: Anticipate lower levels of satisfaction (increased complaints) from
guests assigned rooms based on reservation distribution channel.
1
Third-party websites deliver potential trouble for hotels. Press release retrieved May 2, 2004, from
http://www.hotel-online.com.
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