Pearson New International Edition International pcl tp indd 1

FRONT OFFICE SEMANTICS
Over:
Situation in which cashiers have more money in their cash drawer than the official revenue
records indicate. A cashier with $10 more in the cash drawer than the PMS record indicates is said to
be $10 
over.
Short:
Situation in which cashiers have less money in their cash drawer than the official revenue
records indicate. A cashier with $10 less in the cash drawer than the PMS record indicates is said to be
$10 
short.
The maintenance and engineering staff will want to know about rooms that cannot
be sold because they are in need of repair, and housekeeping needs to know about
guests who checked out of the hotel so these rooms can be cleaned and readied for
the next guests. The sales and marketing staff must know, on a regular basis, the dates
on which room discounts should be offered and future dates for which the hotel has
already sold out. These few examples indicate that every managerial position and
every department in the hotel need information maintained in and reported by the
PMS to make informed operating decisions.
In addition to their content, frequency of distribution is an important factor in
distribution of PMS reports. Although virtually any report can be created at any time,
most reports are generated annually, monthly, weekly, or daily. Some reports are cre-
ated more than once a day—in some cases every hour or even several times per hour.
Figure 4 details some characteristics of PMS reports based on the frequency of dis-
tribution.
The PMS is a powerful decision-making tool that is used by nearly all hotel
managers, supervisors, and even some employees. Accurate information that is prop-
erly evaluated improves decision making. Effective FOMs provide themselves and
their colleagues with accurate and timely information needed for decision making by
carefully selecting and promptly distributing appropriate PMS reports. After they are
produced and received, the PMS reports must be analyzed properly.
Report Analysis
Managers in every department benefit from a careful analysis of PMS reports appli-
cable to their areas of responsibility. Any manager with access to a computer termi-
nal connected to the PMS can generate a specific report selected from a report list
and display it on the computer screen. If no direct access to the PMS is available,
managers must rely on a hard copy (i.e., printed copy) of the reports of interest to
them. Hard copies are typically prepared by the night auditor and are distributed to
the appropriate managers.
For example, consider a 200-room, limited-service hotel. It is unlikely that the
chief engineer will have direct access to the PMS, even though he or she probably has
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