Pearson New International Edition International pcl tp indd 1

Accounts Management
The word account means to record and report. Because the PMS serves as the hotel’s
major information collection and report center, it plays a crucial role in the hotel’s
accounting processes.
In the most simple case, the PMS records the charges and collection of payments
for the rooms and services sold by the hotel. A guest reserving and staying in one
room for a total rate of $150 for a night and charging a $25 meal consumed in the
hotel’s dining room to the room would expect to pay one bill at check-out. The PMS
FRONT OFFICE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Objective 1
Present an
overview of how
the PMS provides
information for
management
planning and 
decision making
Four Rs of 
Front Office 
Information 
Management
Objective 2
Describe factors 
important when 
selecting PMS
reports for
development and
discuss concerns
about their 
distribution and
analysis
Report
Development,
Distribution, 
and Analysis
Objective 4
Review how a 
PMS maintains 
and reports
information 
about room 
types sold and 
available, and
about room 
status
Rooms
Management
Data
Objective 3
Explain how a
PMS maintains
detailed
reservations
records related to
guests and their
specific needs
Reservations
Management
Data
Objective 5
Provide details
about how a
PMS can help 
the FOM to 
forecast demand 
and price the 
rooms inventory
Revenue
Management
Data
Objective 6
Review the need 
for numerous 
records (reports) 
beyond those 
applicable to 
reservations, 
rooms, and 
revenue and 
consider the role 
of the PMS in 
the hotel’s 
accounting 
process 
Records and
Accounts
Management
Objective 7
Present factors to
be addressed as
hotel personnel
select a PMS
Selecting a
PMS
ROADMAP 6
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FRONT OFFICE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
records both the room sale ($150) and the meal ($25) to create a total bill of $175.
The PMS records the guest’s form of payment when the bill is paid.
FRONT OFFICE SEMANTICS
Form of payment:
Method that guests use to pay their bills (e.g., credit card, debit card, cash, check).
A simple accounting report for this transaction would include both the room and
food sale and a record of the bill’s final payment, but any hotel’s daily accounting
transactions are much more complex than this simple example. Large hotels create
literally thousands of complex sales and payment transactions each day. Therefore,
the ability of a PMS to properly record and accurately report these accounting func-
tions must be equal to the task. Although the complexity of the accounting function
of a PMS in a large hotel is much greater than that of smaller hotels, every PMS per-
forms essentially the same accounting functions, and these are conceptualized in
Figure 12.
Note in Figure 12 that guest charges (they are only charges until paid) arise 
from one of two broad sources:
•
Room charges. Room charges are always posted in the PMS; these include the rate
guests are charged for the room and applicable taxes. Typically, on the guest’s
folio the rate paid for the room is shown separately from the taxes to be paid. In
the PMS, separate records of room charges and tax charges are maintained.
•
Non-room charges. In addition to guestroom charges, the PMS records non-
room charges. Hotels allow guests to purchase goods and services and charge
these purchases to their rooms, for example, pay-per-view movies, telephone
FIGURE 11
Ten selected PMS reports related to hotel records.
1. Number of new frequent-traveler members
enrolled at the front desk in the past six
months
2. Travel agent reports
3. In-house lists
4. Cancellation lists
5. Peak arrival reports
6. Peak departure reports
7. Reservation activity reports
8. Room change list
9. Revenue by day of week
10. Occupancy by room type
To evaluate the effectiveness in enrolling new members
To determine travel agents who have generated the most business
for the hotel
In a crisis, to notify emergency workers about rooms that are cur-
rently occupied
To identify guests who have canceled a reservation for (but not on) a
specific day
To better schedule staff by identifying the times of day when front
office check-in activity is greatest
To better schedule staff by identifying the times of day when front
office check-out activity is greatest
To better schedule staff by identifying the times of the day when 
call-in or walk-in reservation activity is greatest
To identify guests who have requested (or have been given) a room
different than the one they were originally assigned and to identify
reasons for the change
To summarize the revenue generated by the hotel by day of the week
To identify the hotel’s most popular and best-selling room types