Pearson New International Edition International pcl tp indd 1

FRONT OFFICE SEMANTICS
House account:
Account whose entries are assessed to another hotel entity such as the sales and mar-
keting department, the general manager, or the FOM.
Transfers to Hotel Receivable Accounts
In many hotels, use of a payment card is the most common way guests settle their
accounts. Guests may make partial payments to their accounts at any time during
their stay. At check-out, their account balances, if not paid in cash, must be trans-
ferred from the guest ledger to the city ledger. Assume that Ms. Grayson has been a
guest at the Altoona Hotel. During her stay, her account balance has been main-
tained in the guest ledger. Now that Ms. Grayson is checking out, her account bal-
ance must be removed from the guest ledger, which is reserved for registered guests.
Any amount that Ms. Grayson owes after check-out must be transferred to a city
ledger account. The two most common methods of noncash guest settlement involve
transfer of outstanding balances to a payment card or to a direct bill account.
Payment Cards When it issues a payment card, a financial institution agrees to pay
debts owed by the cardholder if the card has been legitimately issued to and used only
by the designated cardholder. When the card is used during check-out, the folio
account balance is transferred from the guest (to bring the guest’s account balance to
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