RoomKey Property Management Blog Hotel Property Management Solutions

By Jeff Sefton

If you handle groups at your hotel you will require group functionality within your property management system. A group could be a wedding party, corporate function, convention, tour group, an airline crew, etc.

Group functionality allows you to:

1. Hold a block of rooms for a group
2. Enter a complete rooming list for the group
3. Have guests book their own rooms individually out of the group block

Group business can represent a large part of a property’s revenue, so hoteliers are always looking for ways to make it easier for their group business customers to book accommodations. In addition, providing the ability for group customers to book their rooms online is becoming an essential service requirement for many hotels.

Not a Typical Reservation

Group reservations are unique because clients:

1. Need to get their preferred room rate AND
2. Have their reservation remove inventory from a preassigned block of rooms

Here’s an example:

• Bob and Sally have guaranteed the hotel that they will bring 250 wedding guests that will stay over at the hotel the night of their wedding
• The hotel group coordinator has offered them a special rate based on Bob and Sallys guarantee that their wedding group will occupy 125 rooms
• The group coordinator provides Bob and Sally with a booking code that will be given out to their wedding guests
• Their guests may phone direct to the hotel or book their own reservation using the online booking engine on the hotel web site
• By using their code during the booking process the room is taken out of the guaranteed block of 125 rooms and the guest gets a special room rate as part of the Bob and Sally wedding group

Here are some more group functions that you may want to consider when evaluating a property management system for your lodging business:

1. Group confirmations and deposits
2. Ability to split charges for incidentals and room and tax charges
3. Master folio for Group and individual folios
4. Group Notes
5. Ability to add additional hotel services
6. Ability to assign room numbers to group members
7. Ability to import group rooming lists
8. Pickup from Group Block
9. City Ledger/Account receivable billing
10. Group check-in entire group or individually
11. Group check-out entire group or individually
12. Ability to drop unbooked rooms from the block by set number of days prior to arrival date
13. Group pickup reports
14. Group statistical reports

Image Credit: Jacob Botter

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