CHECK-IN CHECK-OUT
A Hotel Operations and Front Office Management Textbook
Unique Changes to
As we step into the millenium, the tempo of change in corporate America continues to rise unabated. No industry--and this is especially true of the lodging industry--can survive without an attitude which embraces change. And it is that attitude which prevails in writing a new text edition. Change has been the foundation for each of the 6 editions written over the past 25 years! Change is no longer a force in the hotel industry, it is the hotel industry.
Difficult as it is to say goodbye to an old friend, the authors must continually weigh information from the previous edition against its relevancy, accuracy, and importance to the next edition. As we trim and edit the old to make room for the new, we are constantly amazed with the speed of technological advancement and adaptation exemplified by the lodging industry. Likewise, as we research new statistics, rewrite figures, and update exhibits, we are equally astonished at the absolute growth experienced by the industry these past few years.
Over the years, each edition of the book has attempted to blend old with new. It has been a constant struggle to reduce our discussions of manual hotel operations in exchange for automated systems. You see, while automated systems are state of the art and the latest and greatest, from a pedagogical standpoint, the old manual approach is most readily understood by the student. We can’t just describe what happens with the automated systems, we also explain how and why it happens. Still, we continually replace manual with automated discussions, and this edition that is more apparent then ever before.
Changes in the Sixth Edition
The fifth edition (1996) saw a complete rewrite of the text, including rearranging and combining of chapters. The resulting fifth edition text offered 15 chapters as opposed to the 17-chapters previously available. These structural changes were met with positive feedback by faculty who now realized an easier text from which to teach a 15-week semester. The number and order of chapters (and chapter units) have remained relatively consistent with this sixth edition.
In keeping with the high standard of past revisions, the sixth edition incorporates an extensive rewrite of the text. Although regular users of Check-In Check-Out will spot numerous changes not listed below, here are some of the primary improvements to the sixth edition:
· A new publisher, Prentice-Hall. Please see prenhall.com
· Numerous references have been made to changes anticipated as we march into the new millenium.
· Almost all text charts and photos have been added, replaced, or updated.
· In response to reviews of the book which suggest the language is too difficult for two- and four-year college students, this edition has been carefully re-worded to simplify the overall readability of the material.
· Several chapters have been completely reorganized to increase clarity and logical flow of material.
· Special attention has been focused on accounting sections throughout the book to make them more understandable to non-accountants.
· Many end-of-chapter discussion questions are new.
· The glossary remains one of the best found in any hospitality text.
· New sections have been added (or significantly enhanced) on such diverse topics as
· Cycle of the industry
· RevPar
· Break-even points
· REITS
· Property leases
· Financial history of the industry since 1980
· Spas
· Enhanced discussion on Timeshares
· Hotel security
· Floor plans and room sizes
· Global distribution systems
· On-line reservations bookings
· Inventory-nesting and hurdle-pricing
· Training
· Guest history databases at the property- and corporate-level
· Convention and visitor bureaus
· Overbooking
· Americans with Disabilities Act
· Empowerment
· Hotel environmental conservation “green” programs
· Early check-in policies
· Self-check-in kiosks
· Group luggage handling
· Rate inflation and elasticity of demand for hotel rooms
· Bed taxes impact on demand
· Repeal of the 1990 Fire Safety Act
· Cost to the hotel from credit card charged employee tips
· ATM’s
· Euro currency
· New U.S. currency
· Debit cards
· Smart cards
· Simplified description for completing the night audit
· Standardization of interfaced computer systems
More Than a Front-Office Text
Although Check-In Check-Out is written at the undergraduate level, it serves a number of other users as well. The text is regularly found on the desks or bookshelves of industry executives, where it functions as a reference book on a range of topics. It has also been used for on-the-job training in a variety of settings for a number of years. In fact, since its introduction twenty-five years ago, this book has remained the premier rooms management text--it has been used at both two-year and four-year institutions as a front-office book, an introductory industry text, a resource, and for supplemental enrichment discussion in hotel accounting classes. Such versatility is possible because each edition of Check-In Check-Out is current, accurate, thorough, and realistic.
Supplements to the Textbook
Check-In Check-Out offers faculty members a complete Instructor’s Manual (IM) to supplement their use of the textbook. The IM provides a series of guidelines and suggestions for using the text, as well as alternative academic calendars and chapter summaries. Sample exam questions are also provided for each chapter and unit. A complete final examination is included, complete with objective-type questions, short-answer problems, and brief essays. The Instructor’s Manual also provides suggested answers to each of the end-of-chapter questions included in the text. These questions, which follow every one of the fourteen text chapters, are designed for classroom discussion, homework assignments, and even additions to chapter examinations.
The glossary; bibliography; and detailed, cross-referenced index also serve to aid the instructor in a variety of ways. Although these three resources are not truly supplemental materials (they are included at the end of the textbook) they are well appreciated by a number of users.
A recent on-line fifteen-week course (see HTTP://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~gkv/ha210/) has become available for this textbook. Students can take this course from literally anywhere in the world and receive three transferable college credits. In addition to this new course, the textbook has been developing a relationship with authors of related front office software. With this new software, students can parallel the text discussion with live computer simulation models. This partnership should be available soon, please e-mail the author for additional details.
Chapter Outlines
Chapter 1; The Traditional Hotel Industry
· Scope of the Industry
· Traditional Classifications
Chapter 2; The Modern Hotel Industry
· New Product Patterns
· New Market Patterns
· New Ownership Patterns
· New Management Patterns
Chapter 3; The Structure of the Hotel Industry
· The Organizational Structure
· Structure of the Front Office
· The Building Structure
Chapter 4; Changing Methods for Making Today’s Reservations
· Global Distribution
· Automated Revenue Management Systems
Chapter 5; Individual and Group Reservations
· Components of the Reservation
· Convention and Tour Group Business
Chapter 6; Forecasting Availability and Overbooking
· Forecasting Availability
· Overbooking
Chapter 7; Managing Guest Service
· Brief History of Quality Management
· What is Quality Management
· Implementing Guest Service
Chapter 8; The Guest Arrival Process
· The Arriving Guest
· Completing the Registration
· The Rooming Process
Chapter 9; Setting the Room Rate
· Factors in Establishing the Room Rate
· Determining the Proper Room Rate
Chapter 10; Billing the Guest Folio
· Accounts Receivable
· Posting to Accounts Receivable
Chapter 11; Cash Transactions
· Handling Cash Transactions
· The Cashier’s Daily Report
· Cash and Cash Equivalents
Chapter 12; Credit and the City Ledger
· The City Ledger
· Managing Credit
· Mechanics of the Entry
Chapter 13; The Night Audit
· The Auditor and the Audit
· The Property Management System
Chapter 14; Property Management System Interfaces
· Integrated Call Accounting Systems
· Guest-Room Locking Systems
· Other Common Interfaces