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IO 1 – Standard Operating Procedures
SOP 07 - Check-in
“SOP 07 - Check-in”
Created by Štěpán Chalupa
Issued on 12. 5. 2022
Created for Front Office employees, Trainers and Trainees, Students
Updated by XX
Updated on XX
Introduction
At the arrival date, the clients will enter the accommodation facility with the request to be
accommodated. Please note that the reservations with the current arrival date must be switched
to “no-show” status if the guest did not arrive. The procedure follows the 10 x 10 rule, which says
that the first 10 minutes of the stay directly affect the rest of the stay and customer overall
satisfaction. The guest should be visible and greeted at a distance of 10 feet (approximately 3
metres).
Purpose
The main purpose of the check-in is to register the client with the reservation for the stay. During
the registration process, the administrative requirement must be met. In addition, the FO
employee must follow the sales rules to improve the overall revenue generated by the reservation
and customer satisfaction through advanced customer care activities.
Procedure
The following procedure reflects the situation where the reservation was created before arrival,
and no issues are found in the registration process.
1. Welcome the quest with a smile (warm and sincere). “Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening,
Welcome to the Hotel International; my name is Štěpán Chalupa. How may I help you?
(What can I do for you?).”
2. The guest wants to check in for a stay. Request the name, reservation ID or reservation
confirmation politely for check-in purposes.
3. Check the reservation in PMS. “Mr Novak, let me check your reservation in the system. “
4. Re-confirm the reservation details (date of arrival and departure, number of rooms and
guests, structure of other ordered services/products).
5. If possible, propose the product upgrade or complimentary upgrade (with respect to
current occupancy.).
6. Check the room allocation.
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7. Request the client's ID to start the registration process. For example, “Mr Novak, your
room is ready. May I ask you for your ID to prepare the registration form?”
8. Fill in the registration form and print it out. During the registration procedure, name and
surname, contact details and address, identity proof (verification towards the photo on
the ID), arrival and departure date, room rate and type, billing instructions payment
methods are registered.
9. Give the ID back to the client and ask for confirmation of the details in the registration
form (including signature). Please note that there might be different data collection
requirements for the foreign quest. In some cases, the Passport and Visa details are
obligatory.
10. Verify the payment methods.
11. Ask for advanced payment of the accommodation services and provide the guest with
the details about billing and check-out payment.
12. Issue the receipt for payment. At the same time, register the receipt in the PMS.
13. Provide the quest with the information about services included in the reservation. For
example, meal plan, the timing of the meals, need for reservation of the other services.
14. Prepare the room key for handover.
15. Provide the quest with the offer of other services provided by the hotel or partners.
16. Give the key/card to the client. Provide the client with basic instructions about the stay
and route to the hotel room. Let the client know you are willing to deal with any request
during the stay.
17. Chance the status of the reservation in the system to “checked-in”.
18. Give the client time for further questions. For example, “Sir/Madam, is there anything
else I can do for you?”
19. Wish the guest an enjoyable stay.
Please note that during the check-in procedure, as an FO employee, you must reduce the time
needed to prosecute the tasks not directly connected to communication with the client (filling in
the details, printing out the registration form etc.) The client should not wait too long, as the
satisfaction level might significantly decrease.
Critical points and unstandardized situations
The check-in process is crucial to the whole stay. From this point of view, the process
modifications and the solutions for such a situation must be listed. Therefore, the Walk-in check-in
(SOP 08) and Walk-out (SOP 09) are presented separately.
• The requested room is unavailable, and there are no other rooms to satisfy the
customers' needs. This is the precise example of the malfunction of the overbooking
strategy where there is no room to accommodate the client. Therefore, you must follow
the walk-out procedure (SOP 09).
• The client is not able to provide you with the requested personal details. In connection
to the administrative requirements of the registration process, you must avoid the
situation where the guest does not meet the administrative requirements accommodated.
You can give the guest hints on how to deal with the situation and walk him out.
• The online check-in was made. In some cases, the check-in was made through the quest
journey application. FO employees must check the correctness of the provided details and
identity proof the guest.
• Check-in kiosks. Your hotel might be using the check-in kiosks. For this reason, FO
employees need to know their functionality and troubleshooting procedures to help the
clients during check-in.
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• The client arrived with a valid reservation confirmation, but the reservation is missing in
the PMS.
• The client arrived with an invalid reservation confirmation.