SOP
Standard Operation Procedures
Simplified. Organized. People-centric
WHAT IS SOP FOR?
Standard Operation Procedures (SOP) are developed for all manpower in a hotel to comply with operation standards without making mistakes & creating conflicts.
However, a countless number of SOP have been written in a lengthy, inconsistent, conflicting way. Employees hardly read, understand, and apply them effectively.
If you can't develop a good SOP that everyone can apply, then DON'T make any.
HOW IS YOUR CURRENT SOP?
Read an example below & make a list of pros & cons
PROS
-
Professional format - Code of document - Personnel - Date
-
Questions post-training
-
Flow chart as summary
CONS
-
Employees have to read 05 different documents for REV
-
Too general purpose
-
Four steps need 04 more guides
-
Unmeasurable actions
-
No quick reference to "Credit policies"
Wait to see the flipbook below
HOW TO REDESIGN SOP?
Users' experience should be most important to SOP
(see 05 steps & 02 designs below)
05 steps
-
Emphasise on clients & clients' experiences
-
Sort out categories that are not overlapped
-
Make flows that indicate key personnel responding clients' experiences
-
Number every single action (measurable actions) in a logical way
-
Give SOP to your staff to test its sequence
Design 01 - Reservation
External Guest Calls
(Individual)
Guest info is taken
1. Name
2. Travel dates
3. How many people
Reservationist enters into Opera & follows promptly by the system
1. Reservationist reviews reservation details with guest
2. Verify price
Reservationist completes booking + payment in Opera
Owner Calls
(FOC Booking)
Sales Calls
(Group)
Contact via email or call
1. Group reservation entered into system
2. Group reservation verified by Sales
Group master account created with cut off dates
Rooming list verified with Sales client
Design 02 - Reservation
Ms A
Reservation Agent
All details need to be collected
(New Reservations = No Reservation History)
1. Cancellation policy is politely explained
2. Reservations can be guaranteed by:
Credit Card
Deposit - cash
Company with hotel approved credit
Travel Agent guarantee – IATA number
+ Non guaranteed bookings are held until 6 pm on the day of arrival
+ Thereafter, subject to the hotel’s occupancy level, the room may be released for re-sale.
Before proceeding with an amendment, ensure it is permitted in relation to the sales conditions of the booking
-
A booking has already been made but is cancelled as per the guest’s request and a cancellation number provided.
-
Sales conditions are to be adhered to. E.g. no changes, no refund.
-
When a guest calls the Reservation department to make a booking, but the hotel is fully booked for that date or room type, the booking can be put on waitlist.
-
Once a room is available and/or room type requested becomes available, the guest is to be contacted to confirm the booking.
-
During the booking process, should the guest decide not to make a booking, it is referred to as a ‘Turn-away’ or ‘Denial’ reservation.
-
A record is created to indicate why the guest did not complete the reservation.
-
A no show means that a booking was made but the guest never showed up on the expected arrival date, without informing the hotel beforehand.
Ms C
Supervisor
− Training on Reservation Sequence
− Training on Use of Rate Query in PMS
− Training on Client needs
− Training on Credit Policies
x
x