SOP - No Show Process

Title: No Show Process 

Reference Number: 007

Status: Final

Version Date: 11/10/2024

Information

A no show refers to a guest who fails to appear for their scheduled reservation. The reservation contact center is responsible for investigating the underlying reasons behind the no show and providing this information to the front office team for further action, as necessary.

Objective

To investigate & understand the reasons behind the no show prior to charging the guest or travel agency. If not checked & updated, front desk team will end up charging all the guests/travel agencies.

Point of Ccontact

1. Front Desk (They share the report with reservation team for investigation prior to proceeding with charging the rooms) 
2. Revenue Team (To be copied on email in case of charging the guest/travel agency)

Frequency

• Daily – Data to be worked on & finalized first thing in the morning, it shall be sent back to front office team before 12 PM as that is the deadline. Along with finalizing all the pending cases on the A-Drive tracker. 
• Once the last night no show backlog is checked, agent should check the previous days pending bookings and follow-up/update remarks for those as well.
  At month-end – all remarks to be updated either as “ok to charge” or “waived due to _______”

Important Notes

• Any no show room above 40,000 AED must be checked with management prior of charging them (Even if valid reasoning exists).
• Any disputes/challenges presented by the guest/travel agency as the reasonings behind the no show must be reviewed by the operation manager for the final decision. 

Procedure

Detailed Steps

Find Data 

1. Check outlook to view the last report received from the front desk team with all the no show guests of the previous day.
2. Check the “No Show” tracker on the A-Drive to view any pending no show cases that must be finalized. 

Investigation 

1. Copy the booking confirmation number from the received report. 
2. Search the booking confirmation number on Opera to locate the booking. 
3. Check if there are any internal notes on the booking page that might be the reasoning behind the no show. 
4. Conduct a comprehensive search using various identifiers such as the guest's name, email, and contact detail on all the below platforms. This search aims to identify any potential missed communication, both internally and externally that may provide insights into the reasons for any no-show occurrences. 

• Wholesale Mail Inbox 
• ATP Mail Inbox
• ATR Mail Inbox
• Groups Team (In case it was a group booking)
• Booking.com Internal Team (In case it was a reservation through booking.com)

Procedure

Detailed Steps

Investigation

If any reason/explanation gets picked up upon checking all these platforms, i.e. duplicate booking, missed out cancellation request, guest name was inserted wrongly (last name & first name swapped), etc. then validate it and get the approval from the operation manager to waive off the charges (If needed) and communicate the same to the front office team. 

If nothing was found, check the below points prior of proceeding to initiate any decision:

1. If it was a travel agency – Proceed with charging them by communicating the same to front office team. 
2. If it was a guest (With direct deposit) – Email the guest saying that the booking was missed, 100% charges are applicable and that we would proceed with the charges, keep the case on-hold by adding it to pending list to be followed up on and check if guest comes back with any valid explanation behind it. Make sure to communicate the same to front office team so that they don’t proceed with charging.
   
     
3. We can keep the charges on hold for 72 hours max and you must communicate to FO with the same to avoid any charges. 

 Check Points     

Ensure that each of these points are checked prior of proceeding with a decision of waiving off the charges or charging the room.
  

• I checked all the relevant systems in my investigation. 
• I checked if there was a duplicate booking for the same guest that he/she might have checked into.
• I checked the back-up to see if the booking was done correctly, date, TA, etc. on the A-Drive.
• I checked all the reservations inboxes (Web Mail), to notice if guest had requested any amendment, cancellation for the booking.
• I checked Booking.com and SynXis if they had any charges to be placed on hold.
  

Procedure

Detailed Steps

Communication 

• Front office team must always be updated with the outcome of our investigation, even if the payment shall remain on hold, the same must be communicated with them. Communication will be sent daily to them before 12 PM Noon.
  
• Any pending bookings to be updated within the allocated 72 hours to avoid Finance charging all pending bookings after 72 hours.

Reports & Handover   

1. Update the tracking file on the A-Drive with any pending cases that needs following up.
   
2. A:\Rooms\Public\Room Reservations\01.ROOM RESERVATIONS\000 Late Cancellation and No show 

Make sure to update all the columns in the report. Maintain a file for all the bookings checked, so in case of a future discrepancy, you will have your backups.

1. Month-end reconciliation report that needs to be done for Expedia bookings. All bookings on Expedia to be checked against Opera to ensure all active bookings on Expedia that have a commission claim were materialized in Opera. In case of a discrepancy, Expedia needs to be informed immediately. This report needs to be sent to the Finance team latest by 3rd of every month.