RU100651U1 - UNIFIED HOTEL SALES SYSTEM - Google Patents

Abstract

 1. A unified sales system for hotel services in the city, containing a hotel management server with a room database and a control unit for this database, a hardware complex for the hotel reception and a self-registration terminal located in the hotel reception hall, characterized in that it additionally contains many guest rooms offices located in the main transport hubs of the city, a guest server, configured to provide online information interaction with each guest office and each hotel, as well as personalized visa cards presented at the reception desks of the hotels, each guest office contains a system operator’s workplace equipped with equipment for exchanging information with the guest server and entering the guest’s personal parameters on the visa card, and a payment acceptance tool configured to issue fiscal check and registration of a guest in a particular hotel by transferring information on the payment made to the management server of this hotel through the guest server, assoc Rowan with a particular Visa card, the hardware system of each hotel reception is configured to authenticate the visa personalized guest card and said self-hotel terminal is adapted to receive a payment for the extension of a guest stays associated with a particular Visa card. ! 2. The unified sales system of city hotel services according to claim 1, characterized in that the guest server includes a unified database of available hotel network numbers, the control unit is indicated

Description

The utility model relates to the hospitality industry, and one of its most important services is the hotel accommodation service, which is the first in the chain of interaction with guests, and specifically to the system that unifies the procedure for selling hotel services and registering their guests.

The philosophy of the hotel reception area is to correctly receive the guest in order to ensure maximum hotel load and prevent unjustified downtime. Moreover, the concept of "right to accept" means not only a hospitable attitude towards the client, but also the speed of the hotel system (the guest at the front desk should not wait).

There are two types of hotel service sales: booking rooms and selling them at the front desk.

Room reservation is the most developed type of hotel service sale. Both in Russian and in world practice, many unified hotel reservation systems are known. A fairly complete list of them can easily be obtained on the Internet, for example, the HOTEL24 system (http // www.hotel24.ru) or the Hotels-booking online system (http // www.hotels-booking online.ru). They also include a self-reservation system through the terminal described in patent RU 2107322 (IPC G06F 19/00, publ. March 20, 1998). The advantage of such systems is that the reservation can be addressed to any hotel associated with this system.

Checking a guest into a hotel by reservation takes a few minutes, because in the pre-order the nature of the accommodation and guest data are already known from the reservation request.

However, the sale of hotel services through booking has its inconvenience, both for the client and for the hotel. The risk factor for the client is the preliminary nature of the order (a reservation order is made a few days before check-in by sending a duly completed application and payment for accommodation). In the event that confirmation of payment for services is not received in a timely manner, the hotel will cancel the reservation made. For a hotel, the risk factor is the late cancellation of reservation orders, i.e. cancellation of previously made bookings in an extremely short time, which does not allow to re-set the numbers for sale. As a counter to such adverse factors, hotels include a standard set of measures in their contracts to reduce losses from disruptions to preliminary financial plans (penalties and fines).

Direct sale of rooms at the hotel reception - in terms of comfort and automation, this is the least developed type of hotel service sale. In the absence of the right room, the guest is faced with problems such as the need to look for another hotel or be content with less comfort, or cut the budget if he was counting on a much more modest room, but all of these are already taken.

Selling a hotel service and registering guests without prior reservation at the front desk takes a lot of time, because in this case, the administrator must discuss with each guest the nature of its accommodation.

The prior art technical solutions aimed at optimizing the operation of the reception service.

So in the application US 20080249847 (IPC G06Q 30/00, publ. 09.10.2008) a system is described according to which a guest, having settled in the "traditional method" at the reception by registering with a credit card, receives a key in the form of a magnetic card. When checking out, the guest uses the registration terminal. He brings a magnetic key into the reader of the terminal, and his score is displayed on the monitor. The bill is paid by guest’s credit card or bonus card, etc. Thus, this system only automates the process of calculating a guest for hotel services.

The disadvantage of this system is the “traditional method” of settlement, which has the disadvantages already listed above.

The closest technical solution to the claimed utility model is a hotel services sales system, including a hotel management server, with the hotel room database installed on it and a hotel room management unit, and a hotel reception hardware and software complex connected to the specified server. To speed up the process of registering guests in booked rooms, this system contains a guest self-service terminal located in the hotel reception room and connected to the hotel’s room database and the control unit for the specified number of rooms. (Patent US 4752876, IPC G06Q 50/00, publ. 06/21/1988).

The disadvantage of this system is that it does not cover a significant number of potential customers, since it is aimed at automating the procedure for registering a guest only in apartments reserved by him. Booking systems for hotels require "advanced" technical means for communicating with it, which the bulk of the population of Russia and the CIS countries do not have. Therefore, it is not adapted to the working conditions in Russia and the CIS countries, and therefore, in the domestic hospitality industry, this system cannot provide a significant increase in the efficiency of the hotel.

The system can serve guests without prior reservation in the traditional way - at the reception, subject to availability. If you are not lucky in this hotel, the guest of the city will be forced to travel from one hotel to another in search of free places that meet his needs and capabilities. However, there are few people who want to go at random to the hotel, therefore, the hotels of the city are losing potential customers.

Another disadvantage of this system is that it is designed to perform the registration procedure of a guest in only one particular hotel. Guests who are not comfortable with this hotel due to financial or territorial conditions cannot be served by this system. There is a decline in the quality of service - the adjustment of customer demand to the dictates of hotel supply.

The technical problem, which the claimed utility model is aimed at, is to increase the efficiency of enterprises in the city's hospitality industry by increasing their profitability and competitiveness by creating a new distribution system for the company's service product, expanding their own demand and providing a sharp increase in sales and occupancy rate.

Another objective of the claimed utility model is to improve the quality of service for city guests by organizing new tactics of hotel service sales, expanding the ability to satisfy any requests of city guests, both materially and territorially.

The problem is solved in that the reception services of several hotels in the city, each of which includes a hotel management server with a room database and a control unit for this database, the hardware complex of the hotel reception and the self-registration terminal located in the hotel reception hall, are unified by a single the sales system of city hotel services, which contains many guest offices located in the main transport hubs of the city, a guest server configured to provide and online interaction with each guest office and with each hotel, as well as personalized visa cards presented at the reception desks of the hotels, each guest office contains a system operator’s workstation equipped with equipment that provides the exchange of information with the guest server and the entry of personal guest parameters on the visa a card, and a means of receiving payments, made with the possibility of issuing a fiscal check and registering a guest at a particular hotel, by transferring this state to the management server tinits through the guest server information about the payment associated with a specific visa card, while the hardware complex of the reception of each hotel is configured to authenticate a personalized guest visa card, and the specified hotel self-registration terminal is made with the possibility of receiving payment for extending the guest's stay associated with a specific visa card.

According to the claimed unified sales system of city hotel services, the guest server contains a combined databank of available hotel rooms in the city, a control unit for the specified data bank, configured to search for a room by its status and automatically change the status of the room in accordance with information obtained by connecting with equipment of guest offices and hotel management servers, and a visa card authentication unit, communicatively connected to the receiving means tezhey guest offices with hardware complex reception of each hotel and self-terminals.

In another embodiment of the claimed unified system of sales of hotel services, a guest server may include a transaction block that is communicatively connected to payment systems of guest offices and to self-registration terminals of hotels and provides money transfer from the system account to hotel accounts by connecting to the management servers of all hotels.

According to another variant of the unified sales system of hotel services in a city, a guest server may include a sales history block, configured to accumulate information about all services sold by the system and registration data of guests, by means of a communication connection with the data bank control unit, visa card authentication unit, and transaction block.

The guest server of the claimed unified sales system of city hotel services contains a protection unit against incorrect updates and unauthorized access.

In another embodiment, the inventive unified sales system of city hotel services, a guest server can be blocked with at least one additional server, for example, a file server, which is configured to archive guest server information.

The stated technical problem is also solved by the fact that the self-registration terminal in the claimed unified system of sales of hotel services can be configured to provide information about alternative check-in by connecting to the guest server data bank control unit.

In addition, the visa card of the claimed unified system of sales of hotel services includes, as personal parameters of the guest, his photo and / or passport data.

An analysis of the prior art showed that there are no patent or scientific and technical publications containing a description of identical and / or equivalent technical solutions, which allows us to conclude that the claimed technical solution is new.

The essence of the claimed unified sales system for hotel services in the city is schematically illustrated by drawings, where: Figure 1 shows the main functional elements and the main information flows;

figure 2 shows a detailed diagram of the interaction of the elements of the system on the example of one guest office and one hotel.

The inventive unified sales system of services (Fig. 1) of city hotels includes hotels of 1 different categories, combined on contractual or other conditions. The server 2 of each hotel, which manages the basic services of its hotel, contains an individual database of its room stock and a control unit for this database (not shown). Each server 2 is associated with a hardware-software complex 3 reception.

The unified sales system of city hotel services is equipped with a guest server 4 and guest offices 5 located in the main transport hubs of the city, which together form an extensive sales network. Guest server 4 is the main module of the system and is configured to update online data on available rooms by means of information interaction with each guest office 5 and with the database of the room fund of server 2 of each hotel. An integral part of the claimed system are visa cards, on which the guest’s personalized parameters are applied: photo and / or passport data.

Each guest office 5 contains a workstation of the system operator, equipped with equipment 6, which provides information exchange with the guest server 4 and the input of personal parameters of the guest on a visa card (not shown).

In each guest office 5, a payment acceptance tool 7 is installed, which is capable of issuing a fiscal check and registering a guest at a hotel of his choice by transmitting information about the payment associated with a particular visa card to the management server 2 of this hotel through guest server 1.

The inventive unified sales system of city hotel services includes self-registration terminals 8, which are located in the reception halls of each hotel 1.

The hardware complex 3 of the reception of each hotel and the self-registration terminal 8 are configured to authenticate a personalized guest visa card (Figure 2). The self-registration terminal 8 of the system is configured to receive a payment for extending a guest's stay at a given hotel associated with a particular visa card. By connecting the self-registration terminal 8 with the control unit of the data bank 10 of the guest server 4, it is possible to provide the guest with information about alternative check-in, if there are no places in this hotel.

The guest server 4 of the claimed unified sales system of city hotel services includes (Figure 2):

- a joint database of available rooms of 9 all hotels;

- the control unit 10 of the indicated data bank, which maintains it up to date by automatically changing the statuses of the rooms in accordance with the information received from the guest offices 5 and the management servers of 2 hotels 1, and also provides a search in the data bank 9 of the place of settlement necessary for the guest;

- Visa card authentication unit 11, which provides storage of the guest’s personal parameters and the procedure for comparing the information presented by the guest with the standard stored in the system. Block 11 is communicatively connected to the payment reception facilities of the guest offices 7, with the hardware complex of the reception of each hotel 3 and self-registration terminals 8;

- a transaction block 12, communicatively connected with payment methods of guest offices 7 and with self-registration terminals of 8 hotels, which provides financial offsets to the participants of the system in real time by connecting to the management servers 2 of all hotels;

- a sales history block 13, on which information about all the services sold by the system and registration data of guests is accumulated, by means of a communication connection with the data bank control unit 10, visa card authentication unit 11 and transaction unit 12. This block allows any analysis of the system’s operation (statistical , financial, etc.);

- block protection against incorrect updates and unauthorized access.

To ensure archiving of information of the guest server 4, at least one additional server is provided, for example, a file server 14.

In figure 1 and figure 2, the arrows indicate the communication channels between the elements of the system and the preferred direction of the information channels.

The inventive unified sales system of services of a hotel association operates as follows.

Hotels, which are associated (united) members of the system, take part in the process of selling services on the basis of an agreement on the adoption of specific obligations.

From the management servers of hotels 1 included in the association of the claimed sales system, automatically through communication systems (shown by arrows), information about any changes in the status of rooms is sent to the unified database of available rooms 9 created by the indicated association of hotels on guest server 4.

From the guest offices 5 located in the main transport hubs of the city, information is received on the requests of the guests and their chosen rooms.

Upon receipt of a request from the guest offices 5 to the guest server 4, the control unit 10 issues a list of vacancies corresponding to the guest’s request, checks the possibility of registering in the guest selected room and transmits information about the guest’s registration directly to the specific hotel 1.

Guest server 4 manages all information flows and retains complete control over online sales channels. The guest server 4, equipped with a sales history block 13, provides not only the acceleration of the process of filling the hotel rooms, but also the possibility of studying the demand for hotel places and obtaining statistical data for profitability analysis.

A guest, having arrived in the city, can immediately select and pay for his place of residence right at the station (or airport) by visiting guest office 5, connected by communications with the guest server 4. The operator, having discussed his requirements for settling with the guest, forms a guest request to the system using hardware-software complex 6 and instantly receives from the guest server 4 an information list of available rooms in hotels corresponding to the guest’s request, information about possible bonuses, discounts and other programs for guests. A variety of information, useful or necessary for making a decision on choosing a place of settlement, is displayed on the screen of the additional display at the operator’s workplace (not shown). The guest is given the opportunity to edit his request in order to choose the most comfortable living conditions. If there are no places in the hotel chosen by the guest or in the absence of rooms of the required category, the system operator will offer an alternative accommodation option corresponding to the guest's request. Having coordinated his request with the guest in this way, the operator sends a confirmation request to the guest server 4 and instantly receives confirmation from the guest server that the guest can be checked into the hotel of his choice and in the selected room.

According to the "Rules for the provision of hotel services in the Russian Federation": "the contractor is required to conclude a contract with the consumer for the provision of services. The contract for the provision of services is concluded upon presentation by the consumer of a passport, military ID, identity card, other document issued in the established manner and confirming the identity of the consumer."

Therefore, after receiving confirmation from the guest server 4 about the possibility of providing a hotel service, the operator uses the hardware complex 6 to enter the necessary personal registration data (photo and / or passport data) into the visa card, which is the “contract” of the guest with the hotel and determines the identity of the guest in the future with the hotel of his choice and the guest server number 4. Technical implementation of the visa card - a plastic card with an integrated chip.

Next, the guest approaches the means of receiving payment 7, for example, a payment terminal, applies a plastic card to the indicator. The information is transmitted to the authentication unit 11 and stored. On the payment instrument 7 screen, the name of the hotel, the number that the guest has chosen, the dates of residence and the amount that he must pay for accommodation and additional services (if he wants to include them) are displayed. The guest checks the compliance of the information with his request and makes payment, thereby signing a contract with the hotel confirming the type of accommodation, length of stay and room rate. Information about signing a contract for the purchase of a hotel service is instantly transferred to the authentication unit 11, transaction block 12 and database management unit 10. From server 4, registration information is sent to server 2 of the hotel selected by the guest. The control unit 10 of server 2 changes the schedule for loading the number of rooms and automatically changes the number of free numbers in the data bank 9 of server 4.

Payment tool 7 gives the guest a fiscal check with the amount paid for accommodation and information about the location of the hotel and transport, with which you can get to the hotel. A personalized visa card with a fiscal check attached to it is a guarantor of the guest's settlement.

Arriving at the hotel, the guest goes to the front desk and submits his visa card to the administrator. The administrator applies a plastic card to the indicator of the hardware-software complex 3, which requests the authentication unit 12 of the server 4 about the authenticity of the information provided. After receiving a positive authentication result, the administrator issues a key to the number. Using a plastic card, settlement takes a few seconds.

All information about the sale from all blocks of the server 4 goes to the block sales history 13.

If the guest has decided to extend his time at the hotel, he goes to payment terminal 8, which is installed in the reception hall, and applies his visa card. Information from the visa card is read and transmitted to the authentication unit 11. After receiving a positive authentication result, the guest pays for further accommodation. Information about the extension of the contract for a hotel service is instantly transmitted, the transaction block 12 and the database management unit 10. From the server 4, information on the renewal of registration is sent to the server 2 of the hotel. The control unit 10 of server 2 changes the schedule for loading the number of rooms and automatically changes the number of free numbers in the data bank 9 of server 4.

If there are no places in this hotel, then on the screen of terminal 8 there will appear alternative options for checking into hotels included in the association of the claimed system. Having chosen the option that suits him, the guest pays for the selected room in another hotel, right here - in the reception hall of the hotel in which he lives. Information about his registration in the same way is recorded in server 4 and transmitted to server 2 of the hotel where he will continue to live.

If the guest plans to come to the city again, he must save his visa card. On his next visit, he can independently choose any hotel to stay in guest office 5 and register there by attaching a visa card to the indicator of the payment terminal 7.

The unified sales system of hotel association services will allow several hotels of any type and size to work simultaneously with a single data bank, which will help to satisfy any requests of city guests, both materially and territorially, and, consequently, improve the quality of service for city guests. Such a system, being an effective means of promoting hotel services, will be an additional competitive advantage in creating an attractive image of hotels belonging to the association.

Being a mechanism for a significant increase in the occupancy rate of the room stock due to the increase in sales places and their placement in the places of mass arrival of city guests, the claimed system of sales of hotel services will help increase their demand and profitability.

The claimed unified sales system of hotel association services offers a new concept of work and improving the level of guest service, combining such obvious advantages as speed, reliability, functionality and at the same time ease of use.

Claims (8)

1. A unified sales system for hotel services in the city, containing a hotel management server with a room database and a control unit for this database, a hardware complex for the hotel reception and a self-registration terminal located in the hotel reception hall, characterized in that it additionally contains many guest rooms offices located in the main transport hubs of the city, a guest server, configured to provide online information interaction with each guest office and each hotel, as well as personalized visa cards presented at the reception desks of the hotels, each guest office contains a system operator’s workplace equipped with equipment for exchanging information with the guest server and entering the guest’s personal parameters on the visa card, and a payment acceptance tool configured to issue fiscal check and registration of a guest in a particular hotel by transferring information on the payment made to the management server of this hotel through the guest server, assoc Rowan with a particular Visa card, the hardware system of each hotel reception is configured to authenticate the visa personalized guest card and said self-hotel terminal is adapted to receive a payment for the extension of a guest stays associated with a particular Visa card. 2. The unified sales system of city hotel services according to claim 1, characterized in that the guest server includes a combined databank of available hotel network numbers, a control unit for the indicated databank, configured to provide a room search by its status and automatically change the room status in accordance with with information obtained by connecting lines of communication with guest office equipment and hotel management servers, and a visa card authentication unit, communicatively connected to reception facilities ma payments of guest offices, with a hardware complex of the reception of each hotel and self-registration terminals. 3. The unified sales system of city hotel services according to claim 1, characterized in that the guest server includes a transaction block, communicatively connected to payment methods of guest offices and self-registration terminals of hotels and providing money transfer from the system account to hotel accounts by connecting to management servers of all hotels. 4. The unified sales system of city hotel services according to claim 2, characterized in that the guest server of the system includes a sales history block, configured to accumulate information about all services sold by the system and registration data of guests, by means of a communication connection with the data bank control unit, block visa card authentication and transaction block. 5. The unified sales system of city hotel services according to claim 1, characterized in that the guest server includes a protection unit against incorrect updates and unauthorized access. 6. The unified sales system of city hotel services according to claim 1, characterized in that the guest server is blocked with at least one additional server, for example, a file server, which is configured to archive guest server information. 7. The unified sales system of city hotel services according to claim 1, characterized in that the self-registration terminal is configured to provide information about alternative check-in by connecting to a guest server data bank control unit. 8. The unified sales system of city hotel services according to claim 1, characterized in that the visa card includes his photo and / or passport data as personal parameters of the guest.