A virtual reservation is a reservation for a virtual or pseudo room, i.e. a room that does not exist. Virtual reservations are not used on their own, instead they are associated with one or more actual reservations, i.e. reservations for rooms that exist. You can use virtual reservations in a number of ways.
If an agent or a corporate client makes a booking for a group of guests the agent/corporate client may pay the bill for the rooms, but expect the guests to pay for any extras like bar or restaurant etc. In this case you only want the extras to appear on the guest bill. The agent/corporate client would be presented with a bill for all the room nights. You can use a virtual reservation to simplify the billing.
HBG Ltd. book 3 rooms arriving 10 January, departing 14 January. You negotiate a room rate of 35 per night for each room. HBG will pay for the rooms but each guest must pay for any other items.
Create a new reservation for the 3 rooms arriving 10 January, departing 14 January. The reservation type will be group reservation. Make the room rate
Customand enter a rate of zero per night.Create a new virtual reservation arriving 10 January, departing 14 January. Make the room rate 105 per night (i.e. 3 x 35) to cover the cost of the 3 rooms.
When the guests arrive you can check in each guest and also check in the virtual reservation. Each guest bill will have a room cost of zero but any other items that the guest purchases will be added to their bill. The bill for the virtual reservation will be 315 (i.e. 3 nights at 105 which is equivalent to the 3 rooms for three nights at 35 per room per night)
At check out you will now have 4 bills, one for each guest and one for BHG Ltd.
If two friends are sharing a room and they each want their own bill you can use virtual reservations.
Jenny and Ann book a twin bed room arriving 10 January, departing 14 January. The room rate is 40 per night. They request separate bills with the half of the room cost on each bill.
Create a new reservation for 1 room arriving 10 January, departing 14 January. Make the room rate "OTHER" and enter a rate of zero per night.
Create two virtual reservations (one for Jenny and one for Ann) arriving 10 January, departing 14 January. Make the room rate 20 per night (i.e. 0.5 x 40).
When the guests arrive you can check in the normal reservation and also check in each virtual reservation. The bill for the normal reservation will have a room cost of zero. Bills for the virtual reservation will have a room cost of 60 (i.e. 3 nights at 20 which is equivalent to half of the actual room rate of 40 per night for 3 nights)
At check out you will now have 3 bills. The one for the normal reservation, which can be discarded because it is zero, and one for each virtual reservation.
Note: If items are booked to the room you must make sure that they are booked to the virtual room so that items appear on the correct bill.
A language school has booked a triple bed room that will be shared by 3 students. The students are from different countries and will arrive and depart at different times. But their stay will overlap. Each student must have their own bill which covers the time that they occupy the room.
Marco will arrive 2 January and depart 31 January.
Sunil will arrive 16 January and depart 31 January.
Jerome will arrive 9 January and depart 24 January.
You will charge each student 10 per night.
Create a new reservation for 1 room arriving 2 January, departing 31 January. Make the room rate "OTHER" and enter a rate of zero per night.
Create three virtual reservations. One for Marco arriving 2 January and departing 31 January, one for Sunil arriving 16 January and departing 31 January, one for Jerome arriving 9 January and departing 24 January.
When Marco arrives on 2 January check in the normal reservation and the virtual reservation for Marco. When Sunil arrives on 16 January check in the virtual reservation for Sunil. When Jerome arrives on 9 January check in the virtual reservation for Jerome.
When Jerome leaves on 24 January check out the virtual reservation for Jerome. When Marco and Sunil leave on 31 January check out the virtual reservations for Marco and Sunil. Each student will then have their own bill that covers the period they occupied the room.
The bill for the normal reservation will be zero and can be discarded. The bill for Marco will be 290 (29 nights at 10 per night). The bill for Sunil will be 150 (15 nights at 10 per night). The bill for Jerome will be 150 (15 nights at 10 per night).
Note: If items are booked to the room you must make sure that they are booked to the virtual room so that items appear on the correct bill.
All virtual reservations use the Custom Room Rate.