Hotel Registration Card: What is the purpose of a registration card in a hotel?

Every time you check into a hotel, you go through a registration process, that you may not notice. This process has several steps – one of which is a Hotel Registration Card.

A smooth and faster registration process is crucial for hotels as well as for their guests. When this first point of physical interaction with the guests goes succinctly, the guests are more likely to ignore shortcomings that may come their way throughout the stay.

Hotel guest registration process

If you think of the reservation and a reservation letter as an agreement between the hotel and you as a guest, the registration process is a final check and verification of both sides before the front agent hands over a room key.

Even though many hotels adapt to automating the process using kiosk terminals or mobile apps, the core purpose remains the same.

Generally, at the check-in, these checks are performed:

• Your reservation record is retrieved if you have rebooked a room.
• The agent checks for room availability if you’re a walk-in guest (without a reservation). In PMS systems like Oracle Opera, a reservation record is made like a prebooked reservation with a type indicating ‘Walk-in’.
• Double-check guest names and address information. Crucially, it allows the FO agent to check your identity against your national ID, driving license, or password.
• (As per the regional legal requirements) Takes copies of ID documents, or with modern PMS systems, they can store scanned copies with the guests’ profile records.
• FO agent verifies with guests on payment, booked room type, date, departure time, and rates along with other prebooked details.

• Corrections are made to the reservation record.
• In case, the guest’s bill is going to be settled by his company, travel agent, or another entity, the agent checks their creditworthiness (Direct bills / City Ledger).
• Prints the hotel registration card. With PMS systems, it is easier to print registration cards filled with guest details obtained from the reservation records. A hotel registration can be printed instantly or to speed up the check-in process, hotels keep them printed for arriving guests. Get the guest’s signature on the registration card to consent to the booking information, payment, and any hotel policy.
• FO agent proceeds with taking deposit payments for room nights + any incidental charges as per hotel policy. For bookings that are guaranteed by companies, usually a deposit is not a must.

What is a hotel registration card?

A hotel registration card is often a single-page form with a summary of a guest’s hotel reservation details and hotel policies that have been verified by the hotels and acknowledged by the guest.

The information includes the guest’s name, address, dates, room number, room type, room rate, contact information, payment details, and the hotel policies that apply to in-house guests.

What is the use of a hotel guest registration card (GRC)?

A hotel registration card is might look redundant as the technology progresses, however, the fact is that a guest can stay at a hotel without making a booking/reservation, but not without a registration card, which is entry pass to staying at a hotel. And, some reasons:

• Meeting legal requirements: Even though the form itself might not be a legal requirement, the hotel can use a registration card to collect additional data to meet changing changing needs of regional jurisdiction. Because it is easier to change or add a simple quote on a local policy statement in the reg card than amending the hotel’s PMS systems.
• Emergencies: In case of an unforeseen, the hotel should know the details of in-house guests. Even in case of a fire or total system failure, a hard-printed form is preferred.
• Disputes: It helps in disputes. For example, if a guest refuses to pay for the damage caused by him/her, the hotel can pull out the registration card with a breakage policy on it with his/her acknowledgment.

A simple guest registration card template:

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