Guests often use the words "enquiry", "request" and "reservation" as synonyms. For a hotel the difference is big: it determines what you promise and what the guest expects. Below are the five steps in order.

The steps one by one

Enquiry

An enquiry is a question: are there rooms for the weekend, are dogs allowed, how far is it to the centre. It does not contain a decision to stay and asks nothing of you except an answer. An enquiry is not a reservation and does not hold a room.

Reservation request

A request is a specific wish: dates, number of guests, preferred room or room type, meals and contact details. The guest has decided and wants to secure a place. But until someone has checked and confirmed, the request is only a recorded intention. It does not hold a room and is not an agreement.

Availability check

Availability can be checked only if there is a room calendar that is kept up to date: which rooms are occupied, which are blocked, which are free for the given nights. The calendar can be a notebook, a spreadsheet, a booking platform or a hotel management system. Without such a source, every "it's free" is a guess.

Confirmation

Confirmation is a decision: the room is for this guest, for these dates. It can be given by a person (a call, a message) or by a system. What matters is that the guest receives the confirmation, verbally, by email or in another agreed way. Until they do, the guest should not consider that they have a reservation.

Payment

Payment is a separate step. Some properties ask for a deposit, others for payment on arrival, others by bank transfer. It is not a synonym for confirmation and can happen before or after it.

How to say it honestly to the guest

Most often the misunderstanding comes from the wording. "Book online" promises a confirmed room, while the form actually accepts a request. More honest phrases are:

  • "Send a request. We will reply and confirm."
  • "A request does not hold a room until we confirm it."
  • "We will call you on the phone number you left."

After sending, the guest should clearly see three things: that the request has been received, who will contact them and how. It is good to say by when to expect a reply as well, but give a deadline only if you are sure you can keep it.

What an assistant or a form does

The form collects a request and passes it to the team. The assistant does the same in a conversation: it asks questions, shows a summary and sends the request. Neither confirms anything, unless they are connected to a calendar and you have explicitly assigned them that task. If you present them as "online reservation", the guest will expect a confirmed room.

How it works with ISKA Assistant

ISKA Assistant accepts a room reservation request: dates, number of guests, room, meals and contact details. It shows a summary, records the request as "new" and your team is notified. A member of your staff confirms it, by default with a call to the phone number the guest left; if the guest also left an email, they receive an email when you confirm or decline the request in the portal. How this works depends on the property's settings: if an external booking system is switched on, the guest completes the reservation there. Availability from ISKA PMS is checked only if the property uses ISKA PMS and has turned this feature on; otherwise availability is not checked automatically. The assistant does not accept payment. It accepts room requests; table reservations are part of ISKA Restaurant · Pro.

A quick check for your property

  • What exactly does the button and the form say: "enquiry", "request" or "book"?
  • How do you know the room is free: is there a calendar that is kept up to date?
  • Who confirms, and how does the guest find out?
  • When is payment due, and has the guest been told?