Introduction to the hotel interface in Space

About hotels

Hotels have specific requirements that entail additional functionality not required in other Space installations. To meet these requirements, Space has a Hotel interface and menu that is enabled specifically for such sites. The Hotel interface gives operators access to a restricted subset of the functionality available to an admin user. See also the Admin interface section for more information.

The Hotel menu options can be accessed by admin operators and any operators that have been given the appropriate permissions. These menus contain functionality relating to the access management of guests.

The admin operator (or operator with admin rights) sets up users (hotel staff) and guest access points (rooms, suites, zones, and outputs), and checks in visitors (people who require access for a fixed period, for example, to do site maintenance). They also set up hotel operator groups and hotel operators. The hotel operator can then perform tasks such as guest check-in and check-out.

See Users for more information about users. See Visitors for more information about visitors.

About hotel configuration

You must perform certain configuration tasks for hotel sites in General options.

You can use the Hotel tab to do the following:

• Enable or amend options for guests
• Enable or amend options for rooms and suites
• Configure associated devices

You can enable options for guest keys by using the Hotel tab, and configure PMS options by using the PMS tab if required.

Hotel best practices

Hotel access points and access levels are generally created and managed by an operator with admin rights. References are made to the admin operator throughout this section. However, this can mean any operator that has been granted admin rights. References are also made to a hotel operator. This can refer to any operator who has been given permissions specific to hotels, for example, a front-desk operator.

The following is an example of best practices for completing this process:

1. Rooms created and configured

The admin operator creates rooms and configures the room options.

2. Rooms associated

The admin operator associates automatic outputs and zones with the specified rooms.

3. Suites created and configured

The admin operator creates suites and configures the suite options.

4. Suites associated

The admin operator associates rooms, automatic outputs, and zones with the specified suites.

5. Hotel keys configured

The admin operator configures keys for use by hotel staff and management, and the hotel operator configures keys for guests.

6. Guest access levels created and configured

The admin operator creates and configures guest access levels.

7. Guest access levels associated

The admin operator associates zones, outputs, and guests with the specified guest access levels.

8. Hotel guest entries created and configured

• The hotel operator selects a room and enters the guest check-in information.
• The hotel operator encodes the room key with the guest check-in information.
• The hotel operator checks the guest out when the guest is leaving.

See Group check-in for information about setting up group check-ins.

9. Guest lists managed

The hotel operator views the list of guests and configures guest profiles.

About hotel access points

Hotel access points include rooms, suites, zones, and outputs. Rooms and suites are specific to hotel sites and are described in this section. Zones and outputs can be created in all Space installation sites. See Zones and Outputs for more information about these access points.

Guest accommodation in hotels can be configured in two ways:

• Room: A room assigned to one or more guests.
• Suite: A series of rooms containing one or more areas with individual entrance doors from the outside and a connecting door between. Guests can move between rooms without going through an external hallway. Suites may be booked together by one guest or separately by different guests, checking in as a group.