Reference no: EM132887595

Many of the front office manager's headaches are caused by the skipper-the guest who departs without paying the bill. However, a dishonest employee can cause even more problems by using this situation as a cover-up. Consider the following situation. A guest checks in and is assigned to an $80 room. The clerk forgets to ask for a mailing address. The following day, the guest, hurrying to catch a flight, runs to the cashier's window, throws down $80 in cash, says "Check me out of 423," and rushes off.

The cashier looks at the bill in the file and notices that the guest left no address. The cashier reasons that the credit department will never track down the guest, so he pockets the $80 and leaves the bill in the file. The next day, room 423 is reported unoccupied. The bill by this time stands at $160 and is charged to "skippers."

Some hotels make no effort to locate skippers; at any rate, such attempts are usually without success. In this case, even finding the guest will not solve the problem; the guest has no receipt to prove his or her claim that the bill was paid.

Problem 1. What steps could be taken to adequately control cash in this situation?