In the hospitality industry, a Central Reservations Office or Central Reservations Center is a call center that handles room reservation calls and other related calls for a hotel chain or company. A Central Reservations Office usually handles calls from a 1-800 number or multiple numbers for a chain of hotels. Call centers usually consist of a large staff of phone operators that answer incoming phone calls and specialize as reservations agents.
The main floor of a Central Reservations Office is usually known as the "sales floor" as this is where the majority of calls are handled and sales transactions are made by booking reservations at hotels. Large call centers may have special operators for special services or phone numbers such as preferred customer lines, a reward reservations line for guest loyalty programs, and a guest services line for complaints and unique situations.
Large hospitality companies such as the Hilton Hotels Corporation and Marriott International have large networks of multiple Central Reservations Offices throughout the world.
Most Central Reservations Offices often have on-site corporate offices for the chain of hotels or hotel management company.