Hotel reception
To avoid congestion and delay when large numbers of registrants arrive at the same time, knowledgeable meeting professionals arrange in advance to have additional staff at reception counters and or set up a separate group reservation area. Other strategies to avoid overcrowding or speed up the procedure include preregistration on the hotel’s Web site and doing hotel and event registration in the same area. In both methods, key cards are given out on arrival, thus confirming occupancy. A feature available at some hotels is the use of self-service kiosks that allow guests to avoid long lines, complete the registration procedure, and receive their key cards. The same system can accommodate checkout.