A central reservation office typically deals directly with the public, advertises a central (usually toll-free) telephone number, provides participating properties with necessary communications equipment, and bills properties for handling their reservations. 

It is a system that allows reservation agents to receive reservation requests by phone and to handle them immediately. CROs display availability of hotels and allow reservation agents to easily and fast find the suitable property for the client they have on the phone. Therefore, sophisticated search options have to be included.