To increase hotel revenue, the front desk must master these 3 hard skills!
Today, starting from the actual work scenario, we will take stock of the three tasks that the front desk must do and related precautions to help the hotel maximize its revenue.
01
How to increase booking conversion rate?
The front desk phone is a channel for guests to obtain first-hand information about the hotel. Many OTA guests choose to call the hotel front desk to inquire about the situation.
1. Respond to customer inquiries in a timely manner
Many hotels require the front desk to answer the phone with the left hand, and answer the phone with a clear and polite voice within 3 rings.
In addition to telephone consultation, also pay attention to the IM consultation reply: keep the EBK website open on the front desk computer or open the reminder notification on the mobile phone. It is recommended to reply to the customer within 30-60 seconds. The faster the reply to the inquiry, the higher the order transaction rate.
If you do not answer the phone in time due to objective reasons, or reply to the online consultation after more than 3 minutes, remember to apologize to the guests: “I’m sorry to keep you waiting!”
2. Familiar with hotel products
①Learn about the hotel and its surroundings
Many guests call or consult online in order to learn more about hotel products and surrounding environment information.
The front desk should understand the characteristics of hotel room types, price policies, facilities and services, entertainment items, surrounding attractions, transportation routes, etc. Frequently asked questions can be compiled into a manual for the front desk to use.
The familiarity of the front desk with the hotel products often directly affects the guests’ first impression of the hotel.
②Master channel sales
The front desk should keep the information synchronized with the sales staff to ensure accurate answer to the customer. For the marketing activities done by the sales department on the OTA platform, many front desks have not had much contact with them before. At this time, the front desk should understand clearly with the sales, how to check the pre-sale orders, how to verify the pre-sale coupons, etc.
③Personalized marketing to customers
Different types of guests have different concerns about the hotel. The front desk should observe and analyze the customer’s psychology, make targeted sales, and convert guest reservations.
During the communication process, it is necessary to understand the type of travel, the number of travelers, the focus of attention, etc. from the guests, and target the hotel highlights that suit his taste.
Classic Case
At the same time, the hotel can grant certain permissions to the front desk staff, such as giving breakfast, promoting room rates, etc., to further attract guests to book and place orders.
3. Establish a good communication relationship with customers
In the process of communication, prepare paper and pen, record the needs of the guests in a timely manner and make answers. For questions that cannot be answered immediately, such as the time of the bus going down the mountain at a certain scenic spot in the evening, please ask the guests to wait for a while, and reply to the guests as soon as possible after seeking help from the corresponding personnel.
If guests have any questions, they can leave their names so that guests can continue to contact them. All in all, the front desk must have the relevant knowledge: all the inquired guests are current or future guests of the hotel, so it is very important to leave a good impression.
4. Establish an incentive assessment system
The conventional evaluation indicator is the booking conversion rate, that is, the number of transaction bookings/the number of consulting guests. For OTA online consultation guests, the hotel can use EBK’s conversion rate data as one of the evaluation indicators for front office staff.
Taking Ctrip’s online consultation (IM) as an example, hotels can be refined into indicators such as 3-minute response rate, number of questions and orders, etc., as reference indicators for assessment.
02
Control booking progress and increase revenue
1. Do a good job in the control of the room
The sales department will absorb orders to the maximum extent, and the front desk can assist in the control of the reservation progress, and at the same time to ensure the income, it is necessary to try to avoid problems caused by overbooking.
①Set the full house baseline
The hotel should set a full room baseline, and the front desk should also be familiar with this baseline in the process of receiving orders every day.
②Master the basic forecast
Front desk staff should understand basic forecasting methods, understand the average daily output of major market segments, and make judgments about booking trends.
③ Synchronous booking progress
The front desk has been in front of the computer for a long time. It is necessary to pay close attention to the recent order volume of various room types and channels, enter it into the hotel management system or record it as soon as possible, and synchronize it to the hotel work group in time.
In the front desk’s judgment based on the amount of incoming orders, consultation volume, and historical data, once it is predicted that there may be a full house trend, the information will be synchronized to the sales or revenue department in time, so that the other party has time to make strategic adjustments.
2. Add temporary reserved room in time
When the number of reserved rooms on eBooking is exhausted, the front desk needs to click the modify button on any grid on the room status maintenance page in time to enter the page shown in the figure below, and modify the number of reserved rooms.
Non-reserved room orders are usually generated because the reserved room inventory is exhausted or the latest reservation time is exceeded. Every time a reserved room order comes in, the front desk must replenish the reserved room in time according to the current room capacity.
3. Timely follow up to confirm the arrival of customers
①Customer itinerary confirmation
The front desk can contact the guests to confirm their itinerary one day before or on the day they arrive at the store, and can provide some travel suggestions and warm tips, which can improve the customer experience and increase the transaction rate.
Note that when communicating with guests, the front desk should also pay attention to the reasons for the cancellation of the guests, so as to ensure that measures can be taken in the future to “win back” the guests.
②Room control confirmation
One or a few days before the booked guests arrive at the store, make arrangements for room allocation, write down shift records, and ensure that these rooms cannot be sold to other guests.
03
Guaranteed guest satisfaction
1. Hotel registration
① Before guests check in
Before the guests arrive at the store, they should prepare for the reception of the guests, such as all kinds of forms, sufficient supplies, and a clear view of the room condition on the day.
For groups or individual customers with reservations, they should pre-allocate rooms, print out the report and send it to the housekeeping department, and prepare the information, room key, meal card (if any), room card, etc., and wait for the arrival of the guests.
②After guests check in
After completing the check-in procedure, immediately notify the guest room department that the guest has checked in, then centrally classify and archive the data, copy and distribute the relevant data to the department that needs to be sent, and finally pass all the data and credentials to the cashier at the front desk and sign the reception. member’s name.
2. Allocate rooms
The staff responsible for allocating rooms must understand and master the advantages and disadvantages of the hotel, location, rent standards, and the booking situation of the day and day.
①The requirements of the reservation should be carefully reviewed before the room is divided
For example, some guests do not want corner rooms, or request non-smoking rooms. Special requirements will be displayed on the EBK order details page, remember to enter the PMS system when accepting the order.
②Consider the departure/arrival time
When assigning rooms, consider the departure time of the original guest and the arrival time of the arriving guest on the same day, and try to allocate the room of the guest who leaves early to the guest who arrives first.
③ Consider individual needs
When arranging, pay attention to privacy, security, hygiene and service aspects. According to the characteristics of the guests, the room allocation method can refer to the following
Group guests : try to arrange rooms on the same floor and according to the same standard and with the same view from the window, and try to concentrate as much as possible.
Individual passengers : The requirements will be higher, and rooms with better quality floors are generally arranged.
Elderly and disabled guests : try to arrange a quiet room on the lower floor that is not close to the road and is relatively close to the elevator entrance.
Couples or couples : Arrange a room with a big bed to make them feel attentive and friendly with the hotel service.
3. Prevention of violations
①No room available when you arrive at the store
Once there is no room in the store, the front desk should not rush to inform the guest that there is no room, let alone contact the guest in advance to inform the guest that there is no room, which will greatly harm the customer experience.
A relatively reasonable method is to upgrade the guest to a high-end room type with the same bed type for free, and inform the other party with words such as welfare gifts.
For some special room types, such as tatami room type, sea view room, parent-child room, etc., please be sure to reserve the hotel, because guests are likely to come specifically for this type of room.
For example, if a guest comes to Sanya to live in a room with a view of the sea, even if you upgrade him to a villa, he is likely to refuse.
②If there is no reservation at the store
When a guest checks in at the hotel, once the order information cannot be queried, please do not directly inform the guest that there is no order at the front desk, but follow the steps below to check:
Confirm the query information: When querying by the guest’s name, confirm the guest’s check-in information, such as name accuracy, check-in date, etc., please open the Ctrip APP or text message, show the check-in voucher information, and accurately query through the confirmation number.
Confirmation of order entry: For hotels that are accustomed to using the PMS system to inquire, there may be cases where the eBooking background receives orders but has not been entered into the PMS system. You can open the eBooking order inquiry page for accurate inquiries.
Contact Ctrip to solve the problem: If the order cannot be queried, please contact Ctrip as soon as possible to solve the problem together.
③Do not convert customers to offline
Some front desks will ask Ctrip guests who come to the store to cancel their orders and place orders through other channels for various reasons such as index assessment.