LEISURE & HOSPITALITY FACILITIES


BE OUR GUEST


Moneypenny’s Commercial Director, Joanna Swash, explains why the first point of contact for any hotel must never be given short shrift.


Before your guests even set foot into your hotel, what impression do you think they have of you? They have probably seen your website or a brochure, so are bursting with fluffy marketing imagery of smiling people having a wonderful time in a great location and have bought into the notion of your product before they make that online enquiry or pick up the phone. Your conversion rate at this point is all important.


One hotel group with a firm eye on quality customer contact is Luxury Family Hotels, who earlier this year made a conscious change to the way they did business, which has not only seen improvements in customer service delivery but in profitability too. With eight hideaway hotels in stunning UK locations, Luxury Family Hotels was already a business on a mission when they made the decision to outsource their central reservation’s overflow calls to telephone answering specialists, Moneypenny.


Jonathan Parker, Head of Revenue and Distribution, explained: “We became increasingly aware that as our business grew, we needed to refine the way we dealt with incoming enquiries. While many of our guests book online, we still have large numbers preferring the more personal touch by telephone and we knew there were times when we couldn’t get to all the calls. Inevitably, our business is seasonal, so we see


40 | TOMORROW’S FM


peaks and troughs in call volume throughout the year and at different times of the day – for example, the phones are busiest first thing in the morning, at lunchtime and when people finish work, as this is when they generally find the time to make a booking. Staffing for this is difficult and not particularly cost-effective, so now all overflow calls are routed to our Moneypenny Receptionist who takes all the details and passes them to us so we can call back as soon as we are free. This way, we know that every single call is captured, we aren’t missing any opportunities and our callers are getting a first-rate response every time.


“The online management information we receive on all our calls is also a huge benefit to our strategic and marketing planning, giving us a clear picture of activity and trends. Having this ‘safety net’ means the pressure is off our hotel staff, who get to spend more time with our guests which, in turn, enhances their experience and maximises revenue.”


So, when was the last time you put the shoe on the other foot and experienced your hotel as a guest? However established and successful you are, this is a useful exercise for any business to check you are in good shape, so take a bit of time out and ask yourself some straight-forward questions, for example....


• Can we be sure the quality of our customer contact is the same whatever the time of day?


• Are we making customers feel special?


• What first impression do we give?


• How well do we communicate and are all staff giving consistency of message and service whether that be written, on the phone or in person?


• Are we using the data coming into the business to our commercial advantage?


• Do we have a failsafe disaster recovery plan in place in the event of an emergency?


The way any business manages its telephone calls speaks volumes about its commitment to good customer service. Our research shows that 79% of new business callers greeted by an answering machine will simply hang up and 75% hang up before six rings, so there’s no room for complacency.


Be that guest for a day, think about what they need, what they want and what you are providing. After all, there’s absolutely no point spending money on marketing to increase awareness and leads if you can't sort the basics out!


www.moneypenny.co.uk


twitter.com/TomorrowsFM


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64