CHAPTER 13
The data collection and analysis role of the director of
transient sales is important to any hotel. The other crucial
role he or she plays is managing the reservation sales team.
A properly managed reservations department will
maximize transient room revenue.
Managing the transient sales effort requires:
Proper staffing
Training
Call management
Sales strategy
Staffing :
Staffing and scheduling are critical in
reservations. Within the reservations
department the director is the leader.
In large and mega hotels, a reservation
manager may also be on staff.
Who is reservation manager?
Reservation Managers are front
line professionals who facilitate the
promotion, sales and bookings of a
company's products and services. They
are employed by travel agencies, tour
operators, transportation companies,
hotel chains and car rental agencies.
Source of information:
https://www.hotelcareer.com
The Reservation manager in some
hotels called Rooms Division Manager
also manages the 24/7 operations of the front
desk, reservations, concierge, the phones and
the night managers.
Source of information:
Hotel reservation| Reservation Manager - Hospitality Study
hospitalitystudy.eu › reservation-manager
Staff reservations agents:
are also called “reservationists”
The agents must implement all the yield management
strategies laid out by management. The reservations
staff may consist of just two or three agents, or a few
dozen so that the daily occupancy of the hotel does
not effect staffing levels.
They rely also on the forecast generated by reservations
to determine their staffing.
Hours of operation in reservations must be
reflective of the hotel’s calling audience.
A missed call equates to miss
revenues.
GENERAL RULE OF THUMB: fore
reservations staffing is to adhere to prime
selling time.
PRIME SELLING TIME: defined as the
specific hours during the day when
transient guests are most likely to call in
for reservation.
Demand hours:
Example:
Prime selling usually differ from hotel
Another factor to consider in staffing is the
hotel’s advertising schedules . Special
packages, discounts, and other promotions
may increase volume during their runs.
AUTOMATED CALL
DISTRIBUTOR
The number of agents required is dependent on these call
volumes. Reservation calls are routed to available agents
via an automated call distributor.
The ACD monitors and systems record the produce
calls and volume reports at regular intervals.
The Director of Transient sales or the reservations
manager will review those reports frequently, as often
as every hour. The data in those reports identifies how
long calls are kept waiting, among other things.
Data of Information
The reservation department is often
viewed as an extension of the sales
department. Each call is a sales
opportunity.
Training
In hiring for reservation, a sales or customer service
background is preferred.
People can be taught software systems, but it is much harder
to teach someone to be :
Enthusiastic, Friendly, Eager to please
A good phone voice is also important for a
reservations agent. Proper grammar usage is
vital. In some markets, bilingual agents can be
very valuable.
In any sales capacity, knowledge of the product
is vital. Because reservations agents sell the
hotel, knowledge of the facility paramount.
The ability to describe all aspects of the guest
experience is needed. The agent is often the
first hotel employee a guest comes in
contact with. The first contact must begin
the process of satisfying the guest.
First hand product knowledge will help the agent
sell the property on every call. Each agent
should compile a fact sheet or computer file
listing as much hotel information as needed.
COMMON QUESTIONS:
FOOD AND BEVERAGES OUTLET GENERAL HOTEL INFORMATION
INFORMATION
*Does the Chef prepare daily Does the Hotel offer automatic
specials? checkout?
*Does the hotel offer buffets Are there coffeemakers, and fax
at set times, or based strictly machines in the rooms?
on occupancy levels?
Is there an airport shuttle bus?
*Is room service available What are the room amenities?
24hours a day?
Are there nearby restaurants or
attractions and what are their costs
and hours operation?
Call Management
An automated call distribution system, commonly known
as automatic call distributor (ACD), is a telephony device answers
and distributes incoming calls to a specific group of terminals or
agents within an organization.
The ACD data most useful
to the director of transient
sales are :
1. Call length is important
because long calls
preclude agents from
taking other incoming
calls.
2. Wait time is a good measurement of demand versus
staffing. If people are waiting a long time to reach an agent,
then more staff might be necessary
3. Dropped calls (sometimes referred to as
abandoned calls) are the number of people who simply
hung up the call.
Conversion ratio/ Closure rate
Is defined as the number of transient bookings made
versus the number of calls received.
Upselling is a sales technique where a seller induces
the guest/customer to purchase more expensive
items, upgrades or other add-ons in an attempt to
make a more profitable sale.
RESERVATION MAP :the Director of Transient Sales
use this to determine what types of rooms are
available and when they are going to be available,
Proper call management :
Knowing what to say in the phone
◦ Phone calls are the primary transient avenue to
any hotel #DOMINANT
a. An agent must have a good speaking voice and
know how to speak eloquently.
b. A reservation agent must be able to
communicate and use a computer at the same time.
There are few rules most successful agents follow
to ensure a quality call:
• The mannerism and tone of the agent can really
can literally “make or break” the call.
•There are certain basic qualifying questions each
agent should cover and few “do’s and don’ts to
remember”.
BASIC QUALIFYING QUESTIONS include:
•Are you attending a group convention?
• How many people in your party?
• Are you a member of our frequent stay program?
• Have you stayed with us before?
• Do you prefer smoking or non- smoking
• What is your estimated time of arrival?
DON’T SAY DO SAY
I DON’T KNOW I’LL BE HAPPY TO CKECK ON
THAT FOR YOU
WE ARE OVERSOLD WE ARE SOLD TO CAPACITY
I CAN’T CONFIRM A KING BED I WOULD BE HAPPY TO REQUEST
ROOM A KING FOR YOU
THIS COMPUTER SYSTEM IS NEW MY COMPUTER IS DOWN RIGHT
,AND I DON’T KNOW IT WELL NOW, PLEASE BEAR WITH ME
WE STILL HAVE MANY ROOMS WE ARE FILLING UP, BUT I AM
AVAILABLE CONFIDENT WE HAVE A ROOM
FOR YOU
BYE THANK YOU FOR CALLING ****
HOTEL
Other rules of thumb
1.Avoidance of Silence
2. Giving their first name upon greeting the caller
3. A canned-speech type of selling- A conversational
tone adds and allows the agent to tailor the
approach to each caller’s need.
3.1 Open-ended questions are those that
require more than a one-word answer.
4. Recapping- the reservation with the caller is a
step the agent never wants to skip.
4.1Verifying 4.2Repeating 4.3Confirming
Caller’s silence
SALES STRATEGY
DIFFERENT SELLING STRATEGIES
WHEN IT COMES TO
RESERVATION SALES
TOP DOWN-
◦ #BUYER CONFIDENCE
BOTTOM UP
MID-RANGE
HUMANAAA NAAAAAA !!!!
