Online reservation channel is not popular in a hotel sphere as it may seem at a first glance. More and more clients still prefer to use their telephones for booking a room. However, the low quality of telephone reservation channels lead to the reduced level of income because of clients’ refusal to work with hotels which do not have top quality telephone reservation channels.
Reading the article Hotel Voice Reservations: The Forgotten Channel by Doug Kennedy, it becomes obvious that online reservation is imposed on people due to the development of innovative technologies. Hotel managers consider online reservation as the simplest and the fastest way of making a reservation of a room. Moreover, online reservations are more convenient for hotels and managers who do not have to spend time on serving clients as reservation is made automatically. However, many people still prefer to turn to telephone reservation when it comes to action. Clients prefer to check the rooms, services and prices online but when making a reservation, people usually call hotels directly.
A high number of calls along with hotel managers’ assuredness that online reservations are much more convenient lead to the fact that many hotels do not have quality call operators who are able to inform clients about the services and prices a hotel provides. The article highlights these problems, and I definitely agree with the author. A receptionist is usually responsible for telephone reservations as well as for other services. Therefore, when meeting a client, receptionists usually drop calls and never call back. Besides, even when a receptionist receives a call, he/she is unable to explain everything in detail as a receptionist has many other responsibilities which are to be accomplished. Therefore, a conversation is abrupt in more cases, and it often leads to a client dissatisfaction and refusal to use the services of this or that particular hotel.
The author of the article stresses out that each hotel should have a trained person who is able to make telephone reservations in order to satisfy customers. This person is to be aware of the services a hotel offers, he/she is to have practical acquaintance with hotel rooms, restaurants, and other services the hotel provides. A telephone reservation operator is to listen to all voice messages if any and call back. It should be a separate person whose main responsibility is to make and receive calls.
Generally, there are specialized call centers responsible for these issues. Doug Kennedy says that a hotel manager is to visit a call center which serves a hotel and train operators who are responsible for online reservation in a hotel. Instructions are to be offered on a regular basis as well as the changes which might have occurred. Managers should also organize personal escort around the hotel.
Therefore, it may be concluded that if hotels improve their telephone reservation channels, they are going to increase their income by means of increasing the number of reservations. Even though the Internet is more convenient and allows to complete reservation automatically, a lot of clients still prefer to use telephones to make reservations. Therefore, if hotels are interested in increasing the number of clients, they are to improve their call system, and either to hire a professional operator or to pay the services of professional call centers.