By
Doug Kennedy
November 26, 2012
The decision on whether or not to offer courtesy holds
generally spurs some healthy debating on both sides. Those who
argue against courtesy holds
generally cite reasons such as:
- Could potentially tie-up inventory that could
otherwise be sold to others.
- Skews results of forecast projections.
- Creates unnecessary administrative tasks.
Yet when the managers at certain types of hotels and resorts
fully embrace the process, and organize their operations to maximize
sales
efforts, the results always show it is a worthwhile effort.
What types of lodging
companies can benefit from offering courtesy holds?
Certainly, not all hotel operations can benefit from offering
a courtesy hold and so it is not always the right thing to offer.
However, courtesy holds should be considered
when:
- There are restrictive requirements, such as
requiring an advance deposit or non-refundable deposit, that can create
barriers to making a commitment right now.
- Guests tend to travel in larger parties
requiring several rooms, such as extended families or informal reunions.
- Callers are checking dates well in advance, and
for which there is still plenty of time for the accommodation to be
sold to
others.
- There is a longer average stay and a higher ADR.
- There are revenue-generating outlets and/or
other ways for the lodging operation to generate additional non-rooms
revenue.
Courtesy holds are
generally not of use for lodging operations that:
- Have a short term booking cycles and callers
mostly checking near-term dates.
- Currently already offer the 6pm hold,
non-guaranteed reservation.
- Have a relatively low ADR and short average
stay.
- Do not have revenue generating outlets, nor
other ways of generating additional non-rooms revenue per guest.
Why should we offer
courtesy holds?
Giving your reservations sales agents the option of offering
a courtesy hold in certain types of call scenarios provides them with
an extra
tool they need to maximize their call conversion rates. A
well-trained sales team will easily know
when the conditions are right to offer courtesy holds, such as when
callers are
inquiring about dates that are far enough out that availability will
not be
impacted and when callers ready do express legitimate reasons for not
being
able to commit at the moment.
This tool is especially important for upscale and luxury
operations, such as destination type resorts, vacation rental
companies, gaming
resorts, and spa resorts and thus a high average revenue per
guest. The longer the average stay and higher the
average rate, the more valuable each and every reservations call
potentially
is.
If you have not done the exercise in a while, take a moment
to multiply your transient average rate by your transient average stay,
and
that will tell you the revenue potential of every call. Now
add-in the “average” revenue your guests
spend in outlets such as restaurants, bars, spa, retail, gaming,
cabanas, and
any other ancillary fees such as parking revenues or resort fees.
It is easy to see that each and every
“qualified” sales inquiry is certainly work putting forward a tenacious
and
pro-active sales effort.
The best part is that to the guest, courtesy holds can be
presented as offering above and beyond service, as we will
explore in more detail below.
How can my team
maximize its effectiveness at using courtesy holds?
- First, put the right parameters in place for
your operation. For example, you might
allow agents to use courtesy holds for any dates 23 or more days out,
and
excluding periods of peak demand such as special events and holidays.
- Do not offer too much time for the caller to
decide; some reservations systems default to 7 days out. It is
generally better to offer 24, 48, or no
more than 72 hours to decide unless they have special circumstances to
consider.
- Be sure that agents first try to secure a
confirmed reservation. For example, they
should first try to secure the deposit by reminding callers they would
still
have time to call back to cancel, assuming that is the case. The
courtesy hold should not be used in place
of a full and direct attempt to secure the reservation.
- Train agents to look for “flags” that a courtesy
hold would be a good option. For
example, destination type resorts that host large parties often receive
calls
from the unofficial “planner” for the family or informal group.
Most resorts leave it where the caller has
taken notes to share with the others and will need more time to gain a
commitment. Under these conditions, by
offering to hold the accommodations and “lock it that special room” or
“secure
that special room type,” the callers perceive this really is a courtesy
being
extended.
Pro-actively
follow-up to maximize conversion rate for courtesy holds
- As mentioned above, very often callers really do
have to check with others before deciding.
Under these conditions, offer to send a follow-up email to the caller
with a link to the accommodation(s) discussed.
- “That sounds good and I understand you need to
check… If you like I can email you a
link to the (room/suite/vacation home) we just discussed so you can
have that
to forward on to your family…”
- Then have the agents send a short personalized
note referencing something about the conversation, and including a link
to view
the accommodation online. It will not
take long until you receive the first of many responses from guests
with
comments such as “Wow, thanks so much for sending that information! It
really
showed you cared. No one else did that.”
- Have agents set-up a system so that every day
they check the pending “courtesy holds,” and then send a short note (or
perhaps
even place a phone call) to remind them the courtesy hold is set to
expire.
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Doug Kennedy is
President of the Kennedy Training Network, Inc. a leading
provider of customized training programs and telephone mystery shopping
services for the lodging and hospitality industry.
Doug continues to be a fixture on the
industry’s conference circuit for hotel companies, brands and
associations, as
he been for over two decades. Visit KTN
at: www.kennedytrainingnetwork.com Read his travel blog at ontheroad.kennedytrainingnetwork
or email him directly: [email protected] |
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