voice reservations
The Future of Hotel Call Centers
Travel Outlook Hotel Reservation Call Center Services | September 8, 2020
Why Outsourcing May Be in Your Hotel's Best Interest As hotels slowly reopen in parts of the US, it’s time to question the future role of hotel call centers. In the following interview, we’re speaking with Travel Outlook’s CEO John Smallwood and its Vice President Operations Brett Puffenberger, about the challenge’s hotel-based call centers are facing today and in the coming months and maybe years. Can you talk about the challenges’ hotel-based call centers are facing today? John: A major issue for hotels that are starting to reopen is having enough on-property staff to field incoming calls. A lot of hotels still have employe...
Assisting Hotels in Regaining Stability, Travel Outlook Gets Armed With Effective Sales Tactics Developed by Kennedy Training Network
Travel Outlook Hotel Reservations Call Center Services | April 21, 2020
Santa Fe, NM – Travel Outlook premium reservation call center, a virtual hospitality company specializing in voice reservations and guest service, uses down-time to upskill with Kennedy Training Network. Like all other hotel reservations and call center teams, during the first 10 days of the COVID-19 crisis, Travel Outlook’s certified call center agents were inundated with calls to cancel or postpone. Now that the call volume has temporarily softened, rather than laying off staff, Travel Outlook is using this quiet phase to upskill its call center team by scheduling additional private, live webcam training with Kennedy Training Ne...
To Outsource Your Call Center, Or Not – Part 1
Travel Outlook Hotel Reservations Call Center Services | March 17, 2020
Four Ways Hotels Lose Revenue by Handling Reservations Calls In-House Hotels are missing out on booking revenue by undervaluing their voice reservations channel. Hiring an outsourced call center is sometimes seen as a luxury compared with the cost of handling calls in-house. But this can prove a false economy; a professional voice team can significantly drive reservations and boost ADR (Average Daily Rate), more than compensating for the financial outlay. So how do hotels lose revenue when they handle their reservations calls in-house? 1. Calls are missed The most obvious way revenue is lost is that calls get missed. A busy front ...
CoralTree Hospitality and Travel Outlook Join Forces in Exciting New Partnership
Travel Outlook | November 7, 2019
CoralTree Hospitality and Travel Outlook Premium Voice Reservations join forces in an exciting partnership to deliver a new level of personalized service to both independent properties and chain hotels. The combination of CoralTree Hospitality and Travel Outlook is a natural fit. Both companies empower hotels to deliver meaningful guest experiences, while taking a results-orientated approach to driving direct business. Commenting on the collaboration, John Smallwood, CEO of Travel Outlook said, “The CoralTree Hospitality team is comprised of some of the more experienced and well-respected hotel professionals in hospitality, and we are h...
Why You Should Be Listening to What Your Voice Agents Are Saying Right Now to Potential Guests
Doug Kennedy | September 24, 2018
By Doug Kennedy As I often say in my conference presentations and training sessions, voice reservations is the forgotten distribution channel, at least at most hotels these days. Too many marketing and distribution execs buy-in to stereotypes such as "Millennials only book online and never want to talk with humans…" and "The only ones who still call are elderly and don't know how to work a computer..." On the surface, the numbers might even support this as web booking continue to grow while voice bookings decline. However, many of those who book online started out by first calling the hotel; others call after booking but prior to...
Cloud5 Adds Vertical Booking USA to Its Growing Roster of Contact Center Clients
Vertical Booking | March 14, 2018
Fast, seamless takeover of voice reservations for select Vertical Booking USA properties ensures guest service, increases revenue Chicago, IL (March 14, 2018) — Cloud5 Communications Contact Center, the leading provider of voice reservations and enhanced agent services exclusively for the hospitality industry, today announced that Vertical Booking USA has implemented Cloud5 Voice Reservation Services across 45 of its properties. The addition of these properties expands Cloud5's established relationship with Vertical Booking USA, making it one of the company's largest distribution and revenue management partners. Cloud5 provides hi...
How Much Does It Cost To Generate A Voice Reservations Inquiry? How Much Are You Investing In Properly Following-Up?
Doug Kennedy | March 5, 2018
By Doug Kennedy Despite that there is more information for guests to view online than ever before in the history of the lodging industry, the phones continue to ring in reservations offices and at the front desk. Simultaneously, hoteliers continue to increase direct bookings. Hardly a day goes by that I don't see another article on this topic, yet when I click on them the discussion is almost always on website bookings; rarely do I see a mention of voice as a distribution channel. If you are truly committed to increasing direct voice bookings, read on. A first step that I always do with my consulting clients and also with participants i...
Measuring and Incentivizing Front Desk and Reservations Upselling
Doug Kennedy | September 20, 2017
By Doug Kennedy Chances are that like most hoteliers this time of year you are busy formulating your financial game plan for 2018. If so, I'm pretty sure your owners or asset managers are looking for more revenue, as all owners seem to do every year. With occupancies performing well in most markets, unless you are planning to build more hotel rooms the only way to squeeze out more revenue is to increase ADR. Implementing a front desk and reservations upselling program, or improving the one already in place, can help your hotel achieve its revenue goals. Of course one component of a successful upselling program is training your frontline...
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