Phone Calls Still Drive Significant Bookings for Hotels
Since we began our journey we have transformed the e-commerce capabilities of thousands of independent hotels. We found that as we grow the traffic for hotels, their phone calls also grow. To learn more about what is happening on the phone channel, we took calls for 50 hotels. Our findings were insightful and are listed below.
-
New consumers coming online are looking for a human touch before transacting online. Bunch of the calls are to seek a further discount than the online published rates. This consumer behavior is reinforced by hotels that offer an additional discount to convert the callers on the phone.
-
Growing traffic on mobile websites makes it convenient for consumers to call. This is perhaps a global phenomenon – research indicates that worldwide 7 out of 10 bookings from customers visiting a hotel website on mobile devices happen via phone call.
-
Phone bookings are perhaps also driven in India by higher payment failure rates driven by additional password verification required for online transactions. With slower internet connections and the need to go through the bank website to complete the transaction can result in abandonment on that channel.
-
Maintain parity in prices and deposit policies on the hotel website and the rates offered on the phone (perhaps even offer a slightly higher rate on the phone) and encourage guests to book on the website to free up the front desk’s time.
-
Equip the front desk with tools that make the front desk more efficient and make it easy for them to convert phone calls better. Such tools include workflows that make it easy for consumers to pay for phone reservations online, automated confirmations and follow ups – freeing up the front desk’s time.
-
Track and monitor phone calls – get notified about missed calls.
-
Send out hotel branded and actionable invoices and quotes to customers who contact the hotel via phone call, chat or email.
-
Optionally hold the inventory for the guest and offer phone only rates and promotions.
-
Determine the deposit required to reserve the room. Provide a great guest experience by enabling the guest to pay easily via credit, debit and net banking.
-
Once the guest pays, they receive instant and automated booking confirmation and voucher via Email and SMS.
-
Automate the follow up with the customer.
Comment (1)
Simply wish to state your write-up is as remarkable… it simply claimed the information which is actually needed.