Whether somone is calling a hotel prior to booking to ask a question or they just pressed 0 on the phone in their room, it’s surprising how many hotels actually have silence when yput on hold. On-Hold space is something all hotels should be utilizing as a marketing tool, both big and small.
Whether it’s a business or convention focused hotel, a beach resort or a boutique, you want to be able to communicate with your guests for that 15 second to several minute period they are on the phone and the standard ‘thank you for holding’ just doesn’t cut it in this day and age.
What are some examples of content that can be regularly added and updated to your hotels phone system?
– Dining Options: Everyone has to eat. Why not inform your guests on the dining options your property has. Whether it’s the italian restaurant downstairs, the breakfast hours and even if you don’t have a restaurant, suggesting nearby places or stores that your guests may like.
– Events and Promotions: Whether you are currently hosting an event, plan to host one soon or have promotions on dining (like above) or something else that is happening at the hotel. Letting your guests know what is going on now and in the near future can be useful.
– Services and Amenities: Inform guests about the fitness center, the spa and any other useful services and amenities they may want to use. Mention the hours they are open, the locations as well as other unique tour or service packages you are offering.
– Transportation: Is your airport right near the local attractions, airport or central business district? Letting your guests know how they can get around is always helpful. It can even lead to directly increasing revenue from airport transfer bookings, tour packages and other ancillary/service-related revenues.
– In-Room Services: It’s also worthwhile to let your guests know about the in-room amenities and services. Whether it’s the entertainment content, in-room music or even room service. These days you are seeing more hotels get creative in the ways they offer TV, Movie and music content from the rooms so there are plenty of ways you can promote them on-hold.
– Loyalty and Rewards Programs: Highlighting the benefits of your program, from room upgrades, to free wifi, late check-out and even lounge access, you can build brand loyalty every day straight from your phone system and bring new loyal guests into your program.
– Multi-Lingual Messaging: Is your hotel in a tourist or business hotspot? Having a multi-lingual IVR and promo messages can be key to communicating and building brand trust with guests from nations all over the world.
Those are just seven examples but there are many more ways of leveraging your phone systems. While some hotel chains may have messages from corporate come on a monthly or quarterly basis, it’s really important for a GM to be able to add localized and property-specific messaging on a regular basis. From increasing brand trust to improving communication with guests and even growing ancillary revenues, on-hold messaging is a tool that all hotels should be leveraging more.
Interested in a free consultation of how Rightsify can help craft and deliver on-hold messaging for your hotel? Get in touch with us and we’ll get back to you asap!
