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While more hotel sales and marketing efforts are increasingly focused on the digital and e-
commerce channels, properties would do well not to neglect the direct channels that can
provide additional revenue and profitability. This is especially true of resort properties and
independent hotels where voice drives a majority of their revenues. With the rising costs of
distribution, hotels should be looking at potential revenue increases and decreased costs by
developing strategies around direct bookings.

According to Cindy Estis Green, CEO and co-Founder of Kalibri Labs, "The direct channel is
often overlooked, but voice is a crucial part of the revenue stream for many properties." In her
experience consulting with HSMAI’s Resort Best Practices Initiative, she feels that if the voice
reservation process is managed as carefully as the web site and online strategies, it will yield
incremental bookings and profit for hotels.

It is important to realize how consumers research and ultimately book hotels, how direct online
efforts and voice channels support each other, and how direct channel strategies can lead to
higher conversion rates and revenue.

With the internet putting critical information at the fingertips of potential travelers, they are
better informed about the property they are interested in booking, services and amenities
offered, room types, packages and promotions, and rates offered. But the reality is that for
“high consideration” stays, there is an increased probability that the customer will phone the
property directly giving the hotel the opportunity to reassure them, answer their questions,
and, ultimately, close the booking.

High consideration stays are those where the stay is important,

expensive or complicated. Resorts and independent hotels
Many of these higher
often have diverse accommodation offerings with various types
of rooms, views, suites, villas, unique and exclusive lodging consideration, time-
options, and potential ancillary add-ons. The more complicated consuming calls can also
and less standardized these options, the more likely that the result in higher profit...
guest will want to talk to an informed representative to help making them very
them find the best solution for their stay. These bookings need important.
someone to instill confidence and reassure the customer that
they are making the right decision.

Hotels and resorts may also offer a myriad of packages and promotions that are confusing to
the customer. The greater number of choices the guest has increases the likelihood that they
will need assistance in finding the offerings that best meet their needs. For a property offering
golf, spa, excursions, tennis, snow sports, dining or children’s programs, these extras also add a
dimension of complication to the booking process. As these elements may indicate a longer
stay or more expensive investment, there is more likelihood that clients will pick up the phone
for advice and assistance.

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The good news is that the client has done much of the initial research online and is interested in
the property, knows the various accommodation offerings, amenities and packages. They are
informed buyers, not just shoppers. Now they need help to get to “Yes.”

The reservations staff is key

This is where a well-trained and informed reservation staff can make the difference. If
properties effectively handle their calls, there is a much greater possibility of converting these
potential customers for greater revenue generation and potentially repeat stays. Research
shows that guests who receive greater one-to-one connection via voice are more loyal guests
and most likely to stay again. Properties offering the ability to book all of the services and
amenities in addition to lodging stays provide a great service to the customer, generate
additional income for the property and result in fewer cancellations.

The most effective first step in this process is to effect a change in the reservation department,
converting staff from order takers to a high-powered sales team.

Properties sell experiences. For high-end properties, the client’s entire experience starts with
the first interaction they have with the hotel or resort, which is often with the reservation
agent. This can set the stage for the type of experience that the customer can expect during
their stay. According to Jack Schmidt, Director of Sales and Marketing for the Washington Duke
Inn and Golf Club, their property invests in their voice reservations
department because they value the personal customer touch
points. They believe they should allow the guests to interact with
their property the way the guests want and not try to change their NAVIS’ research shows
behaviors. that direct voice
bookings see a 31% ADR
According to Jeremy Fain, Director of Revenue Management at (average daily rate)
Ojai Valley Inn and Spa, the voice and direct channel are the keys premium over other
to success at his hotel. In a previous position, he was with a high booking methods. This
profile resort that believed and invested in the voice channel. They number is even more
found that guests spend more when they book through the direct
valuable when you take
channel and the property experiences fewer cancellations.
into consideration the
Ultimately when a chain bought the property and directed most of
the marketing budget to online and website bookings, neglecting higher ancillary spend by
the voice channel, there was a significant revenue decline for the guests who book
property. Other examples of hotels eliminating on-property directly.
reservations departments and consolidating to a central service
environment have proved challenging. Agents are often not able to answer questions by
potential guests on specifics of a complicated property stay and repeat guests can be irritated
that they cannot talk directly to someone at the property.

Barry Brown of the Hotel del Coronado experienced a similar experience when their property
decided to move their reservation function out of the hotel to an outside company with

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disappointing results. It is a complex property with different room types that are difficult for an
outside company to comprehend, so the conversion rates and revenues declined.

To better drive direct channel bookings through the reservation department, hoteliers must
focus on eight key areas:
1. Training
2. Hiring
3. Technology
4. Sharing of information
5. Incentives
6. Measurement
7. Outbound sales efforts
8. Alignment of online and offline strategies

Training
Reservation sales people have the opportunity to elevate the conversation and move from a
commodity-based transaction to an informed, relationship-based sale. In the past, many
reservation agents were order takers and led the conversation with discounts and promotions,
which ultimately dilutes value. By coaching and training agents, and working with the revenue
manager, the agents can drive rate, help implement rate strategies, and increase a property’s
profit.

According to Donna Humphrey, Reservation Sales Manager for Crystal Mountain in northern
Michigan, the reservation training process is paramount to their success. They see it as
imperative that their agents have intimate knowledge of all aspects of their resort. “Our agents
train in segments for weeks and it is very rigorous with both one-on-one and group training.
This training gives them the confidence to serve the needs of potential guests and provide a
superior level of service.”

Callers expect reservation agents to have thorough product knowledge. Hotels have the
opportunity to turn their agents into trusted advisors and provide value to the caller by creating
their ultimate travel experience based on the agent’s knowledge and access to information.
Consider having your agents experience first-hand the various outlets and room types that your
property offers.

It is important to provide ongoing training, support, and measurement to allow the agents to
evolve into consultative sales agents selling experiences, not rooms or rates. While the talk
time is a bit longer, the satisfaction rate from customer surveys indicates that this approach can
garner to up to a 95% satisfaction level with the reservation process.

Hiring
It is important to hire the right people as reservation agents for the new, necessary sales
environment to drive direct bookings from the reservations office.

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Hotels and resorts interviewed use various companies and techniques to qualify potential
candidates to help their reservation departments succeed. It is important to hire agents who
understand sales and can operate in a competitive sales environment.

Often, reservation agents who come from a traditional reservation environment do not
effectively make the transition from order takers to sales professionals. There must be a
transition from a process driven environment to a sales environment.

Technology
Technology can support the direct channel by providing critical information to the reservation
sales agents. This might include demographic data and historical stay information, and the
ability for an agent to collect data on new callers (phone number, email address, etc.) that will
add to the customer database and allow for future outbound efforts.

Ojai Valley Inn and Spa leverages reservation technology that fully integrates with their PMS,
provides accurate statistics and reports, and populates an agent’s screen with guest data before
they answer the call. It also includes client support through a client advocate who regularly
monitors the agents’ performance and analyzes how effectively they are using the tools and
training provided.

Technology will also allow for calls to be automatically routed to the agent who has the highest
conversion rate first. It also allows for a specialist (golf, spa, etc.) to handle particular callers
with a unique set of interests.

If a booking is not completed and the customer calls back the next day, some reservation
technology systems can route the call to the same agent so they can resume the conversation
where they left off. If that agent is not available, it can send the previous call data to a new
agent so they are up to speed on the conversation.

Technology can also help in tracking specific marketing campaigns by assigning unique phone
numbers to measure the effectiveness of each strategy. A toll-free number can be assigned to
each campaign or specific media type. For banner ads, when a potential customer clicks on the
link to the brand website, the technology updates the phone number to match the campaign's
unique number.

Sharing of Information
Information is power. Communication is critical. Reservation sales managers, revenue
managers and sales and marketing managers should all be on the same team with common
goals. Often there is not enough communication across these teams resulting in lost
opportunities. If a high level of quality communication can be achieved, it benefits all
departments enabling them to devote resources to a common goal.

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Sales and marketing professionals need to have a good understanding of the revenue
strategies, and revenue managers need a good understanding of the sales and marketing
strategies – for both the short and long term. This requires regular communication and trust
among team members. Consistent and quality revenue meetings will help with this. Staying
focused on the strategy and the reasons behind the strategy will also help keep the team
focused.1

Beyond sales and marketing and revenue management, stakeholders at all levels need to be
engaged in order for them to see results and for change to be successful.

Incentives
Although reservation agent incentives have been in place for a while, typical incentives for
number of bookings, revenue generated, or conversion rate are not as successful as companies
have hoped. Crafty agents have been known to game the system by getting rid of calls that will
take longer to convert.

However, providing agents with an incentive plan can boost agent productivity if supported by
good data. The best incentive plans typically operate at two levels:

 Agent Level
 Manager Level

The ultimate goal is increased conversion and revenue for the property, but first focus should
be on fostering the positive behaviors that lead to these end results. Technology can assist by
providing granular performance data on each agent’s productivity. The automated collection of
real-time data allows for effective incentive plans that motivate staff to achieve collective goals.

At Ojai Valley Inn and Spa, the incentive plan is quite robust. The total agent payout in the
plan’s first year was $30,000 but has grown to nearly $100,000, the result of rewarding
behaviors, having agents accurately use the system, and allowing transparency with all agents
having access to their metrics at any time.

Measurement
It is often said that you are what you measure and the direct channels often prove difficult to
track. Setting specific revenue goals for the direct channel and measuring progress is crucial to
ensuring that the property is maximizing its efforts.

It is also important to measure the effectiveness of the marketing efforts and determine which
channels are paying for themselves. By utilizing your technology to attribute your reservation

1See HSMAI’s Knowledge Center for a sample agenda for a quality revenue meeting that can
help raise the level of information sharing on property.

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calls, web visits and revenue, you’ll know what’s working and where to continue investing your
marketing dollars.

Outbound Sales Efforts

Another very profitable potential revenue strategy is to use the property’s reservation agents
as outbound sales agents. With an aggressive outbound call program, agents can follow up with
callers who did not complete the booking on their first call. Opportunities can be around:

 Alternative dates
 New opportunities or promotions
 Additional information needed

Oftentimes in the first call, the guest will indicate that they need to check with their spouse or
need additional time to think about things. A proactive agent should ask if they can call the
guest back at an agreed upon time. This has proven to be a successful strategy for many
properties.

For example, Ojai Valley Inn and Spa’s outbound effort yields between $1.3 million and $2
million in revenue annually. Conservatively, the property estimates that at least half of this
revenue is incremental. These second chance calls are assigned to higher converting agents,
and for Ojai Valley, their reservations technology supports this effort by providing details from
the initial call and providing reminders of the date and time to reconnect with the customer.

To support this complex strategy, hotels will need to implement the right technology. Look for a
centralized hospitality-specific CRM (customer relationship management) system with the
ability to consolidate duplicate guest profiles into one household persona; to provide alerts and
file trace capabilities, as well as outbound calling and lead follow-up reminders; and to pull up
information from the initial inquiry.

This is a complete paradigm shift transforming reservation phone answerers into proactive
outbound sales representatives calling on prospective clients who represent qualified,
interested sales leads.

When agents reach out to these non-booked leads, on average they are able to convert 1 in 5
of these guests (18-20% conversion). This provides incremental revenue a hotel may not have
realized without the outbound strategy.

Alignment of Online and Offline Strategies

Online and offline strategies must go hand in hand. Agents at properties interviewed for this
white paper estimate that between 70-90% of the time, the guest who is on the phone with the
reservation agent is also on the property website. While the web is being used as a research
tool, the guest wants the reassurance of a live sales agent to complete the booking.

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Agents must be familiar with the website. Successful properties give them access to the website
so they can navigate through it with the customer in real-time, lead them to the pages that
answer their questions, and provide assurance that they are making the right decision – giving
the agent the opportunity to ask for the sale.

Conclusion
Properties need to pay attention to their direct booking channels including their website, but
also to the often-neglected voice channel. By focusing on hiring, training and motivating a
professional reservation staff, properties can increase bookings. The customer spend booked
through this channel can show a 31% ADR premium over other distribution methods, along
with higher conversion and fewer cancellations.

While hotels regularly invest in their group sales effort (e.g., travel budgets, higher
commissions, competitive quota and accountability, etc.), the reality is that a reservation sales
agent generates (within about 10%), the same revenue as a group sales person. The difference
is in the cost of acquisition. The cost of the sale on the group side is much higher considering
the expenses like travel, trade shows, and entertainment.

It is baffling why more hotels are not focused on the voice channel and why there is little if any
emphasis on reservation departments. Though it can be challenging to establish a highly trained
and professional reservation sales staff, the reality is that this channel can generate significant
incremental revenue while reducing costs – which means major profit increases for hotels and
resorts that do it right.

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About HSMAI
The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) is
committed to growing business for hotels and their partners, and is the
industry’s leading advocate for intelligent, sustainable hotel revenue
growth. The association provides hotel professionals & their partners
with tools, insights, and expertise to fuel sales, inspire marketing, and
optimize revenue.

www.hsmai.org

About NAVIS
The NAVIS Sales and Marketing system is the most complete hospitality
system for generating new transient/leisure revenue. Through the
application of proven best practices, professional business coaching and
extensive analytics, the NAVIS system captures data from multiple silos,
including reservation agents, guests, leads, and marketing to generate
real-time reports that lead to smarter business decisions and significant
revenue gains. You will master your voice channel and magnify your
marketing – like never before.

 NAVIS Narrowcast – Captures and reports data about your callers, your
agents, your marketing and your business.
 NAVIS RezForce – After-hours and overflow professional call center booking
services.
 NAVIS RezCast – Marketing tracking and professional call center services.
 NAVIS RezForce LUX – 5-Star/5-Diamond professional call center services.
 NAVIS REACH – Guest-centric marketing system using actionable, targeted
lists.
 NAVIS Data Mining – Powerful data mining and segmentation.

welcome.thenavisway.com

About the Author

Maureen O’Hanlon is a 25-year veteran of the travel and hospitality
industry. As a partner with Prism she leads marketing initiatives large and
small. Her primary areas of expertise are customer relationship
management, loyalty programs, e-commerce, public relations and
reservations distribution.

Prior to joining the Prism Partnership, Maureen served with Prime

Hospitality as SVP of Sales and Marketing overseeing all marketing,
advertising and communications efforts in addition to the national sales
effort. She also served 16 years at Carlson in a variety of roles, including
SVP of the Loyalty Division of Carlson Marketing Group, and VP
Worldwide Marketing and Sales for Radisson Hotels.

Maureen is a past chair of HSMAI’s Americas Board of Directors and has

received numerous industry honors including being recognized as one of
the 25 most influential industry executives by Tour & Travel News.

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