Every year, millions of students get out of school and head out for summer break, which is why most families take that opportunity for their annual vacation. Air travel, car travel, and hotel bookings spike every year, which means your communications systems might be stretched pretty thin.
But if you wait until you’re overwhelmed, it’ll be too late to do anything about it. You need to make sure you’re ready for increased traffic before it arrives. Here’s how and why.
Better Communication Means a More Efficient Staff
We’ve all seen the result of a hotel staff that’s stretched too thin. Guests have to wait in line at the front desk to be helped, phone calls are put on hold or sent to voicemail, maintenance and housekeeping calls are delayed, booking gets confused, and so on.
A new communications system can help with all of that. With a digital PBX over VoIP:
- You never have to worry about infrastructure upgrades when adding, removing, or moving phone lines, so you can add extra lines to accommodate demand on the fly
- Calls can be forwarded anywhere, so your front desk staff can help guests in person while the phones are answered off-site or by mobile staff members.
- Many calls can be automated or digitized, like room service, maintenance requests, wake-up calls, and simple questions like your address or restaurant hours, all of which will free up staff for more important interactions.
- Maintenance and housekeeping can be digitized and assigned to specific rooms, keeping staff from wandering hallways knocking on doors to see if the room is ready to be cleaned.
Better Communication Means a Better Guest Experience
The better your communication works, the more it frees up your staff’s time from the usual menial and repetitive tasks that can occupy so much of their time. That means they have more time to patrol the hotel, be where they’re needed, and spend face-to-face time with your guests. These are the experiences that stick with guests, making their trip memorable and encouraging them to tell their friends.
One good trick is to make a note of who’s arriving on a given day — their names, where they’re coming from, why they’re traveling, and any other info they gave you when they booked. Your staff will be able to make better small talk, and your guests will experience a more personal touch.
How Phonesuite Can Help
A VoIP system offers a huge array of modern conveniences that can help your guests enjoy their stay more and will keep your hotel abreast of current technology. You can automate check-in and check-out calls, set wakeup calls automatically, and even handle room status and billing all through the same system.
Other features included in Phonesuite’s software:
- Attaching the names of your guests to room extensions so outside callers can call guests by name rather than asking the front desk
- Leaving voicemails for specific guest extensions
- Itemizing call costs for every room
- Allowing guests to set a digital Do Not Disturb mode
- Allowing housekeeping staff to update room availability and cleaning status on the fly
- Automating room service through a web interface or phone tree
One of the biggest benefits of a Phonesuite system is the cost savings. Replacing a traditional analog phone system with SIP trunks keeps your costs low and scales up and down to meet demand much more effectively than an older system. If you’re ready to make the upgrade, contact us for a quote today.
