Exceed expectations by offering an irreproachable service, the Château Vaudreuil...

In the past articles, we talked about the importance of improving communication between managers and staff of the Château Vaudreuil Hôtel & Suites. Then, the sale’s approach needs to be linked to the process in order to better present the hotel’s features and thus increase revenues ; no matter the person’s role within the team. Now, it is necessary to work with all employees at the front desk to raise the service to a five-star level and improve the individual reservation’s sales.

Here is the third step to put in place for the upcoming changes:

CHALLENGES: Improve service and sales

The Château Vaudreuil is known for lodging but, when a client calls to reserve a room, this is exactly (and only) what we sell him. In the “order taking” process, the employees answer the questions asked without creating any value nor an experience. Following this, and it will be done with the training program, we will make sure to increase the service level, develop empathy and attention towards clients while being proactive.

INDIVIDUAL RESERVATIONS

For this third phase of changes, we opted for the training program called Transient Edge®. Like in the other programs, it is with a proactive approach that the employee leads the conversation when a client calls to make a reservation by creating a personalized experience. As a matter of fact, it is sales by improving customer service.

This program starts with a full-day training session where we see how an improved service can make a difference. This is made at first by listening to mystery shop calls done prior to the training ; it is an excellent starting point because we analyse what is successful and which aspects need improvements. Afterward, we look at a simple, but revealing, calculation!

By handling this right, we can increase the number of reservations per day. Let’s take only one more reservation per day of the week and see how it looks after a year.

Additional reservations per day of the week: 5

Average rate of the reservation: $159 – Suite King, lac side, end of February

Average duration of a stay: 2 nights

Number of weeks: 52

Potential revenues: $82,680

Therefore, by adjusting our ways of doing, we create a significant impact on revenues. Now, add all the other revenues a reservation can generate: food, beverage, spa, shops, parking, not to forget that the visibility will increase. Not too bad, right?

When this observation is done, it appears clear that it’s worth the cost to refine the methods. To improve sales, the client needs to see what he will have for his money. He wants a room? Certainly, but we will sell him an experience; this hotel has a lot to offer. This captive clientele needs to know more about the products and services offered. We work on presenting what benefits the hotel offers; and there are many!

The client doesn’t want a list of features; he wants to see an “image” of what he is going to experience. He needs to understand what he will benefit from.

All along the training day, these sales and service concepts are added to one another in a personalized process for the Château. Each employee keeps its own personality; it is only the given services that will be uniformed. To do so, a role play session is required at the end of the training.

Finally, to ensure a training that sticks, we do coaching calls starting the following day, and after two weeks, we begin mystery shop calls.

For this program, the reinforcement plan includes two 4-hour training sessions spread throughout the year, 7 mystery shop calls each months and training sessions for new employees. The reinforcement training subjects will be established beforehand with management; we have, at least, twenty topics to choose from for the front desk’s sale or service, but also for other departments…they will be busy!!

Next step: RESULTS – now that the initial training is done, we need to measure the impact.