The expression “A picture is worth a thousand words” refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with a single image. That’s assumed to be the case when establishing marketing images for your hotel. But how do you convey that same level of meaning or essence over the phone with a guest when they call your hotel?
Hotels are changing all the time. In most cases, about every five to seven years you can expect your favorite hotel to undergo a refresh and those changes create new value for your guests.
So how do you do it, how do you paint a verbal picture of your hotel?
Ask questions! My favorite question to ask is,“What brings you to our hotel?” This allows you to create a relationship with your guest and, based on their response, start to paint a picture!
“We are bringing our kids to see grandma and grandpa!” … STOP! Don’t say “Oh, that’s nice!”, take it one step further and ask, “What do your children like to do?” Based on the response, you may want to point out local attractions that the kids and grandma and grandpa can do together. Perhaps baseball is a big interest and the local team is playing during their visit. If the kids like to swim, you can highlight the indoor / outdoor pool they can enjoy along with the sun chairs for grandma and grandpa.
You can also appeal to the caller by building value and sharing that your hotel has free breakfast every day and it’s not just coffee and donuts. Your hotel serves eggs, waffles and lots of cereal and juice choices the kids will love!
So, do you see what we are doing here? This is about showcasing your hotel to fit the needs of your customer. Customers don’t know what they don’t know. It’s our job paint the picture that they can’t see. Be confident, be sincere, be helpful and make that guest WANT to stay at your hotel when you “paint the picture” of all that your hotel has to offer!