Doug Kennedy’s Next Staff Training Webcast: 10 Practical Action Steps For Securing More Direct Voice Reservations

Sponsored By Travel Outlook and Track Hospitality Software

Register your team and participate live, or view the recording, of Doug Kennedy’s next 40-minute training webcast scheduled for Monday, July 21, at Noon EDT. REGISTER HERE This webcast will be of interest to all reservations sales agents, contact center staff, managers, along with executives responsible for revenue and distribution.

Smart leaders recognize that direct bookings save costly OTA commissions, enable upselling and cross-selling, and allow you to ‘own’ the relationship, says Kennedy. For decades now, many have said, ‘Soon, no one will call anymore…’, yet the phones continue to ring, especially at resorts, boutiques and luxury hotels.

First was the emergence of OTA’s and smartphones, then the over-sold myth of “birth-year generations,” which Doug disproves with data from McKinsey & Co. Instead, guests’ motivation for calling is most affected by their travel story.

The higher the rate, the longer the stay, the more people traveling, and the more emotionally engaged they are with travel plans, the more likely they are to call.

Join us as Doug shares ideas based on KTN’s unique opportunity to listen in to a diversity of real-world recordings of reservations calls every day as part of its remote call scoring assessment service such as:

Suggestions for Revenue, Distribution, and Marketing Leaders:

• How to audit your website and “top of funnel” factors that encourage voice bookings. Plus, how to document and prove the interplay of voice and online channels.
• Train your team that phone calls are opportunities, not interruptions to the “admin” type of work that falls on most reservations teams these days.
• Midscale, branded hotels, this one’s for you too! A surprising number of potential guests still call.

Training Tips for Those Answering Calls:

• How to turn calls appearing to simply be “quick questions” into qualified voice leads.
• Better understanding the needs of today’s overwhelmed, confused callers and your role in them deciding “this” is the right property and “now” is the best time to book!
• How to use updated versions of traditional probing questions.
• Closing techniques for a variety of call conversations and overcoming barriers to booking now.

Recordings of previous webcasts are available on KTN’s YouTube channel and are now also being distributed on your favorite podcast channel or on KTN’s Spotify channel.

Everyone who registers for this and all KTN webcasts receives a link to the recording, even if they cannot attend. The 40-minute format is perfect for “lunch and learns” or excerpts can be shared at staff meetings. The target audience is anyone who is interested in upskilling themselves or others, and the topic areas are broad enough to be relevant for all sectors of the lodging industry.

We are grateful to the generosity of our sponsors who have allowed us to offer complimentary admission, said Kennedy. It takes a lot of time to design, promote, and deliver these events, and so we would normally charge at least $99 registration per person, but this series is now completely free to all.

Sponsors include: Travel Outlook, the only KTN Certified call center, and Track Hospitality Software, a TravelNet Solution, whose products include a PMS and CRM. “

Complimentary registration can be accessed at www.KTNwebcast.com. Here are the additional topics scheduled so far.

Cooking Up New Hotel Sales

Friday, August 22 (Noon EDT)

REGISTER HERE

This month’s webcast, which primarily targets hotel group and event sales staff, will also be relatable for sales professionals in all areas of the accommodations and tourism industries. Using cooking and fine dining analogies as a fun alternative to traditional sales training terminology, Doug will share innovative, actionable ideas your sales team can use to maximize revenues and capitalize on every sales opportunity.

By zooming out and looking at how the profession of hotel sales is rapidly being automated by big tech solutions powered by AI, participants will be challenged to use these concepts in the near-term to ensure a long and prosperous career!

• Don’t lose your hotel sales job to DoorDash! Keep human engagement at the core of the dining experience!
• Discover your ‘recipe’ for success.
• Stock up on key ingredients and select the right cooking utensils.
• Welcome, surprise, and delight them with amuse-bouches.
• Find out what the patrons truly enjoy eating.
• Spice up your menu descriptions.
• Adjust the menu for special dietary needs and preferences.
• Serve up a sweet-tasting dessert.
• Present the check with a smile!

Creating Ordinarily Extraordinary Hospitality Encounters, DAILY!

Friday, September 19 (Noon EDT)

REGISTER HERE

First, Doug explores how a steady stream of highly successful business books have championed the concepts of “outrageous,” unreasonable,” “legendary,” and “wow” service training concepts. Surely, entrusting frontline associates with the budget and processes they need to extend “little extras” proactively is surely solid. Yet focusing on the exceptional, occasional opportunity to amaze is just not enough. Instead, this KTN webcast focuses on how guest service colleagues can create experiences that are “ordinarily extraordinary.”

• A reminder: we are in the business of memory making, not in the “rooms rental industry.”
• Guest loyalty is the summation of dozens of seemingly “little things” throughout a guest’s stay.
• Micro hospitality moments matter the most. Guest loyalty is either won or lost every hour of every shift.
• “Hospitality” cannot be delegated down the org-chart; leaders must model ordinarily extraordinary hospitality when interacting with staff as well as guests.
• Making a personal commitment to providing an individualized gesture of authentic hospitality for everyone encountered throughout the day, whether a guest, a travel agent, a third party, or an “internal customer.” Whether encountering them across the desk or bar, on the other side of phone convos, via email exchanges or as you pass them in the hallways, corridors, and parking areas, make the ordinary feel extraordinary.