Why Automated Hotel Booking Reconfirmation Reduces Customer Service Calls by 80%
Why Automated Hotel Booking Reconfirmation Reduces Customer Service Calls by 80% Travel agencies have a perennial problem: customers phoning on arrival to complain about hotel reservation problems. Reconfirmation : the activity of validating the status of a booking at a hotel to avoid an unpleasant situations with a guest upon arrival is a process that usually requires manual intervention and doesn’t always avert issues with our customers. Automated hotel booking reconfirmation solutions solve this problem by automatically checking the reservation status 48 hours prior to guest check-in and can significantly reduce customer service call volume. The call volume is dropping because automated systems are able to check, confirm reservations and request resolution of issues far in advance of guests ever arriving at hotels. The majority of arrival issues that would normally result in missed service calls (and people frustrated and angry in the lobby) can be mitigated by actively confirming that there are reservations, and they are accurately in the hotel’s systems. Customer Service Calls Caused by Arrival Issues in Hotel Booking Reconfirmation The most frequent customer service call about hotel reservations occurs when your guests arrive and faces unexpected problems that might have been avoided by reconfirming the reservation. Knowing these arrival-focused problems explains why there is a dramatic drop in call volume when the status of the reservation can be verified prior to arrival. ‘Hotel Says No Reservation’ Crisis Calls: The crisis calls that are usually the most urgent, time-consuming and resource-draining, those in which guests show up at hotels to find that they do not have reservations in the hotel system. These are emergency issues that need immediate resolution (often time outside of normal business hours, a need to re-book the customer at ultra-huge rates and compensate for customer discomfort). Calls Complaining of “Wrong Room Type/Rate”: Guests bring pressure on when hotels can’t make good on a reserved room type or rate and insist on negotiations or alternative accommodations at the last minute. These are the type of calls that happen when the customer is already on site with no easy fixes and lots of frustration involved. “Special Request Not Noted” Calls: These occur when a hotel does not note a special request (i.e. wheelchair accessible room, connecting room, dietary need) and the guest is frustrated with the oversight upon arrival, creating service failures that result in complaint calls. Anxiety and Pre-Arrival Verification Calls: In the absence of proactive reconfirmation, anxious guest are known to call pre-arrival pleading with an agent to “please confirm my reservation is fine.” This is one example of the reassurance request calls that account for a large percentage of reservation service volume. In many cases even if there are manual hotel booking re-confirmation processes, these are not catching reservation status problems often enough to avoid arrival issues. Industry reports suggest that the average email response time for both hotel companies and travel agencies is about 12.5 hours, which creates an opportunity for reservation status issues to go undetected until guests are on their way. How Automated Hotel Booking Reconfirmation Prevents Arrival Problems Automated hotel booking reconfirmation systems that have been developed are capable of calling out to hotels prior to guest arrival in order to confirm reservation status, thus minimizing call volume. The 48-hour advance confirmation window allows time for addressing reservation status problems which might arise incident to a guest’s arrival. Systematic Reservation Status Verification The voice calls, powered by AI, call hotels within 48 hours of guest arrival, to confirm if the reservations are made and correctly recorded in the hotel systems. The automated system prompts the hotel staff to confirm: Name of guest and date of arrival in hotel system Original room type and rate booked Special requests and arrangements Hotel confirmation number This systematic verification process eliminates the most common cause of customer service calls: guests arriving at hotels where their reservations are missing, incorrect, or incomplete. Proactive Problem Resolution Before Arrival If the automatic hotel booking reconfirmation finds status problems which include missed reservations, incorrect room types, or special requests which had not been recorded, the agency will have several alternatives to correct the problems during the business day. It prevents the most maddening and expensive customer service situations like hotel guests calling in a panic because a room has arrived in the wrong city. The 48-hour timeframe allows agencies to: Find lost reservations and update hotel system Secure room type changes or price adjustments with hotel management Arrange alternative accommodations if necessary Update guest itineraries and resend itinerary confirmation details Customer Reassurance Through Verified Status As soon as the systems could appropriately verify reservation status, the customer would then be sent a verification message by agencies such as: Your reservation at Hotel ABC has been confirmed with the hotel for check-in tomorrow. This preemptive communication saves travelers from making anxiety-induced calls to get reassured about the status of their reservation. Quantified Impact of Automated Hotel Booking Reconfirmation on Call Volume Custom Travel Solutions’ application shows these savings in action, so to speak. They reduced arrival-related issues that would have otherwise created customer service calls by 87% and did so through a systematic check of more than 4,000 daily bookings via AI calls 48 hours prior to guest check-in to check the status of reservations. Operational Impact of Call Reduction The monetary and financial effects are not just limited to a decrease in the number of calls received. As per industry reports, automation facilitated via AI has caused a 30% reduction in customer service costs overall by automating processes and reducing the need for human intervention. With prevention of arriving problems via structured reservation status checking, agencies shift their service resources from crisis handling to customer relationship management. When the customer first encounters a reservation problem, their resolution includes emergency after-hours support availability, an alternative accommodation at premium rates, customer compensation for inconvenience, and more than one call-back to see if the customer is satisfied. Automated hotel booking reconfirmation resolves these expensive possibilities by verifying reservation
