Grand America Uses Call Center Training to Increase Reservations, Convert Calls
Lessons from Signature Worldwide Training Program Translate to Additional Customers
COLUMBUS, OH, May 30, 2006. The Grand America Hotels and Resorts and its two Salt Lake City properties reported a 17 percent increase in reservation conversions following customized hospitality training by Signature Worldwide. Signature, the leading provider of training outsourcing and business-building solutions to the hospitality industry, was contracted by The Grand America Hotel to develop a call center training program for The Grand America and Little America Hotels, two of the group's AAA award-winning properties.
According to Anthony Bartholomew, The Grand America Hotel's director of rooms, both properties thrived during the Salt Lake City Olympics when reservation calls and room bookings were high. Following the games, however, demand for rooms decreased. A new protocol for processing incoming calls was needed to increase reservations.
To accomplish the property's training objectives, Signature's hospitality training program taught employees a formula for addressing inquiries, improving caller experiences and converting calls to bookings. Trainers provided monthly hotel mystery shopping calls, unlimited coaching and online Web-based reporting to reinforce what had been taught. They also worked with hotel management to develop a training system that gauged results and rewarded employees.
After completing Signature's tailored hospitality training program, reservation agents began to qualify callers and match the features of the hotel to potential guests' needs instead of simply answering the phone and quoting rates as they had done before.
"We have many tenured employees, so we knew embracing a new system would be difficult," said Bartholomew. "Signature's program positioned change as a win-win for our staff and our customers and developed programs that were enticing for our team. I credit the company's training for driving our recent successes."
Following the training success at the Salt Lake City properties, The Grand America Hotels and Resorts hired Signature to work with the staff at six of its other properties. They've since engaged the company to help sales directors increase group business.
"It's important for hotel owners and managers to understand when changes have to be made for the good of the business," said Emily Adams, Signature Worldwide regional sales manager. "Sometimes implementing new behaviors requires an outside perspective, and the management at The Grand America Hotel recognized that. We congratulate the staff on their recent strides and look forward to helping other properties achieve similar successes."
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