Taking full advantage of your guest room speed dials can not only increase guest satisfaction, but also contribute to hotel revenue. Travelers these days are looking for an "experience", not just a place to stay. Many guests still prefer the simplicity of one touch speed dials quickly connecting them to hotel and emergency services if needed. This could be the difference in them using the hotel Spa versus the other 10 spas right down the street. Even hotels that do not provide premium services have been able to generate recurring revenues by leasing speed dial keys to local companies. Are you taking full advantage of your guest room telephones and speed dials keys?
Room Service: Two words that prove hotel phones are still proven moneymakers. Without these phones providing convenient one-button access to food and drink, hotels would lose millions of dollars in premium-priced sales.
Think of it this way: If customers have to use their cell phones to call for room service – with the hassle of having to find and then punch in a complete phone number– what’s to stop them from calling out for delivery? After all, it’s no more work to punch in one full phone number than it is to type in another.
Meanwhile, those with iPads and laptop computers can even bypass the phone and order online. But searching the Web does take more time than pushing a single button. Frankly, no cell phone or iPad can compete with the convenience and simplicity of picking up the hotel guest phone, pushing just one clearly-marked button, and getting food and drink ordered from a handy menu that is already available in the hotel room.
But what does Room Service actually contribute worth to a hotel’s bottom line? Information provided to Cetis by a major Los Angeles hotel reveals that Room Service orders totaled 54,400 in 2010 and over 65,000 in 2011. All were ordered on hotel guestroom phones, using single button pushes.
- Imagine that the average room service order totals $20.
- 65,000 calls at $20 equals $1.3 million dollars in room service orders.
- $1.3 million annually at just one hotel; thanks to that convenient single button on a hotel guestroom telephone.
- $20 per button push; not bad at all.
Food and Millennials. "What we continue to learn about millennials is that 50% cite food as a key factor in hotel selection, so hotel phones equipped with programmable guest service keys to property or off-premise food services will continue to be a key revenue driver for both full service and limited-service properties." Source: Sabre
- 50% of all business travel revenue will be driven by Generation Y by 2020
- $41 More per night is what a millennial will pay brand preference vs. $29 average
- 98% of millennials own and use a smartphone on a daily basis
- 50% cite food as key factor in hotel selection.
International call revenue. Research shows that revenue from international calls at a 500-room hotel with 80 percent occupancy is worth from $15,000 to $20,000 per month. This works out to $180,000 to $240,000 a year. Thanks again, hotel phones.
Hotel Phones=Happy Guests. If hotel guests need a wake-up call, advice on getting clothes cleaned, or fresh towels, they pick up the hotel guestroom phone, push a single button and get what they want. This is a guest convenience that is simple, fast, and — most of all – expected. In an age where consumers are already cranky about service cutbacks in airlines and other travel-related products, taking away this expected convenience would be commercial suicide. Again, the numbers from a major L.A. hotel tell the story: In 2010, the guest service button on the guestroom telephone was used 46,000 times. In 2011, the number increased to over 51,000.
- Linen requests via the Housekeeping button had 5,100 calls in 2010, and over 6,000 in 2011
- Wake-up calls in 2010 were 23,000 and 37,000 in 2011
- And guests engaging the Concierge button on the guestroom telephone was 9,300 in 2010 and 11,200 in 2011
All of these needs are met by single button pushes on hotel guestroom phones. Again, no cell phone or iPad can replace this convenience.
Lawsuit, Anybody? Imagine that your hotel has a fire or other calamity. Now imagine that the hotel guestroom phones have been removed. Can you imagine what a field day some enterprising class action lawyer can have at your company’s expense? You got it: By removing hotel guestroom phones, a hotelier is exposing itself to millions’ of dollars in potential liability suits. And even if disaster doesn’t strike? Have fun convincing your insurance company that removing guestroom phones doesn’t open your hotel up to such lawsuits. Unfortunately, your insurance company knows better. Chances are the increase in insurance premiums will eat up any savings realized by removing guestroom phones – and then some.
The Good News. Clearly, removing hotel guestroom phones is an effective way to slash revenues, alienate customers, and open yourself up to lawsuits and vastly increased insurance premiums, while preserving and growing your Room Service and long distance revenues with hotel guest room phones helps ensure that these profit centers remain alive and contributing to your hotel’s bottom line.
