New Program Helps Reservations and Front Desk Agents Overcome Objections and Maximize Rates
Hollywood, Florida – April 7, 2016 – KTN announced today the launch of a new advanced-level training program for reservations sales agents and for front desk colleagues that take reservations. The new course, which is available as an on-site training workshop and also as a private webinar series, can be scheduled as a follow-up to KTN's Hotel Reservations QUEST sales training program or scheduled as a stand-alone event.
"Today's agents already have to deal with questions from over-informed callers who have read guest reviews and surfed online distribution channels, so they certainly need training on how to engage callers with QUESTioning and on closing the sale, as offered in our QUEST training," said Doug Kennedy, President of KTN. "Yet on top of that, today's agents are required to convey the most complex rate structures and availability restrictions in the history of lodging," he added. "Due to the advances in revenue and distribution management processes and technologies, quoting rates and explaining restrictions has become more challenging than ever before, while at the same time we have more savvy and better-educated callers. This is why a new advanced level program is needed"
KTN's new program provides practical, easy to use tactics that apply every day in real-world calls. This includes quoting rate restrictions (advance purchase, fenced discount promotions); explaining why rates fluctuate and change – often during the same stay; explaining why group / corporate rates are closed out, or why they are higher than rates seen online; avoiding mentioning discounts when it is not necessary to do so; presenting remaining options (typically the highest rated room categories and suites) in a positive light; "downselling" when only lower-rated options remain open (non-view, less desirable locations); explaining why a room number, room type (i.e. connecting) or location request cannot be guaranteed; channel converting guests who see lower (and/or the same) rates online while on the phone; overcoming objections regarding hotel fees and surcharges; explaining minimum stays; and selling against specific competitors who are referenced by name.
