How IVR Solution Impacts Hospitality Industries For All Round Improvements

Hospitality thrives on customers and giving them an above average experience leads to repeat business. Unified communication does help but the IVR in the chain could be the strongest or the weakest link depending on the type of IVR solution you put in place. It is the nature of hospitality industry that calls for a specialized IVR system in order to achieve the best impact leading to all round improvement in business. 

The inquiry stage 

This is the most crucial stage where a prospective decides one way or the other depending on the response. IVR is the first point of contact where a customer desires as much information as possible without spending a lot of time in key presses. Hotels do need a dynamic IVR configured to deliver information about hotels, branches, rooms, tariffs, amenities and general services. The faster the response and the more detailed it is the more are the chances of conversion. 

The booking stage 

It is not enough to simply allow a customer to book the room of his choice. It must be confirmed with payment, all done through the IVR system that seamlessly transitions the booking to IVR payment in a secure way. Payment may not be absolutely necessary since a customer may pay upon arrival or on departure but a pleasant experience does create a positive impression. 

Intermediate stage 

The customer is on the way and would like directions. He resorts to the IVR system and appreciates it when he receives pointed instructions. During this stage a customer may just as well change his booking or even cancel it in which case it should be smooth and effortless. 

During occupancy 

Once a guest has booked in another set of IVR queries come into play. The guest may need a service such as food delivered to their room, laundry or taxi and then, when they are about to check out they may want the bill prepared and ready. The guest may even be given the option of using the IVR payment to settle the account. The experience during this stage can prove vital to the hotel’s reputation for superior service and customer satisfaction. 

Post checkout

Once again the IVR kicks in and requests the guest’s opinion on his experience. He may receive a thank you note in his mail and offers of coupons to ensure loyalty. 

A guest is likely to become a repeat customer in the future and must feel welcome for which the hotel must have the IVR tied to a CRM. The next time the guest initiates the room booking procedure the IVR instantly recognizes, welcomes and jump starts the booking. 

Hotels may have branches in various countries and naturally they will want the IVR to have intelligent multi-lingual capabilities to offer prompts in the language of choice of the guest. This can be automated by use of country prefix code or offering language selection in the menu. 

As can be seen the IVR solution is pivotal and hospitality industry, in order to get maximum ROI, need a solution that fits in with their needs and delights customers. Asterisk Service IVR for hospitality is tailored to help hotels capture maximum customers and maximum ROIs. 

Source: https://ivrsystemdesign.wordpress.com/2019/11/04/how-ivr-solution-impacts-hospitality-industries-for-all-round-improvements/