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Santa
Fe, NM – April 2021 / Newsmaker Alert / Travel
Outlook Premium Hotel Call Center (Travel Outlook) is set to begin
its tenth year of sustaining certification by Kennedy
Training Network (KTN), a prestigious hotel industry training company
with a diverse mix of clients all over the world.
Founded
in 2006 and based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, KTN’s experience in
hotel call center training and mystery shopping assessment stretch back
over three decades when its Founder and President, Doug Kennedy, first
started conducting reservations sales training for hotel call center clients
including Marriott, Westin, Omni, Kimpton, Best Western, Ritz-Carlton,
and Wyndham.
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“Our
partnership with Travel Outlook continues to be a shining example of voice
sales done right,” stated Doug Kennedy.
“For
call centers, many brands have moved to a transactional sales style, not
allowing their agents to deviate from the script. Yet on the other side
of the conversation, today’s callers are pre-informed, having visited the
hotel website prior to calling. We train Travel Outlook’s team to understand
the ‘why behind the what’ for the call criteria we use to assess their
performance.”
Doug
Kennedy explained that over the past couple of decades, most leading hotel
brands and other third-party call centers have devolved call center models
into a transactional process obsessed with call-time efficiency, ultimately
hurting the success of voice as a distribution channel by not building
rapport and imbuing a sense of personalization.
In
contrast to this, KTN’s training brings back the art of being engaged with
the prospective guests, using conversational flow and communicating authenticity
so that a lasting, recurringly fruitful relationship is formed. Particularly
for the current era of traveling during an ongoing pandemic, the personalized,
conversational style required by KTN and embraced by Travel Outlook is
all the more critical for recovery because guests are much more likely
to call the hotel to ask about COVID-19 safety procedures and other temporary
property changes.
KTN’s
mission and curriculum emphasize the human element in hotel reservations
sales. In order to qualify for KTN Certification, every member of Travel
Outlook’s agent team participates in an engaging, interactive, three-part
development program provided by KTN as part of onboarding. This starts
with live, small-group webcam training provided directly by Doug Kennedy,
one-on-one role-playing with KTN’s senior trainers, and a third small group
training.
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Other
requirements for Travel Outlook’s reservationists include:
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Utilizing
KTN’s call flow criteria, the most demanding in the industry for both revenue
generation as well as service excellence, with Travel Outlook doing additional
scoring in accordance with the Forbes Five Star guidelines
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Engaging
KTN for ‘third-party assessments’ conducted either via traditional reservations
mystery shopping or, in the case of Travel Outlook, having KTN access and
score real-world calls
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Maintaining
KTN certification, where clients must achieve a total score of 85% or higher
over a 90-day rolling average (historically, Travel Outlook’s routinely
scores in the mid 90% range)
Given
travel demands during our current recovery period, this uptick in voice
channel importance requires a dedicated team of professionals who can act
as authentic brand ambassadors and set the pace for a great onsite experience
right from the first interaction. Through its ongoing commitment to KTN,
Travel Outlook has a remarkable advantage over other voice channel teams
and call centers because its reservationists are thoroughly coached in
the art of connecting with guests and understanding their specific needs
prior to discussing the hotel and making a bespoke recommendation.
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About
Travel Outlook Premium Hotel Call Center
Given
its progressive approach to the voice channel – in terms of performance,
training, transparency, testing and the tools used to measure performance
– Travel Outlook Premium Hotel Call Center (www.TravelOutlook.com)
has become the premier voice reservations team in hospitality. Travel Outlook’s
valued client list includes Viceroy Hotel Group, Outrigger, KSL Resorts,
Proper Hospitality Group, Pacific Hospitality Group, Highgate Hotels, Columbia
Hospitality, The Irvine Company, Catalina Island and many others. Travel
Outlook’s team and approach increases sales conversion and helps to create
more effective voice communication between hotels and their guests, resulting
in improved social scores in addition to increased voice channel revenue.
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About
Kennedy Training Network (KTN)
KTN
is the lodging and hospitality industry’s best source for hotel training
programs and supportive services in topic areas of hotel reservations sales,
hospitality/guest service excellence, front desk hospitality certification,
and hotel sales department training. Services include customized, on-site
hotel training workshops, private hotel team webinars, telephone mystery
shopping & remote call scoring. To learn more information about KTN,
please visit www.KennedyTrainingNetwork.com.
For
More Information:
John
Smallwood, President
Travel
Outlook Premium Hotel Call Center
Mobile:
505-470-3241
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Media
Contact:
Raul
Vega
LEVEL
5 Hospitality
www.LEVEL5hospitality.com
Mobile:
954-817-6371
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