Are you a Hotelier?  Hospitality just lends itself to upselling, doesn’t it?  After all, who doesn’t want exclusive access to your stunning penthouse or dreamy honeymoon suite and pampering in your resident Health Spa? So let’s see how it’s done.

Tips for Hotel Reception Upselling

Upselling is the art of persuading the customer to upgrade and this is a very powerful tool in the hospitality industry, where the client has choices.

This ability can certainly increase profits and simply by making guests aware of specific benefits that come with particular packages, it is often possible to upsell.

Many hotel chains have specific training sessions that focus on upselling, as they recognise the potential that these techniques offer, and with that in mind, here are a few tips to help the reception staff switch guests to more expensive room packages.

As the hotel receptionist has the necessary customer information, it is easy to personalise the greeting and if they are on holiday, ask how things are going and appear genuinely interested in their response.

People warm to a personal greeting and this is often the icebreaker that soon leads to an upgrade, so make sure your staff tries to personalise the greetings whenever possible.

Free Up Human Resources

Hotel reception staff have a-million-and-one things to do and by outsourcing call handling, you are giving your reception staff more time to focus on taking care of the guests.

There are specialist companies that offer an affordable virtual answering service and with a cloud-based room register, everyone will be on the same page.

A large part of the hotel reception employees’ time is taken up with answering the phone, and by outsourcing this, you are empowering your reception staff to focus more on providing the guests with everything they need.

Asking the Right Questions

This is a tried and tested way to upsell and by asking relevant questions, the guest will possibly become aware of additional services and special room packages that best meet their needs.

“Would you prefer a room with a view, Sir?” is often the best way to introduce upgrade packages and should the guest have booked through a third party, they might not be aware of the possible options that are available.

Determining a guest’s needs is always a precursor to upsell and if your staff does a little research on new guests, that extra information can be put to good use when they check in. For more information on upselling techniques, you can find articles about them online.

Know Your Product

Hotel reception staff should have extensive knowledge of all the room and suite packages, as well as additional services the hotel might offer.

This allows the staff to accurately explain the benefits of an upgrade and rather than focusing on the extra cost, the emphasis should be firmly on the benefits of an upgrade.

This is something that should be included in every training manual as knowing your products is the key to successful upselling.

Upselling can be a very profitable sales technique when employed correctly and with regular staff training that includes upselling techniques, your hotel booking will reflect the positive impact that upselling offers.

With all incoming calls being handled by a third party, your reception staff can focus on providing the very best service for your hotel guests.

This Post was Published in Partnership with MediaBuzzer.

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