Telephone Etiquette
The telephone is the lifeblood of communication and there are many instances you will use the telephone in your daily workday.
If you use it with courtesy and common sense, it can lead to the caller having a good impression of your hotel.
In your hotel, you may get 3 types of calls. External on the hotel board line or direct calling lines. Internal, from guests who are in-house and inter-departmental, that is within the team members.
Whatever the call is you need to open the call by picking up the phone and announcing that you are on the other end.
Your hotel may have a standard on how it is done. So check with your supervisor about the opening statement on a telephone conversation.
Whatever you say, follow the script. The script is designed to put the caller at ease and lets them know that they have reached the intended audience.
For example, if you are the caller, would you prefer to hear, good morning, thank you for calling the plaza hotel? This is Aditya speaking, how may I direct your call? Or would you prefer to hear just hello.
In most cases, you may like to hear the first statement, because the caller will immediately know where they have called rather than trying to guess as in the second statement.
Similarly, an internal call may have a different statement and so will an inter-departmental call.
As I mentioned before, ask your supervisor, what is your hotel standard. And practice it in all your calls from today.
Before picking up the call, remember to smile once and take a deep breath. It is important so that the caller hears a positive attitude. If you are stressed, or angry, your caller can hear it. So before you pick up the call, smile.
There is a golden rule, to pick up the call within 3 rings or 10 seconds. But sometimes you may be busy and it may not be possible to pick up the call. Use common courtesy and apologise for the delay in picking up the call.
Once the initial phase of opening the call is completed, you may need to answer the guest’s queries. There are millions of things a caller may ask, so you would want to keep a list of frequently asked questions in all departments.
For the restaurant, it may be how much the buffet cost or what time does dinner open. Similarly, put together a list for your department of the questions you get frequently.
Keep it handy near the telephone or learn about it.
Many times you may not have the answer and will want to ask or transfer the call. Before doing that, ask the caller.
May I keep you on hold while I get you the required information. Or you may say, allow me to direct your call to the restaurant. They will be able to help you with your query.
This helps the guest to understand what is going on. Also if you have transferred the call, take time to explain the situation or query to the person on the other end of the call, before connecting the call, so that the guest does not have to repeat them all over again.
Mr Anil wants to know what do you have on the buffet tonight. That way you can start the conversation from there.
Good evening Mr Anil, I believe you wanted to enquire about the menu tonight.
Provide the information that the guest wants.
At all times during the call, listen attentively to what the guest is saying, do not interrupt when the guest is speaking. Once the guest has finished speaking, offer solutions to the guest queries.
Before you end the call, thank the caller for the call and check if there is anything else you can do for them today.
As you did when you picked up the call, end the call with a smile as well. Check your hotel standards on the closing statement as well.
Thank you for calling hotel plaza, have a great day ahead.
With these steps, you can ensure that your callers have a great experience, and a positive impression of your hotel.