First of all, many are rushing to blame covid-19 for the loss of early bookings. Anyone long enough in the industry can however confirm that “early bookings” were already decreasing the past years. This is mostly related to the fact that there are now many more channels to distribute hotel sales and therefore many sources a guest can choose from when deciding to go for a holiday. Finding a hotel to stay has become easier! Additionally, fast and efficient access to transportation tickets online and larger variety of hotel “kinds” make it possible to plan last-minute successful trips, without worrying. Consequently, a guest feels that there are now more options available and he does not need to secure a room early enough in advance. This may not look good to the hotelier wanting to have a better idea of demand in advance, so what should they do? Well, regardless of the destination demand which is a factor that no one can affect individually, building proper online presence and using a smart sales strategy can ensure that when guests decide to visit your area, they will choose you among your competitors. In the mean-time, a professional sales team can effectively predict whether early booking campaigns will do any good based on target markets, destination demand and potential benefits from such offers.

Hiring a proper Reservations professional has now proven to be more challenging than ever, as we can see that people tend to stay in departments like reception, guest relations etc for years and won’t usually express any interest in moving up the chain to the back office. We must admit that on many occasions, these posts pay better and require much less effort. So, what will happen to those job openings? 

Taking this subject a step further, even finding and training an employee to handle reservations successfully still carries risks, like what happens when you need to replace that person, how can you know how efficiently this person works, what happens if that person needs time off etc. Out of the many hotel departments, reservations and sales is the only one that can be outsourced and as the scenery changes, it probably should. When it comes to a single property, the person in charge of the reservations may not be properly supported, supervised and educated. Additionally, he or she may need longer brakes, may have special needs or agendas.

On the contrary, hiring a company to act as your reservations department means full clarity, regular updates and access to all data 24/7, higher performance rate and consequently faster business growth. An expert will always evolve and adapt faster to the industry’s needs, while the hotelier’s interests will be more secure since the company will share the same. Finding the right partners may be tricky but after you do and eventually establish a trusting relationship with them, you will most likely see growth rate increasing!

Furthermore, a professional reservations team needs to know how prepared the cleaning staff is to treat arrivals and departures of a large group, as it would be quite a challenge compared to regular housekeeping days. One must never bargain the hotel’s service level for more profit, as this will only result in bad guest experiences and problems that will hurt the hotel’s reputation. On the other hand, many group bookings may bring overall profit to a hotel with more departments such as restaurants, bars, spas etc, since group guests may be better spenders than regular guests – mostly depending on the guests’ visit purpose.