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Upselling - There's Money to be Made at the Front Desk
By Adrian Caruso - TA Fastrack CEO
The importance of upselling at the front desk has increased over recent years due in large part to the changing methods of booking rooms.
The popularity of reserving rooms online from a third-party travel site, the property’s website or packaged with a flight and/or rental car means that the front desk agent’s reception is often the first person-to-person interaction that guests experience. This trend gives the front desk agent the opportunity to become a member of the sales department by selling upgrades (upselling) to guests upon arrival.
Upselling allows a property to maximise revenue from its occupancy and increase the average daily rate.
The act of selling upgrades can benefit the property, the front desk agent and the guest if there is a quality system in place. The benefits for the property include higher guest satisfaction and higher revenue/ADR.
Proactively upselling can make a big impression on the bottom line, no matter the size of the property. For example, not too long ago, a smaller, high-end, boutique property with less than 150 rooms implemented a new upselling program in 2007 and its upsell revenue jumped from $20,000 in 2006 to $120,000 in 2007. The following years’ upselling revenue increased significantly as well: to $145,000 in 2008, $190,000 in 2009, and more than $200,000 in 2010.
The hotel paid for training and provided agents with upselling incentives; and even with such expenditures accounted for, the property increased profits by $168,000 over the previous year.
The front desk agent has the opportunity to profit from an upselling program through a commission-based incentive program. For example, an effective incentive program that has been implemented at a number of properties (ranging from full-service luxury resorts to boutique and urban corporate properties) offers 5% of the upgrade amount; and thus the difference between the rate booked and the new (upsold) amount is added as a bonus to the agent’s paycheck after the guest has checked out. For example, if a guest makes a three-night reservation at $115/night and the front desk agent sells an upgrade to the guest increasing the rate to $145/night, the front desk agent’s commission would be $4.50 (5% of $90) and the hotel would gain $85.50 from the increase in rate.
Team and individual selling goals are also opportunities for a property to motivate front desk agents to upsell proactively. If the team, for example, achieves its monthly goal for upsells, the incentive percentage can be increased to 10% and paid retroactively. In 2010, at the small hotel referenced above, an agent had an annual upsell total just short of $45,000 because her team made the monthly goals each quarter and so achieved the 10% bonus bracket, the agent earned an additional $4500 for the year. This kind of financial reward can be extremely motivating for staff. In this instance, the hotel realised an additional $40,000. It should also be noted that guest satisfaction surveys were higher that year than in previous years – an all-around win!
Recognition-based rewards are also great tools to incorporate into an upselling program.
Honouring staff for the most upsells, highest dollar average of upsells and highest monetary amount of upsells can be recognised with cash bonuses, plaques, prime parking spaces, gift cards or even lunch with the general manager.
An incentive for converting a “walk-in” reservation is also an opportunity to consider. This type of selling may warrant a slightly larger commission percentage because there is a different level of skill and effort needed from the front desk agent. In these situations, an 8% to 10% “commission” may very well be appropriate.
As you can see, upselling is a win/win/win scenario for the property, front desk agent, and guest - if done correctly.
How can your hotel upsell properly?
One of the most common mistakes the front office staff can make when implementing an upsell program is to establish “higher revenues” as the ultimate goal. That’s when a guest’s experience is almost always diminished. Instead, the focus must be placed on the guest and his/her comfort. When the agent is trained and incentivised to enhance the guest’s experience, the upsell progresses naturally.
Again, as the front desk staff is quite often the guest’s first contact with the hotel, it’s critical that the front desk agent “consult” the guest about the hotel – topics such as comfortable accommodations, appropriate packages, or guest room types, etc. Most frequent travelers report that front desk agents rarely make an effort to recommend any accommodation other than the one booked. On the rare occasion that an agent does make a recommendation, quite often the effort is a transparent attempt to “get more money” from the guest.
There is no connection to the recommendation and the guest’s needs. This approach can be very off-putting. The first step to successful upselling is a shift in focus and presentation; a keen awareness of the guest and sincerity regarding what that guest may require for comfort and satisfaction need to be the primary concern.
Agents must learn to recognise and anticipate the needs of the guests as well as have the proper product knowledge to make an educated suggestion of a more comfortable room option. For example, if someone is travelling with children and has booked a standard room, the agent could point out that the guest may be more comfortable being in a room type with a separate area, so that the parents aren’t required to have an 8:30 bed time. Or perhaps someone staying for an extended amount of time would find value in a room that has more space. Oftentimes, guests don’t fully understand the full range of room-type options that are available, and the situation should be approached in an informative and helpful manner, and never with a disparaging tone or remark about the currently reserved room. Again, the goal is to maximize the guest’s experience.
Once an upselling program is implemented, it is critical to also commit to a tracking system that measures the results and impact and provides an accurate incentive payout. The tracking systems will vary among properties due to the different PMS in place but there are aspects that should be universal. The system should be smooth and easy to process by the front desk agent. Incentives should be paid out after the guest has checked out and his/her payment has been received. The number of upsells, the average amount of upsells and the total amount of upsells should be tracked on an individual and team basis.
A full-service resort on the west coast of Florida tracks its upsells in this manner:
A well-managed upselling program can benefit all parties involved if done correctly. To stay competitive, it is necessary that a property be able to adapt to the changes in the hospitality industry. There is a delicate balance between good customer service and quality sales that, if done properly, could amount to great success for an upselling program.
Proper training and an energised front desk team will create the right atmosphere for a productive upselling program with a great return on investment.
To read more articles from TA Fastrack, please visit their blog.
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Are you truly handling your email, or is your email handling you?
According to our recent post, Survey: What is Robbing You of Your Time? 15 Very Busy Professionals Weigh In, 7 out of 15 people feel like the email dragon is getting in the way of their productivity.
So, I have put together 20 suggestions to help you start your process of addressing your email so that it doesn’t run your life. Here we go:
1. Set aside time to really get to know your email program. You will more than likely find 8-10 ways to reduce and organize your email to avoid overload.
2. When sending emails use Tiny Url or Bit.ly to shorten long urls. Long urls break, which creates another email asking for the actual link.
3. Keep your email conversation to 3 exchanges. On the 4th exchange, pick up the phone, call the person you are playing email ping pong with, and resolve the issue over the phone. Keep your time on the phone limited. You have things to do, so get to it.
4. Opt out of every newsletter or article directory you are not reading. Many people push newsletters and articles into folders that are never read or even viewed again. Out of sight is out of mind, so either read the article as it comes into your inbox or ditch it.
5. When you buy online, watch yourself before you check out. There is usually a little box at the bottom of the page that is already checked asking you if you want to subscribe to their mailing list. Uncheck this box (unless you really have to have the emails).
6. Check emails 3 times per day…at 9:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m. and at 4:00 p.m. Then, leave it alone. Checking email all day long is one of the most inefficient uses of time, and it can create a bottleneck and distraction in your day. Specify on your website or voice mail or at the bottom of your email the times of day you check email so that the sender knows when to expect a response from you.
7. Watch out for the shiny star of distraction! You know what I mean. It goes like this: You open an email that takes you to a web page, you see something interesting and shiny, and there you go…off to another web page, then another and another. You look at the clock and suddenly, an hour or two have passed by (time you could have invested making money for your business!)
8. Keep your emails short and to the point. Long, drawn out emails should actually be a phone conversation. To keep these short emails professional, make sure to include a salutation and a closing signature to keep the email personal (remember…there is another person on the other end of the email). The majority of programs include a feature to create a standard closing signature. Just make sure to add something like “Best, Bea” or “Sincerely, Bea” before your contact information.
9. Respond to people with a quick answer in the subject line of your email. Let your contacts know you are using this technique, to look for the answer in the subject line and not to open the email. They will greatly appreciate this approach, because it saves them time as well.
10. Use a program such as Mailwasher to clean your junk and spam before it hits your inbox. In the first few weeks, you will be “washing” your mail frequently (deleting mail, marking mail as spam) and removing it before it hits your inbox. The mail washing process diminishes over time, and you will have less and less junk and spam hit your inbox. While many programs have great spam filters, they are not fail proof, so adding a system to clean out spam will save you time, frustration and distraction.
11. Consider switching your mail program to Google Apps. With Google Apps, you can continue to use This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , while creating labels, reporting mail as spam or telling Google Apps to bypass your inbox and send the mail straight to trash. If you are receiving spam, you can also mark the mail as spam, and it will disappear and automatically go straight to your spam filter.
12. Contact your network and let them know that you will be posting regularly to your blog, Twitter account or Facebook wall. (This can all be done automatically if you have a WordPress blog which pings your social networks). This will cut down drastically on the number of emails you receive asking for more information on a presentation you lead or on a program you are offering.
13. If you are using Twitter or Facebook, keep your contacts to a minimum number. Who can possibly keep up with 10,0000 followers on your social networks? If your contacts on social networks is beginning to exceed 500, it will be hard to keep up with everyone, and you will receive more email from people trying to sell you something via direct message.
14. Create filters, folders or groups for quick access. Many email programs provide the ability for you to choose to have certain emails actually skip your inbox and go straight to a folder, filter or group. Then, at the end of the day, scan that folder or folders for important information. If you have received 3 emails from the same person, answer them all in one email and not in 3.
15. When sending email, create a super specific subject line. I have found that it is much easier to find that email if the subject line has a unique word or phrase in it.
16. Respond immediately. If an email is timely and/or urgent, certainly go ahead and respond asap. If the email is not urgent and is a question that can be answered down the road, simply reply and say “Thanks John for the email. I cannot address this today. Can you please email me again on XYZ date, and I will be able to give this my full attention.” With this approach, you are not filing away an email, you are putting this back in John’s court to email you back. While many may say that this is shirking responsibility and placing it back on John’s plate…just remember…he contacted you…not the other way around. If John really wants to discuss an issue, have you read an introduction to his new book or set up a time to shoot the breeze, he will get back to you.
17. Use an online appointment scheduling system that syncs with your calendar to prevent people from contacting you for appointment scheduling. I use TimeTrade, but there are many programs out there that are really great. I also recommend Tungle. The system is free and offers a lot of features that make life easy.
18. If spam continues coming into your inbox from the same domain or user over and over again, report the abuse using SpamCop.
19. Keep no more than 20 emails in your inbox at one time. Otherwise, anything beyond 20 is again “out of sight”, which means it is “out of mind”. And, another 20, 30, 40 will pile on top of this.
20. Do it, ditch it, or delegate it. We have heard this 1,000 times, but how often do we really practice this. At the end of the day, your goal should be to have a 100% clean inbox. If not, tomorrow morning, you will have 20, 30, 50 or 200 emails on top of what you never addressed.
21. Keep the YouTube videos, joke emails and chain letters away. While so many of these are funny and can brighten up your day, they are a distraction. Once again, filter these to a folder called “jokes and videos” and then look at them when you have free time. Watching videos and reading jokes throughout the day will take up precious time and energy you will need to devote to your business.
I realize we all live in a digital world, and email is one of the top ways we correspond with others. My concern is that email is now overwhelming our lives, creating isolation and interfering in building intimate, face to face relationships. If you cannot get your email under control with these strategies, then maybe it’s time to let the world know that “Hey…I don’t do email. My phone number is _______________ .”
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