Using Skype for better service

by Josiah Mackenzie on November 11, 2009

Should your hotel use Skype?

Many of the articles on ‘Skype for business’ I see talk about the cost savings potential. That’s an insignificant benefit in my mind…and not what I want to discuss today.

Instead, I see Skype as a tool for providing better service. If many of your guests come from overseas, you may want to consider using Skype to make it easy for these people to contact your hotel. Based on my work with a few hotels recently, we’ve noticed that by offering Skype — either as a phone system or simply a chat service — interaction significantly improves.

Personally, I find Skype extremely useful because of the way it enables me to make phone calls around the world from wherever I have to be at the moment. I’m on the phone almost constantly, and since the people I work with live around the world, the service has become a lifesaver for me.

More importantly, I think it has real benefits to hotels. When you have a broadband Internet connection, the call quality is excellent. You can barely even tell you are not using a landline. Unlimited calls to landlines around the world can be made for $13 a month, so it’s extremely affordable.

How hotels could use Skype

1) You can add country-specific phone numbers so people do not pay overseas rates to call you for reservations. For just a few dollars a month, you can have local phone numbers in all major markets you’re trying to reach. (My agency does this for every major metro area we’re operating in.)

2) You can place a Skype button on your website to encourage more people to talk or chat to your front desk staff.

3) You can add an extra layer of interaction to your web and social networking presence through Skype.

4) Video chat can be used to help answer questions about the hotel or area from prospective (or current) guests.

Do you use Skype? Let me know about your experience with this tool in the comments below.

Or call me…

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Article by Josiah Mackenzie // November 11, 2009 Josiah helps hospitality organizations use technology and the social web to provide better service and generate more profits.