Answering Telephone in Hotel & Restaurant - DOs & DON'Ts

Telephone always plays a significant role in hospitality industry. People from all round the world call for making booking or asking information or transferring message to the guest or for various other purposes. If you are a hotelier then you may have to answer telephone calls. This happens mostly with front desk staffs. Today we will learn some most effective telephone answering tips. These are some basic techniques you should apply while answering any call in hotel or restaurant.

DOs:

• Answer the telephone promptly within 3 rings.

• Make the caller know your work area, your name and offer appropriate greeting. If it is an inbound call then just mention your department and if it is outbound call then mention name of the hotel with your identity.

• Always have pen and paper on hand, specially front desk personnel should always be ready to keep records.

• Listen carefully. Pay close attention to details being expressed by the caller.

• Make the caller feel that they have your undivided attention. Make an occasional acknowledgment of what he/she says. Mention the name of the caller, once established.

• If you have to ask the caller to hold on, explain why. Wait for the caller’s agreement before actually putting him/her on hold.

• If you have to transfer the call, explain why and make sure that the caller is properly introduced to the next party. If the purpose of the call has been said already, repeat the same to the next party.

• If you say you will call back, do so as soon as possible. Give him some sorts of idea that how long he or she need to wait.

• Sometimes you may not understand whether the caller is a man or lady. To be on the safe side politely ask his or her name or you can say “how should i address you”?

• Repeat back any details and follow up in writing (if necessary).

• Close conversation politely. Always say “thank you for calling.”

• Let’s caller hang up first.

• Try to satisfy your guest with proper information. If you don’t know detail then transfer the call to the right person. Never give wrong information.

DON’Ts:

• Let the telephone ring more than 3 times.

• Answer the phone with merely “hello” or “yes”.

• Ask the caller to hold on while you scramble for pen and paper.

• Rely on your memory instead of writing what the caller says. Asking the
caller to repeat the details is annoying and does not leave a good impression.

• Say “hold on” and leave the caller wondering if he/she is still being attended.

• Say “I’ll transfer your call” without saying to whom and why.

• Say you will call back when you have no intention to.

• Say you cannot help and not offer to connect the caller to someone who can.

• Say “he hasn’t come in yet”, “she hasn’t come back from lunch yet” or “he is in the toilet”. People do not want to know the reason and are given the wrong impression by such answers.

• Hang up without trying to close the conversation.

• Hang up without thanking the caller for calling.

• Put your least intelligent, least coherent or “panicky” staff in charge of the phone.

• Keep talking to another person while answering phone.

• Eating something while answering phone