TELEPHONE OPERATOR
OBJECTIVE:
Ensure all Operator follow the hotel standard for answering the telephone and also know the procedure how to handle the transfer call.
POLICY:
TELEHONE SERVICE STANDARDS
Telephone service is available 24 hours.
All telephone calls must be answered in three rings.
Telephones must be answered with a consistent, standard greeting.
The greeting has to be delivered perfectly. The punctuations have to be carefully observed. There has to be a slight pause between the name of the hotel or the department and the greeting.
For Ex. the greeting “Belle Maison Parosand Danang Hotel, Good morning” has a comma after the word “Hotel”
When greeting the callers on the phone make sure not to sound harried or in a rush. Take time in delivering the greeting.
Fluency in English is compulsory.
The calls have to be announced to the called parties and should not be transferred directly to the extension without permission of the called parties, except those are the calls to internal, but not Managers
If a caller has been put on hold, get back to the caller after every 20 seconds and inform him/her on the status of the request.
The hold music should be appropriate and at an optimum decibel level.
The background should be completely noise free in the telephone operator’s cabin.
Do not talk to a colleague or ask questions while the caller is on line. Put the caller on hold before you start speaking to anybody else.
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If the line is not clear or if you cannot hear the caller, repeat the standard greeting 3 times after a gap of 5 seconds before disconnecting the call.
Telephone operators must have comprehensive knowledge of all in-house extensions and regularly called numbers.
Comprehensive knowledge of all emergency services and procedures is compulsory.
All calls must be transferred independently, without advising the caller of the extension numbers.
PROCEDURE:
TELEPHONE ETIQUETTES
Always talk in complete sentences.
For Example. -“Could you give me the name, please, Sir/Madam?”
NOT “Name Please?”
-“What time would you like your wake-up call, Sir/Madam?”
NOT “What time?”
-“Which number would you like to call Sir/Madam?”
NOT “What is the number?”
Keep the guest informed of what you are doing.
For Ex. -“May I put you on hold, while I ________?”
NOT “Hold on.”
-“Allow me to transfer your call, sir/madam.”
NOT “One moment please.”
Do not be in a hurry to transfer the call. Give the caller time to react, in case he/she does not wish to hold on or wishes to say something else.
Personalize the conversation as much as possible. Try to use the name of the guest. In case the name is not known, use Sir or Madam.
For Ex. “Certainly, sir.” INSTEAD OF “Certainly”
Never use Mr./Mrs./Miss without a surname.
It is impolite to use “Your husband” or “Your wife”, use the names instead.
For Ex. USE “Mr. Green asked me to give you the message.”
AND NOT “Your husband asked me to give you the message.”
Try to use “Would you like …” Instead of “Do you want…”
For Ex. USE “Would you like to hold the line, sir/madam?”
AND NOT “Do you want to hold the line, sir/madam?”
Never use slang phrases, casual abbreviations or jargons. Use polite & proper English words.
For Ex. USE “Certainly, sir/madam.”
AND NOT “Ya” OR “Yeah” OR “OK” OR “Right” OR “Sure”
USE “Good morning/afternoon/evening.”
AND NOT “Hi” OR “Hello”
USE “Have a nice day.” Or “Good Bye”
AND NOT “Ba-bye” OR “See You” OR “Chao” or “Bye”
USE “Air Conditioning”
AND NOT “AC”
If you have had to put a guest on hold do not say “Hello” when you come back on the line. Its is better to say:
EITHER “Thank you for holding, sir/madam.”
OR “Excuse me Sir/madam, you asked about…..”
If the guest is talking to someone else in the background when you come back, do not interrupt with “Hello, Hello”; say “Excuse me Sir/Madam”.
If you have to call a guest back, make sure you introduce yourself fully.
For Ex. “Good afternoon, Mrs. …………… I am calling from the Guest Services Desk/Housekeeping/Restaurant…. You asked for information ….”
If a caller asks for something which you do not know the answer, do not give incorrect or incomplete information; instead tell the caller “I will just check on that Sir/Madam. Would you please hold the line for a moment?”
If a guest asks for something which needs to come from another department, never ask the guest to dial the other department, instead take down the details and inform the guest: “Certainly Sir/Madam. I will ask Room Service/Housekeeping to attend to your request.” The only exception to this is if the guest wants advice that you cannot give (e.g. A complicated food order). In this case, tell the guest that you will ask the department in question to ring him/her back.
TELEPHONE OPERATOR STANDARD PHRASES
Greeting External Callers:
“Good Morning / Afternoon / Evening, Belle Maison Parosand Danang Hotel. How may I assist you?”
With the external calls, we don’t identify the operator name, but the hotel name
Greeting Internal Callers:
“Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening, Operator, (Name) is speaking”
With the internal calls, we don’t identify the hotel name, but the operator name
Offer assistance:
“How may I assist you?”
Politely asking for the caller name:
“How should I inform to Mr/Ms… about your call please”
Ask the guest to spell the name
“Could you spell the name please?”
Note down the name when the caller is spelling and repeat after that (use the standard international spelling)
If the caller just say the room number of the called party, politely ask for called party name
“May I have the guest name, please?”
If the called name not match with the name the caller gave
“Excuse me Mr/Ms ..., Sir / Madam, the guest in room # … is not that name. Could you please double check?”
Before putting the callers on hold to attend the caller’s enquiries:
“May I put you on hold while I am connecting to…, please?”
Asking permission to transfer the call to the called person (for guests or Managers)
“Good morning/afternoon/evening… Mr/Ms…, I am…(name) from hotel telephone operator. Mr/Ms... from… is calling you. Would you like to receive the call?”
Before transferring a call:
“Please allow me to transfer your call, sir/madam.”
If the extension is busy:
“Excuse me Sir/Madam, the extension is busy at the moment. Would you like to hold the line or leave a message, or call back later?”
If the call returns from an extension:
“Sir/Madam, there is no response from ______________ extension. Would you like me to transfer your call to another extension?”
Returning to a caller who is holding the line:
“Thank you for holding, sir/madam.”
If the called parties don’t want to accept the calls:
“I am sorry that Mr/Ms… is not available at the moment”
Never let the callers know that the called parties don’t want to receive their calls. Then offer to take a message or call back another time
“Would you like to leave a message or call back later?”
Take a message: has to have enough name, company, telephone number, message body and date/time of calling
“May I have your telephone number please?”
“May I have the message that you would like to leave to
Mr/Ms…, please?”
Offer further assistance:
“Is there anything else I may assist you Mr/Ms…?”
Closing External Calls:
“Thank you for calling to Belle Maison Parosand Danang Hotel”
Closing Internal Calls:
“Thank you for calling.”
Room numbers of guests are not to be disclosed to the caller. If the caller insists, answer:
“I do apologize sir/madam but for security reasons we cannot disclose the room number of a guest.”
DEPARTMENT TELEPHONE STANDARD PHRASES
All the standards are using same for department telephone
Answering Internal Calls:
“Good Morning / Afternoon/ Evening. Operator, (Name)’s speaking. How may I assist you?”
TELEPHONE OPERATOR PROCEDURES
INCOMING CALLS
Answer the call not after 3 rings
Greet the caller as standard and offer to assist
Politely ask for caller’s information
Ask the caller to spell the name if it’s a difficult name to call
Ask the caller for the called party’s name if he just tells the room number and check in the system if it’s correct that’s the guest in that room or not
If it’s not match between the name and the room number, have to clarify with the caller in case wrong transfer the call to another room and disturb the another guests
Note down to the paper the information and enquiries
Repeat the caller’s information and his request
Politely put the caller on hold
Inform the called party about the call if he wants to accept it or not (the call to guest or Manager )
Transfer the call if the line is available
Be very politely if the called party doesn’t want to receive the call (1)
If the line is busy, get back to the caller (2)
In cases (1) and (2), offer to take message or the caller should call back later
Take the message if have, note down to the paper and repeat the message. A message has to have enough information: name, company, telephone number of the caller, message body and date/time of calling
Try to release the call as soon as possible but not in hurry while talking with caller
Transfer the call to concerned department to have more clear information and avoid stuck the calls
Offer further assistance
Thanks to the caller
Wait for the caller hang up first, then hang up
Type the message and ask the concierge to deliver to the guests’ room
OUTGOING CALLS
Answer the call not after 3 rings
Greet the caller as standard and offer to assist
Politely ask for caller’s information (name, department)
Politely put the caller on hold
Transfer the call
Listen if the line is getting through then hang up
Get back to the caller in case the line is busy or not be able to connected and suggest to call back late
Report to the Out Going Call Logbook (name, position, department of the caller, number transferred, date, time)
HANDLE DIFFICULTY CALLS
When the telephone operator receive a phone call which seems difficult for her to handle, she should transfer it to the right person as soon as possible, avoid wasting time of the caller, and our telephone operator will not be stuck, as well as problem will cause if she cannot handle it quick.
HOTEL FACILITIES & SERVICES CALLS
If a caller is calling to operator to ask for hotel information and room rate, normally the telephone operator can give the information for guest, if the Operator is not busy at the time. The Operator has to know well about the hotel products, facilities, services and their operational times, the promotions, packages....at the moment... to provide correct information to guest. But in case, the OP is busy with many calls at the time, she should transfer the call to the right person to handle it
Hotel information in general, room rate, room booking: transfer to Reservation or Front Desk if Reservation is closed
Information about Restaurants, bars, booking for table... Things concerned to F&B, transfer to the main restaurant for more details
Same with Spa or other services, if have
COMPLAINT CALLS
While receiving the call from guest to complaint something, the Operator listens carefully without interruption, do apology and find the solutions.
If the problem is small and easy to handle, she should handle it right away.
If it’s serious, politely suggest to guest that the manager would call him/her back right away to solve the problem
She should report the problem to Front Office Manager immediately and he/she would find out the solutions
