Emerald Grande Boosts Voice Conversions 20 Percent with Phone System
Emerald Grande at HarborWalk Village is a Gulf front destination in Destin, Florida, but it is not your average beach resort. Emerald Grande is a luxury condominium hotel with an inventory of mostly three or four bedroom units that delivers a $500 in-season ADR. Its multiple room types, amenities, and high nightly rate add up to a complex leisure reservation sales process. To maximize the resort’s high revenue potential, Chief Operating Officer, Bruce Craul took action two years ago to develop a world class sales team for his world class property.
Like most high-value leisure properties, voice is Emerald Grande’s major booking channel. Guests check online, but they call the property to finalize a booking decision for a $3,500 vacation at Emerald Grande. It was clear that if the reservation team could convert more calls, it would make a big difference on the bottom line. Craul selected NAVIS, a reservation sales system company, to implement its comprehensive sales optimization program.
NAVIS specializes in phone reservation sales optimization. They trained the resort’s reservation managers in professional sales skills, installed phone system technology that displays caller demographics and provides call recording, created an out-bound call program, and they monitor monthly conversion scores to track performance. Each agent owns their account and is incented to close the business. The program was comprehensive – and effective, leading to a 10% - 20% revenue improvement with sales processes depending on the time of year.
The Navis System records all calls between the Emerald Grande’s reservations staff and the callers. Management reviews each one to refine sales ability and improve conversion rate scores. Craul said the NAVIS’ sales reporting lets him know more about what is going on with his business to make decisions based on solid information.
105% revenue growth with fewer rooms
The resort turned over 17 units to Wyndham Vacation Club in 2012, but Emerald Grande increased its revenue despite the smaller inventory. In the past year Emerald Grande lost 510 room nights to Wyndham, but still made 105% of the previous year’s revenue.
Emerald Grande also initiated a highly effective outbound call program to follow up on reservation inquiries. When someone calls for information, NAVIS’ system displays the caller’s phone number and other information.
Like most high-value leisure properties, voice is Emerald Grande’s major booking channel. Guests check online, but they call the property to finalize a booking decision for a $3,500 vacation at Emerald Grande. It was clear that if the reservation team could convert more calls, it would make a big difference on the bottom line. Craul selected NAVIS, a reservation sales system company, to implement its comprehensive sales optimization program.
NAVIS specializes in phone reservation sales optimization. They trained the resort’s reservation managers in professional sales skills, installed phone system technology that displays caller demographics and provides call recording, created an out-bound call program, and they monitor monthly conversion scores to track performance. Each agent owns their account and is incented to close the business. The program was comprehensive – and effective, leading to a 10% - 20% revenue improvement with sales processes depending on the time of year.
The Navis System records all calls between the Emerald Grande’s reservations staff and the callers. Management reviews each one to refine sales ability and improve conversion rate scores. Craul said the NAVIS’ sales reporting lets him know more about what is going on with his business to make decisions based on solid information.
105% revenue growth with fewer rooms
The resort turned over 17 units to Wyndham Vacation Club in 2012, but Emerald Grande increased its revenue despite the smaller inventory. In the past year Emerald Grande lost 510 room nights to Wyndham, but still made 105% of the previous year’s revenue.
Emerald Grande also initiated a highly effective outbound call program to follow up on reservation inquiries. When someone calls for information, NAVIS’ system displays the caller’s phone number and other information.