Tour & Travel Groups are fun, easy to work with, easy revenue and crazy all in one. These days Sales Manager’s don’t have coordinators or secretaries to assist with the follow up and maintenance of the group. There is a lot of leg work for a Sales Manager.
It is important for the Sales Manager to gather all of the clients information so they can communicate that with the Management Team. Some things to make sure they get is the rooming list, payment, arrival and departure times, do they need baggage service, where are they eating, what is the age group, where are they going (is there more business?), what is their schedule, how many per room and are their chaperons. If you can get the name of the bus driver and tour guide that is even better.
The Sales Manager needs to communicate all this information to their Team. Make sure that the Front Desk Agent is aware that a bus in arriving and help them with any questions. The Front Desk Manager especially must be informed of every detail.
If baggage service is needed, as a Sales Manager you will need to know what your market is charging for this service. Is the charge per person or per bag? I have seen pricing in my area of $4.00 per bag ~ round trip and $6.00 per person.
Most all tour buses will pay for room and tax on a master folio. On the groups day of arrival, the Front Desk Manager can charge the master, pre-key their rooms and even check them in. Piece of cake. You want to have the room keys ready to go when the bus driver or tour guide walks up to your front desk. There is nothing more embarrassing then the hotel operations not being ready.
Of course, for early arrivals it is understood that chances are the hotel may not be ready. If the bus is to arrive prior to your check-in time, the Sales Manager should clearly communicate the check-in time with the client and make sure they know that all of the rooms may not be ready. The Sales Manager should not promise an early check-in.
Where permitted, it is the Sales Manager’s role to meet and greet the bus, chat with the guest’s and provide information such as where your business center is, where they can go to eat, help them if they are not happy with their room or their room key didn’t work and make them feel welcome and at home. Just think, these people may have been on that bus for 5-6 hours. Kids, Seniors or whoever they are, they want to head to their rooms, wander around the hotel to stretch their legs and simply relax.
When baggage service is required, it is important for the hotel staff to get their bags to their rooms as swiftly as possible. I find it easier if someone marks the luggage with the room number and the remainder of the team to start getting them to their rooms. It is a common rule that their luggage is never left without supervision. Some hotels will place their bags right in their rooms. Some will leave the bags outside of their rooms. Personally, I would rather the bags go right into their rooms for safety and security issues.
There are no rules to how long it takes to get the bags up to the rooms. It is common to know that it is important to get the bags up to them as fast as possible. Some hotels are more efficient and get a system down. Other’s struggle and take a long time. The longer you make them wait, the more impatient they get and the more annoyed they are. Every minute is 10 minutes to them. And the one thing you don’t want is for them to start taking their own bags.
Have you ever had someone say their bag was stolen? Well, I can promise you that experience isn’t any fun at all and can cost you your account.
So good luck with your tour buses! Make sure you take good care of them or someone else will!
Pure Energy