‘Good morning. This is the Keio Plaza Hotel.’
The moment your call reaches the operator, a lively & gentle voice comes over the phone. As soon as you hear their tone of voice, you know that they are willing to provide support and you feel relief that you are in good hands. The telephone operator could be your first contact with the hotel and they know how important that is.
They actually receive over 1,000 calls a day, around the clock, throughout the year. The types of calls vary: international, local and house calls, and the requirements also vary depending on the individual. Every call has a different issue and quite often requires a prompt response, ranging from finding the availability of a guestroom, restaurant, or banquet hall; to transferring calls to a designated department; to receiving requests for a wake-up call, room service; or sometimes to listening to guests’ feedback. They literally cover a wide range of services and information about the hotel. With regard to the wake-up call, they will ask housekeeping staff to visit the room if no one picks up their call, and ring the doorbell to make sure of the guest’s safety. In this way, they are strongly committed to following through on their assignments.
Their job requires sufficient flexibility to meet a variety of demands and make rapid decisions. What they value the most is understanding customers’ needs correctly and transferring calls to the appropriate department swiftly. In order to do so, our telephone operators need to have the latest information.
When a customer says ‘I am glad that you answered my call’, that is their reward. What our customers hear is only their voices, but through their tone of voice, our operators try to deliver the impression of warm hospitality and a warm smile that customers might be able to visualize. The voices of the Keio Plaza Hotel are those professionals behind the scene.