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It was 9 PM when Mark and his family got to the airport and found out their flight to Orlando was canceled because of the weather.
With two young, exhausted kids and a Disney vacation on the line, Mark frantically called his hotel. Within minutes, a hospitality call center agent had rebooked their Florida room for the next night, comped them a room near the Seattle airport where they were stuck, and arranged for airport transportation and breakfast.
A single call made the difference between a vacation disaster and a minor inconvenience.
The truth is that these vacation heroics play out every day across the travel and hospitality industry. Behind every rescued vacation, every seamless check-in, and every special request fulfilled, call center services work tirelessly to make sure guests get what they need when they need it.
For hotels, cruise lines, and other hospitality businesses, these unsung heroes are often the first—and sometimes the only—point of contact for customers.
Today’s hospitality call center is more than a hotel answering service—it’s a sophisticated hub where agents are now brand ambassadors for hotels and travel companies.
Rather than rushing through high call volumes, well-trained agents take time to understand each call’s unique needs. Whether booking a family reunion or addressing accommodation concerns, these professionals deliver hospitality support that extends the customer service experience beyond the physical property.
During peak seasons or emergencies, call volume can triple overnight, and unprepared hotels can struggle to keep up. When a snowstorm grounds flights across the Northeast for example, a call center might get hundreds of calls from affected guests.
These fluctuations are all in a day’s work for a hospitality call center provider, however. Advanced call centers use forecasting to scale their teams accordingly so service levels remain consistent even during the busiest travel periods —and having experienced phone personnel ready to manage these types of situations becomes invaluable to your business.
According to PWC research, 45% of customers would pay more for a better customer experience. In other words, call centers aren’t costs for hospitality businesses but revenue generators.
Guests who get great hospitality customer service over the phone are more likely to book directly (avoiding 3rd party fees), upgrade their rooms, and develop the kind of brand loyalty that drives repeat business. For many travelers, a nice, efficient conversation with a knowledgeable person sets the tone for the entire stay.
Call center services for the hospitality industry are about more than basic phone support. Today’s call centers are comprehensive communication hubs that manage multiple guest touchpoints across multiple channels.
While they may have been only that in the past, core functions have expanded significantly to meet changing customer expectations and industry demands.
Reservations management remains at the heart of hospitality call centers, though. Agents skilled in the booking process help guests navigate rooms, rates, and availability while identifying upsell opportunities that benefit both the customer and the business.
For hotels and cruise lines, this function directly impacts revenue, with the best call centers converting at higher than the industry average.
Beyond bookings, call center solutions handle an increasingly complex array of customer requests. From arranging airport transportation to accommodating dietary restrictions to coordinating with event planners, these professionals are problem solvers who connect guests with the right department while owning the customer relationship.
For customers with specific needs such as accessibility requirements or special occasions, skilled call center agents become advocates who ensure those needs are documented and addressed. This personalized approach turns business as usual into exceptional customer service that drives satisfaction and revenue.
Another key function is supporting loyalty programs. Well-trained agents help customers understand program benefits, assist with redemptions, and resolve point discrepancies—interactions that directly impact a guest’s long-term value to the hospitality business.
The shift to multi-channel support has expanded contact center capabilities even further. While traditional phone calls remain at the core of hospitality support, agents now seamlessly transition between voice, email, chat, and social media while maintaining context and continuity.
Add all these functions together, and it may seem like a lot, but the level of service matters more than ever. Thirty-two percent of customers will abandon a brand after a series of inconsistent interactions, and 8% will leave after just a single problem!
In the competitive hospitality sector, where there are so many alternatives, these statistics highlight the importance of excellence across all travel call center functions.
When a fast-growing business travel platform was overwhelmed with customer requests after pandemic travel restrictions lifted, their in-house call center was struggling to cope.
With customers waiting hours for responses and agents struggling to manage the volume of calls the company realized they needed a specialized hospitality call center solution that could scale quickly without compromising service quality or customer satisfaction.
“Our business was growing exponentially, but our customer support couldn’t keep up,” our customer explained. “We needed travel call center services that understood the unique demands of the travel industry and could represent our brand to callers.”
Based on our travel BPO experience, the company partnered with Enshored, starting with a team of 15 agents that rapidly grew as call volume increased. Within 18 months, the contact center had grown to 400 agents handling 80% of the platform’s global customer interactions.
This rapid scaling was achieved by rigorously recruiting agents with hospitality industry experience, comprehensively training them on the customer’s systems, and constantly monitoring for quality. We even created specialized teams for different areas of customer support from basic reservations to complex itinerary changes.
“What impressed us most was how quickly these agents became an extension of our brand,” our customer said. “They were delivering the same level of service our customers would expect from our in-house team.”
The results speak for themselves.
The hospitality call center we put in place achieved a 92% customer satisfaction rate for live chat, and handled 247,000 support requests in 2022 alone. Email support maintained an 85% satisfaction rate despite the high volume of complex queries.
Most tellingly, the company’s leadership called their outsourced team the “best-performing partner in their network”—high praise for a contact center that had only been in operation for less than 2 years. This success showed how specialized hospitality call center services could turn a potential service crisis into a competitive advantage.
Another well-established travel management company faced a different challenge. With aging in-house call center infrastructure and pressure to reduce operational costs, they needed to reimagine their approach to customer support—without sacrificing the quality that had built their reputation in the hospitality industry.
Rather than invest millions in new systems and additional staff training, the company explored contact center outsourcing options. They selected Enshored because of our deep experience in the travel and hospitality industry and for of our ability to quickly provide specialized agents to handle complex travel requests.
The implementation focused on creating a dedicated team that would be a seamless extension of the travel company’s brand. Agents received comprehensive training on systems and procedures, the company’s service philosophy, and the specific needs of their business travelers.
While reducing operational costs, the company maintained their high customer satisfaction ratings. The outsourced team handled complex requests with ease—from emergency rebookings during weather disruptions to specialized arrangements for VIP clients.
Hospitality success is all about the moments that happen before a guest even arrives— the interactions with your call center agents. These phone conversations often determine whether a would-be guest becomes a loyal customer or looks elsewhere.
That’s a big opportunity for travel and hospitality companies. While many still view call centers as cost centers, industry leaders see them as customer experience channels where human connection builds loyalty and drives revenue.
The best hospitality businesses now choose contact center solutions based on their ability to represent their brand values in every customer interaction. They look beyond basic service metrics to find teams that can deliver the same level of personal care that guests receive on property.
Because for hospitality leaders, working with hospitality outsourcing companies like Enshored isn’t optional anymore—it’s essential to stay competitive. Reputation drives revenue, which means every call is an opportunity to deepen customer relationships and show what true hospitality looks like. Contact us at Enshored if you’d like to learn more about how your own company can seize that opportunity.
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