Faster answers without an automated guest experience
Enquiry handling across rooms, restaurant and events, where the constraint is that the guest must never feel processed.
An independent hotel with 32 rooms, a restaurant and private event space, turning over around two million pounds.
A delivered Orchyn engagement. The client is anonymised at their request. The company and the people are not named. The operation, the workflow, the controls and the outcome are as delivered.
The commercial problem
Enquiries arrive by email, web form, phone note and social channel. The team interprets the request, checks availability, identifies event requirements and builds a response.
Information moves between front office, events and restaurant before anyone can give a reliable answer, which is exactly the delay that loses an event booking.
How the work runs before
- A guest enquiry arrives through one of several channels.
- Front office reads it and logs a note.
- They search availability and any prior contact.
- Events or restaurant staff are asked for detail.
- A response is drafted manually.
- Commercial terms or a special request go to a manager, then the booking record is updated by hand.
What makes it hard to automate safely
- The model must not confirm a booking, quote a final price, promise availability, approve a menu or commit to an accessibility or allergy request.
- Guest information is minimised and visible only to staff who need it.
- A general enquiry and a time sensitive booking request must be told apart.
- Personal service is the product. Reducing admin cannot make the guest experience feel automated.
What we change first
Enquiry types were separated and given owners. Response standards were agreed for each. The hotel decided which questions can be answered from standing information and which always need a person, which is the line the whole workflow rests on.
The redesigned workflow
- Enquiries from approved channels enter one queue.
- The model classifies the enquiry type, extracts dates, party size, event requirements and any stated accessibility or dietary need, then links the original message.
- Anything involving allergy, accessibility or a special request is flagged for a named person rather than drafted.
- It prepares a draft reply from approved information, leaving price and availability blank for a person to complete.
- Front office or events reviews, personalises and sends. The booking record updates on confirmation.
Where the model stops
The model classifies, extracts and drafts. It never confirms, quotes, promises or sends. An allergy or accessibility request is escalated rather than answered, because a wrong answer there is a safety matter.
What we learned
Not every gain should be taken. Drafting could have gone further towards automatic sending. The hotel chose not to, because a personal reply is the product. Knowing where to stop is part of the design.