In our last article, we told you how to perfect your hotel’s in-room dining service.  If you have mastered your service, you should be ready to increase your room service revenues (and tips) up to 50 percent!  In-room service, your team has an incredible opportunity to sell.  Room service guests are typically not price sensitive and often want to splurge.  Here are the secrets of selling and increasing your revenue:

Before we talk about suggestive selling, the first thing we have to talk about is how to ask the right questions.  The most important thing to keep in mind is to never ask open-ended questions.  When I call room service, the room service operator typically asks, ‘what can I get for you?’ or, ‘what would you like this evening?’  If you ask either of those questions, you have lost all opportunity to sell.  At that point, you are only an order taker.  Your questions have to be specific and lead the guest to buy.

The first question you should ask the guest is, ‘how many guests should I set the tray for?’  Almost nobody ever asks this question.  They usually just guess based on the number of entrees ordered or just assume that the order is for one person.  Without knowing how many guests the meal is for, you cannot set up the tray properly… but more importantly, you cannot sell correctly!

Once you know how many guests to prepare for, you can start selling.  Selling is simple.  It is about anticipating the guest’s needs and making recommendations to match.

The next question you ask is to take the guest’s appetizer order.  With all of the questions that you will ask the guest, keep the following in mind: Continue reading →