Vanilla Cloud Plus teamWhen a guest calls to book and nobody answers, they rarely give up on their trip. They try the next hotel on the list, or they go back to a booking site and reserve the same room you could have sold them direct.
- Online travel agents typically charge hotels 15–25% commission per booking, so a call that ends up as an OTA booking still costs you.
- Missed calls cluster around check-out, arrivals, dinner service and overnight, when your team is busy or off shift.
- Your own call reports will show exactly when calls go unanswered. Start there before choosing a fix.
- Voicemail is the weakest fix. Callbacks, overflow and an AI voice agent all keep the guest talking to you.
The real cost of a missed call
A missed booking call can end two ways. In the first, the guest books somewhere else and you lose the stay completely. In the second, they book your hotel anyway, through an online travel agent (OTA), and you pay commission on a booking that could have been direct.
That commission adds up. SiteMinder puts typical OTA commission at 15–25% per booking, and Mews quotes the same 15–25% range for most hotels. On top of that, the OTA usually keeps the relationship with the guest, which makes it harder to win their next stay directly.
A guest who calls you is already trying to book direct. The only job is to answer.
Work out your own figure
You don't need industry averages to see what's at stake. Four numbers from your own hotel are enough. Here's a worked example for a small independent hotel:
| Step | Example figure |
|---|---|
| Missed calls a week that were about a booking | 5 |
| Share of those callers who would have booked | 30% |
| Bookings lost a year (5 × 30% × 52) | 78 |
| Average value of a stay | £180 |
| Booking value at risk a year | £14,040 |
| Commission if they book through an OTA at 18% instead | £2,527 |
This is an illustrative example, not a benchmark. Replace each figure with your own: missed booking calls from your call reports, your own conversion rate and your average stay value.
Even on cautious numbers, the result is usually big enough to justify fixing. And it doesn't include restaurant covers, spa treatments or event enquiries that also arrive by phone.
When hotels miss calls
Missed calls are rarely random. In most hotels they follow the shape of the day:
- Check-out. Reception is settling bills, ordering taxis and answering questions face to face.
- Arrivals. The afternoon check-in rush is when the desk is at its busiest.
- Dinner service. Restaurant staff can't leave the floor to answer table requests.
- Overnight. Smaller hotels and B&Bs often have nobody on the desk, and overseas guests call from other time zones.
- Peak season and events. More guests means more calls, with the same team.
How to measure your missed calls
Your phone system's call reports will show unanswered and abandoned calls by hour and day. Pull a typical week and look for three things:
- The total. How many calls went unanswered, and what share of all calls is that?
- The pattern. Which hours and days have the most missed calls? Compare them with your check-in and service times.
- The callers. How many of those numbers never called back? Those are the guests most likely to have booked elsewhere.
If you're a Vanilla Cloud customer, talk to us and we'll help you read your call data. With Plus, live wallboards and SLA alerts also show your team in real time when calls are waiting too long.
Our Hospitality Agent answers every call on your number, in 20+ languages, and sends booking requests to your team.
See Plus for hotelsFive ways to fix missed calls
There's no single right answer. Most hotels combine two or three of these:
| Option | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Voicemail | A last resort when nothing else is set up | Many callers won't leave a message, and callbacks are slow |
| Overflow to more phones | Busy moments when other staff are free | Pulls housekeeping or restaurant staff away from guests |
| Callbacks from the queue | Keeping callers who would otherwise hang up | Someone still needs to make the call, and quickly |
| Outsourced answering service | Overnight and overflow cover | Agents may not know your hotel well, and costs rise with volume |
| AI voice agent | Every call, 24/7, in 20+ languages, trained on your hotel | Needs clear rules for what goes to a person |
Plus also gives you callbacks on request, estimated wait times and skills-based routing. Adding a voice agent means the calls your team can't reach still get a real answer instead of a voicemail box.
Make every answered call count
Answering is half the job. To turn more calls into direct bookings, give whoever answers (person or agent) a simple routine: take the dates, room type and contact details, mention why booking direct is better for the guest, and make sure reservations confirms quickly. Read our guide to using an AI receptionist at a hotel for a five-step rollout plan.
