The brand

Highgate is an industry-leading hotel management, investment, technology, and development firm, with a diverse portfolio of hotels across North America, the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe. Highgate manages two magical properties in Key West, Florida: The Marker Key West Harbor Resort, and Southernmost Beach Resort. The Marker Key West Harbor Resort is a fresh approach to luxury, seamlessly blending the elegance of classic Florida Keys resorts with an understated air of modern glamor. The newly renovated Southernmost Beach Resort combines contemporary luxury with tradition, offering lush gardens, endless sea views, and sandy beaches.

The challenge

In 2018, management at the properties realized that they needed a reliable way to capture revenue from inbound callers, no matter what time of day or night they rang. At the time, the reservations department wasn’t staffed 24/7, so prospective guests were forced to leave a message rather than speak to someone if they called after hours. Realizing they were missing revenue opportunities, Highgate began searching for a solution for overflow and after-hours calls.

The solution

Luckily, before the pandemic, management selected RezForce to maximize their voice-based, direct booking channel. The Key West hotels were one of the first to open once restrictions were lifted and very busy with vacationers, so having RezForce was critical in capturing demand.

Director of Front of Office and Reservations Jody-Kay Rivas shares, “RezForce provides us with incredible flexibility. If we are short-staffed, get a high volume of calls, or someone calls in sick, we can lean on RezForce to avoid pulling someone from the front desk to cover calls. RezForce agents are right there to pick up the slack. They feel just like an extension of our internal team.”

Acting on behalf of the hotels, the RezForce agents log detailed notes about their calls, including why guests are visiting Key West and other information that the guest team can use to personalize the stay. These detailed notes also help set up Jody-Kay’s team for success with outbound calls, since they can access the notes and quickly see why the guest called and what they’re looking for in a stay.

The results

A lot has changed since 2018, but RezForce has remained a constant source of stability for these properties. In the past 12 months alone, RezForce has helped The Marker Key West Harbor Resort and Southernmost Beach Resort achieve a 40.3% conversion rate on voice calls, increase their average stay value by over 10%, a 70% email capture rate, which is important for driving future bookings, and a remarkable $4.9M in revenue.