International Conference Calls and the Hospitality Industry
The hospitality industry uses international conference calling for a variety of purposes including internal brainstorming sessions, formal training, contract negotiations, procurement, guest relations, and even as a service offered to guests. The possibilities are nearly limitless! Below are a few ways that you can use global conference calls to communicate internally and externally to collaborate with regional managers, employees, vendors and suppliers, event planners, and guests from around the world.
Six ways to Host Virtual Meetings with participants around the world
International conference calling allows you to hold virtual meetings with participants from around the world in a private, voice-only “conference room.” In order to access the virtual meeting, each of the global conference call’s participants uses a standard or mobile phone to call in. There’s no need for computers or software. In addition, each caller receives an access phone number that is local to their country which avoids unnecessary dialing confusion or concerns about the call’s potential cost.
You can use global conference calls for meetings with:
- Your executive team – Is it hard (or expensive) to get your executive team together for routine meetings? Teleconferences are a low-cost way to keep everyone informed of both routine and major events.
- Regional managers – With facilities around the globe, international conference calling is a must to ensure that each regional team feels connected to the larger organization. Use global conference calls to support, encourage, train, and troubleshoot facilities around the globe.
- Employees – While it may not be necessary to hold companywide conference calls on a regular basis, occasional group conference calls can be used for a variety of purposes such as for making major announcements or holding training sessions. You can also record your group calls, allowing employees to listen in at a later time and date if desired.
- Lawyers, publicists, and other professionals – Need to strategize with external partners such as lawyers, publicists, or consultants? A global conference call allows you and your executive team to connect with professionals from around the world in a private, convenient teleconference. Get your questions answered and brainstorm your next move without having to arrange flights or hotel accommodations.
- Suppliers and vendors – You can also use international conference calling to hold procurement teleconferences, negotiate better deals with vendors, coordinate projects, and much more.
- Event planners – Global teleconferences are also useful when working with event planners who intend to hold conferences, exhibitions, banquets, trade shows, sporting events, and other events at your venue. Because global conference calls are so convenient, your meetings can include crucial personnel involved in planning an event so that the event planners can get all of their questions answered in a single session.
Hold International Conference Calls with VIPs
Whether dealing with an agency or celebrities, politicians, and high rollers directly, global conference calls allow you to quickly and easily connect all relevant parties to a group call. Depending on the VIP’s needs, your conference calls may include participant’s from around the world including:
- Hotel managers
- Food service managers
- Transportation coordinators
- Security managers
You can even add participants to the call as needed. For example, if the agent has questions about your security detail at a specific property, you could use the moderator dial out tool to call the head of security at that facility and bring him or her into the conference call.
Offer International Conferencing as a Service
Not only can you use international conference calling for all of the above, you may also want to offer international conference calling to your guests or as part of your meeting room services. For example, if your facility has a standard business center with computers, Wi-Fi, fax machines, and standard phones, adding international conference calling could set your facility apart from its competitors. Using your international conferencing plan’s account management dashboard, you will immediately know the total cost of each global conference call your guests make. Thus, you can bill them accordingly. Low per minute international rates allow for a healthy markup. Meanwhile, your business guests will appreciate being able to stay in touch with their teams around the world.
Not only can you offer international conferencing via your business services center, your concierge could easily coordinate global conference calls for guests as needed. Guests can even participate in their conferences from the privacy of their rooms.
Whether you operate a chain of hotels or a small bed and breakfast inn, signing up for an international conference calling plan allows you to stay connected to partners, suppliers, agencies, and VIP guests and their representatives from around the world. You can even get a pay-as-you-go plan with no contracts, allowing you to offer global conference calls as a service without any upfront costs. If you do business with others outside of your country, as most hospitality businesses do, access to international conference calling makes perfect sense.
