Playbook, hotel
Can I get a van in there, and other arrival questions
Arrival questions are the most reliably answerable thing a hotel gets asked and the most reliably vague thing a hotel publishes. Free parking available means nothing to somebody driving a van with a roof box, arriving at eleven, wondering whether the barrier is two metres and whether the eight spaces will be gone. Every one of those facts exists. Very few hotels have written them down in one place.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for location and parking holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- This is one of the few hotel questions with no privacy or availability problem attached to it, so it can be answered fully and confidently, which is unusual in this trade.
- The detail is what makes it useful: a height restriction, the number of spaces, whether a space can be reserved and the overnight charge are four different answers to what looks like one question.
- Guests are asking in transit, often on a phone with one hand, so the reply has to be short and specific rather than a paragraph about the local area.
- Getting it wrong is cheap in reputation but expensive in phone calls, because every unanswered parking question arrives at the front desk during check in.
How it arrives
- do you have parking and is it free
- is there a height restriction on the car park
- can i reserve a parking space
- how far is the hotel from the station
- is there an electric charging point
- where do i drop my bags before check in
What has to be indexed for this to work
| The car park described in numbers | How many spaces, whether they are guaranteed or first come, the overnight charge, the barrier height in metres, whether there is a separate entrance for tall vehicles, and where the overflow goes when it is full. The height figure alone answers a question the front desk gets weekly. |
|---|---|
| Charging, coach and accessible bay detail | How many electric charging points and what connector, whether they are reserved for guests, where a coach can set down, and how many accessible bays there are and how close to the entrance. Each of these is asked by a small number of guests for whom it decides the booking. |
| Arrival routes in walking minutes | The nearest station and how long the walk takes with a suitcase, the tram or bus that stops closest, the airport transfer if there is one and what it costs. Distances in miles are useless to somebody who has just got off a train. |
| What happens outside check in hours | Whether bags can be left before the room is ready and after checkout, where they go, whether it is staffed, and how the car park gate works if reception is not manned overnight. This is the half of the question people only think to ask once they are outside. |
The reply
There are eighteen spaces on site at the published overnight rate, paid at reception, and they cannot be reserved in advance, so on busy nights they do go. The barrier is a shade over two metres, which rules out most vans and roof boxes, and the nearest alternative is the multi storey a five minute walk away. The station is about eight minutes on foot, and bags can be left with reception from midday if you arrive before your room is ready.
It gives the number of spaces and the honest fact that they cannot be held, which is what the guest actually needs in order to plan. The height figure is stated with what it excludes, because a measurement alone makes the driver do the work. Then it answers the two questions that always follow this one without being asked.
Where it stops
The trigger. A request to reserve or guarantee a space, a coach or minibus arrival, or an access requirement attached to the parking such as needing the closest possible bay for a wheelchair transfer.
I cannot reserve a space or check what is free tonight, because I have no view of the car park or the arrivals list. Leave your name, email, your arrival date and your vehicle and the front desk will confirm what they can do. I can tell you the number of spaces, the charge and the height limit now.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- That a space will be available on a particular night.
- That a vehicle will fit, when the guest has given a height you cannot check against yours.
- A journey time by car, which depends on traffic nobody here can see.
- That the nearby public car park is open or priced a certain way, when it is not yours to describe.
Questions
- Is this really worth automating?
- It is one of the highest volume questions a hotel gets and one of the few with no caveat attached. Every parking question answered on the site is a call that does not arrive at reception during a check in queue, and unlike availability it can be answered completely.
- Can it give directions?
- It can repeat the arrival information you publish, with a citation back to the page it came from. It is not a mapping service and it should not be asked to be one, so the useful version is walking times and the nearest landmarks rather than turn by turn instructions.
- What if our parking is run by a third party?
- Index that plainly, including who to contact about a dispute or a ticket. An assistant that says the car park is operated separately and gives their number is more use than one that implies the hotel can cancel a penalty notice.
Keep reading
- Everything for a hotelRate inclusions, check in times, parking and room accessibility answer well. Live availability and a named reservation do not.
- Handling location and parking in generalWhich entrance, where to park, the step free route, the nearest stop. Genuinely useful information that is almost never written down well.
- Which rate did they book, and why the answer changesFlexible, advance purchase and booked through an agent give three different answers. Merging them promises refunds you do not owe.
- Precise access questions deserve precise room factsGuests ask precise questions about doorways, wet rooms and lifts. Quote the honest room description, then offer someone who can measure.
- Room blocks, function space and the enquiry that goes coldTen rooms and a function room is a contract, not a booking. Capture the dates, the numbers and the space, then get it to sales fast.
Try it on your own material
Upload a document or point it at your site, paste one line of HTML, then ask it something only your business could answer.