Doug Kennedy’s Next Staff Training Webcast: How To Meet Luxury Brand Standards Without Sounding Robotic

Register your team and participate live, or view the recording, of Doug Kennedy’s next 40-minute training webcast scheduled for Friday, February 20, at Noon EDT. REGISTER HERE

Is your luxury standards training making staff sound scripted instead of sincere? Does your staff feel overwhelmed by long lists of standards? Are required phrases being recited like a performance vs. a conversation? If so, register your staff so they can learn how to balance compliance with genuine, bespoke hospitality, making them meaningful, not mechanical.

This month’s topic is relevant for all lodging companies who are looking to meet the expectations of luxury guests, including independent and boutique operators, but it is especially relevant for those held accountable by inspections sponsored by a brand or membership affiliation group.

“All too often, staff experience lecture-style training during which they are drilled on these standards, causing them to be excessively nervous about facing a single, once-a-year on-site ratings inspector,” says Kennedy. “Consequently, real-world guests are forced to endure insincere conversations which feel disingenuous and inauthentic.” Ironically, misguided training works against the objectives of a service style that sets out to be genuine, bespoke, and authentic. Instead, guests get “Mr. Kennedy’ed to death” or are asked about food allergies five different times during a single meal.

Those joining Doug for this month’s webcast will learn:

• Understanding the “Whys” behind the “What’s” of luxury hotel standards.
• Guests who pay more expect elegant encounters but are annoyed by excessive scripting.
• How to overcome the sense of overwhelm when staring down an extensive list of standards for a single type of guest interaction.
• Grouping the standards and sorting out those that are staff-driven from others on the list.
• How to use phrases that feel more authentic and less scripted, while still complying with requirements.

Recordings of previous webcasts are available on KTN’s YouTube channel and are now also being distributed on your favorite podcast channel or on KTN’s Spotify channel.

Everyone who registers for this and all KTN webcasts receives a link to the recording, even if they cannot attend. The 40-minute format is perfect for “lunch and learns” or excerpts can be shared at staff meetings. The target audience is anyone who is interested in upskilling themselves or others, and the topic areas are broad enough to be relevant for all sectors of the lodging industry.

“We are grateful to the generosity of our sponsors who have allowed us to offer complimentary admission,” said Kennedy. “It takes a lot of time to design, promote, and deliver these events, and so we would normally charge a registration fee, but this series is now completely free to all.” 

Sponsors include: Travel Outlook, the only KTN Certified call center, and Track Hospitality Software, a TravelNet Solution, whose products include a PMS and CRM.

Complimentary registration can be accessed at www.KTNwebcast.com. Here are the additional topics scheduled so far.

Five Crucial Things Hotel Group & Event Salespeople Should Do With Every Inbound Lead

Friday, March 20 (Noon ET)

REGISTER HERE

With continued uncertainty in the economy, 2026 is shaping up to be another flat year in most markets. If your hotel budget is calling for an increase in sales from the group/event segment, revenue gains are going to be hard-fought. Prospecting is, of course, an essential part of the solution, but properly responding to buyers who are literally handing you a hot lead is the best place to start grabbing share. Simply being the first to respond is no longer enough. In this month’s webcast, Doug offers essential “best habits” from KTN’s hotel sales training workshops and conference presentations to close more deals from buyers who come to you.

Highlights include:

• Personalizing the reply and contextualizing the wording of the proposal or response.
• Keeping the “people parts” at the heart of your hotel sales process.
• Organizing your “sales flow” process so you can follow up in a way that is tenacious and personalized.
• The best cadence and methods for follow-up action steps.
• Sorting and prioritizing the hottest leads, while remembering every inbound inquiry is worthy of a personalized response.

Why Guests Who Are Shopping Online Still Call Prior To Booking – And What To Do About It

Friday, April 17 (Noon ET)

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Lodging leaders across all sectors may be noticing that while online bookings continue to drop, the number of actual calls continues to hold steady or possibly increase. In this KTN webcast, Doug explains not only why that is, but what your staff can do to turn what appear to be questions and general inquiries into confirmed bookings. Each month KTN’s quality team accesses and listens to hundreds of recordings of real calls recorded by various cloud-based recording platforms for our diverse list of lodging companies, providing us with the unique opportunity to identify what real-world callers actually say and ask. Whereas such conversations used to start with “Hi, I need to check rates for these dates…”, today’s callers more typically ask specific questions. If left untrained, staff tend to politely answer these questions and let the callers move on to booking online, possibly through an expensive OTA channel. Here’s a chance to have Doug train your staff on how to recognize that these questions are actually opportunities to put a human imprint on your brand logo, create positive first impressions, and start conversations that result in confirmations.

Topics include:

• Who ARE today’s callers and WHY does anyone still call when they can so easily book online?
• What does it feel like to be a guest who is shopping online these days?
• Has the proliferation of online images, reviews, and distribution channels made the researching and purchasing of lodging more stressful, not less?
• What are some simple things voice reservations (and even front desk) staff can say and ask to convince shoppers to book now vs. going back online?