In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens welcomes Sarah Stephens, Room Reservations Manager at The Broadmoor, for an inspiring conversation about the power of personal connection in luxury hospitality. Managing a Forbes Five-Star property's reservations team for 14 years, Sarah brings unique insights into how the voice channel creates memorable experiences that begin long before guests arrive on property.

What you'll learn:

Sarah also discusses The Broadmoor's 65-year Forbes Five-Star history, training agents to upsell ancillary services authentically, and why service excellence will remain the competitive differentiator as guests become increasingly price-conscious.

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[01:23] The five-star service mindset - Sarah establishes The Broadmoor's approach from the outset: "Something that we always have top of mind are the guest interactions. How can we make it special for our guests? What little clues can we pick up on that they're sharing with us in the calls to go above and beyond for our guests?" This philosophy drives every reservation conversation.

[06:33] Technology empowering team engagement - Sarah describes the transformation: "When I first started, it was a task every day to plug in an Excel sheet of what our abandonment rate was. Now those things are at my fingertips with Revinate, but the team has access too. They never knew how many calls they were taking or how much revenue they were producing. Now it's a tool they have on their screen every day. The buy-in really allows a team to feel like they're a part of something."

[08:04] The Doritos story - Sarah shares an unforgettable example of voice channel magic: "A guest called, saying this was their second stay. The first time they saved every penny and ate Doritos in their room to save money. This time, they could afford to dine in our restaurants. We made them a bag with a handwritten note saying, 'I know you've moved up in the world, but just in case you want a trip down memory lane,' with a few bags of Doritos. Those special touches you can only find when you have a great conversation are truly what make memories that last a lifetime."

[16:43] Million-dollar outbound strategy - Sarah reveals impressive results: "We started using Revinate almost 13 years ago. Outbound revenue was something we weren't tracking — we'd just let callers call us back. When that was presented as a tool, we really dug in and said, when you have a great conversation with a guest, ask to follow up. In the last three months, we were almost close to a million dollars in revenue just in outbound with the team making those calls."

[22:47] The future is service - Sarah looks ahead: "Voice is not going away anytime soon, and with people price-conscious of where they spend their money, it's going to come down to the service. Service is going to be the way forward, and if you want to be the best, you have to have that personalized service."

00:00 - Special touches through conversation
01:41 - The Broadmoor introduction and Forbes Five-Star legacy
02:40 - Sarah's role managing the reservations team
04:09 - Career journey from Disney inspiration to Croatia to Colorado
06:24 - Technology evolution in reservations management
07:40 - Why the voice channel creates unique connections
08:04 - The Doritos story: Listening leads to magic
10:21 - Training agents to authentically sell experiences
11:51 - AI's role in luxury hospitality
13:21 - Maintaining Forbes Five-Star standards through coaching
15:36 - Outbound call strategy generating $1M in revenue
17:27 - The NAVIGATE conference community
18:46 - Memorable guest interactions and surprise moments
20:52 - The future of reservations: Service-first approach

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Previous guests include: Shannon Knapp, CEO of Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Patrick Norton of Brittain Resorts & Hotels, Shawn Jereb of Montage International, Carlo Del Mistro, Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore, Jason Pirock of Springboard Hospitality, and many more.
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