Call handling, voice and reporting
Choose whether staff answer first, how the agent sounds and what it knows about the venue, then see what the phone line brings in.
When you'd use it
When setting the agent up, changing how calls are handled through the week, or checking what the line is worth.
How it behaves
By default the agent answers every call straight away. Switch on Ring the venue first and calls ring your own phone first, with the agent answering only when nobody picks up. You set the venue phone number, how long it rings before the agent answers (5 to 60 seconds), and the hours when the venue answers first. Outside those hours the agent answers straight away; leave the hours empty for venue-first all day. Changes go live within about 30 seconds.
Some calls reach the voice line through a switchboard or landline that forwards to it. Those calls show the switchboard’s number instead of the caller’s, so list those numbers under Numbers that forward to this line. The agent then asks the guest for their own number, so bookings are not logged against a shared landline. Anyone who dials the voice number directly is unaffected.
Voice and character set how the agent sounds. Pick a voice, with its accent shown and a preview to listen to, and write the greeting spoken the moment the call connects; it can greet a known caller by first name. House style holds notes the agent follows on every call, such as tone, specials and house rules. About the venue holds facts, up to 4,000 characters, that it reads on every call. Set the opening language and any others it should also answer in, from English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese. Changes apply from the next call.
Call transcripts lists every call with its duration and outcome, showing which calls the venue answered and which the agent took, with a full transcript of each call the agent answered.
Reporting covers the last 7, 30 or 90 days: calls the agent answered, bookings, conversion, talk time, deposits taken up front and guest spend. Every booking the agent took is listed and opens in the full booking panel.
Configuration and options
- Ring the venue first
- Calls ring the venue’s own phone first; the agent answers only if nobody picks up. Off, the agent answers straight away.
- Venue phone number
- The handset staff answer, in international format.
- Ring time
- How long the venue phone rings before the agent answers, from 5 to 60 seconds.
- Venue-first hours
- When the venue answers first. Outside them the agent answers straight away.
- Numbers that forward to this line
- Switchboards and landlines that put callers through. Calls from them are asked for the guest’s own number.
- Voice
- The voice the agent speaks in, with its accent and a preview.
- Greeting
- The exact opening line. Empty uses the standard greeting.
- House style
- Tone, specials and house rules the agent follows on every call.
- About the venue
- Facts the agent can answer from, up to 4,000 characters.
- Languages
- An opening language and any others the agent also answers in.
- Call transcripts
- Every call with duration, outcome and, for calls the agent took, the transcript.
- Reporting
- Calls, bookings, conversion, talk time, deposits and guest spend over 7, 30 or 90 days.
Good to know
Keep the venue phone’s voicemail off, or slower than the ring time, or voicemail will answer before the agent can.
Forwarding numbers are listed one by one rather than switched on for the whole line, because the same voice number also takes direct calls whose caller ID really is the guest’s.
Call handling goes live within about 30 seconds of saving; voice, character and forwarding numbers apply from the next call.