Secret-shopping 308 hotel calls found phone-handling failures that lose direct bookings

The useful part

Hospitality Net Skip to main content Reading time: 2% Podcast Sales & Marketing September 4 Dylan Cole in conversation with Karen Stephens. From the 92% of calls that captured no guest contact details to after-hours calls ending in voicemail, the research reveals how small gaps in phone handling can turn valuable leads into lost revenue. It's a practical look at how better call routing, smarter sales processes, and semantic AI can help hotels turn more conversations into direct bookings.

How it works

• We used AI to bring the research to life through a fully conversation, demonstrating how AI can pull together complex findings and turn data into a story worth listening to.
• He then brought his love for travel and technology to Revinate where he played a vital part in establishing Revinate's position in the US market, followed by the Asia Pacific region and now in Europe.
• This is the podcast where we explore how technology shapes every moment of the hotelier's experience.
• More importantly, how the right technology delivers real outcomes for hotel teams and guests alike.
• So you've got the pristine social media ads running, the search engine keywords are perfectly optimized, and those glossy digital placements are live all across the web.

What to take from it

Because when a human being bypasses the booking engine and actually picks up the phone, they are signaling extremely high intent. That brings us to the core of what we were looking at today on this deep dive, because we got our hands on the 2026 secret shopped call report. [00:04:31] AI generated voice [male]: I have to admit, when I first read that section of the report, I actually didn't see the problem right away.

Example or evidence

• Meet your hosts Karen Stephens As Chief Marketing Officer at Revinate, Karen is focused on driving long-term growth by building Revinate's brand equity, product marketing, and customer acquisition strategies.
• Well, the researchers outline a very specific scenario to illustrate this, which they call the missed opportunity.
• Her deep connections with hospitality industry leaders play a key role in crafting strategic partnerships.
• Karen has been with Revinate for over 11 years, leading our global GTM teams.

Details worth keeping

What happens when a high-intent guest calls your hotel? Karen has more than 25 years of expertise in global hospitality technology and online distribution — including managing global accounts in travel and hospitality organizations such as Travelocity and lastminute.com As the host of The Hotel Moment podcast, she interviews top players in the hospitality industry. Dylan Cole Dylan began his career as a TV personality in South Korea.

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