Voicemail Is Costing Your Motel Bookings
Why callers who reach a motel's voicemail rarely book, how to count what it costs you from your own phone log, a better greeting if you keep it, and what to put in its place.
Think about the last time you needed a room tonight and called a few places. When one of them went to voicemail, did you leave a message and wait? Most people don't. They hang up and dial the next number on the list.
That is the problem with voicemail at a motel. It feels like a safety net, because the call didn't just ring out. But a person looking for a room tonight is shopping, and a voicemail greeting tells them this place can't help them right now. The motel down the road that picks up gets the booking.
This post walks through why voicemail loses more bookings than it saves, how to count what it costs your property from your own records, how to make it less bad if you keep it, and the options for replacing it.
Why callers don't leave a message
A guest calling a motel usually wants one of three things: a room tonight, a price, or a quick answer (do you take pets, is there parking for a truck, what time is check-in). All three are questions they want answered in the next minute, and all three have an easy alternative: call the next motel or book on an app.
Leaving a message only makes sense to the caller if they believe two things: that you will call back soon, and that waiting for you is better than trying someone else. A late-night traveler rarely believes either. So the messages you do get tend to come from people who were going to stay with you anyway, like a returning guest or a local who knows you. The shoppers, the ones you most need to win, hang up without a word.
That is why your voicemail box can look quiet while you are still losing calls. Silence in the box doesn't mean nobody called.
Count what voicemail costs you
You don't need software to get a rough number. You need about a week of records.
- Pull your call log. Your phone carrier's online account or monthly bill usually lists incoming calls with times and durations. Many VoIP systems show which calls went to voicemail.
- Count the calls that reached voicemail. If your system doesn't label them, look for calls that lasted about as long as your greeting, or calls that came in when you know nobody was at the desk.
- Count the messages actually left. Compare that number with step 2. The gap is the callers who heard the greeting and hung up.
- Estimate how many were trying to book. Look at the messages you did get and at what people ask when you do pick up. If most daytime calls at your desk are about rooms and rates, assume the same mix for the calls you missed.
- Turn it into dollars. Multiply the hang-ups that were likely booking calls by the share of booking calls you normally convert, then by your average nightly rate and average stay length.
Use your own numbers at every step. Every motel's mix is different, and a highway property with a lot of late arrivals will look very different from a weekly-stay motel in town. If you want a fuller method, including test calls and a tally sheet for the desk, the post on measuring missed calls at a motel goes step by step.
Even if the answer comes out to two or three lost bookings a week, that is often more than the monthly cost of fixing it.
If you keep voicemail, make it work harder
Some owners will keep voicemail as the last fallback, and that is reasonable. A few changes help.
Shorten the greeting. Callers decide in the first few seconds. Say the motel name and get to the point.
Give them something to do besides wait. If you take online bookings, say so and say where. If there is a second number that rings someone's cell after hours, give it.
Promise a callback time, then keep it. "We return every message within 15 minutes between 7am and 11pm" is a promise a caller can plan around. "We'll get back to you as soon as possible" is not.
A greeting along these lines works:
"Thanks for calling [motel name]. We're helping another guest right now. If you need a room tonight, you can book on our website at [your web address], or leave your name, number and the night you need, and we'll call you back within 15 minutes."
Then make returning messages part of the routine. Check the box at fixed times, call back in order, and when you call back, lead with the answer ("Yes, we have a room for tonight at $79") instead of "You called us?"
Set up missed-call texting if your system can do it. Some phone systems can send an automatic text to a caller whose call went unanswered. A short "Sorry we missed you, we have rooms tonight, reply or call back at this number" keeps the conversation open with people who would never leave a message. Check your provider's rules on automated texts before turning it on.
Better options than voicemail
The real fix is making sure a person, or something that can do a person's job on the phone, answers. The main choices:
- Ring the desk first, then forward. Your carrier can usually send a call to another number after a few unanswered rings. That number can be the owner's cell, a family member, or an answering service. The guide to forwarding your motel phone covers the dialing codes most carriers use.
- An answering service. Live operators can take a message or, with access to your rates and availability, take a booking. The comparison of motel answering service options lays out what each kind can and can't do.
- An AI phone agent. Software that answers every call, gives your real rates and availability, and can put a hold on a room. What AI phone answering can and can't do for a motel is an honest look at where it fits.
- More desk coverage. Sometimes the answer is a person on the overnight shift. The post on what an overnight desk clerk costs helps you price it against the alternatives.
Whichever you pick, test it. Call your own number from a cell phone at 10am, at 6pm and at 2am, and listen to what a guest hears.
Where MotelOps fits
MotelOps includes Riley, an AI voice agent that answers calls around the clock in English and Spanish, quotes your rates within the rules you set, and writes holds and bookings to your room board. Calls that need a person show up for the desk to follow up. You can keep your current number and forward it, ringing the desk first if you like.
If you want to see what a night of calls looks like on the board, try the front desk demo. You can also sign up free and set it up yourself.
FAQ
Is voicemail ever fine for a motel? As a last fallback behind something that answers live, yes. As the main plan for calls you can't pick up, it loses most of the people who were shopping for a room.
How fast should we return voicemails? As fast as you can, ideally within 15 minutes during the hours you promise in the greeting. A traveler who needs a room tonight may book somewhere else within the hour.
What should a motel voicemail greeting say? The motel name, a way to book without waiting, and a specific callback time. Keep it short.
How do I know how many callers hang up at voicemail? Compare the calls your carrier log shows reaching voicemail with the number of messages left. The difference is the hang-ups.
The short version
Voicemail catches the callers who were going to stay with you anyway and loses the ones who were shopping. Count the gap between calls that reached voicemail and messages left, put a dollar figure on it with your own rates, and then either tighten your greeting and callback routine or put something in front of voicemail that answers live.