The Carpenter family purchased the Beach Hotel from Boag’s Brewery in the year 2000 and have since pushed the venue to become an incredibly busy staple in Tasmania’s North West Coast. With 21 unique brews flowing on 24 taps in both the bistro and public bar, the extensive range that goes with a restaurant quality food is what many come for.
With business in full swing and diners lining up for a booking, Venue Manager Jordan Cantanzariti shares how Beach Hotel Burnie streamlined phone calls and boosted efficiency for staff and customers.
The pain around picking up phone calls
The well-loved venue receives endless phone calls for various hospitality and restaurant related questions – this includes the likes of enquiries about the menu and specials, opening times, parking options, disability access and more. But most importantly, both locals and visitors like to call to make a reservation.
This comes with challenges as staffing is already spread thin between managing the floors and serving customers in-house, and that’s without picking up the phone.
“Acquiring and maintaining enough staff to provide our expected service levels remains our biggest challenge daily.”
With 56% of restaurant phone calls happening during service and peak times, attending to calls can be disruptive to customer service and turnovers. The tedious task can also slow down the general pace that keeps a busy restaurant humming.
Sadie — Saving time and money for the business
Today Now Book It AI takes some of this stress away for Beach Hotel Burnie. Sadie now takes the role of their phone receptionist, handling all the restaurant’s calls and popping reservations straight into the diary.
“Every time a staff member can’t get to the phone, we lose guaranteed covers. Every time a staff member is stuck on the phone, they aren’t serving the customers in venue. It is truly priceless how much she assists daily operations.”
Sadie answers over 30 calls daily for the venue. Without counting generic business calls, the AI assistant booked in 213 delighted customers to dine at the Beach Hotel over the last 29 days. This totals over $43,000 in secure revenue – without Sadie, there’s a high chance some of those calls would have gone unanswered during busier dining periods.
“Sadie has been a true godsend. She’s freed me and my team up to focus on providing the experience and service levels that we strive for.”
Empowering hands-off service with Sadie
When Beach Hotel Burnie decided to bring Sadie onto their team, it was a quick and easy onboarding process – no training necessary.
“The set-up was simple, minus any teething issues of training staff on a new system, and the support from the team is absolutely incredible.”
After adding information around menus, special, opening times, beer lists and availability, Sadie is then able to answer ringing customers accurately.
With phone reservations, Now Book It AI, Sadie takes all the details from the customer and logs it in the diary – time, data, party size plus specific section, allergies, birthday celebration…it’s a complete list. Sadie also sends the customer an SMS to confirm the booking and any changes, including cancellations and waitlisting, can be made on the fly.
All these capabilities mean that Burnie’s is able take a full hands-off approach when it comes to answering the phones. And with input from their staff, transfers are still possible for those moments when a customer wants to speak with a human.
A continued commitment to serve customers the best they can
“We learn more about each customer within 5 minutes than some people in their lives know at all. There is something special about being such a big part of someone’s day.”
For Beach Hotel and the team, working in the hospitality industry that reaches people far and wide is an immensely rewarding job. They are keenly aware of how service can impact someone’s day. Having a system like Sadie take the weight of phone calls off their plates has been amazing in letting the team focus on serving customers better.
“We are key to whether someone has a good night, bad night, a great anniversary, or a shocking birthday, and we should always strive to provide the greatest experience possible.”
Learn more about how Now Book It can help your restaurant simplify and grow reservations, and let Sadie handle your phone calls today.
Book a table at Beach Hotel Burnie here.
