Published 23 October 2026
START WITH THE GAPS IN THE BUYING JOURNEY
Front desk cannot answer the phone at check-in. Event enquiries wait days for a proposal. OTA dependence rises while the direct channel is under-worked.
This guide describes the workflow design published in Xiilio’s industry playbook. It is not a case study or a claim of achieved results. Access, permissions and the connected systems determine what can be deployed.
- The phone rings during check-in and nobody can answer it
- Group and event enquiries wait days for a response and go elsewhere
- OTA dependence grows while the direct channel is under-worked
- Guest data sits in the PMS and is never used to drive rebooking
MAP THE HANDOVERS BEFORE ADDING AUTOMATION
Write down the decision at each stage, who owns it and what information the next person needs. Qualification is not a substitute for a regulated or commercial decision.
- Inspiration: A trip, an event or an occasion creates the need; search and social start it.
- Comparison: OTA and direct site compared on price, availability and reassurance.
- Enquiry: Non-standard needs — groups, events, accessibility, pets — trigger a direct question.
- Stay and return: Experience determines rebooking; almost nobody works this stage systematically.
24/7 DIRECT ENQUIRY
Agree these steps with the owning team, test the handovers and review exceptions before enabling the workflow.
- Guest asks a question by phone, chat or WhatsApp at any hour
- ARIA answers from live availability and your published rates
- Booking completed in your own booking engine — the agent never takes payment
- Enquiry, outcome and guest preferences written to the PMS or CRM
GROUP AND EVENT ENQUIRY
Agree these steps with the owning team, test the handovers and review exceptions before enabling the workflow.
- Enquiry qualified on dates, covers, budget band, setup and catering needs
- Structured brief routed to the events team within minutes
- Automated holding response with realistic timescales
- Follow-up sequence runs until the proposal is accepted or declined
POST-STAY REBOOKING
Agree these steps with the owning team, test the handovers and review exceptions before enabling the workflow.
- Checkout event triggers a thank-you and feedback request
- Marketing consent verified before any offer
- Seasonally relevant rebooking offer sent at the right interval
- Direct bookings attributed back to the sequence
CONNECT THE EXISTING STACK, WITH EXPLICIT BOUNDARIES
No rip-and-replace is the starting point. Confirm API availability, permissions, record mapping and failure handling with the system owner. Product names in the playbook describe systems commonly used in this sector; they do not imply a partnership or a prebuilt connector for every installation.
- PMS (Mews, Opera, Cloudbeds, Guestline)
- Booking engine and channel manager
- WhatsApp and telephony
- Google Ads, Meta and metasearch
- Payment provider, kept outside the agent
KEEP THE APPROVAL GATES VISIBLE
Automation should stop at the boundaries agreed with your team. Record escalations and approval decisions alongside the workflow activity.
- Rates and inventory always read from your systems
- Discounts and upgrades require staff authorisation
- Event proposals issued by your team
- Complaint and service-recovery conversations escalate to a human
MEASURE OUTCOMES, NOT ACTIVITY ALONE
Agree the baseline, reporting period and source of each metric before launch. Reconcile CRM outcomes with your own records; do not treat a modelled return or an advertising dashboard as independently audited revenue.
- Direct booking share
- Enquiry response time
- Enquiry to booking conversion
- Event enquiry to contract rate
- Repeat guest rate
- Commission cost avoided