Mount Shasta Resort goes from few leads to no vacancy.

“In the beginning, I was skeptical about texting,” Suzanne Bentley told us. As the General Manager & COO at Mount Shasta Resort, her number-one goal is to give her guests a top-notch experience.  

“Our customer service is above and beyond,” Suzanne continued. “That’s just ingrained. It’s part of our culture.” But Suzanne has learned that introducing new technology to her resort can either improve or disrupt the guest experience. 

Suzanne and her team used to have a live chat solution on the Mount Shasta website. But they were unable to staff the live chat 24/7. A lot of visitors were leaving frustrated by slow responses. Suzanne knew that her guests wanted the option to text the front desk, so she started looking for a solution to deliver that service in a convenient way. 

When Suzanne was introduced to Podium Webchat, she was ready to try something new. Webchat would allow her to have an after-hours autoresponder. But she wondered if Webchat was just another promising chat solution that would frustrate guests, failing to turn them into leads.

“Podium Webchat has worked out really great for us,” Suzanne said. “If someone messages us between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., they’re told that we’re not available 24/7 but that we’ll get back to them as soon as we open. We don’t lose them like we did previously.” 

Mount Shasta Resort is now averaging 48 new leads per month during their peak season. The staff gives guests a number they can text with questions or requests. Anything they need is a text away. 

“In the beginning, I was skeptical about texting because it was so different than what we were doing, but I’ve been very impressed with how it’s helped us keep leads and deliver excellent customer service,” Said Suzanne. “I would definitely recommend it to other hoteliers.”