The problem
The chain concentrates most of its occupancy between May and September. Keeping the team needed for July on the payroll all year was unviable, and hiring temporary staff each spring meant training people from scratch who left in October.
Language compounded it: German and British guests expect support in their own language, and the quality of that support translates fairly directly into review scores, which in turn drive the following year's occupancy.
What we did
The design separated the stable from the seasonal. A small onshore core in Spain holds operational knowledge all year and trains the reinforcements; high-season volume is covered from the Latin America corridor and from multilingual teams in the group's network.
Training for the reinforcement team starts six weeks before the peak, not on the first day of the season, which was the underlying flaw in the previous model.
The team also manages reviews on the main rating platforms in the brand's tone, with an escalation protocol for complaints that need a response from the property's general manager.
Team shape
A stable onshore core of five, scaling to twenty-two in high season across Spain and the corridor, covering Spanish, English, German and French.
Timeline
A 30-day pilot in low season, then a full first high season the following year with the team trained six weeks in advance.
Data handling and compliance
Booking data processed from the Latin America corridor rests on standard contractual clauses. Payment data does not leave the client's systems: the team works within the booking platform without access to full payment details.
Results
- -41 %
- First response time in high season
- +0.4 pts
- Average review score
- -27 %
- Cost of the seasonal operation
- 94 %
- Enquiries resolved in the guest's language
Measured on email, the channel most degraded in previous peaks.
Out of 10, across all eleven properties.
Against hiring and training temporary reinforcement each spring.
Against 68 % the previous season.
Figures relate to the period stated in each case and depend on each client's starting point.
We used to train people in June and lose them in October. Now training starts in March, and the core team delivering it is the same every year.