Autumn is when next year's holidays get booked. Enquiries climb, the phones ring in bursts around every promotion, and the team that handled summer comfortably suddenly finds itself ten calls deep in the queue. Here is how to prepare the desk without hiring a temporary army.
Know where the spike actually lands
Pull last year's call data before you change anything. Most travel businesses find the same shape: a surge on Monday mornings after weekend browsing, a second wave in the evening when offices are closed, and sharp peaks in the hours after an email campaign goes out.
Map that curve against your staffing rota and the gaps become obvious. Those gaps — not the average — are where you lose bookings.
Decide what the assistant handles first
Not every call should be automated on day one. Start with the high-volume, well-defined conversations and leave the complex ones with your consultants.
- Quote requests and 'is this available for these dates?' questions
- Balance payments and payment-date reminders
- Simple amendments: names, dates, extra luggage
- Opening hours, documents and FAQ-style questions
Turn missed calls into callbacks
A web form submitted at 9 p.m. is a hot lead at 9 p.m. and a lukewarm one by the next morning. Configure an instant callback: the assistant rings the traveller within seconds, confirms the details of the trip they are considering, captures budget and party size and books a consultation with an agent if the enquiry is complex.
Treat every abandoned call the same way. Anyone who hangs up in a queue should receive a callback inside five minutes, with the context of what they were calling about already attached.
Brief the team, not just the AI
Agents need to know exactly what the assistant has done before a call reaches them: what was asked, what was promised and what data has already been captured. A one-screen summary at the top of the CRM record is enough — if it is reliable.
A short pre-season checklist
- Knowledge base updated with the new season's packages and policies
- Peak-hour overflow rule switched on
- Callback trigger connected to every quote form
- Escalation list for complaints and disruption checked
- Dashboard alerts set for queue length and abandonment
The businesses that win Q4 are not the ones with the most agents. They are the ones where nobody waits.
