A guest books a room for their parents' fortieth wedding anniversary. They mention it in a message: could there be a card or something small in the room? The message is read by someone on a busy afternoon, acknowledged, and never passed to housekeeping. The parents arrive to a standard room. The guest who booked is disappointed, and says so in a review.
Special requests are some of the easiest ways for a hotel to delight guests. They are also easy to lose. This playbook sets out how to capture them properly.
Step 1: know the common requests
Most requests fall into a few groups:
- Timing: early check-in, late check-out, late arrival
- Rooms: quiet rooms, high floors, connecting rooms, accessible rooms
- Family: cots, extra beds, children's amenities
- Celebrations: anniversaries, birthdays, honeymoons, proposals
- Dietary needs for breakfast or dinner
- Transfers and parking
List the requests your hotel can usually meet, and those it cannot, so staff and your website say the same thing.
Step 2: publish what you can and cannot do
Guests ask fewer questions when policies are clear. A short section on the website covering early check-in, cots, celebrations and accessibility answers most of them. Special occasion dinners have a similar dynamic, covered in what diners ask before they book a special occasion.
Step 3: ask at the right moment
Many guests do not think to mention requests until prompted. A friendly question during the booking conversation, such as "Are you celebrating anything, or is there anything we can prepare for your stay?", brings them out.
SpideyChat for hotels can ask this naturally in conversation, in the guest's own language. That matters for international guests, as we covered in multilingual guests and the questions they ask before arrival.
Step 4: capture the details properly
A useful request includes the guest's name, arrival date, booking reference if they have one, the request itself and any timing. Capturing all of it in one place prevents the back-and-forth that usually follows.
Step 5: be honest about what is guaranteed
The assistant should never promise what the hotel cannot guarantee. Early check-in usually depends on availability. A better response is:
Assistant: I've noted your request for early check-in. It depends on availability on the day, and the front desk will confirm before you arrive if they can.
Step 6: route requests to the right team
Captured requests should reach whoever needs to act: the front desk for timing, housekeeping for room set-up, the restaurant for dietary needs. Tickets and handover make sure each request lands with a person, not in an inbox.
Some requests need a personal reply, particularly those involving accessibility or sensitive circumstances. We covered when to hand over in when a hotel guest needs a person, not an answer.
Step 7: confirm and follow through
Confirm every request that can be met, ideally a few days before arrival. Then make sure it happens. A request captured and confirmed but not delivered is worse than one never promised.
Step 8: learn from requests
Review which requests come up most. If many guests ask about airport transfers, perhaps a transfer option belongs on the booking page. If celebration requests are common, a simple celebration package could work. Service businesses use similar patterns when handling quote requests, as covered in AI assistant for service quotes.
Setting it up
Train the assistant on your policies page and FAQ, then install it on the site. The guides to installing the widget and training your bot explain how.
Small touches arranged in advance are what guests remember. Capturing requests properly is how you make them happen.