New Survey Reveals 95% of Hospitality Consumers Consider Branded Calling Important to Their Overall Customer Experience

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark., May 18, 2023 — First Orion, the leading provider of branded communication solutions for businesses, today released its 2023 Hospitality Communication Report evaluating consumer preferences and experiences. The report presents the findings of a recent survey that examined the communication expectations of consumers and underscores the significance of hospitality businesses in providing trusted and transparent interactions by branding their outbound calls.  

Key findings from the survey include:  

• 95% of consumers say a branded phone call is important to their overall customer experience  
• More than 2/3 of respondents want a phone call for an urgent customer service issue, such as a change in travel arrangements, or emergency communication, such as fraud  
• Nearly half of all respondents said they missed a call from a hospitality company they were expecting because they did not recognize the phone number calling them 

• Almost 1 in 3 people have received a hospitality-related scam call in the past 12 months  
• 90% of consumers expect hospitality businesses to take steps to identify their calls 
• 9 in 10 people said they would prefer to use a hospitality company that displays their name and reason for calling on outbound calls as opposed to one that does not  

Branded calling is a powerful tool that helps companies restore their customers’ trust and engagement with their brand. By enabling businesses to display their name, logo, and reason for calling on the recipient’s mobile device at the time of the call and in the call log afterward, branded calling increases engagement via the phone channel. It also helps avoid inconveniently missed calls, particularly for time-sensitive matters like cancellations and reservations. Implementing branded calling can lead to higher answer rates, improved customer experience, and operational efficiency. In fact, a travel agency that adopted branded calling for customer service purposes has seen an impressive 15% increase in answered calls lasting one minute or longer. 

“Many businesses do not fully grasp the extent to which scam and spam calls have affected their ability to connect with customers,” said Joe Stinziano, president and COO of First Orion. “The findings of this survey, which focused on the hospitality industry, align with other industry reports and emphasize that meeting consumers’ expectations for trust and transparency through branded phone calls is crucial. Branded calling is a cost-effective way for organizations to breakthrough those barriers and enhance their customer experience and their bottom line.” 

The survey conducted by First Orion was distributed to more than 1,000 consumers based in the U.S. in April 2023. Read the full report here.  

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About First Orion:
Since 2008, First Orion has transformed the phone call experience for businesses, carriers and consumers through its industry-leading communication branding and protection solutions. The global telecommunications solutions provider helps businesses generate more revenue, increase efficiency, and improve the customer experience by empowering them to brand their phone calls with their name, logo and reason for calling. First Orion also provides the industry’s most secure calling experience and best-in-class analytics for call program optimization. As the market leader in branded calling, First Orion is a trusted partner to Fortune 500 companies and the largest U.S. mobile carriers. For more information, visit firstorion.com. 

Media Contact:
First Orion
Media@firstorion.com