Cavanaughs Hospitality Corp. is adding 40 stations to its call center here, increasing the number of stations to 75, says Jack Lucas, the Spokane companys vice president of entertainment services.


Meanwhile, the call center has increased its level of service under Stefani Luety, a former director of marketing for New York Citys Carnegie Hall whom Cavanaughs hired 14 months ago to manage the call center, Lucas says.


In addition, Cavanaughs is working to streamline its ability to sell tickets over the Internet, he says.


To accommodate the new stations, Cavanaughs is adding 1,800 square feet of floor space to the call center, which is located in the lower level of Cavanaughs Inn at the Park. The company also plans to add about 10 employees at the center soon, boosting the call centers work force to 55, Lucas says. As demand dictates, additional employees will be hired, he says.


The call center handles hotel reservations for all Cavanaughs hotels, event ticket sales handled through the companys G&B Select-a-Seat division, and ticket sales that the division performs for other companies under contract. In the latter case, when a ticket buyer calls one of Cavanaughs clients, the call automatically is routed to Cavanaughs call center here, where the clients name is displayed on a call-center phone, allowing a Cavanaughs employee to use the other companys name when answering the phone.


Cavanaughs said last week it has made a proposal to acquire shares of Lasergate Systems Inc., a Clearwater, Fla.-based maker of specialized software for ticketing agencies. Even though that proposed acquisition still is in negotiations, the company is pushing ahead with the other steps to improve its reservation and ticketing operations.


It is expanding its call center now so it will be prepared to handle anticipated volume increases down the road, Lucas says. The expansion project is expected to be completed in April. He declines to disclose the estimated cost of the work.


Cavanaughs says Luety, a former Spokane resident and graduate of Mead High School, already has taken the call centers performance to new levels. She has a wealth of knowledge. We were just tickled to be able to attract someone of her caliber to Spokane, Lucas says.


In 1998, the call centers call-capture rate, the percentage of calls that are answered compared with the total number of calls received by the call center, increased to 96 percent, up from 85 percent in 1997, Lucas says. Thus, just 4 percent of callers hung up before their calls could be answered. Lucas says that a more typical call-loss rate falls between 7 percent and 15 percent, depending on the type of call center.


The ultimate goal of Cavanaughs call center, he says, is to be able to answer all calls within 20 seconds. The center was able to achieve that rate of service with 90 percent of the incoming calls last year, up from 75 percent in 1997, he says, adding that comparatively, most call centers answer incoming calls within 45 seconds.


Cavanaughs Internet ticket sales system is similar to those used by 95 percent of ticket agencies, Lucas says. He says ticket buyers complete an on-line order form and send the form to the call center with the click of a button. A call-center employee sends an e-mail confirmation to the ticket buyer, who must respond to the confirmation before Cavanaughs will mail the tickets to the buyer or send them to a will-call window where the event will be held.


Cavanaughs plans to initiate a new system that will conduct real-time transactions. Lucas says a time line for implementing the new system, which still must be tested, hasnt been set yet.


Separately, Cavanaughs says that its partnership with Alaska Airlines, under which Cavanaughs guests receive frequent-flier miles from Alaska, has been building repeat customers faster than the Spokane company had anticipated. In 1998, Cavanaughs guests who received air-travel miles occupied 8 percent of room nights, compared with 4 percent during the previous year.