Industries
Lead generation for hotels: group sales by cold email and a reservations agent
Hotel Pirin in Bansko is owned by a co-founder of Sellinger, so read this as an operator's own results. An agent sent cold email to companies and reached 5,499 B2B contacts. 163 replied (3.0%), 23 sent a concrete group inquiry, and 5 companies can be traced from a dated letter to a reservation. A second agent answers guests in a median of 41 seconds.
Published by Sellinger AI. Numbers and settings checked on 19 October 2026 against the fact register. Report an error.
- B2B contacts reached by email, 22 July to 11 October 2026 (bounces excluded)
- 5,499
- replied, 3.0%. A human reply in the thread. Refusals count, auto replies do not
- 163
- concrete group inquiries with dates or a headcount
- 23
- companies traced to a reservation: 3 confirmed, 2 pending. Pending is not won
- 3 + 2
Two jobs, two agents
A 68 room mountain hotel has two sales problems at different speeds. Group business, such as team offsites, trainings, annual meetings and Christmas parties, has to be found one company at a time. Guest inquiries from families and couples arrive at any hour and go cold quickly.
One agent wrote cold email to HR and office managers, companies, schools, event agencies and associations. A second agent answers new guests by email, and from 24 September on Messenger and WhatsApp. WhatsApp ran through a connected WhatsApp account, not the WhatsApp Business API, and only answered guests who wrote first.
| Audience | Contacts | Reply rate | Companies with a reservation |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR and office managers, verified list, July | 656 | 15.5% | 1 confirmed |
| Bulgarian companies, decision maker lists, August to October | 1,395 | 1.8% | 1 confirmed (probable link), 1 pending |
| Event agencies | 35 | 17.1% | 0 |
| Schools | 2,248 | 0.3% | 0 |
| All B2B contacts | 5,499 | 3.0% | 3 confirmed, 2 pending |
Reply rate and reservations did not move together. Event agencies replied at 17.1% and produced no reservation.
The two playbooks
- Group sales cold email for hotels: a short letter with one offer and one question, a follow up with a reason to act now, and a last note that can be forwarded. The first letter earned 52 of 138 first replies and 13 of 23 inquiries.
- Answer guest inquiries with a quote: quote as soon as the dates and party are known. After the rule, the share of replies with a price went from 50% to 92%.
What did not work
- Schools in summer: 2,248 contacts gave 6 replies.
- LinkedIn: 872 office managers gave 487 replies and 25 contact handovers, and no booking was traced.
- Two figures in one sequence. The first letter and the last note quoted different numbers, the recipient noticed, and the quote was corrected in her favour.
- Groups still need a person fast. Staff answered group requests in a median of almost 4 hours.
- The agent created no reservation. The owner negotiated and closed 5 of 5 deals.
- Some groups cannot be hosted: a group of 250 to 1,100 people is more than 68 rooms can take.
Compliance note
The study makes no claim about how opt outs were handled in this account: an audit on 9 October found two unsubscribes missing from the suppression list, so none is made. Prices, rates and revenue are not shown. Replies that ask to stop close the thread, as the fact register describes.
Common questions
Does cold email work for hotel group sales?
Did the agent book rooms?
How fast does the reservations agent answer?
Is this proof from an independent customer?
Sources and method
Every number comes from the linked case study, which states its base, its data date and what did not work. Source: Hotel Pirin case study, Sellinger production data and the hotel's own property management system, read only, snapshot 11 October 2026.
Related: Hotel Pirin case study, group sales playbook, guest inquiry playbook, email agent.
