I ask them their first name, and what time and how long they want to visit for, and which services they are looking for (I have a two-tier service.)
If they are booking for within 2 hours time then I give them the hotel name there and ask them to call me when they are parked up.
If it's longer than 2 hours then I ask them to text or call me 1hr or half hour before the appointment time for the hotel details and to confirm. Until they have confirmed I will mark them as tentative and will accept standby bookings for that time slot. If they ask for a postcode so they can check the distance/time to where they're going, I'll give them a postcode of a nearby landmark if I don't want to confirm the hotel name yet.
Make sure you have a diary/notebook because you will need to be organised on tour. I have a page-a-day diary and I just write down "17:00 Mark 1hr GFE 120, confirm 16.00 by text"
I make sure I save their number as "[name] [location] [time of booking]" and then if they don't confirm or cancel I can change that to "No show [name] [location]".
If I get a standby then I write them the next line down as "Standby: Gary - text if Mark doesn't confirm".
If you leave your room - put your diary/notebook in a drawer or your suitcase. Just in case a nosy cleaner happens on it.
I've been doing hotel incalls now for about 9 months and I've developed instincts about which guys might be no shows. Just some kind of hesitation in the voice. With these guys I sometimes say "Do you want to have a check on google maps and then call me back if the location and time works for you?" 9 times out of 10 they won't call back and until they do I don't write anything in my diary. If they do call back then they will almost certainly show up.
Same here.
I save their numbers almost identically and I save those numbers the moment I hang up so I know who's who. I need to be able to keep track of calls. If the guy no shows I'll modify and block immediately, if he cancels it's yet a different system. But when my phone rings 1 min before a booking I like to be able to see on my phone screen if it's my client right on time or if it's another guy.
Touring or not I apply the same confirmation procedure to guys who booked and then send me a BR. I will still ask them to confirm by text and if I don't get text confirmation I don't expect them to show.
When I take a booking with more than 2 hr notice I follow immediately with a text. It's a text with my landmark, hour of the booking etc. The text ends with "please text me to confirm at (1 hour before) and I will text back with my address".
If they don't text to confirm I don't expect them to show.