How a luxury estate ramped up its online presence with all-in-one solution

Running a small hotel comes with a lot of responsibility. On a daily basis, it usually means that you are responsible for way more than the large, chain hotels are.

Greenmantle Estate is no different. As a luxury estate that takes pride in the fact that it offers an authentic atmosphere, gorgeous grounds and relaxing rooms to its guests, there is a lot for Ralph Green – director of operations of the property – to take care of.

The trouble is managing the workload. While guests were satisfied, Ralph felt like his time was being poorly spent on repetitive administrative tasks.

Luckily, Ralph managed to find a solution that ultimately improved his online presence, resulting in time savings and more online bookings.

Here’s how he did it.

Step 1: Uncover where improvements can be made

Ralph knew that he could be spending more time on his long-term plans and goals if he could eliminate the day-to-day responsibilities associated with administrative work.

He was wasting too much time taking reservations and managing bookings, when he could have been interacting with guests and focusing on the bigger picture.

“The way we took bookings was too slow because we were operating manually. Every booking had to processed individually, so invoicing was a pain, and there was the risk of double booking because people couldn’t know what was and wasn’t available.”

Step 2: Find a business solution

Ralph knew it was his online booking process that needed fixing.

“We needed something that would allow us to sell through online channels; that would be ‘in the cloud’ so that as operators, we can access reservations from anywhere in the world, because we’re not in one single place all of the time; and, affordable.”

Step 3: Reap the benefits

When he implemented a new system, everything about running the luxury estate changed for the better. No longer did he have to worry about keeping track of bookings that arrived through different channels.

He didn’t have to remain in the office for hours on end, since he could access all vital information in the cloud on his mobile device.

Additionally, Ralph noticed an increase in direct bookings.

“We have a strong internet presence from a marketing perspective, so we attract a lot of people to our website, but the fact that we can complete it by allowing guests to make a booking is fundamental, because they’d rather do it online.”