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Melbourne accom industry leader is back

Neil Devonport marks return with launch of a new accommodation management suite

Just over 19 months since Apartments of Melbourne founder and director, Neil Devonport sadly announced the combination of fires and COVID-19 had effectively “gutted” his business, he has returned to the accommodation and hospitality sector with a new venture that is quickly attracting attention.

Sadly for the company, and many other businesses at that time, the advent of Melbourne’s Stage 4 COVID-19 restrictions was the final straw for the company which at its peak was managing 160 apartments across three city locations.

It took him seven months of what he describes as great personal pain before he could effectively close the door on what had until then been a business valued at $3 Million, turning over $12 Million in revenue annually and employing over 50 staff.

But, an eternally upbeat Devonport said he views the experience as having taught him many lessons, in the process making him a humbler person but instilling in him a renewed drive to help other business owners succeed by using his experiences as a “foundation for their development.”

Identifying a growing demand for accommodation business tools, booking management systems and tools to help small accommodation businesses grow revenue and direct bookings, in late 2021 Devonport launched The Booking Hub, in the process bringing world leading hotel booking systems, website sales systems and hotel direct tools to the Australian market.

Devonport says the products are aimed at smaller properties who don’t have big international brands behind them, who want to focus on growing direct bookings, cutting third party commissions and understanding strategies for business growth and for seeking revenue.

Partnering with Simplotel, a leading hotel sales system supplier based in San Francisco which powers the online sales of 2000-plus properties globally, he has now evolved his business further with the launch this month of My Guest Hub which is positioned as a complete all in one accommodation management solution using cloud-based technology.

A simplified, dashboard-operated booking system, My Guest Hub offers users day to day management bringing together sales, bookings, guests, payments and more, employing an integrated channel manager.

The system allows users to manage third-party online bookings including Booking.com, Expedia and Agoda and easily synchronise rates, availability, and bookings in real time directly from the dashboard. It also allows management of housekeeping services, assigns cleaning on the go, allocates tasks, and receives updates from staff via a simple ‘housekeeping’ app included in the program.

Devonport says all these products are further complemented with digital marketing services including fast responsive accommodation websites, Google hotel advertising, fully managed email marketing services and search engine optimisation services.

Although the new program is still very much in its infancy, Devonport said the initial response to My Guest Hub has been good with over 40 demos already booked for the next few weeks.

“One of the challenges right now to be quite honest is selling people anything, it’s very hard work as business owners are exhausted,” he said.

“So right now it’s a very slow burn,” he said. “It’s going to take people time to see the benefits and change over.”

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