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Boutique bed and breakfast saves time and money with an all-in-one reservation system
Villa Orchard is a boutique urban retreat with a personal touch. Centrally located in one of Frankfurt’s quiet residential areas, this family-run bed and breakfast provides a tranquil atmosphere, warm hospitality, and hearty breakfasts to business and leisure travelers alike.
Joan Weber is the Owner-Operator of Villa Orchard. On a daily basis, she focuses on managing the 7-room property and servicing her guests to her fullest ability.
You don’t need to run a big hotel to make use of an intelligent software solution tool. Little Hotelier is the ideal channel management synchronization tool, offering you peace of mind, and freeing up quality time. It will benefit guests and the business alike.
The Challenge
To get the word out about her boutique property, Joan turned to online travel agencies (OTAs), which continue to be a key element in the Villa Orchard’s success. However, Joan soon found that the administrative workload involved was taking up far too much of her time.
“Being a small fish in a pool of sharks automatically drives you into the hands of the OTAs. While this will instantly put you on the radar screen of potential guests it also requires a lot of time to manage and update. As a matter of fact, manual hotel platform administration and synchronization requires several hours of quality time a day.”,
The Solution
Joan felt that she needed technology to help her free up her time.
“Compared to old-fashioned manual administration, which is susceptible to errors, an efficient software-based solution is the only way to go. There simply is no alternative.”
She immediately began searching for an all-in-one front desk system that took the hassle out of her online distribution efforts.
“Our main objective was to find a pragmatic channel management solution that
• updates itself automatically;
• is easy to handle; and, at the same time,
• allows for simple ad hoc modifications with regard to room rates and occupancy levels.”
Joan conducted extensive research to ensure she picked the best solution for her bed and breakfast.
“We engaged in market research, came up with a shortlist of candidates, produced a synopsis of key characteristics and functionalities – and filtered out Little Hotelier. We particularly liked their explainer video which directly responded to our main needs in a simple, yet convincing way.”
Joan felt that Little Hotelier stood out from the crowd, and decided to use it for Villa Orchard.
“In direct comparison to alternative solution providers, Little Hotelier gets the priorities right. The system is easy to understand and install and doesn’t suffer from overkill functionalities. Pricing and monthly rates are definitely fair for the value proposition offered.”,
The Results
With Little Hotelier, Villa Orchard are effectively distributing their rooms online.
“Little Hotelier offers an ideal solution for the automation of channel management and direct website bookings, allowing us to get the priorities right and focus on what really counts. Stressful overbookings have become a thing of the past, and our occupancy rates are constantly above 90%.”
This has resulted in time and cost savings for Villa Orchard.
“Arguably, time is the most valuable commodity. Depending on how you value time, Little Hotelier is rationally maximizing our ‘return on time invested’ (ROTI), if you will. It enables us to reallocate quality time to undertake higher-value activities to ultimately improve the level of guest satisfaction which in return lays the foundation for additional business opportunities.”
“In addition, the reduction of our monthly commissions to OTAs is a nice side effect that basically pays for the LH subscription fee.”
As a result, Villa Orchard are able to drive more direct bookings and distribute rooms to even more online channels.
“We have added two more OTAs. In addition, our website has become a source of attractive direct bookings.”
In particular, Joan enjoys all the ways in which Little Hotelier has automated her booking processes.
“The seamless channel synchronization is certainly on the top of our list. Equally helpful are the booking engine and the virtual Little Hotelier front desk. Managing rates and room inventory has become a piece of cake. The automated registration and invoice forms round off an overall attractive package.”
Joan is so happy with Little Hotelier that she would gladly recommend it to other small accommodation providers.
“I would definitely recommend Little Hotelier.”
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