Bed and Terrace Guesthouse, Chiang Mai is a boutique guesthouse in Chiang Mai, Thailand offering central accommodation near the night markets. Known for its trendy atmosphere within walking distance of top Chiang Mai attractions, Bed and Terrace Guesthouse Chiang Mai offers five different levels of accommodation. The guesthouse has been operating for eight years and has 10 rooms.
The Challenge
With 10 rooms listed across multiple online travel agents (OTAs) and travellers walking in on foot, it was difficult for guesthouse staff to keep room availability up-to-date. It took a lot of man hours to check availability, and employees did not have the time to spend updating the calendar. Staff wanted to find a better way to manage their room availability but needed an efficient solution that would save time, rather than making channel management more complicated.
After interacting via email with the SiteMinder team Kongkan Boonmasamer the general manager of Bed and Terrace Guesthouse Chiang Mai, decided to look further at SiteMinder’s Channel Manager as a better way to manage bookings and save time.
The Solution
The Channel Manager was the clear solution to the team’s needs, since it allowed all of the rooms to be managed using real-time automation, instead of manual updating. Bed and Terrace Guesthouse Chiang Mai started using The Channel Manager five years ago and found it a very effective solution for handling bookings while saving staff time.
“At first we needed to update inventory in each booking website, which is very hard for us to complete in a short time. Since we started using SiteMinder, we don’t need to worry about updating multiple channels anymore,” Kongkan said.
Once they started using The Channel Manager, guesthouse employees could easily update inventory and prices in one place or search for a reservation that had been made. They could also check dashboard data to find out which channels were the most effective in generating reservations.
The Results
Since Bed and Terrace Guesthouse Chiang Mai invested in SiteMinder, they have seen an 80% improvement in the efficiency of their business operations. Revenue and profitability have also increased by 80% in the five years since they’ve been using SiteMinder.
“It helps a lot with direct bookings”, says Kongkan.
While SiteMinder has helped the guesthouse become more successful, it has also accomplished Kongkan’s number-one goal of saving employees time. With The Channel Manager updating availability, employees no longer have to spend several hours managing the property’s many calendars.