A 4-star property, City Oasis Inn is located in the tropical haven of Townsville in the north of Queensland, Australia. Ideally situated at the heart of the thriving tourism hotspot, City Oasis offers spacious comfortable rooms equipped with a kitchenette, free WiFi, an award-winning lagoon style pool, tropical BBQ area, dine-in restaurant, and free access to the nearby gym and memorial baths.
Guests will have all the relaxation they need when they aren’t out wandering the bustling city, hitting the beach or exploring the wondrous natural environment.
“We get a lot of regulars staying with us because they appreciate our friendly, welcoming staff and our customer service,” said Katie Cheetham, Reservations Manager.
“We are a small business with community values, and have been a mainstay in Townsville accommodation options for many years.”
Filling a technology gap
City Oasis Inn had aspirations to streamline and improve guest communications but were lacking the technology to do so, according to Katie.
“We didn’t have a PMS which supported the automation of guest emails,” she said. “We wanted to implement this pre and post-stay.”
That’s where Guest Engagement, an add-on feature of SiteMinder’s powerful smart platform, comes in.
Guest Engagement enables hoteliers to schedule and automate guest communications, personalise their emails, and boost revenue via upsell and extras offers.
In addition to Guest Engagement City Oasis also added Demand Plus, a metasearch feature that helps boost direct bookings by making the property more prominent on Google Hotel Ads, Trivago, and TripAdvisor.
Surrounding all of this is SiteMinder’s industry-leading channel manager, a feature that enables greater online visibility to boost bookings and automates inventory management to reduce manual work.
“The centralised nature of channel manager has greatly assisted City Oasis administratively and operationally – the fact that there is an interface with our CRM definitely helps. It’s a big difference from doing everything manually,” explained Katie.
Better results, less work
Easy processes and accurate data
With the addition of SiteMinder’s guest engagement feature, City Oasis Inn is now able to interact with guests quicker, easier, and more effectively, with manual work also eliminated.
“We are no longer manually sending email to follow-up with guests after check-out. We’re also able to automatically request feedback from guests who have checked out prior to our office opening,” explained Katie.
Another benefit has been the ability to enhance the guest experience by being able to deliver updated information to guests at a moment’s notice.
“The online guest directory has enabled us to give the most up-to-date information to our guests without having to print out new pages and update each room individually.”
“Guests love the convenience of the QR code too – we have so much information to give guests upon their arrival that it’s great to be able to tell them the info verbally and then follow up with the QR code which easily lets them access any information on their phone.”
This is crucial in today’s market, where guests now have higher expectations and want the utmost convenience from their stays.
Thank you, Katie, for sharing your experience and we wish City Oasis Inn all the best in the future!