Riverstone House B&B offers two guest suites and a retreat apartment in Geraldine, a stop-off on the southern scenic route between Christchurch and Tekapo. Fishing, hiking, whitewater rafting, and golf bring tourists to the region.
When owner and partner Jenny Jordan opened Riverstone House B&B four months ago, she knew she needed a technological edge to stand out in the New Zealand hospitality industry.
Starting off on the right foot
While Riverstone House B&B is a new property, Jenny had previous motel experience. She was familiar with SiteMinder from running other properties, so made an informed choice to adopt SiteMinder solutions at her new bed and breakfast. “I originally found SiteMinder via the internet,” when looking for a bookings management solution, Jenny recalls.
Rather than turn to SiteMinder to fix operational inefficiencies, Jenny wanted her new property to get off on the right foot. She knew SiteMinder’s Channel Manager would push the property out to over 350 booking channels while automating availability to prevent double bookings.
Jenny also liked the stop feature that’s built into the Channel Manager, because it delivers peace of mind that rooms will not be overbooked.
In addition to her prior experience, Jenny chose SiteMinder for its “easy use and price.”
Easy, elegant solution
Since Jenny had already used SiteMinder’s Channel Manager, she did not have to spend time learning how it all worked. Getting her new bed and breakfast pushed out to distribution partners was simple.
The immediate impact was in time savings. With the Channel Manager, hotel staff no longer had to update inventory manually. “There are less double bookings,” Jenny said.
Another perk of using Channel Manager is “not having to deal with all booking agents when bookings are made,” said Jenny. In spending less time dealing with the booking agents, Jenny is able to be more hands-on with guests by offering area recommendations.
In only four months, the bed and breakfast has seen positive results from using SiteMinder’s Channel Manager, and Jenny is optimistic about the future of her boutique New Zealand B&B.
