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SiteMinder’s channel manager and booking engine helps Warrnambool property increase bookings

  Posted in Case Studies  Last updated 27/10/2020

Gallery Apartments Warrnambool offers 4.5 star apartments ideal for the corporate or leisure traveller. The property is unique for Warrnambool accommodations in that it provides a boutique luxury apartment or villa that feels like home, and not a hotel.

Gallery Apartments Warrnambool includes five levels of accommodation: One-bedroom apartments, two-bedroom apartments, spa apartments, spa suites, and private spa villas. Amenities include air conditioning, fully equipped kitchens, plasma televisions, separate dining and lounge areas, and complimentary WiFi. Gallery Apartments Warrnambool has 10 apartments and has been in operation for 18 years.

Travellers love the convenient location, which is close to the Botanical Gardens and the beach.

The challenge: Manually juggling channels and bookings too much work

Gallery Apartments Warrnambool faced a challenge common among small hotels: Maintaining so many channels while preventing double bookings. With their ten rooms listed across channels and guests inquiring via phone or in person, it was difficult to maintain an accurate inventory at all times. Given there are only ten rooms and the accommodations are unique to the area, rooms were occasionally getting double booked before an employee could update the reservations.

The need to maintain channels kept guesthouse employees in the office, which reduced the time they could spend on other duties.

Brett Jensen, owner of the Gallery Apartments Warrnambool, turned to Google to find a solution. Brett wanted a product that supported PMS integration and streamlined channel management.

The solution: SiteMinder ticked all boxes

The SiteMinder online booking engine, SiteMinder’s channel manager + PMS Integration provided an all-in-one solution for Brett.

“Everything is now streamlined and SiteMinder has stopped any chance of double bookings,” Brett said.

SiteMinder’s online booking engine and channel manager provided inventory and rate management as well as access to over 350 premier hotel booking channels through one convenient interface.

The results: Website bookings see an uplift

The setup process for SiteMinder was simple; Brett had everything up and running in one week. Gallery Apartments Warrnambool saw an immediate difference in terms of man hours saved, because staff no longer had to manually update the inventory after every booking. Since front desk staff could see rates and availability from their iPad, employees could get out from behind the desk and attend to guest needs while keeping track of bookings on their device.

Since Gallery Apartments Warrnambool implemented SiteMinder, Brett and his team have noticed a 10% increase in bookings. Brett added that, “Our own website bookings have increased, which I feel is due to the modern feel of the booking button.”