Urban Rest is a serviced apartment provider that is “redefining traditional accommodation with a progressive and next-generation approach.”
Established in Sydney, Australia, Urban Rest’s journey began in 2017 when the founders became frustrated by a lack of accommodation options for business travel and relocation.
Cody Walker, Revenue Performance Director, mentioned that in response, “we created a new category by providing personalised, modern apartments that inspire and promote your wellbeing. Stay for a few nights, weeks or months, the choice is entirely yours.”
With apartments that are larger than the rooms in a conventional hotel, stylish interiors, greater flexibility than long-term rentals, a consistent and exceptional customer experience and 24/7 coverage to rival a hotel front desk, it’s no surprise that Urban Rest has gone from strength to strength.
“We’re leveraging technology to offer guests a 24/7 ‘digital reception desk’ with our around-the-clock customer support and reservations teams,” said Cody.
“This strategic advantage enables us to open properties in highly sought-after lifestyle locations that larger hotels find challenging to enter, with smaller properties where an on-site staff model wouldn’t be profitable.”
What started as a handful of properties has grown to over 700 units globally, and is now supported by SiteMinder’s leading hotel platform.
An expanding business needed best-in-class technology
With even more units in the pipeline, Urban Rest and the team needed a way to manage operations efficiently and effectively to reach more markets and sustain success.
“There was a need to broaden our distribution footprint,” mentioned Cody. “It was challenging to roll SiteMinder out initially, only because we have so many unique properties. Unlike hotels that only have one property, we could have over 200 unique locations.”
It wasn’t long before SiteMinder’s power proved worth the wait, with Urban Rest taking full advantage of SiteMinder’s connection to the industry’s biggest Global Distribution Systems (GDS).
This helped the group increase its visibility among global travel agents, with full technical support provided by SiteMinder’s team. Optimisations sessions were also held to ensure the sales and distribution teams had access to the latest market insights and best practices.
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A promise delivered
Thanks to SiteMinder, the global distribution footprint that Cody mentioned soon became bigger for Urban Rest with increased global visibility, streamlined content and rate loading, and the ability for empowered sales teams to capitalise on market trends.
“The collaboration with SiteMinder’s GDS platform has significantly boosted Urban Rest Group’s visibility among global travel agents and positioned it for continued success,” he said.
“SiteMinder’s technical team provided full support for content and rate loading, while tailored GDS optimisation sessions equipped the sales and distribution team with the latest market insights and best practices.”
SiteMinder is proud to have been a part of Urban Rest’s journey so far and look forward to continuing our collaboration in the future!