UK: The Serviced Apartment Company (SACO) has chosen Guestline to provide integrated hotel management solutions across its portfolio of properties.
SACO operates more than 600 apartments across 32 UK sites, and provides customers access to a further 20,000 apartments in 42 countries via selected partners. Guestline says the group required a centralised property management, reservations and distribution platform that would support control of rates and availability from a single interface.
SACO implemented a range of Guestline systems including the Rezlynx Property Management System (PMS) and the Central Reservations System (CRS).
Ben Harper, sales director at SACO, said: “Because we take so many bookings for not just our own properties, but also our worldwide partners, it was imperative to have a single oversight of the bookings and sales activity across our complete portfolio. Guestline’s CRS provides this visibility. ” explained
SACO also installed Guestline‘s PCI Manager for PCI-DSS credit card security, the Online Booking Manager to provide online bookings through SACO’s website, and the Channel and Distribution Manager to manage inventory exposure to Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and the Global Distribution System (GDS).
SACO says that since the implementation of the Online Booking Manager in May this year, it has seen a 50 per cent increase in the number of online bookings. “One of our key objectives was to significantly increase the volume of online bookings via our own website, we are delighted with such positive results in just two months. The Online Booking Manager is really supporting us with this strategy,” said Harper.
While SACO’s focus is on driving online traffic through its own website, the company acknowledged the need for a presence in the OTA market. Harper said: “Customers are often turning to OTAs like Booking.com or LateRooms.com to benefit from room rate comparisons, or to book a room fast. We identified the Channel and Distribution Manager as the ideal solution as it allows us to control rates and availability from a single real-time source and is very effective in securing last minute bookings due to short stays or cancellations.”
Phil Davidson, managing director of Guestline, said: “We are delighted to be supporting SACO Serviced Apartments to manage their global property portfolio in a more streamlined and integrated way. The esteemed serviced accommodation group is further recognition of our ability to provide full service software solutions to a broad spectrum of different accommodation industries.”
www.sacoapartments.com
www.guestline.com</p
