Case Study – Cuillin Hills Hotel

Enjoying some of the most spectacular views in Scotland, Cuillin Hills Hotel is a family-run hotel located on the Isle of Skye and set within fifteen acres of mature private ground. This elegant, circa-1880s property once belonged to the MacDonald Clan and boasts spectacular views over Portree Bay towards the majestic Cuillin Mountain Range. With an award-winning restaurant and countless TripAdvisor Travellers Choice awards, the hotel recently decided to expand their relationship with Guestline as they looked to simplify and streamline the payment process and reconciliation bringing benefits to both the guest and the hotel. 

The hotel was keen to bring efficiencies to numerous aspects of the payment and reconciliation process. They were looking to streamline processes for both the hotel and the guest. Areas of particular importance included

• Simplify the chargeback process –chargebacks were causing issues for the finance team, with investigation and resolution proving both time-consuming and costly for the business.
• Enhance the payment process for guests - the guest payment process was very much shaped by internal processes and systems. The hotel recognised this needed to change to make this more guest friendly.
• Management of refunds - the tracking and administration of refunds was cumbersome and was especially evident throughout the pandemic. Simplification of this was important.
• Underpinning all this, Cuillin Hill Hotel was looking for exceptional customer support

‘We went from a position of constant chargebacks, administrative headaches and poor support to a slick, simple, well-supported merchant provider with 100% success rate in reduced chargebacks.’

• GuestPay 

GuestPay is Guestline’s omni-channel payments provider designed to provide one end-to-end operation and payment system. 

With guests able to check and settle bills pre-departure from their phones, the checkout experience has been transformed. There are no more lengthy queues at reception, and queries can be raised and resolved in advance. Guests can also settle bills in their preferred currency contributing to a enhanced guest experience.

Payment processing has been simplified, chargebacks mitigated, and reconciliation streamlined. As a result, the front office and finance teams have benefitted from process efficiencies, allowing them time to focus on more value-added tasks.

With GuestPay running daily reports at 2 am to include late transactions, and the ability to access a single consolidated statement through the payment portal, payment reconciliation has been simplified. In addition, the hotel was able to recover approximately £3700 over one month, which was due to internal administrative mistakes with bookings.

Chargebacks cost the hotel over £14000 in 2021 with time lost investigating queries and seeking resolution. Since the installation of GuestPay, there has been an amazing 100% reduction in successful chargebacks. There has been a significant reduction in the number raised and those that are, can be challenged more easily.

With payments settled daily rather than twice a week, the hotel has seen much welcomed improvements to cashflow.