Case Study – New Forest Hotels

New Forest Hotels features four hotels, a bed & breakfast and a traditional British pub, all set in idyllic locations in the New Forest. The Group, known for their award-winning restaurants, was set up as a family business back in 1988 with the ambition of having 4-star quality hotels at 3-star prices. A Guestline customer for over 11 years, they have recently expanded their relationship with the addition of three new products to their suite of Guestline solutions.

• Guest experience improvements -during the pandemic, New Forest Hotels were keen to reduce physical contact for the safety and welfare of guests.
• Streamline finance processes- looking to simplify reconciliation of transactions, the group were looking to implement one payment portal to manage all PDQ and eCommerce payments.
• Cost savings - they were also keen to secure more competitive rates with credit card providers and to fully integrate their credit card service company with their PMS.
• Accelerate direct bookings - with growing monthly commission payments, the group were looking for ways they could boost their direct distribution.

‘As Guestline customers since 2011, we have implemented many Guestline solutions including the Guestline PMS Rezlynx, EPoS, and the Direct Booking Manager. We are delighted to further expand our relationship and support our business growth with these latest additions to our suite of Guestline solutions’  

• GuestPay 

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

The payment process for guests has been transformed. Guests are sent a secure and branded payment link to complete payment from their device. No more queueing at reception to settle up on departure!

With all transactions accessible via one portal, the time taken to reconcile payments is greatly reduced. The Front of House team can balance transactions all in one go.

Guestline’s pre-negotiated rates with credit card providers for independent hoteliers have resulted in reduced costs, in addition to providing transparency on fees.

Integration of GuestPay with the PMS mitigates 'rogue' transactions appearing. This means less time and resource is required investigating unrecognised payments. Folios are automatically updated with less human error and easier reconciliations.

• GuestStay

GuestStay was designed to allow guests to avoid lengthy reception queues at check-in/out by completing their registration pre-arrival.

The solution, offering contactless check-in and check-out, was initially introduced over the pandemic to reduce physical contact for the safety and welfare of guests. But over and above that, the whole check-in process for the guest is greatly enhanced. With registration completed pre arrival, guests can avoid lengthy waits at reception. They can make their way to their room quicker, enhancing their first impressions of their stay.

With registration completed pre-arrival, check-in time is greatly reduced. No more lengthy queues in the lobby and the front office team have more time to focus on servicing the guest.

Guests booking through an OTA are asked to provide an email address on registration with the option of opting into marketing. Not only does this save time for front office updating profiles, but it helps build the customer database.

• DBM Google Connector

DBM Google Connector retrieves live rates and availability directly from your PMS allowing your hotel to display, with a link to your website, when a guest uses Google search or Google Maps.

With a link to the official New Forest Hotel’s website appearing when a guest searches for one of the group’s properties through Google search or Google Maps, potential guests can quickly compare prices against the OTAs and then go straight to book direct. This enhanced visibility not only encourages direct bookings but optimises conversion as potential guests are not distracted by competing properties as seen on OTA's.

More direct bookings mean reduced reliance on OTA's and a reduction in monthly commission charges.

The connection was live within 2 weeks with little work required from New Forest Hotels.