Laura Ashley Hotels

Author
Colette Togus - Group Revenue & Distribution Manager - Laura Ashley Hotels

Laura Ashley Hotels

Malayan United Industries (MUI) is the parent company of Corus Hotels, a group of 8 hotels located across the UK including Corus Hyde Park, all of which have Guestline solutions installed.

The MUI Group is also a major shareholder in Laura Ashley Holdings Plc with two Laura Ashley branded hotels : The Manor Hotel, Hertfordshire and The Belsfield Hotel in the Lake District.

The Manor Hotel launched in 2013 having undergone a name change and a full refurbishment in ‘Laura Ashley’ furnishings.

A second property was then launched in July 2014 - the 62 bedroom Belsfield Hotel in the Lake District which has undergone a full £3.5m ‘Laura Ashley’ refurbishment, with the addition of a modern, award winning architect designed glazed reception area.

The hotels have leveraged the brand strength of Laura Ashley, created a showcase for its home furnishing products and utilised MUI’s extensive hotel expertise.

Challenges:

  • Implement a collaborative property management solution to reduce costs and increase revenue.
  • Integrate the PMS and distribution channel management platforms.
  • Improve management and reporting procedures from a central source.
  • Add extra distribution channels to their portfolio to boost online sales and revenue.
  • Maximise the value of their events facilities with a new conference and banqueting solution.

Solution:

As a result of Guestline’s strong relationship with Corus Hotels, a partnership that dates back to 2011, both The Manor and The Belsfield have installed Guestline cloud based hospitality management solutions.

Both properties are supported by Rezlynx PMS, Channel & Distribution Manager, PCI Manager, EPoS, and Corporate Portal to help increase revenue and optimize occupancy rates.

The Manor Hotel has also implemented Advanced Conference & Banqueting Manager, a user-friendly event management solution that will help streamline operations and maximise revenue for their meetings, conferences and events.

Benefits:

  • All systems are managed centrally from one location.
  • Increased revenue through better OTA and rate management strategies.
  • Improved integrated reporting.
  • Reduced overhead costs by streamlining management procedures.
  • Increased average daily rate by introducing occupancy driven rates.
  • Improved relationships with support and project management teams.
  • Bespoke products and software developments made to support all the needs of the hotel.

"Guestline’s systems has given us the flexibility to easily manage Rate Parity across all sites. We have also seen an increase in room sales due to having a rate pyramid, in the past our rate strategy was based purely on automatic occupancy levels.

We have seen a growth in online sales due to having access to more OTA channels since investing in Guestline’s Channel & Distribution Manager. Online room sales have seen an increase of 25% YOY for the group.

Savings have also been made in terms of in wage costs/time due to the fact that all systems are being managed centrally.”