Case Study Shannon Springs Hotel, Ireland

Shannon Springs Hotel is an award-winning four-star hotel, conveniently located just 5 minutes from Shannon International Airport and is a stone’s throw away from Limerick. The hotel is the result of the ambition and dreams of two hotel graduates, John Gavin and Dermot Kelly, whom in December 2015, through NAMA, purchased the then 2* Shannon Springs Hotel with the vision of creating a new offering in hospitality for Shannon – to suit locals, families, corporates and tourists alike.

Challenges–

• The hotel needed a PMS system, a cloud offering that would assist John and Dermot to transform operations at the property
• Automation of manual processes was needed to free up staff to spend more time with guests and to take control of other elements of the business to grow markets and reduce their reliance on airport traffic only
• When the hotel was acquired, occupancy was low with most room bookings coming from OTA’s, along with huge commission overheads. In a bid to rejig this strategy, the hotel required an integrated Channel Manager to provide two-way availability and rates, selling through OTA’s and their own website
• Investment was needed to grow the bar, restaurant and event space, to improve the food offering and to create a friendly atmosphere for locals and airport hotel guests. The team undertook a significant refurb to improve standards and needed the right technology platforms to maximise business opportunities
• New Point of Sale systems were needed

Solutions-

Guestline Rezlynx PMS, Channel Manager, Integrations to Aloha EPOS and GuestRevu

Benefits-

Reduced commissions with OTA bookings down to 25% (V 90% in 2015)

In the first 12 months, occupancy at the hotel rose from 40% to 60% thanks to the introduction of Guestline’s two-way channel integration, rate restructure and strategy to drive direct business through their own website – reducing their heavy reliance on OTA’s, which peaked in 2015 with 90% of bookings through Booking.com. By 2018, occupancy had increased dramatically to 80%, with only 25% of bookings coming from Booking.com reducing their commissions bill.

 Live availability boosts ARR by €14

Thanks to live availability, the hotel never misses an opportunity to sell a room. Their own website, OTA’s etc receive live availability and best prices which in turn has allowed the hotel to grow its ARR by €14.

 Well-balanced operations

The automation of Guestline’s solutions has removed the tedious manual work by staff, freeing them up to spend time elsewhere in the business, improving procedures and systems. By saving manual hours per day and working as a team, this has allowed them to take control of their inventory and by working each market segment they now have a very well-balanced operation that is not fully reliant on the airport for business.

More guest time

By dedicating more time to the guest, the team can focus on winning direct business, repeat business and garnering loyalty. Through local community initiatives and relationships i.e. Rugby, GAA, Chamber of Commerce etc, owning the relationship with the guest is now crucial for repeat business.

Staff feel valued

By introducing a tech savvy PMS and creating an environment of trust, responsibility to employees and more awareness regarding operations, finances and structure within the hotel i.e. upskilling, reporting and training etc, staff have become much more financially and tech savvy and thus feel more valued and invested in.

Improved guest feedback

With such a diverse clientele, the integration with GuestRevu [guest feedback technology] allows the hotel to gather guest feedback, identify what people think of the hotel and its facilities and present ideas on how the team can grow the business.

Reduced costs

Since installation, the technology has delivered significant cost savings which in turn has enabled John and Dermot to further grow the business. They completed a soft refurb of all 54 rooms and are continuously upgrading public areas of the hotel to add space and create family areas for special occasions. They have increased employment from 15 staff to a team of 56 and are injecting over €1.5m into the local economy through sourcing of products for the hotel and restaurant.

Award-winning Four-Star Hotel

The new technology has contributed to the property receiving its 4^th star from Failte Ireland earlier this year. From a 2-star property upon acquisition, in four years the hotel has won numerous awards and accolades for its standards, service and people. From ‘Airport Hotel of the Year 2019’ at the Irish Hotel awards to three-time gold award winner at the Irish Accommodation Services Awards to nominations for ‘Best Place to Eat in Clare’ and finalists in the Bar of the Year Awards.

“Our goal in setting up on our own was to provide a friendly, courteous and customer-oriented hotel, displaying high levels of quality and service and catering for the needs of corporate and local family trade.  Our new tech platform has enabled us to streamline operations and provide a smoother guest journey so we can provide a first class customer experience and empower our staff to manage processes and guest relations efficiently and effectively to the best of our ability.  As an owner-operated hotel, we want to belong to and give back to the region; that’s why we have also chosen to sponsor local rugby, soccer, GAA teams and Muse Productions. These young people are the future lifeblood of the area and we are glad to play our part in facilitating their endeavours.” John Gavin, Owner / Director, Shannon Springs Hotel