Washingborough Hall

Author
Edward Herring - Owner Washingborough Hall

Washingborough Hall

About the company:

Washingborough Hall is a family run Grade II listed, Georgian manor house set in three acres of mature garden in the heart of Washingborough village, ideally located 2 miles from Lincoln.

Privately owned and managed, this country house hotel has been lovingly refurbished to cater for the requirements of today’s discerning guest. With 12 bedrooms and a double AA Rosette award winning restaurant the hotel is popular for special weddings and other private occasions. The hotel’s main function rooms can accommodate meetings, small conferences and private parties.

Challenges:

The hotel required an innovative, responsive system that would:

  • Manage and aid their expansion plans - they plan to double the number of weddings and covers they host with their new orangery
  • Provide multiple channel exposure to ensure they were appearing on all search lists
  • Manage their rates and availability so they remained competitive in the local market place
  • Provide multiple functionality to speed up processes and streamline operations
  • Be continually upgraded and future proof in light of their growth plans
  • Manage all their systems from one supplier so they had one point of contact
  • Provide a support team to help with additional questions and improvements

Solutions:

  • Rezlynx PMS
  • EPoS
  • Online Booking Manager
  • Channel & Distribution Manager.

Benefits:

Improved functionality:

With Rezlynx, they have reduced the amount of manual data inputting they do thus saving the staff time and eliminating errors.

The use of promotional codes has helped sell last minute packages. They now promote same day deals on the OBM to drive more direct bookings.

The EPoS software allows the bar staff to process orders quicker which improves the speed of service, ideal when catering for large numbers of wedding guests.

Increased ARR:

The hotel can manage rates and availability more effectively which has helped them to achieve the best possible rate and remain competitive in light of new hotels opening up in Lincoln.

The hotel has subsequently seen an increase in ARR of 24% over the last year.

Increased exposure through OTAs:

Direct integration with multiple OTAs has given the hotel exposure on new channels which has improved occupancy. Availability is now amended in real-time and bookings automatically updated directly into their PMS eliminating the need for any manual inputting and adjusting.

Improved processes:

The system is ideally placed to manage the hotel’s growth plans with the new bedrooms and new extension that’s being built. The system will help them manage larger wedding parties and more bookings. They currently hold 55 weddings per year and with their new orangery they aim to double this and accommodate for bigger numbers.

Improved customer communication:

The e-mail automation function has enabled the hotel to set up templates for post stay e-shots. These are sent to guests to encourage them to re-book, post reviews on TripAdvisor or contact the General Manager if they incurred any issues (as opposed to posting a negative review).

This has helped drive positive reviews, direct bookings and reduce OTA commission as guests (who initially booked through an OTA) now re-book direct.

"We deliberated for months over whether we needed a new system - now we have the system, we wish we’d opted for it sooner!

As we are currently expanding our facilities, the system will help us manage larger group bookings more efficiently – new bedrooms are being added onto the system and we’ll soon have a new orangery for weddings.

We appreciate the free upgrades which keep the system up to date with new functionality - we’re discovering new time-saving processes every day which continually enables us to implement operational efficiencies.

The support we get from Guestline is second to none which is ideal when there’s a new upgrade and for new starters – we know there will always be someone at the end of a phone that can help us to resolve issues and make improvements."

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The Dean Court Hotel BW Premier Collection, York

‘Guestline cloud PMS is more effective, and it saves us time and money. It’s fully integrated which makes the whole process more seamless and it does everything we need it to do.' Read more about how Dean Court are working with Guestline here. Read more

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