21/10/2009
Tourism Exchange New Zealand is revolutionising the way small- to medium-sized tourism operators do business in the Canterbury / Otago region, right at a time when a boost to their businesses is needed, without the capital outlay.
“It’s completely changed our business,” says Hilltop on High St B&B owner Rodney McDonald. “All our bookings used to be from a phone-call or walk-in, but now we have Tourism Exchange’s Eviivo Frontdesk booking system our income stream is spread out more. Dunedin is quite seasonal and we never knew how busy the season was going to be; now, with forward bookings all pre-paid and in the system, we know what to expect.”
Situated on one of Dunedin’s most historic streets, Hilltop on High Street is a prominent landmark heritage home and is a grand statement in Edwardian architecture and modern chic. Owner Rodney McDonald has had the property for five years and being part of Tourism Exchange has already given the business a boost with online sales now accounting for 44% of their total sales, not to mention the many sales leads that have been generated by an online presence.
“For small operators I would say, ‘Yes, definitely!’ sign up to Tourism Exchange,” says McDonald. “From experience, any bit of website exposure really helps your business. Small operators sometimes don’t realise the potential of a professional looking website tied in with a competent booking system.”
Tourism Exchange provides pre-payments for bookings, in real-time. This means that the normal agency delay of up to six months from the time the booking is made to the day it’s received by the tourism provider is eliminated; payment is in full and in advance. Working alongside BNZ means that members don’t get charged a monthly fee or hire charge and benefit from a reduced merchant fee of 1.8%.
Kirsten Ellis, Tourism Exchange’s Canterbury / Otago regional development manager, has spent ten years in the tourism and travel industry and says her role with the group is very rewarding because she is able to supply free technology to help businesses. “People are so grateful and say thank you so much for considering us, it’s not often you get that kind of feedback from a sales role!”
Ellis is excited about what Tourism Exchange can do for the new events centre in Geraldine, which will use the booking system for ticketing its beer festival this October. “We’re helping businesses save time, and staff, by cutting down the admin and time spent responding to enquiries and banking manual credit card slips. Increasingly, people will book elsewhere if your response is slowed down by time lags – international visitors in particular benefit from real-time bookings rather than waiting for you to wake up!”
“We are extremely pleased with the whole booking process,” says McDonald. “In the past when an enquiry came through it would take numerous emails and telephone calls before the booking. This was not always successful and we’d sometimes lose bookings because people would give up or not get the information they were wanting. With the new website and booking system all the information is already present and people now know exactly what they are buying and can purchase immediately. The online booking system has increased our enquiry conversion rate substantially.”
Hilltop on High St was keen to be part of the bigger picture of Tourism Exchange New Zealand that enabled the property to be featured with tourism distributors both locally and internationally.
“More and more people are using the internet to book their travel and accommodation, it is imperative for the success of our business to capture this market and by aligning ourselves with an online facility such as Tourism Exchange, we’re able to achieve our goals,” says McDonald.
Media Contact:
Tracey Mehrtens
4pr
Phone: (09) 489 2229
Email: tracey@4pr.co.nz
