Customer Spotlight: The Old Dr's Residence
Charlotte & David, along with their team, provide a warm welcome to their charming historic property "The Old Doctor's Residence" in Naseby Central Otago. They fondly describe their B&B as being situated "2000 feet above worry level" and close to the Otago Central Rail Trail.
What do you see as the biggest challenge for this season?
Charlotte: Trying to keep rising costs down but still managing to deliver an exceptional service. Everything has become so much more expensive so by trying to make little changes that can make a difference to the bottom line but still giving the guest an excellent experience, is key. Even little things like giving one chocolate per guest instead of two all adds up!
What is one piece of advice you would give someone who is looking to start an accommodation business?
Charlotte: Your staff are you greatest asset. Choose wisely and then make sure you look after them and treat them well. If you do that they will reward you in spades.
ResBook: How has ResBook helped your business?
Charlotte: Because we have three staff working on a roster the Calendar feature of ResBook really helps. It seems such a simple thing but we are able to view the guest details and booking information as it comes in. Each staff member can then easily look ahead and they can see at a glance arrival time, bed preferences, dietary requirements etc. The invoicing system is also really easy and user friendly.
ResBook: What is one of your favourite guest stories?
Charlotte: We have an old historic home and so many people comment on the character and history of the house which we have tried to emphasise and share. But so many of our comments involve our staff and how pleased people are with their service. Our last guest wrote “the staff were amazing and will forever remain in our overriding impression of the ODR”. Those sorts of comments are lovely to hear and it is very gratifying to know you are offering the best service that you possibly can.
Our website had seriously passed its use-by date and needed a significant overhaul. We are impressed with the work the team have done rebuilding our website and are incredibly pleased to see our website back, helping our guests do better business with us. They know their stuff!
John Sandford, Pakiri Beach Holiday Park
ResBook provided our business with a wonderful boost, allowing us to combine a new website and booking platform to increase sales. We are confident our guest numbers will now increase with travel agents enjoying using our new platform! The team are so friendly and easy to communicate with, and...
Charlotte & Steve, Greenhill Lodge
We turned to ResBook because the team offered both a well-proven reservation system, and an opportunity to use their skills to develop and implement an initial social media marketing plan for our small luxury lodge. Given we literally started from scratch as a brand new boutique luxury lodge...
Rob & Susie, Ranginui Retreat
The assistance provided to Earthlore Tours and Activities has been immensely valuable, enabling us to not only build an exceptional website, with effective SEO, a built-in booking system, a website CMS which is easy to use and looks professional. They have helped grow our business ten-fold!
Gordon Thompson, Earthlore Tours & Activities
I loved working with the team, their CMS is really easy to use and they are so knowledgeable. I now have two websites developed by them and have enjoyed working with them and getting the most out of my businesses. Thanks team for being so supportive and look forward to working on new ideas...
Belinda Hargreaves, The Backpacker Group
ResBook has been brilliant to deal with. From setting up our booking system and also creating our website, they have made it really easy for me, and I'm not tech savvy at all. Priyanka and Estelle especially have been an amazing help.
Amber Tyrrell, Valley Views Glamping
Admin and back office duties have been made into effortless tasks thanks to ResBook...it is easy to work with, fully functional for all parties, and most of all, fun.
Graeme Male, Marchburn Country Lodge