Apex Hotels Web Booking Engine Andrew Jacques, IT Director.

Apex HotelsWeb Booking Engine

Andrew Jacques, IT Director

Apex Hotels

Apex HotelsYear end 08/09 - £2.5m

Year end 09/10 - £4m Year end 10/11 - £6.1m

homepage_offers_pp.swf

Business Needs

• Shop window to the world – 102 Countries

• Improve ease of use– Service Innovation– Online Payments – Tracking– Affiliate Links– Live Chat

• Reduce costs and Increase Revenue

Working partners

• Consultation – Scottish Enterprise– Expertise– Experience – Funding impetus

• Tender process– Four prospective vendors – £30k to £250k

Project Review• Implementation

– Planning / Lead times – Design Concepts – Initial Prototype / Staging – Testing– Phased Deployment

• Challenges – Performance of 3rd Party

vendor– Credit card payments– Testing Time

• Innovations – Service through up selling – Cross selling with limited

availability

Reduced Costs

• Commission fees of £4.50 per transaction negated

• New booking engine commission no charge

• Minimal maintenance

• Overall saving of £100,000 on first 12 months

• Servebase credit card commissions negotiated to £0.02 per transaction

• No manual agent input

Make a booking

Advanced Purchase

• Previously unable to display promotional rates

• After 12 months of installation – Bookings increased 11%– Pre-paid increased 145%– Revenue inc year on year 26%– Money in the bank

Return on Investment

Considerations• London Wall Hotel, and

increased business in Apex Waterloo Place Hotel

• TV advertising campaign• Changing economy

Highlights• Increased automation• a growth of 27.65% in no.

reservations year on year• Look to book conversion

rates up 23% - new records in Jan

• average length of stay has grown by 0.59 days to 2.42 days

Future projects

• Affiliate links

• Chinese Language– Japan – Russia

• Mobility– £51k since launch (£31k on ipad)– 1 in 10 visitors approx mobile– 63000 unique mobile visitors– QR codes / Mobile advertising

• CRM / Loyalty – Personalising the experience– Reducing commission fees

• Online Check-in– Using an app

Chat

Andrew Jacquesandrew.jacques@apexhotels.co.uk

www.apexhotels.co.uk