English Lakes Hotels
English Lakes Hotels is a family-run business that operates a small collection of hotels in the Lake District and Lancashire in the north of England - The Wild Boar and Low Wood Bay on the shores of Lake Windermere, The Midland in Morecambe, and Lancaster House in Lancaster.
Leveraging Duetto
Using GameChanger
Using GameChanger’s AutoPilot gave English Lakes phenomenal results on optimized rates, with prices reaching record levels on some nights.
Tracking Market Demand
Monitoring changes in booking curves and pre-empting sudden spikes due to travel restrictions in other markets helped the team optimize opportunities when they arrived.
Strategizing Ahead
By working with Duetto, English Lakes is now looking to increase the direct bookings share of the total mix, which is something they have always done well with.
“We have seen record weeks in terms of rates and occupancy.”
Speaking about their favourite functionality, Ben Berry, Director of Sales and Purchasing at English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues, said, “Duetto’s most powerful feature is that we have it all automated. I place full trust in Duetto. Rate changes are made instantly and automated across all our systems. A few clicks and it’s on our site and Booking.com within minutes.”
Results with Respect to the Pandemic
Working with their Duetto Customer Success Manager, English Lakes was guided through changes to the automated revenue management system to fully capture the surge in demand, resulting in rate increases of up to 40%. Length of stay across the English Lakes portfolio was 1.9 nights before COVID, after reopening it increased to five nights.
2021 is proving to be a busy year so far for English Lakes, with more than 150 weddings booked at Low Wood Bay alone.
Ben went on to say:
“We had months where we had nothing. We were closed with fixed costs. But year to date, we are making up for a lot of lost time and revenue. The room rates we have achieved through automated pricing has made up for that and we have seen record weeks in terms of rates and occupancy.”