Online Reservation Case Studies, Hotel Online Reservations Case Studies by GuestServe Inc.

online reservations, hotel online reservations, bed and breakfast online reservations, restaurant online reservations

Online Reservation Systems by GuestServe

Case Study: Niagara Falls Tourism DMO Website

Several years ago, Niagara Falls Tourism, the overseeing body of the world-renowned travel destination required comprehensive database services for member management, member profiles, messaging systems, banner programs, itinerary systems, online contests and content management.

Our team members responded to this enormous challenge.

Today, GuestServe Inc. is under contract to develop, implement and maintain a Membership Database Management system for Niagara Falls Tourism. Niagara Falls Tourism is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization, with tourism-related member businesses that work together to profile Niagara Falls as a world-class destination. The GuestServe Membership Management Database has assisted Niagara Falls Tourism in reaching their goals by enabling them to:

Seamlessly integrate the Management System into their existing website
Manage profile updates through an online admin portal
Search, maintain, monitor and report on member activity
Group members into multiple category types
Search membership database by multiple category types
Attach images, descriptions, links and banners to a member profile
Export data for additional reporting and analysis
Generate revenue through banner advertising
Communicate en masse through mass mailings with their members

Membership Database System has provided Niagara Falls Tourism with a flexible, attractive and cost effective solution that has allowed the organization to add and edit member profiles through a web-based admin area. Member profiles are then displayed on the website in real-time and in multiple locations depending on the membership package purchased by the member. Furthermore, members and admin staff are also able to upload banners to the pages displaying the member profiles. Niagara Falls Tourism has been able to generate substantial revenue through this banner advertising system. Members are able to purchase a variety of sizes and can place the banners on both the home and interior pages depending on their budget. The combined Membership Management Database and Banner Advertising system has resulted in increased visitation, created a positive economic impact for the industry and its membership, and also generated revenue for the organization itself. In fact, the combination of our Membership Database System and Banner Advertising has become the dominant revenue stream for Niagara Falls Tourism these past two seasons.

In addition to the Management and Banner Advertising features, the system includes a built-in mass mailing system that allows direct communication with all members by email and further saves recent messages in an admin folder so that members can view archived communications. The GuestServe platform also allows Niagara Falls Tourism to output and maintain an Events Calendar on their website. Through an easy to use admin screen, staff can post event details to the website in real-time. Events can also be added by members and are forwarded to staff for approval prior to being posted on the website. We also facilitated a partnership between Niagara Falls Tourism and Niagara Falls City Hall whereby both parties can post events into a common system and display the events on both of their websites, creating a seamless syndication of their events for the public to view. In addition to providing the services mentioned above, GuestServe Inc. was also responsible for maintaining and hosting the Niagara Falls Tourism website and was involved in the development, maintenance and tracking of several additional online campaigns.

QuickFact: We achieved NUMBER 1 status of 22,700,000 search results !!!

Through contributions we made to the SEO of the Niagara Falls Tourism website, the site is number 1 in search results on Google for searches of: "Niagara Falls".

Case Study: Embassy Suites Niagara Falls Reservations

Shortly after the construction of Niagara Falls' largest Fallsview hotel tower, the management of the Embassy Suites hotel contacted our team to request assistance in SEO for the new hotel website. Our efforts launched the site within days to high exposure in the top search engines. Consequently, the management was extremely pleased and requested details of other services we provided. They spoke of their challenge managing online inventory and reservations. They spoke of their challenge in tracking their advertising campaigns and of promoting to past guests.

Today, GuestServe Inc. is contracted by the Embassy Suites Niagara Falls to provide online reservations, reservations tracking and mass mailing services. These 3 key services arose from the development of 3 products that have been designed to complement each other and to meet the online goals of like-minded tourism entities. Our GuestServe Online Reservations system is the primary solution in this equation as both Merlin Metrics and Ripplemail have been designed to work in conjunction for the purpose of processing millions of dollars in hotel reservations. In short, Merlin Metrics tracks where reservations are originating and Ripplemail allows for further contact with past guests and mailing list members. Our efforts have generated substantial additional reservations through mass mailing advertising and returning guest revenues.

There are 2 parts to the GuestServe Online Reservations system:

the admin (back-end) area where staff control: rates, availability, packages and;
the public (front-end) area where content is projected and reservations are made

In the admin Dashboard screens, staff have the ability to create and control room types, rates, availability, taxes, automated messages, packages, and reservation enhancers. Whether a regular room booking or package selection, GuestServe displays content from the admin area in real-time enabling guests to book rooms with ease. At the time of a reservation, the system takes the guest through the booking process, selecting their room type, package details, displaying costs, requesting their contact and payment information and then storing all details in a hopper for processing. Dual confirmation/notification messages are sent to both guests and hotel staff.

All marketing campaigns issued by the hotel are entered in Merlin, a state-of-the-art metrics program offered in conjunction with GuestServe for the purpose of tracking the source of all leads and conversions. This is not Google Analytics. This is Merlin. Merlin is a campaign metrics tool and is unique in this capacity.

Ripplemail is a mass mailing system that allows direct communication with a database of guests or mailing list members. At the time of a reservation, GuestServe asks a potential guest whether they would like to be added to the Embassy Suites Mailing List. Subscribers are added to a web based database to which the Embassy Suites can send promotions. In addition, guests are able to sign up for this service directly on the hotel website. Subsequent promotions to this guest list drive leads and reservation conversions which are all tracked in Merlin.

As the Embassy Suites management observed the success of our programs and as they grew as a company, they deployed our technology solutions to their sister and subsidiary properties including Marriott Fallsview, Courtyard Hotel, Keg Restaurant, Fallsview Plaza Hotel, Sheraton Fallsview, Tours of Niagara Falls and more.

Our relationship is strong as we continue to innovate new solutions to keep pace with the highly competitive tourism marketplace.

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