Lake District Westmorland Hotel Makes Booking a Breeze

• 
  SAVE
• 
  SHARE
• 
  TEXT SIZE
• 
  PRINT
• 
  COMMENT
• 
  PDF

. October 14, 2008

CUMBRIA, United Kinfdom, February 21, 2006. There is a growing opinion amongst Hoteliers that it makes commercial sense to manage your bookings system in-house and reap the financial rewards. You do the hard work so why should you lose commission to a third party booking service, whose contribution is arguably minimal?

Motivated by this school of thought, The Westmorland Hotel in Penrith, Cumbria is reaping the benefits of centralised booking, since introducing a new in-house on-line Sensible Rez reservation system. Aside from the financial incentive, business customers of the Westmorland are finding they can book on-line with more ease than ever before.

Attracting and retaining business clientele outside the main tourist season can be lucrative for any hotelier. The Business Market wants good facilities, good food and above all, fuss free operations. The first way to make a good impression is to make the booking process easy and pain free.

One of a growing number of managers objecting to paying commission on business generated through their own web site, Hotel Manager Martin Richardson wanted to maximise business profitability by taking the reservations systems in-house. He approached industry specialists Sensible IT in 2005. Impressed by the fact that Sensible IT has developed reservation software for many independent hotels, small hotel chains and guest houses across the UK, Martin commissioned a system to be specially developed to meet the needs of his business clientele. Martin wanted a web site that could be regularly updated and refreshed by even the most junior of staff. The simple to use editing function has enabled the hotel staff to easily change vital information such as room rates and types.

Martin has been impressed with the system: "As a busy hotel manager I like the fact that the system is internet based and can be updated remotely. We are extremely happy with the Sensible Rez web reservations tool recently installed. Our guests have commented on how easy it is to use the reservation system".

Hoteliers pay a preset, user fee. Compared to commission based web reservation systems the cost savings for a hospitality business can be considerable.