Vive La Vie Guesthouse increase RevPAR by 331% with RoomRaccoon

OPERATIONS

Operated by HJN Property Management Group as part of their extensive portfolio, Vive La Vie is a 5-room tranquil getaway on the outskirts of Franschhoek, South Africa.

Why it matters: Smaller properties like Vive La Vie Guesthouse were significantly impacted when commission rates charged by OTAs increased after the pandemic. While OTAs provided increased visibility and searchability for the hotel, Vive La Vie needed a solution that would help them capture more direct bookings to maximize revenue.

RoomRaccoon’s all-in-one hotel management system with built-in PMS, channel manager and website booking engine empowers independent hotels like Vive La Vie Guesthouse with modern technology to streamline operations, increase revenue and delight guests.

Top 3 Core Objectives: Vive La Vie Guesthouse needed a modern hotel management system that could help them capture direct bookings and enhance their guest journey.

Increase revenue: Like many other accommodation businesses, Vive La Vie faced a challenge with the commission structures imposed by online travel agencies. They required a system like RoomRaccoon with a built-in booking engine to minimize reliance on OTAs and cut back on commission expenses.
Enhance guest experiences: Vive La Vie faced challenges with its previous hotel management system, which required the manual execution of many tasks, consuming valuable time and resources. They needed a solution to simplify operations for staff while automating daily tasks to save time for more important activities like creating exceptional guest experiences.
Grow direct bookings: As a tourist hotspot in South Africa, competition in Franschhoek is fierce. To stand out, Vive La Vie recognised that creating a connected guest experience from booking to post-stay was essential, with direct bookings playing a major role. RoomRaccoon was an obvious choice for Vive La Vie due to its guest-facing booking engine features. These include discount codes, Raccoon Price Checker, a multi-property drop-down feature, currency and language converter, and customisable booking confirmation templates.

Innovators Mentioned

RoomRaccoon

Peter Weideman

General Manager

Vive La Vie Guesthouse

"About 40% of our guests use online check-in. We can set up an automated pre-arrival email to send out to guests 7 days before they arrive to remind them of their booking at Vive La Vie with a check-in link. We can also offer them upgrades there, like added extras using RaccoonUpsell."

Peter Weideman

General Manager

👍 General Manager Peter Weideman said that Vive La Vie Guesthouse was looking for a solution to help them personalize their guest journey – from booking to check-out.:

"About 40% of our guests use online check-in. We can set up an automated pre-arrival email to send out to guests 7 days before they arrive to remind them of their booking at Vive La Vie with a check-in link. We can also offer them upgrades there, like added extras using RaccoonUpsell."

⚖️ The selection process: During their research process, Peter Weideman evaluated RoomRaccoon's product differentiators, customer support, and holistic value as a strategic partner and ultimately decided that RoomRaccoon was the best fit solution:

General Manager Peter Weideman said, about their decision: "RoomRaccoon is a much easier system for our guests to work with, and for us to work with. RoomRaccoon was always one step ahead of what our previous provider had to offer. When we were with our previous provider, it was good, but we still had to manually execute a lot of our manual tasks. Now, we spend a lot more time on our marketing, because the system automates so many of our daily tasks for us."

📈 The results: The guesthouse has experienced tremendous success since using RoomRaccoon, with increased RevPAR and direct bookings.

331% increase in RevPAR
Over 40% of guests opt to check in online
10% increase in direct bookings year-on-year