700 years of hospitality: The Lion & Key Hotel story

OPERATIONS

The Lion & Key Hotel is a 55-room independent boutique hotel in East London, combining centuries of hospitality heritage with contemporary comfort and personalized service. With Cloudbeds, the hotel is modernizing revenue management, simplifying daily operations, and preparing for expansion without losing its independent character.

Why it matters: Cloudbeds helps The Lion & Key respond to changing market demand through automated pricing while reducing the administrative work associated with hotel operations. With new employees learning essential PMS tasks in under a week, the team can spend more time delivering the personal hospitality that sets the property apart.

By combining Cloudbeds PMS, Channel Manager, Revenue Management System (RMS), and Cloudbeds University, The Lion & Key can automate pricing decisions, centralize reservations and distribution, simplify staff onboarding, and build a scalable foundation for future growth.

Top 3 Core Objectives: As The Lion & Key grew from a small operation into a 55-room hotel with approximately 30 employees, its technology needed to keep pace. The team wanted to replace time-consuming manual processes with a more connected system that could improve revenue performance, simplify staff training, and support future expansion.

Automate revenue management: Manually monitoring market conditions and adjusting rates was becoming increasingly demanding. The hotel needed a system that could respond to changing demand and competitor pricing more consistently, without constant intervention from management.
Simplify daily operations: The Lion & Key wanted to reduce the workload associated with reservations, distribution, and administration. A centralized platform would help the team work more efficiently and give management more time to focus on guests and strategic priorities.
Accelerate staff onboarding: With a growing team and a strong emphasis on interpersonal skills, the hotel needed intuitive technology that new employees could learn quickly, regardless of their previous technical experience.

Innovators Mentioned

Cloudbeds

Giorgio Brocco

General Manager

The Lion and Key Hotel

"With automated tools like Cloudbeds RMS working continuously in the background, I can spend less time reacting to data and more time focusing on high-impact goals, like leading my team, and connecting with guests."

Giorgio Brocco

General Manager

👍 General Manager Giorgio Brocco said that Automating revenue management allows Giorgio to focus less on monitoring data and more on leading his team and connecting with guests.:

"With automated tools like Cloudbeds RMS working continuously in the background, I can spend less time reacting to data and more time focusing on high-impact goals, like leading my team, and connecting with guests."

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

General Manager Giorgio Brocco said, about their decision: "A legacy PMS that frustrates your staff and limits your revenue isn’t just inconvenient, it actively costs you money every day. Switching to a modern, intuitive platform like Cloudbeds will free up your time, empower your team, and allow you to focus on delivering exceptional guest hospitality."

📈 The results: Cloudbeds has helped The Lion & Key introduce a more automated approach to revenue management while making everyday operations easier for its growing team. The hotel reports improvements in room yield and occupancy, faster staff onboarding, and a positive return on its technology investment.

Cloudbeds RMS continuously monitors market conditions and supports automated, demand-based pricing. According to Giorgio, this has helped the hotel maximize room yield and increase occupancy while reducing the need for manual rate adjustments.
New employees typically become comfortable with essential PMS tasks in less than a week. Cloudbeds’ intuitive interface and self-paced training resources help reduce the learning curve, minimize errors, and support faster check-ins.
By centralizing operations and automating routine revenue management tasks, Cloudbeds has reduced administrative demands on management. The hotel reports a positive return on its technology investment and more time available for team development, guest interactions, and future growth planning.