How Villa Italia profited from switching to SiteMinder’s channel manager

REVENUE MANAGEMENT

The properties of Villa Italia – three in total, offering 37 hotel rooms and five apartments – dot the idyllic hills of the Spessart and Franconia’s vineyards. The region is a popular all-year-round destination for leisure tourists. And while many guests choose Villa Italia for a weekend of golfing or hiking, the location of the rooms and apartments also allows business travellers to get to their appointments easily and quickly. We recently spoke to Antonio Ramirez, who manages Villa Italia. He told us about the reason for switching to SiteMinder early in 2022 and how this change has helped him optimise his online distribution.

Why it matters: With their old system, Villa Italia could only connect to a few booking channels without paying additional fees. As a result, the properties had only a slight presence on OTAs, inhibiting their reach and generating few bookings.

“On top of that we also had to manage two rates with the old hotel software: one for our website and one for OTAs. This meant double the work whenever we changed a rate because we always had to update two,” Mr Ramirez explains. All this changed drastically when he implemented SiteMinder’s channel manager.

Top 3 Core Objectives: Villa Italia was in search of a solution which allows them to get more visibility and bookings, good customer support, and is a good investment.

More visibility, more bookings: The property sought a fresh solution to transition from their previous platform, enabling them to expand their online visibility and outreach while also increasing their booking volume.
Easy switch, good support: They are impressed by the intuitive interface of SiteMinder and how helpful the customer support team is.
Well-spent investment: Mr. Ramirez believes the switch to SiteMinder from the old platform was a good decision. The channel connectivity is impressive.

Innovators Mentioned

Villa Italia

SiteMinder

Antonio Ramirez

Property Manager

Villa Italia

"I’m a sceptic when it comes to new software solutions, which is why I’m more than happy that everything worked out so well and that SiteMinder has proven to be such a reliable partner. With the old system we often ran into problems, and at times we’d have to wait for a long time to get them solved. This is a thing of the past now."

Antonio Ramirez

Property Manager

👍 Property Manager Antonio Ramirez said that Mr. Ramirez trusts SiteMinder as a reliable partner, after switching from the previous system where they encountered several issues.:

"I’m a sceptic when it comes to new software solutions, which is why I’m more than happy that everything worked out so well and that SiteMinder has proven to be such a reliable partner. With the old system we often ran into problems, and at times we’d have to wait for a long time to get them solved. This is a thing of the past now."

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

Property Manager Antonio Ramirez said, about their decision: "In my experience the switch was absolutely worth it. We were looking to use as many channels as possible with as little effort as possible. And this is exactly what SiteMinder delivers. I definitely recommend that hoteliers take a risk and try something new."

📈 The results: Villa Italia leverages SiteMinder to automate room rate and availability management, saving valuable time, expanding their reach to additional channels, and increasing their booking numbers.

They are able to manage one rate and SiteMinder automatically updates our prices across all other channels.
The property saves at least one hour of work, also reduces the risk of human error.
Get the opportunity to connect to more OTAs than before. This significantly improved visibility and generated more bookings.