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Learn more about Edward and Triple C Hotels and Resorts at www.friendshipbeach.com.
Huddled along a heavenly stretch of beach in southeast Phuket, Thailand’s largest island, are two unique resort properties set 300 meters apart. Boasting the feel of a luxury boutique hotel, Serenity Resort & Residences is a small resort made up of 78 units, some of which are privately owned. Nearby lies Friendship Beach Resort, a 36-unit hotel with an adjoining wellness spa that houses 18 more units. Both properties are managed by Triple C Hotels & Resorts.
For close to 10 years, both properties were running on separate PMS systems. Serenity used OPERA, while Friendship Beach Resort was on a PMS called roomMaster. However, Edward Kennedy, e-commerce and revenue manager for the properties, recognized that there was a lot of complexity in building reports for two properties under the same management but different systems. So he went in search of a solution.
After discovering Cloudbeds, Edward decided to switch both properties over to the cloud-based PMS system due to the cost savings and more simplified sales process. For example, with the previous PMS systems, there were a lot of heavy processes in terms of updating availability and syncing rate. Now, since choosing Cloudbeds, Edward reports, “June alone at Serenity, we had a 40% increase in room revenue. It’s early days still, but it’s a very positive sign. We are seeing similar trends in both properties.”
“The automatic price updates using the price intelligence system is game-changing in that no other systems implement it so effectively,” says Edward. Cloudbeds’ Pricing Intelligence Engine (PIE) gathers market data in real-time, compares rates with competitors, and builds rules to adjust rates based on a wide range of criteria, all to help yield more revenue. In the case of Serenity and Friendship Beach resorts, the properties have experienced an increase in ADR plus a 10-12% increase in direct bookings.
What made it easier to switch both properties to a new PMS was Cloudbeds’ wide range of integrations that allow connection with a number of different services and tools. Edward’s team connected their Lightspeed POS account through Cloudbeds’ in-app integration to simplify onsite restaurant billing for guests. “That was another major reason we decided to go with Cloudbeds… we can interface with so many different systems,” says Edward.
Before switching to Cloudbeds, Serenity Resorts & Residences and Friendship Beach Resort required onsite servers to run their PMS and managers were needed to take care of the aging hardware. Now with Cloudbeds’ cloud-based system, the reliance on hardware is gone. Now, as Edward describes it, “We’re not into software versioning. We’re into this continuous development loop that is a massive benefit for us and any hotelier using Cloudbeds.”
Edward reports that previously, all reservations had to be entered manually. Now, he says, “We’ve linked our website into Cloudbeds using the API and we have our own custom booking engine that we’ve integrated with Cloudbeds, and all the OTAs and everything, we’ve connected up. So it’s saving a vast amount of time.” The reservations, sales, and marketing departments have experienced the most impact but even the housekeeping department has saved time on their inventory reports. “Overall the whole resort has a big net-gain in time.”
With their personal effort to customize Cloudbeds to their needs, Edward and his team at Serenity Resort & Residences and Friendship Beach Resort have been able to save a ton of time and money while also increasing their revenue and direct bookings. Before switching to Cloudbeds, the team already prided themselves on the personal connection they build with guests, a lot of them being return visitors. With much of their operational duties handled by Cloudbeds, the team has a renewed energy to focus on what matters to them most– their guests.
Learn more about Edward and Triple C Hotels and Resorts at www.friendshipbeach.com.
