For tourists visiting Transalpina and the Vidra ski slopes, Hotel Alpin Lotru is a true refuge in a mountain paradise. Built in the heart of nature, just 300 meters from the Transalpina road and 4 km from the Transalpina Ski Resort, the hotel offers unique positioning and access.
For several years, Hotel Alpin has become a favorite destination for Romanian tourists, as well as for foreigners, especially from Poland and Slovakia, who come in winter for skiing and in summer for off-road trips and mountain tours.
The quality of the services offered by Hotel Alpin is also demonstrated by the remarkable percentage of tourists who choose to return – over 30%, particularly in winter. During the summer, the hotel becomes an attraction mainly for foreign tourists, many of whom book from one year to the next.
Hotel Alpin offers 24 rooms (single, double, and apartments). Guests can enjoy their meals at the hotel's restaurant and bar, which have a capacity of 50 seats.
Facilities include free parking and WiFi, while guests also have access to a hot tub and sauna, completing the offer of the tourist unit and creating a perfect environment for relaxation and recovery after an active day spent on winter sports and exploring the surroundings.
Business Challenges
Mădălina Răduca has worked as a receptionist at Hotel Alpin Lotru since 2019. Before the digitalization of the booking process, the hotel faced difficulties in handling and processing all data.
At that time, Mădălina manually recorded all bookings in a traditional agenda. This method of working limited the efficiency of operations and consumed a lot of time, with Mădălina having to answer phone calls throughout the working day. Unfortunately, many of these calls were simultaneous, and she could not answer them all, leading to the loss of some guests.
Furthermore, the entire process was cumbersome, causing errors and confusion with names, booking dates, and overbooking. Mădălina had to manually check the availability of rooms for multiple days, which further complicated the process.
Although the hotel had a website, it was static and only provided information, without the option to make online reservations, limiting interaction with potential guests.
As the situation became critical, the hotel management realized that a digital solution was needed to streamline operations. Managing reservations exclusively by phone was causing frequent errors, and the reception staff was wasting too much time on calls with customers. The high occupancy rate made managing phone calls even more complicated, and with only one person at reception, the tasks were becoming overwhelming.
The Solution
Hotel Alpin began collaborating with Pynbooking in 2022. The management team searched on Google, and the first relevant website they found was Pynbooking's.
"We searched on Google, and the first page we found was Pynbooking, where we read some very interesting information. I called and requested an offer, after which I participated in a demo presented by a Pynbooking representative. As a first impression, the solution seemed easy to understand and use, and I realized it could take over much of the reception work and would help me a lot," said Mădălina Răduca, receptionist at Hotel Alpin.
After the decision to collaborate was made, the contract was signed, and the accommodation unit's account in the PMS (Property Management System) was set up with the help of the Pynbooking team. The hotel currently relies on PMS for all booking activity data, where rooms, services, and costs are also defined.
PMS was integrated with the Channel Manager, which allows synchronization with partner platforms such as Booking.com and Travelminit.ro. However, due to high commissions charged by these platforms, Hotel Alpin prefers to limit sales through partners, opting for direct sales. Therefore, the true goal was to streamline bookings through the hotel’s own website.
To achieve this goal, the hotel created a page using the Generator Hotel Website, which functions as a booking engine, integrated into the hotel's website. This page is natively integrated with the Booking Engine, allowing customers to make bookings directly from Hotel Alpin's website.
Benefits
The optimization of the Hotel Alpin website through the integration of the Booking Engine allowed the business to increase its direct booking rate to 30-40%, eliminating commissions from external platforms.
Additionally, Pynbooking reduced the time spent managing reservations.
Although a high volume of bookings continues to be made via email and phone, Pynbooking helps with the efficient manual recording of these reservations, eliminating time lost in checking availability and updating/synchronizing data on the website and other digital platforms.
For Hotel Alpin Lotru, Pynbooking made a difference in several areas:
- Automated confirmations for guests: Reservation confirmations are automatically sent to tourists, either via phone or email, saving valuable time that would have been spent sending them manually.
- Elimination of repeated data entry: Booking data is entered only once into Pynbooking, after which the system allows it to be used for both the accommodation record and invoices, simplifying the administrative process.
- Efficient room management: Pynbooking automatically and simultaneously updates room availability on the hotel’s website and partner platforms, eliminating errors and the risk of overbooking.
- Dynamic Pricing and Special Packages for maximizing revenue: The "Dynamic Pricing" feature in the Channel Manager allows the hotel to efficiently manage rates according to season, ski conditions, demand peaks, etc. The "Special Packages" feature in the Booking Engine offers the hotel the possibility to create offers that include both accommodation and services, such as New Year's packages or other special events/holidays, thus attracting more tourists.
- Mobility: Hotel Alpin employees now have access to reservation data regardless of location and device used. Pynbooking provides them with more flexibility and no longer limits their activities. Employees no longer have to be physically present at reception to take phone reservations.
- Management reports: Monitoring data on occupancy rates and cost evolution helps better manage the business.
"I appreciate the time saved the most. Pynbooking is like an invisible colleague who does his job meticulously and correctly. We have the assurance that reservations are always made without confusion and complications, which is beneficial for both the hotel and the tourists. It was a good choice that has proven its efficiency over all these years," concluded Mădălina Răduca, Hotel Alpin representative.
All these benefits are possible for you too! Request a free demonstration here.