If you want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and rediscover adventure in the heart of nature, Adventure Lake Resort is the perfect choice! This picturesque destination opened in 2021, located within the Simared Club, a sports complex built in 1973 on the shores of Lake Firiza, in Maramureș.
The resort takes full advantage of its secluded location, offering guests a unique getaway and a variety of experiences, right at the foot of the Igniș Mountains, just 12 km from Baia Mare.
The resort has a capacity of 12 guests in 4 rooms, with a shared area (56 sqm) that includes a fully equipped kitchenette. The remote location enhances the appeal of the resort’s adventure activities, offered as additional services (hiking, rock climbing, e-bike tours, paddle boarding, boat rentals, ATV tours for adults and children, kayaking, ski touring, and jungle park).
The resort is also a trailblazer as it is the first accommodation unit built on the shores of Lake Firiza in Baia Mare. Even before the business opened, the management team understood that due to the isolated location, they would need a system that would allow them to offer guests 24/7 accommodation, even without a physical reception available non-stop.
Business Challenges
The first and biggest challenge for Adventure Lake Resort was automating the check-in and check-out processes. The management wanted to provide flexibility and continuous availability from the start, to accommodate tourists coming from different parts of Romania or even abroad.
Often, guests would arrive at the location after reception hours, which required a system to ensure a digital reception.
It was also important that accommodation records could be completed online by guests, to "decongest" the Reception staff, who would otherwise have to manually complete them. This would have slowed down the process for guests, leading to errors, confusion, and dissatisfaction.
Additionally, Adventure Lake collaborates with seasonal staff who change frequently and do not have the time to learn how to work with complicated management systems.
From the beginning, an efficient solution was needed to minimize the training time for new employees. It was essential to have a system that was easy to use and intuitive.
Adventure Lake Resort turned to Pynbooking right from the start of its operations. The team took advantage of the expertise of a colleague experienced in hospitality, who helped them open the location.
This colleague recommended the Pynbooking platform, which he knew well from another hotel where it was used successfully.
Following the recommendation, Carina Taloș, the location manager, compared Pynbooking with other similar solutions on the market but found that Pynbooking stood out because it offered the most benefits, including for the long-term development of Adventure Lake.
The Solution
Once the decision was made, the manager contacted the Pynbooking team, which quickly helped set up the resort’s account in the PMS (Property Management System).
The number of rooms, their types, the additional services offered (such as electric boat tours on the lake, e-bike rentals, Igniș Peak hiking through Izvoare, etc.), and the associated rates were uploaded.
The PMS was then integrated with the Channel Manager to retrieve bookings from various digital platforms (Paralela 45, Booking.com, EpicVisits, Travel Experience, etc.).
The Generator Hotel Website was used to create a new website integrated with a "Book Accommodation" page.
This new website is natively integrated with the Booking Engine for managing and increasing direct bookings. The next step was to synchronize the calendar with the partner booking platforms.
Through the integration of Guest APP, Adventure Lake was able to offer online check-in and check-out, available 24/7. This self-service app also allowed guests to complete their accommodation records online.
Additionally, via Guest APP, the platform automatically sends review requests via email to clients after check-out, which are then posted on the website.
The management of Adventure Lake Resort plans to expand the tourist complex, so they aim to integrate the cloud-based POS Restaurant service soon, which will allow them to manage all business activities (accommodation, services, and restaurant) from a single platform and website, using Pynbooking.
The configuration of these solutions was fast, further simplified by the impeccable support received from the Pynbooking team.
“The support services at Pynbooking are very prompt and well-organized. Within 5 minutes of opening a support ticket, I receive assistance. I have never had to wait too long for a response. Everything is solved almost instantly,” explained Carina Taloș, manager of Adventure Lake Resort.
Benefits
Thanks to the new reservation-focused website created with Generator Hotel Website, Adventure Lake has improved its Google indexing, making the website more visible in searches and making it easier for tourists to find the resort.
Thus, the resort managed to increase direct bookings through the website to 45%, which translates into fewer commissions to be paid and a reduced dependency on partner websites like Booking.com.
Moreover, the manager of Adventure Lake takes full advantage of the reports available through Pynbooking. These reports are a real guide for more efficient revenue management, clearly tracking reservations, identifying better-selling rooms, and determining which ones need improvements.
The same reports provide insights into the average length of stay, preferred services by guests, and correlations between room and service bookings.
The data provided by Pynbooking helps better understand how the business operates and how guests find the resort. The reports are also useful for planning promotional actions, indicating which services require more intense promotion and when to initiate marketing campaigns.
What other benefits have made a difference for Adventure Lake with Pynbooking?
- Automation of the check-in/check-out process for continuous accommodation availability, regardless of the time. At the end of reception hours, room keys are provided to clients through a secure "key box" system.
- Issuing/sending invoices to guests and then to accounting (integration with eFactura thanks to Pynbooking) is done automatically to reduce manual tasks and errors.
Adventure Lake regularly uses the "Special Offers/Packages" and "Vouchers and Discounts" features for guest loyalty and for tourists who plan multiple visits or want to return. These are very easy to apply. The platform is also used to create complex travel packages that include multiple activities/services.
The resort has increased visibility for many additional activities/services offered. The booking website created with Generator Hotel Website allows clients to select the desired activities and see their prices when submitting their accommodation data. Adventure Lake has managed to increase its revenue through this type of cross-selling.
- Improvement of the business image through automatic booking confirmation. Clients receive a confirmation message on their phone and are constantly informed automatically via Pynbooking. The Guest APP encourages feedback, increasing the number of reviews received. This helps build credibility and attract new clients.
Pynbooking is also ideal for the seasonal employees at the tourist complex, who do not need training to use the platform. Currently, 5-6 reception employees at Adventure Lake use Pynbooking easily.
- Increase in booking platform integrations through Channel Manager. Additionally, the aforementioned reports allow the Adventure Lake team to know exactly which partners bring guests and where it is useful to create promotions.
“Pynbooking is a platform that has greatly reduced our workload and helps us with all activities, from bookings to data centralization and shaping promotional campaigns. It is an important support for the development of our business. It helps us know where we stand and what we need to do, it’s like a guide in our digitalization journey at Adventure Lake,” concluded Carina Taloș, manager of Adventure Lake Resort.
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