Me and my brother started with Hotel Beausejour in 2005 as a family business hotel.

When we started, it was really the beginning of hotel online distribution with OTAs. I remember, it was difficult to register on OTAs, as there were tough selection criteria. Our property was listed on Expedia, but it took a while to become available and be able to sell on Booking.com as well. But soon after this, hotel technology and the overall hospitality industry started to develop very quickly.

“I was checking rates manually and I was always one step behind.”

We started just with locals, but then we had a lot of international tourists which led to so many things to plan and organize. From planning the rooms, renovations, bookings, to managing all the listings on the OTAs, and we were doing all of that manually. At first, we implemented SiteMinder’s Channel Manager only, but I was checking the rates manually and I was always one step behind. Often I did not have enough time for everything, so the pricing was something that I would do only when I had the time; sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the evening, when I had at least 5 min. I was checking competitors manually and I never actually tried to anticipate the demand. The strategy we followed was to set lower prices, to make our hotel full, and then to later increase the prices. But often, because we did not have the time to follow the trends, we were missing out on selling for better prices. Or I was forgetting even, and I was even missing special events.

We had only one rate plan, we did not had the time to have more – starting very low and increasing as you come closer to the day of stay.

“I like reading and looking for information and the possibility to improve and that’s how I learned about RoomPriceGenie.”

I learned all by myself, I like reading and looking for information and the possibility to improve and that’s how I learned about RoomPriceGenie. I asked for the demo, but I did not proceed right away because I was about to do a renovation of the hotel and I needed more time to make the decision to proceed with revenue management software. After a year, I joined RoomPriceGenie.

“RoomPriceGenie is suitable for hotels like mine; a smaller hotel.”

RoomPriceGenie is suitable for hotels like ours, a smaller hotel, it is affordable and it is not difficult to understand. We did not try any other revenue management software, although we had an offer to implement revenue management but we had to change our PMS and Channel Manager. Because what we were offered was like a package deal, I was not feeling comfortable with it.

“I have more time now, and I feel more comfortable.”

I have more time now, and I feel more comfortable. Although, now is covid situation and the market is not so dynamic, the prices are pretty flat for almost until the end of the year, still, I can rely on RoomPriceGenie because it does see the changes in the markets and will help me with my pricing strategy in future. And SiteMinder takes care of our distribution. You see, my strategy was to set lower prices, as I mentioned earlier, and than try to increase them as I see pick in the demand, but with RoomPriceGenie is opposite, RoomPriceGenie set slightly higher, but fair pricing for the future dates, but where it sees no demand than only is starting to drop the prices.

“Thanks to RoomPriceGenie I was able to set pricing and feel confident in it.”

In terms of financial results, it is difficult to say because of the current situation. But I can tell you, in this whole situation I didn’t know how to set our rates, I didn’t know how to price our rooms and thanks to RoomPriceGenie I was able to set pricing and feel confident in it.

Is there anything else you could add?

Yes, do not try RoomPriceGenie for a month or two, try it for one year at least, to understand the full potential that can give you.