Leveraging Partnerships
Turn digital performance into tangible business outcomes
The Challenge
To improve the website visitor journey driving increased leads to the event departments, bookings to restaurants and reservations to hotel accommodation while simultaneously increasing the ROAS and reducing the average cost per booking across three properties.
The Solution
We chose to partner with Mint to to increase the effectiveness of our digital marketing without adding headcount or significantly increasing spend. The focus was clear: attract the right travellers, drive more direct bookings, protect valuable branded search traffic, and encourage more locals to engage with its restaurants, events and hospitality experiences.
Mint carried out a thorough audit of our digital eco system, the website visitor journey and map this against our strategy goals and budgets. They identified the highest impact opportunities and deployed changes and improvements alongside robust measurement.
The Outcome
- 60% more high-intent website actions year-over-year for The George
- $3.11 average cost per booking or inquiry (vs. $15–$30+ industry norm)
- 3.1× return on investment on tracked direct hotel bookings
- and more…
Recruitment, Training & Development
Human Resources
The Challenge
Develop and nurture a pipeline of talent.
The Solution
By nurturing partnerships with the major tertiary training providers such as Ara Institute of Canterbury, Pacific International Hotel Management School (PIHMS), Le Cordon Bleu, and the New Zealand School of Tourism; The George hosts site inspections and educational sessions to give students real life insight into the tourism and hospitality industry for students.
The George also offers paid internships through PIHMS and Le Cordon Bleu, and paid apprenticeships in partnership with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Apprentice Boost program to encourage additional study for existing team members. The internships offer a win: win outcome: The intern gains the practical experience they need to fulfill their course while the hotel gains a productive and enthusiastic staff member, trained in their systems and service standards. These paid internships often result in successful long-term placements.
For example, a The George staff member began pursuing their degree through PIHMS, then returned to complete their internship with The George. After completing their degree with PIHMS, they returned to The George as a Duty Manager before being promoted to Functions Operations Manager. The George also has successful placements from the MBIE Fast Track program – a six week course designed to help unemployed people access training and subsequent employment.
Benefits
- Well trained staff with minimal expenditure
- Connections to potential employees
- Stronger industry relationships with training providers
- Opportunity to foster the careers of emerging hospitality professionals
“Having strong relationships with the tertiary providers is incredibly valuable to us at The George. These partnerships provide a vital pipeline of talent and provide successful outcomes for the training provider, the student and The George.” John Etheridge Hotel Manager The George
Utilising Innovative Technology
To personalise the experience and maximise revenue.
The Challenge
Create a tool to educate and engage website visitors, to maximise time on the website, drive online restaurant and accommodation bookings while also minimising ‘standard query’ calls and emails without compromising the personalised ‘delightfully yours’ brand of The George.
The Solution
We chose to partner with Yonder HQ to implement a ChatBot on The George website. The Chatbot was branded in Brook Serene colours to distinguish it from The George brand and to allow for rolling the Chatbot out across other hotel sites in the future with consistency of look and feel.
The Outcome
We continue to receive ongoing and valuable insights into the customer journey and how we can improve the user experience and the content of the website to drive more direct bookings. Immediate learnings were seen in regard to additional content required about High Tea experience at The George. New content was added and the dining page was restructured to take this feedback into account.
These learnings and subsequent adjustments has resulted in a phenomenal increase in the number of high tea bookings and revenue.
- 25% growth in the number of high teas sold (comparing 2019 to 2020)
- corresponding 25% growth in revenue YOY
- 75% growth in the number of high teas sold (comparing 2020 to 2021)
- corresponding 75% growth in revenue YOY
Each month we see consistent results from the Chat Bot
- Number of guests interacting with the Chat Bot has grown by 190% in the first year (2020/2021) and 21% in the second year (2021/2022)
- Staff time savings of 04h 24mins each month or 51 hours per annum
- 49% Messages are received outside 9am – 5pm
- 85% guests are helped immediately by the chatbot
- 16% of chatbot interactions result in emails being gathered
- An average of 20 ‘Book Now’ link clicks per month and
- Bounce rate on the website has decreased by 15% YOY (comparing 2020 to 2021)
“The results are clear, they routinely invest time to maximise the role the chatbot can play in guest experience to drive more bookings, satisfaction and analyse its rich data to inform areas of improvement on the website and within the business.” – James Donald, Yonder HQ