North Wales Holiday Cottages and Farmhouses
www.northwalesholidaycottages.co.uk
Background
North Wales Holiday Cottages, based in Deganwy, acts on behalf of owners of holiday properties in North Wales to provide accommodation for tourists. Marketing and administering the letting of privately-owned cottages and farmhouses, the company prides itself in considering the needs and objectives of both their property owners and their holidaymaker customers.
The Business Opportunity
With property details and availability constantly changing, North Wales Holiday Cottages endured the inconvenience of outdated information circulating among potential customers, or the expense of reprinting brochures with the revised information. They also faced the traditional challenges of promoting their business to a wider market. Advertising and brochure production represent the greatest cost to the business, and Barbara Griffiths, a partner at the firm, saw the Internet as a way to reduce those costs. The opportunity to offer a better and more time-efficient service to customers, catering for rushes or last minute bookings is invaluable.
The Solution
North Wales Holiday Cottages established a web site and achieved exposure to a global marketplace, with interest from people as far afield as China, Indonesia and Bermuda. The site was initially launched with the objective of placing user-friendly brochure information on the web, and enabling faster responses to enquiries through e-mail. As time progressed, the company wanted to maximize the potential of e-commerce and made the site more interactive, enabling customers to perform their own searches and book online.
The company is now moving away from producing printed brochures, placing all of the relevant information on the web, saving on production costs. The web site has been honed to give customers at-a-glance views of properties available and suitable for their needs through easy searches.
Information on last minute deals and special attractions is updated regularly. Interactive maps are included and details of 150 attractions in North Wales, such as the Snowdon Mountain Railway, Caernarfon Castle and Portmeirion village, can be viewed online by visiting the site.
Success
During 1998,12% of new customers and 6.5% of all North Wales Holiday Cottages' customers made bookings through the Internet. By December 2000, 25% of new customers and 12% of all customers accessed the company via the Internet. Experiencing a high return on investment, the design costs of the original web site were recovered from new bookings within 12 months of operation. Additional investment during the second year was recovered within just three months. During the third year of e-commerce use, the database was totally re-designed, but the company was still able to recover the costs within three months.
Year Overview
- The £5,000 winnings from the Wales final of the E-Commerce Awards 2000 have been invested in information and communication technologies, including the purchase of an additional computer and modem, and a new digital camera
The Future
The company plans to continue to expand the site, adding facilities to allow clients to access an Intranet through a password-protected area, which will enable customers to receive more information, detailed maps and other holiday products. The company is also looking into second holiday and early booking facilities, with a system for purchasing books, maps, and provisions from local suppliers where payment can be received through a secure system.
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