Transforming Challenging Times Into an Opportunity
Since the global outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, New Zealand has had some of the most stringent restrictions on the planet as part of its “Zero-COVID” policy.
It goes without saying that shutting the country’s borders to international travelers and limiting domestic travel has had a severe impact on the nation’s travel industry, with some estimates citing a 52.3% decline in revenue generated by tourism.
But through these challenging times, there were industrious hospitality professionals that refused to let the pandemic dictate their business’s success and used this time as an opportunity to enhance their services. One such professional is Jon Lawry, founder of Auckland-native property management company The Urban Butler and a valued Guesty user.
True to their mission of “redefining the guest experience” and creating positive experiences for their communities by developing innovative, proactive, and unique solutions, Lawry and his team decided to revamp their site—originally geared towards hosts—and transform it into a sleek, intuitive, and lead-generating direct booking site, fully integrated with the Guesty platform via a designated open API.
“We’ve always wanted to improve our website. The original was launched on Squarespace in 2017 to attract new owners because we were just starting and wanted to get the ball rolling. But when COVID hit we realized it was time to flip the site upside down and make it a direct booking channel.” – Jon Lawry, Founder, The Urban Butler
Creation & Connection
The Urban Butler hired local web development and marketing firm flume.agency which specifically focuses on storytelling and customer experience, two pillars that define The Urban Butler’s service. Now that their new site was up and running, it was time to connect it to Guesty’s PMS through a designated easy-to-deploy API with assistance from the Guesty team every step of the way. “Working with both our developer and with Guesty to set up the API was brilliant,” remarks Lawry of the process, adding, “Guesty was very receptive with creating the right API for our needs whereas most other API providers have very rigid functionality.”
With the API in place, The Urban Butler now had an attractive, user-friendly direct booking site bolstered by all of Guesty’s powerful features. The property management company uses Guesty’s Channel Manager to distribute and update their listings to the site as well as to various OTAs. Moreover, The Urban Butler handles all guest communication on the site through Guesty’s Unified Inbox and Automated Messaging capabilities. All bookings performed on the website are funneled directly into their PMS, providing the team with a clear overview of reservations, revenue, and more.
With restrictions finally beginning to ease in New Zealand, The Urban Butler team is incredibly well-positioned to attract guests eager to visit Auckland with an enviable direct booking site fully connected to their Guesty PMS through our API.
Guesty’s talented marketing team is comprised of passionate professionals who share insightful industry knowledge and shape brand narratives. By bringing a diverse blend of expertise to the table, we are the visionary architects behind the Guesty brand and innovative campaigns that help people understand our product.
