Leisure Hotels' direct bookings revenue jumps 200%

Leisure Hotels' direct bookings revenue jumps 200%

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Leisure Hotels Group Integrates With Simplotel’s Website Builder & Booking Engine To Increase Direct Bookings

“It is always the same with mountains. Once you have lived with them for any length of time, you belong to them. There is no escape.”

Located in the foothills of the Himalayas and one of the most beautiful and mountainous states in Northern India, Uttarakhand is home to beautiful rivers, quaint lakes, and holy peaks. Often called Dev Bhoomi or the “Land of Gods”, Uttarakhand is also where Leisure Hotels Group began its hospitality journey.

Leisure Hotels Group is a prominent hospitality player in northern India and the largest across Uttarakhand; it also has a strong presence in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Goa. Its portfolio of smart business hotels, boutique resorts, bespoke villas and luxury camps incorporates beautiful properties in tourist states & scenic destinations offering leisure, adventure, wilderness, wellness & spiritual experiences.

Since the time of the first venture at Nainital — The Naini Retreat in September 1989, the company has had the opportunity to serve the largest number of tourists in Uttarakhand at much sought-after locations i.e. Nainital, Corbett National Park, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Ramgarh, Rajaji National Park, Kausani, Kasauli, Dharamsala, etc.

“The first decade was spent in learning how to operate a customer centric services business and it was only much later that we could build on our capabilities to create a bouquet of experiential resorts”, says Vibhas Prasad, Director of Leisure Hotels Group. The hospitality chain also has strategic alliances and global partnerships with Club Mahindra Hotels and the Indian hospitality behemoth, The Taj Group.

The start of the millennium gave birth to digitalization with disruptions in various traditional industries. Even the travel industry was changed forever with evolution in technology, especially the Internet. Seeing the opportunity in customers directly interacting with businesses via the web, Leisure Hotels Group decided to onboard Simplotel's Hotel E-commerce.

The SaaS company brought life into the booking experience for Leisure Hotels’ guests and optimized the entire e-commerce booking funnel. The luxury hotel chain then recorded a 3x jump in web revenue within a couple of months.

Fast-forward to 2021, and the hospitality chain has seen its direct web bookings grow 77% since its partnership was forged. “Both the number of properties and business growth has helped us reach this trajectory. Simplotel pushed us to adopt innovative digital e-commerce & marketing techniques. They helped us incorporate best practices in the hotel technology space and have imparted valuable knowledge,” says Prasad.

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Mona Sharma, Senior Manager (Marketing) at Leisure Hotels, says, “I really value the customer support at Simplotel. The team is equipped with the technical know-how, can communicate the same and understand my requirements. This makes my job comparatively easier.” She adds that Simplotel’s analytical scorecard feature has provided her great insights. Even Google Analytics is well synchronized with Simplotel’s Booking Engine.

“Additionally, a seamless & neat user interface powered with features that engage customers in real-time has helped us convert more website visitors into customers. We started our first “pay-per-click” (PPC) campaign thanks to them,” adds Prasad.

The hotelier believes the way forward for the Bengaluru-based startup is to become a one-stop shop for hotel digital marketing & e-commerce. He concludes by saying, “I hope Simplotel becomes a unicorn soon.”