Located at 30 mins drive from Darjeeling and 3 hour drive from Siliguri, West Bengal – Ging Tea House is a 6 bedroom historic bungalow located in the middle of the 300 acre tea estate. Built in 1864, the house was traditionally used as residence for Tea Garden manager with picturesque views of the Lebong valley and well-maintained private gardens.
The tea house, contains 6 unique and elegantly styled suites each of which embraces the old-world charm of the British Colonial times.The owner, Shilpi Tibrewal wanted to convert this old bungalow into a boutique high-end heritage property providing a sojourn to international travelers who could enjoy a break from their lives amidst this beautiful landscape.
She was faced with a unique challenge of using online channels to increase business without lowering room rates. She had two specific customer segments (international guests who had high purchasing power, and local guests from nearby states who were looking for a weekend holiday with low purchasing power).
Due to its location, fewer rooms and very few customer reviews online, the hotel was not receiving the footfalls that could sustain its operations. The owners were looking for an all-in-one marketing solution and services that could help them find a sweet spot in terms of pricing while ensuring higher occupancy.
The hotel associated with Aiosell with the goal to increase occupancy & ADRs while increasing the share of direct business. Aiosell studied the market and recommended to create three “virtual room categories” –with different value additions that could be positioned at three different price points to capture demand at all price points. Inventory could be automatically reallocated between all inventory types depending on seasons and demand.
Aiosell AI based algorithms optimized the ADRs for weekends and holiday seasons and increased rates to > Rs 20,000 during peak seasons, while reducing the rates to as low as Rs 7,500 during lean periods to increase occupancy, all managed automatically.
Within a few months, the owners understood that
automated dynamic pricing system(with a booking window of 4 months) could change fortunes for their property. The hotel did not need a marketing team, all the operating staff were able to focus on guest satisfaction and property maintenance which soon resulted in higher positive customer reviews.
The hotel also started using Aiosell’s Booking engine and since the dynamic rates were pushed with special packages only on the website, the hotel received > 30% of their bookings directly through their booking engine, thereby saving OTA commissions considerably.
