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Luxury country house hotel Horwood House has recently doubled its booked revenue following the implementation of a new digital booking strategy.
The positive upturn in revenue comes as the result of a new partnership with hotel technology provider and booking specialist Net Affinity.
The hotel in Buckinghamshire is currently owned by Karim Kassam, who purchased the property in late 2019.
Kassam said: “In April 2023 we launched a new website, which has resulted in fantastic business growth. In the 12 months to March 2024 we have seen an increase in bookings of 62 percent, booked room nights up by 76 percent and we have more than doubled our booked revenue, factoring in an increase in average room rate during this time as well.
“We have also seen mobile bookings go up 48 percent of total online bookings and towards the end of last year we also launched a new voucher platform which saw £11k of revenue generated in December alone.”
As an independent hotel, Horwood House identified a need to focus on the digital and mobile booking side of its business and decided to work with a company that wouldn’t see it as “just another hotel” and one that had “genuine” experience in the hospitality industry.
Kassam added: “Being an independent hotel, digital and mobile is key for us as we don’t have an international brand machine behind us.We could have opted to become a branded hotel, but I firmly believe the fees we would have spent on franchise and royalties have been far better spent with more return on the investment we have made into the Net Affinity affiliation.
“We will continue to reinvest the money saved from OTA commissions both for rooms and the spa into this avenue of marketing as well, as direct bookings continue to grow.”
