The Olivar Suites upscale service & boost revenue with in-room tablets

After implementing SuitePad’s in-room tablets, The Olivar Suites experienced a variety of benefits across departments including F&B, front office and marketing.

The Olivar Suites on the Greek island of Corfu went live with the SuitePad guest engagement and communication platform in May 2022. As soon as the onboarding was complete, the all-suite resort began seeing a variety of benefits. Among others, these included increased personalization and service quality for guests, more real-time feedback from travelers and boosted F&B revenues.

Dimitris Fronimos, marketing executive at Voulgaris Hospitality Group, shares insights about The Olivar Suites’ journey with SuitePad.

About The Olivar Suites

Set inside an ancient olive grove on the calm, sandy shores of Messonghi, Corfu, the property boasts 120 luxury suites, each with a private pool and/or garden. A restaurant and bar with locally inspired seasonal menus as well as a spa and gym complete the offering. The hotel’s stylish modern design blends perfectly with Corfiot tradition to provide guests with discreet, high-quality hospitality.

Upon its opening in 2021, The Olivar Suites became part of the Voulgaris Hospitality Group’s portfolio of owned and managed hotels.

A desire to upscale the service experience at The Olivar Suites

From its opening, The Olivar Suites was known for its high level of personalized service. However, the team still kept looking for ways to continuously improve and customize the guest experience.

When the property’s senior management first heard about SuitePad, they immediately saw its potential and implemented it soon after. “While we weren’t trying to solve a specific problem, we were eager to further enhance our overall level of service. For this, we wanted to streamline our in-room communication with guests, better inform them about our add-on offers and get their feedback in real time. SuitePad looked like a promising tool for this purpose since it addresses all these areas,” Dimitris says.

SuitePad’s company culture also struck a chord with The Olivar Suites’ team: “First and foremost we chose SuitePad because it responds well to our needs. On top of that, we were confident that their work culture would fit well with our overall objectives and vision.”

Three results of using SuitePad to enhance the guest experience and foster communication at The Olivar Suites

1. Stronger awareness of service offering and boosted ancillary revenue

From the moment the tablets arrived in the rooms, it became much easier for the hotel to connect with travelers throughout their stay. The SuitePads provide comprehensive information about the hotel’s facilities in an attractive format and make it easy for guests to find what they need.

Instead of having to check the hotel’s website or call the front desk, they can simply browse and even book extra services via the tablet. On top of that, The Olivar Suites uses push notifications to shine the spotlight on special offers or specific services. This has had a particularly impressive impact on the F&B department.

In the first six months following the installation, the tablets helped generate close to 3,000 room service orders worth around €35,000 in revenue.

The in-house restaurant sees an increased capture rate whenever push notifications prompt guests to book a table.

SuitePad also supports the property’s dedication to sustainability by showcasing its green service alternatives. Among other things, this has led to more guests opting out of daily room cleaning. This helps The Olivar Suites reduce resource consumption and the associated costs.

“Increased communication with in-house guests was one of the primary reasons for implementing SuitePad. We wanted a straightforward and effective way to better inform travelers about the many services we offer. That’s exactly what we got and, looking at our results, it’s clear that our guests were ready to embrace this new form of communication,” says Dimitris.

2. Understanding guest sentiment in real time

Using SuitePad has made it much easier for The Olivar Suites’ team to know if travelers are enjoying their stay or if they’ve encountered problems. For this, the hotel sends a short survey to in-house guests via the tablet, and they can answer at their convenience. Since the process is quick and easy to complete, the hotel has seen an impressive response rate.

Within only six months, 1,400 travelers filled out the feedback forms and shared their experiences.

“Getting feedback from our guests in real time has many advantages for us. For one thing, we can open a dialogue if they have questions or constructive comments. If we find out they’re unhappy about something, we have time to fix it and show that we want them to have the best experience possible. All this plays into creating the memorable, first-rate stay we want to be known for.”

3. Increased brand exposure

In 2022, The Olivar Suites entered the race for the World Luxury Hotel Awards. The property used its in-room tablets to share this news with guests and request their support. This resulted in 337 votes cast for The Olivar Suites which got the property onto the long-list of this year’s top luxury hotels. Exposure from this campaign through resulting website and social media features significantly increased public awareness of The Olivar Suites’ brand.

A word to your peers

To conclude, Dimitris shares the following words of advice with hoteliers considering SuitePad for their property: “The initial set-up took us some time and effort. My colleague Katerina Abatzi handled the overall implementation and data entry while I took over the design and put marketing actions such as push notifications into place. Putting in this work ended up being worth it though. SuitePad is an efficient and effective platform that helped us achieve our goals of upgrading our service and successfully promoting our in-house offers. It also gives us space to keep trying new things all while providing the upscale experience our guests crave.”

_{Published on November 8, 2022}