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Case Study — Hospitality

A Boutique Hotel in the Franschhoek Winelands

It changed what it was, in a town that empties out for half the year. Both times, the plan it started the year with had nothing useful left to say.

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The situation

Two problems that arrive on a schedule

Peak season fills itself. The off-season empties out, and the usual answer in that town is to discount late and hope somebody takes the room.

  • A town with two seasonsHalf the year fills. The other half does not, and the calendar never moves.
  • Bookings that belong to somebody elseA guest who arrives through a travel platform is the platform’s guest, not the hotel’s.
  • A plan written once a yearSet for peak season, then left running through winter.
  • A property that changedThree stars became four, and everything the plan assumed stopped being true.

What changed

The property moved from three stars to four

That meant lifting its rates by 83%. Overnight, everything the hotel knew about who booked it and at what price stopped being true.

What the plan assumed

A three-star rate. A peak-season guest. One document, written once in January.

What was true by winter

A four-star rate, 83% higher. A guest who has to be persuaded, not caught. A plan corrected as the season moved.

The one change: the plan started moving with the season instead of being written once for the year.

The numbers

What two repositions in one year produced

3★ → 4★Repositioned, rates up 83%
+350%Direct bookings
8.7%Cost per booking, peak season
9.6%Cost per booking, off-season

What a booking costs to win

The same room, the same rate, the same guest

The only difference is who ends up holding the money.

Commission to a travel platform18–24%
Cost per confirmed booking, direct — peak season8.7%
Cost per confirmed booking, direct — off-season9.6%
What the hotel keeps, booked direct90–91%
What the hotel keeps, booked through a platform76–82%

The platform takes its cut whether or not the guest already knew the hotel. Booked direct, the hotel keeps 90–91% instead of 76–82%.

The off-season

Filled before the competition started discounting

FirstTwo lists, not oneGuests who had stayed before, and people who had looked at the site without booking.
ThenStarted in the quiet monthsRetention and retargeting ran straight through winter rather than waiting for the panic.
ThenSold the stay, not the priceA winelands weekend worth taking, rather than a cheap room.
ThenSent the booking down the hotel’s own pathSo the guest belongs to the hotel, and so does the margin.

By the time competing hotels were scrambling for last-minute bookings, this one was already full for peak at premium rates. Nothing on the price list was cut to do it.

Also featured on

Real Strategy (the plan that kept getting corrected), Market Retention (filling the quiet months without discounting).

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