David Shellcock and his brothers Ian and Richard have been running Tralee Bay Holidays since 2000. David says that running a successful business with 70 units is all about matching the customers’ expectations with the product – from their booking experience to customer service from arrival through to departure. Having tried several booking systems in the past, they found the perfect match in SuperControl PLUS in 2009.
Easy to learn and simple to use
“When we first changed over to SuperControl and saw how much it could do we thought it would be complicated – but it’s not. It doesn’t take long to train staff how to use it; so when one of us goes on holiday it’s easy to show whoever is covering how to use the system.
It’s also straightforward for guests to use. Customers can be fickle and if they can’t do something easily they’ll give up. They like real-time data; they need to see availability and prices and to be able to book without it being complicated. New customers book online the first time but as they get to know us they usually contact us by phone instead. With SuperControl you can take bookings either way.”
Industry knowledge, good back-up and support
“SuperControl® know their stuff; they’ve got experience in self-catering. The fact SuperControl has owner-drivers is important, they know what they are doing. They are not just someone who decided to create a booking system.
We take 2,000 bookings a year and never get a double booking. The back-up’s really good and so is the support team.”
It’s powerful and flexible, and adapts to market trends
“We’re really happy with SuperControl because it’s so flexible, we can change things and it shows instantly. The low occupancy discount is a really powerful tool – our 4 berths always book up first and the 6 berths last but now we run a 2 person discount it’s changed because it’s like paying per head. It makes us more flexible.
Even though the market has changed from the traditional one week or two week stay to more short breaks, the system doesn’t care – it’s seamless. Customers can choose to book 2 or 3 nights next week if they want to. You have to keep up – if we don’t provide that flexibility someone else will.”
Great Value
“50% of our bookings are made online; so SuperControl is the best value for money product we use!
It’s changed us, because integrating the booking engine into the website changes the dynamics. The best feature is the online payments – from start to finish, it only takes a minute and it’s done. It’s an easy way to get money into the bank compared to the old days when you had to wait for a cheque to come through in the post, pay it in and wait for it to clear.”
See SuperControl PLUS in action
www.tralee.com