For the past 11 years, Christiane von Ulmenstein, owner of the Whale Cottage Guest Houses in South Africa, has been doing a very interesting experiment. Instead of trying to beat her competitors in Cape Town, she decided to work with them. The following is the story of why she did it, how she did it, and what the results have been.

There are many ideas here you can use, so I hope you enjoy her story…

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“I came from a big corporate environment where there are competitors, you do competitive intelligence, and you try to defeat your competitors. One does not usually consider working with them.

When we started out with the guesthouse we began doing print advertising, because that was the best way get the word out when you are new then. I decided to call a meeting with other guest house owners — we were about 20 at the time. I said let’s get together and have an informal association, which is now called Camps Bay Accommodation Association. (Camps Bay is a suburb of Cape Town.) And everyone was happy with that. We were all kind of new to the guesthouse industry.

We made a few firm rules for it. One of them was to realize the importance of referrals. We were all receiving inquiries, and if you can’t use it, it would be so wasteful to say “We’re sorry, we are fully booked.” So one of the first rules of our association was that if you were full, you had to refer the inquiry to other guesthouses. Our goal was that Camps Bay – as a whole – should get the business, and the business should be retained there. It did not matter if you had friends with other guesthouses and suburbs close by, you need to keep the business in Camps Bay. And it has worked fantastically.

Our guests are amazed, because they feel we offer incredible service as a suburb. Instead of inquiring through one or two websites, they now can have options at 24 different guesthouses. So they can choose in terms of quality of accommodation, and also a range of prices. So our guests have a far wider choice. They think we’re extremely organized!

Organizing the system

The association began as just a referral network, but as we grew we encountered two situations. The first was long-term bookings, where you could see in advance which rooms you have available. And then there was the very real scenario of someone arriving at your guesthouse when you’re full, and you need to send them somewhere else. The process of contacting 24 other guest houses was very time-consuming.

I drew up a template, where each of the members had to e-mail me their availability for the next five days, and I would put everything together and e-mail it to all the members. That was a lot of work, but I didn’t mind doing it because it helped us all know what was available, and helped the members become more efficient.

And then we decided to set up a website: CampsBayInfo.com. it’s just a general marketing platform for Camps Bay.  The hotels are obviously members, and we have an availability schedule that is now updated automatically. Each member has to update the information on the website using a system we set up.

We have learned how valuable this website is. People are finding out about the area from the website, and it is driving reservations to our member hotels.

How we developed the website

Read more…

Our next hotel website makeover comes from Chris, a reader from South Africa, and owner of the Whale Cottage Guest Houses. First, a little background information:

• Location:  South Africa
• Property Type: Guest houses
• Number of rooms: 33 rooms across 4 properties
• Price range: R 300-450 pppn (winter); R 490-650 pppn (summer)
• Typical Guests: From the UK, Germany, and South Africa

Website analysis

(Click image for full size review)

What I would change

Unlike the Apple Tree Inn last week, the Whale Cottage Guest Houses have started to build their web presence with a blog and Twitter account. For this reason, my review focused on their homepage – where a makeover is most likely to provide positive results.

Here’s what I recommend changing:

• The heading area – to focus on more useful content
• The navigation – to be simple and intuitive
• The page structure – to eliminate duplication
• The body copy – to explain the benefits of the cottages
• The call to action – to encourage more bookings

It all comes down to two words

Simplify and focus.

Take-away questions for anyone:

1. Is my website concise & intuitive?
2. Is the navigation simple?
3. Is important content “above the fold”?

How would you optimize the Whale Cottage website?