Hospitality
More direct bookings, better guest experience, lower running costs.
Owners tell me the same things: too much commission going to booking sites, a website that does not sell the place, and staff doing by hand what a system should do. Much of this can be sorted remotely, wherever you are.
What it means for you
More of each booking kept
More guests booking direct, and less paid away in commission.
Lower running costs
Software, agency fees and repeat admin reviewed and cut back.
Better stays, less staff time
Guests get quick answers; your team gets time back for the guests in front of them.
What owners usually ask for
- “We pay too much to the booking sites.” A look at your own booking data to see where guests drop out, and what would move more of them to book direct.
- “Our agencies all do their own thing.” One plan and one source of truth, so your web, OTA and marketing people work from the same brief.
- “Is our website and chatbot even compliant?” A plain check of what it says and collects, and what to fix.
- “Everything depends on me being on site.” Information, routines and reporting set up so the place runs when you are not there.
- “Guests ask the same questions all day.” An assistant that answers from your own information, in their language, with your team handling what matters.
- “We need more guests in low season.” Outreach to past guests, groups and travel partners, with follow-up that actually happens.
- “We want screens that earn their keep.” Digital signage planned around what it needs to do, not the hardware.
Three ways it pays in a hotel
AI for guest experience
Pre-arrival messages, replies in your guests’ languages, a concierge assistant that answers from your own information, and help with review replies. Your team checks what matters, and a guest can always reach a person.
Cost optimisation
What you really pay in commission, software, agency fees and staff hours on repeat tasks, worked out from your own numbers. Then what to cut, renegotiate or automate, smallest change first.
Outreach
Past guests, corporate and retreat groups, travel partners and local businesses: a clean list, messages in your voice, and follow-up that happens. Nothing goes out without your approval.
Judged on your own measures, agreed first: share of direct bookings, cost per booking, and extra spend per occupied room.
Where I have done this
The experience behind it
A boutique wellness resort in Thailand, run entirely remotely
A growth and action plan, a sales-funnel audit on the resort’s own booking data, website and chatbot compliance checks, and recommendations on a single source of truth and AI support. The hotel has used the work to brief its web, OTA and digital agency. It is early days, with no revenue result to report yet.
300 screens across Thai hospitality venues
A venture I conceived with a local partner: displays supplied free to venues and paid for by advertisers, across Bangkok, Chiang Mai and the Eastern Seaboard. It became a profitable commercial service before COVID stopped it growing. I led the strategy, pricing and pilot; my partner ran the technology, operations and customers.
Large resort projects in Macau and Singapore
Project document control on a Macau integrated-resort development, operational within three months and before site occupation. And a live file migration during a resort refurbishment in Singapore, with teams in three cities working from one source.
Being straight about it. I am not a hotel operator, and I do not run your marketing day to day. What I do is find what is costing you, set the plan and make sure the people and systems you already pay for are pulling the same way.
Good places to start
More bookings from the guests you already reach
Follow-up and funnel fixes, starting from your own numbers.
SellSmartReach more of the right guests
Who to target, and a clean list of groups and partners.
LeadSmartNot sure where to start
One session to find what is costing you most.
ThinkSmart · HK$888Running a property and doing the IT as well?
Tell me what is taking up your time. Remote is fine; most of this work is.