Eagles Nest Retreat - Des Brown

"Online booking is pivotal to a tourism operation—it gives me a shopfront anywhere in the world, direct to a person’s home."

When Des Brown first opened Eagles Nest Retreat, his luxury accommodation property near Sheffield, his dream was to share a mountain with the world.

‘Some people in the industry said I should be a bit more businesslike than that’, laughs Des. ‘We even started without a business plan!’

He may not have had a business plan, but he did have vision and passion—something which, seven years down the track, still drives every decision Des makes. Part of his vision was to make sure his business was web-based from day one, even to the point of having his own online booking system designed.

‘I was a dairy farmer at the time and even though we were just starting out I did my research and we decided that online was the way of the future.’

‘I connected with a great team of local, technical people from Devonport and Sheffield and we developed the system.’

The success of that early decision is undeniable.

‘Working online has given me a chance, as one little person, to become a successful business. Online booking is pivotal to a tourism operation—it gives me a shopfront anywhere in the world, direct to a person’s home.’

Des’ approach to marketing Eagles Nest also reveals his forward-thinking attitude.

‘I do use some brochures, but they’re targeted. It’s no use just throwing them to the wind.’

‘I use my business card as my brochure. We have images on the card which is a call to action for my website. I hand the cards out personally to my guests and word of mouth does the rest. When a guest is happy, they email and text photos to their friends immediately. Those texts become referrals and the people who receive them go and look at our website.’

‘Our website is also targeted. Your site allows guests to come to you and see the most current pictures of your property—it makes it very easy. I do all our web design with our local web specialists and I monitor the site daily—who visits, where from.

‘One in six of our bookings is made direct to us online. I always call those clients to make personal contact and thank them for booking. Every one of our guests is interviewed, whether they know it or not. I am always gathering information and learning

Des also takes a very selective approach to which distributors he trusts with his product.

I only go to sites that suit the market I’m in. I could go on others that would generate traffic for me but not sales. So I assess the websites and target the right ones for us. Discover Tasmania is also an important part of our link to the world through the web. That’s why we have a sponsored link on DT—I see it as an essential part of our marketing.’

Des’s marketing approach has been so successful that he now has the industry pursuing him.

‘I have agents approaching me, asking if they can sell my product. I only want to work with passionate people—including the people who want to sell my product.’

Keeping up with industry development is another key ingredient in Des’ business philosophy.

‘I go to all Tourism Tasmania industry forums—whether you agree or not you have to go to all of them to stay a step ahead. You have to keep up with what’s happening in the industry.

‘If this approach works for me it can work for anyone else. I encourage others that they can do things themselves, if they research and think about it. Don’t let anyone tell you it can’t be done.

‘You’ve got to have a belief in what you’re doing—a passion. I’ve been very lucky that the people who have worked with us are passionate too, and have captured our vision.

There’s no point doing what everyone else is doing—you’ve got to get to the future first and the Internet is the way to go.’