Platypus Park Country Retreat - Gina Scott

‘Having a well optimised and well managed website is critical for a small operator, as is giving your customers the option to book online.’

Platypus Park Country Retreat manages to hold in balance three of Tasmania’s best qualities—lush rural landscape, the coast and native wildlife.

This eco-certified, boutique bed and breakfast property is minutes from beaches, and sits among 17 hectares of lush north east Tasmanian farmland at Bridport, part of which is preserved for native flora and fauna. It’s a tranquil country escape that owner-operator Gina Scott has been nurturing for the past 16 years.

Gina had already entered her second decade at Platypus Park when she decided to move the business online through Book Tasmania, over three years ago.

‘We jumped into Book Tasmania as soon as it was offered because we just believed that it was the way of the future.’

Initially, this foresight needed to be coupled with persistence.

‘To start with, online bookings were slow. People seemed happy to book with a branded product like Wotif or Innkeepers, but I don’t think many people were booking online with individual operators at that time. But we hung in there and those numbers of bookings have increased. We’re giving people that option’

Gina quickly found that offering the ease and immediacy of online booking didn’t exclude personal contact with her customers.

‘Because we’re a small operator, a lot of people do want to speak to us direct. I think with boutique accommodation people still want personal contact, whether they have special needs or just want more information.

For Gina, the benefits of doing business online are clear.

‘It saves time in phone calls and emailing—guests are confident to see the property online and book it direct. I don’t have to spend sales time with that customer, I do that when they arrive.’

‘It makes the operation a lot simpler to organise. I get an email, I can file that and back it up and I have a full record for the booking. And the data is online but offsite, so if anything crashes I can pull that information back up.

‘If I had to enter those bookings in manually it would be very time consuming.’

Gina has found that there is now an expectation, particularly among younger guests, to be able to book, pay and receive confirmation of their booking online.

‘I’ve had no concerns about the security of working online, and most of my clients are fine with it. As I said, some people want more personal contact than others, particularly older guests who may not be as confident to book online. Most of our website bookings are from the younger end of the age bracket.’

‘Doing business online has also opened our business up to overseas visitors. There was a customer from the United States who had been in and out of my website over about a year, and when he was ready he booked and paid upfront for two weeks’ accommodation online.’

Gina says that the key to success in implementing her online booking system has been accessing good technical support.

‘Tech support is critical. The Front Desk people give me great support. My system crashed a couple of years ago and all I had to do was call them. They were very, very helpful and just did everything I needed. Their website also has an excellent support page. You don’t have to be tech-savvy.’

While having technical support has removed the pressure of having to possess high level technical expertise, Gina says she has worked at maintaining her own website.

‘The quality of your website is important to securing those online bookings. I have managed my website myself for years and I’ve also taught myself about optimisation and improving our search results with Google.

‘Having a well optimised and well managed website is critical for a small operator, as is giving your customers the option to book online.’