Stanley Seaview Inn - Clint Walker

‘Once people get over the mental hurdle of using their credit card online, it’s not a problem. Most people are confident about that these days.

You don’t have to talk to Clint Walker for very long to work out that he is a man with a passion for his industry.

As operator of the multi-award winning Stanley Seaview Inn on Tasmania’s north-west coast, Clint balances the demands of running of a successful accommodation property with his active involvement in a number of Tasmanian tourism associations and organisations.

His commitment is obvious, and so too is his dogged pursuit of excellence. It’s a drive that was instrumental in Clint’s early decision to do business online.

‘I attended a conference years ago which indicated that online was the way of the future. A high percentage of tourism businesses in the US were already doing business online and the word was that Australia would soon follow. At the same time I’d heard stories from some colleagues that they were getting a lot of business online so I made the conscious decision at that time that I would be the best I could possibly be online. So I spent quite a lot of time and money to ensure that that’s what we did.’

In the years since that decision was made, Clint has seen success build upon success. The Stanley Seaview Inn has been awarded multiple state tourism and AHA awards under his stewardship, including awards for Best Marketed Establishment.

‘If I wasn’t online then I’d have to fall back on more traditional marketing—printed advertising, brochures and maybe a wholesale program or two.

‘Online, you have such broad distribution in the primary place where people research travel. It’s the vast majority of the market.

‘Our rooms are available for sale in around 40 different websites, and all it costs me is my time and a small fee. You can spend $500 on a credit card-sized print advertisement in a travel magazine if you want, but for the same $500 you can buy yourself a decent amount of online activity.’

Clint clearly understands the needs of his market, and doing business online is an essential part of meeting those needs.

‘We make the assumption that people expect to be able to book online. In some of our promotion we may use the words book online and on our website book now is on every webpage.

‘I think that these days most consumers expect that they should be able to find their accommodation online and make a live booking online.’

Security concerns are no more a barrier for Clint that they appear to be for his growing clientele.

‘Once people get over the mental hurdle of using their credit card online, it’s not a problem. Most people are confident about that these days.

‘We’re seeing more older people booking online now, but when today’s 15 year-olds start travelling, they’ll do everything online.

‘I’ve always been quite confident about online security. Maybe I had a few very minor concerns at the start but I didn’t let it slow me down.

‘If someone wanted to hack into NASA then they’d figure out a way to do it. I’m not paranoid about it—after all, what are the chances that someone is going to hack into my system? Even if they did, what’s the worst that could happen…assuming I’ve backed up my data of course!’

For Clint, the benefits of conducting business online are simple.

‘For us, business booked online has increased very significantly in the past three years.

‘You quite simply sell more rooms.’