Sea Change Safety Cove - Rex Mapley 

‘Setting up online  was pretty easy—training and development was offered through Book Tasmania and there was  also remote access support available from the Help Desk.

Gorgeous views are  not exactly uncommon in Tasmania,  but by anyone’s measure Rex and Sue Mapley’s bed and breakfast—Sea Change  Safety Cove—must surely have one of the most stunning outlooks on the island.  It’s a view that Rex never tires of.

‘We have so many  colour and light changes here—it’s magic. Our sunsets and sunrises are just  beautiful.

‘We have one of  the best views in Australia.  It’s our greatest selling point so we need to make sure we get that out to the  market.’

Communicating that  unique attribute is a goal that Rex Mapley is achieving through clever use of  online marketing and business practice.

‘We’ve been online  now for three or four years—before then we used a manual system.

‘Setting up online  was pretty easy—training and development was offered through Book Tasmania and there was  also remote access support available from the Help Desk.

‘We used the Help  Desk and occasionally they had to ring us back. It would sometimes have been  handy to have support 24/7!’

Like many tourism operations,  Sea Change Safety Cove has made the move to online booking to keep abreast with  the demand of their customers. Rex is keenly aware of the expectation among his  guests to be able to select, book and pay for accommodation instantly.

‘Most of our  clients would prefer to book online. This is the modern age and people want to  book and confirm straight away. They expect that level of professionalism and  service so I think it’s essential.

According to Rex,  the key to this professionalism and service is the quality of an operator’s own  website.

‘We spent a lot of  money on our website and that investment gave us one of the best sites around.  Our online bookings have significantly increased; we’ve reduced our marketing  budget by half and now we rely on the Internet.

‘We use 10 or 15  distribution channels through our channel manager and we take bookings off our  website as well.’

‘Our website  designer is very good and we’ve also had our site optimised to bring us up to number  one on Google. I think that is absolutely critical.

‘If your website  is good enough you can offer your guests a whole range of activities and that  encourages people to stay two or three nights. The information is right there  for them—otherwise you’re spending a lot of time trying to sell the product  over the phone.

‘Get yourself a  good web designer. I would totally encourage people to go down that track.’

Rex also stresses  the importance to operators of doing their research and informing themselves,  particular when selecting distribution channels.

‘If you’re not  careful, a potential downside of online business can be big commissions. You  have to do your homework with distributors to make sure you don’t get hit with  high costs.

‘The other thing  about some of the bigger travel agent-type distributors is that you don’t  always get your money straight away—people can hold your money for a month or  so and to have to follow up...as an operator you want to avoid those kinds of  delays.  So you need to inform yourself  about the distributors you use and make sure you’re not having those issues.’

For Rex and Sue,  the benefits of online business are clear.

‘I can’t say there  are any real downsides for us. You receive the money from your bookings  straight away, it’s precise, it’s efficient, you can display your product  brilliantly and in terms of inventory, it’s very easy to manage.

‘The personal  touch comes when people arrive here—the face-to-face contact with our guests.

‘It’s just making  the most of modern-day technology.’