Business case studies
Niche Retreats
Niche Retreats is a holiday management company positioned at the top end of the market, with many 5 star and Gold Award winning properties on its books. These include properties such as estate properties at Caerhays Castle and Trewithen as well as a 5 star fisherman’s cottage right by the water’s edge at Porthleven.
The company was taken over by Matthew and Katja Osborne, who live at Perranwell Station, in May 2010. At that stage, although the business was well established, it had not maximised on the potential of the internet.
Step change to the business
Matthew says: “Over the last year we have focused on building our search engine rankings, and online enquiries now account for 75% of our new business so superfast broadband is brilliant for us. Now we have superfast broadband, we can make a step change to the business. We will shortly be launching a new website with full online booking and payment facilities. This will streamline the customer experience and we expect it to increase bookings levels.
“We will also be able to include more video on the website, such as 360 degree virtual tours of the properties. The visual aspect is clearly crucial to closing the sale in this market. Now we can upload photos and videos far faster, it will make it much easier to really boost the visual side of the site. It will also make it easier for us to upload photos and videos to our Facebook page and Twitter, which will be integrated within the new website.
Competitive edge
“With superfast, the quality of Skype is perfect and so we can make more use of it to have face to face conversations with customers. Previously, most of our customer contact was by telephone or email, but you can build a more personal relationship if you can see each other face to face. We serve the top end of the market and this helps deliver a competitive edge.
“Once the Superfast Cornwall programme has rolled out across Cornwall and we can offer superfast broadband in all our properties, this will also help create a terrific competitive advantage for us as practically all our customers want to be able to use broadband whilst they are on holiday.
“Of course, superfast is also saving us time on business administration. We buy all our office supplies online as well as buy groceries online for our customers, so the time saving is enormous, freeing us up to focus on business development and customer service. We back up all our data files online and that process is happening faster now, and without slowing down our connection. There are so many ways that superfast broadband is helping us run the business more effectively!”
Benefits for all the family
Matthew and Katja run the business from an office in their grounds at home, so the superfast broadband connection is also shared with their three children, Julia (14), Hanna(10) and Jamie (7).
Julia is enjoying being able to download movies and use iPlayer to watch TV on demand. Hanna is dyslexic and it has been recommended to her that she use MSN and social networking as much as possible to help improve her typing skills.
Matthew says: “There are many times when all three office computers are in use and the children are also busy on the laptops in the house. Before we had superfast, we would notice a big reduction in broadband speeds if we were all online at the same time. Now it makes no difference at all – the lightning fast speeds are constant. Superfast broadband is improving the quality of life for all of the family as well as helping us build the business and achieve a better work-life balance.”
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