The benefit of SMS messaging has allowed SafariNow.com, an innovative Cape Town-based online accommodation booking service, to successfully boost service excellence in the tourism industry.
The company deployed SMS alongside e-mail notifications to alert accommodation providers of a new online booking enquiry. These communication methods direct establishment owners to the SafariNow Web site to complete the booking process. This has resulted in improved quality of service within the hospitality sector, by ensuring quicker turnaround times in converting bookings into confirmed bed-nights.
SafariNow uses SMS to complement e-mail bookings, as people do not always have easy access to e-mails or may not regularly check their e-mails. “We looked for something that allowed for a quicker response time and found SMS to be the most effective way,” says Riaad Nordien, technical manager at SafariNow.
The SafariNow travel booking Web site has booked over 1 million bed-nights since its launch in January 1999. It offers international and domestic travellers a means of searching, selecting and securing a booking with a range of establishments in a number of African destinations. By reviewing booking options from B&Bs and backpackers to guesthouses and safari lodges, travellers are able to make informed travel plans and secure their bookings via the Internet or by calling the company's customer service centre.
“Once an accommodation owner or seeker registers on the Web site, there is an option to receive SMS notifications. What we have found is that there has been a significant uptake of the SMS alert service among both our clients and customers. A total of 65% of all our business communications use SMS,” says Nordien.
Automated, scheduled messaging are key requirements
On the cutting edge of digital technologies, SafariNow turned to SMS early in its history. Five years ago, after a review of per message pricing and technical offerings, the company decided on the electronic application programming interface (EAPI) solution provided by BulkSMS.com, a global SMS messaging service provider with headquarters in Cape Town.
“We chose the BulkSMS EAPI to send automatic SMS notifications. Their ready-made SMS solution enables us to send a message to the relevant party and to keep a record of the message delivery status,” says Nordien. “This enables us to keep an audit trail of each SMS sent out via the BulkSMS EAPI.”
Besides key tracking and reporting functionality for notifications of booking enquiries, the messaging system and gateway also met two other SafariNow key requirements: it offered the ability to send SMSes internationally and it supported scheduled messaging to ensure the client or customer received the SMS at a convenient time.
The latter requirement emerged from client feedback, as SafariNow previously had complaints from clients who received confirmation messages in the middle of the night. “With the built-in scheduling application, clients can now choose at what time during the day they wish to receive notifications of a booking made online.”
SMS is good for business
In stimulating efficiencies within its market, Safarinow is also improving its bottom-line. Its online pay-as-you-use business model increases the converting of online enquiries for accommodation into firm bookings.
“Once a client makes an online booking, SafariNow establishes contact between the owner of the accommodation and the client. The faster they respond to each other the more business we get to do,” says Nordien.
“We have been able to improve our overall customer service as clients receive instant notifications. We also save time and money by staff not having to call people manually. This means that we don't have to hire more people for our customer service centre that currently consists of 10 people.”
The company's online booking system has received several accolades from the tourism and technology sectors. The company won the Jump E-commerce Award in 2006 and 2007 for the best travel booking Web site in South Africa. In 2007, SafariNow was the recipient of the Bed and Breakfast Association of Namibia Award.
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