Marholmen

The challenge

Even before the pandemic, Marholmen saw the need to invest more in the private market, a work that intensified when the pandemic struck. In early 2022, Bibi Rydbacken was hired as a Commercial Manager, with the clear mission of creating a common thread through the brand and all parts of the business and increasing Marholmen's attractiveness all year round.

Before Marholmen started using the integration between BookVisit and MarketHype, they faced significant technical and operational challenges with their old marketing system.

– There was a lot of manual handling and errors that resulted in many support cases, which was an inefficient way of working.
(Bibi Rydbacken, Commercial Manager, Marholmen)

The previous marketing system also lacked integrations with other digital solutions, which made it difficult to communicate with guests, both before and after the visit. Additionally, it limited the ability to analyze and measure the impact of their marketing efforts.

– I inherited a system that was very difficult to work with. It was rigid, easy to make mistakes and it was not integrated with our other systems.

The solution: BookVisit and MarketHype

As part of the initiative to scale up the business and invest more in communication flow and marketing efforts, Marholmen decided to use the integration between MarketHype and BookVisit in August 2023.

– It was a big plus that it worked with BookVisit, so we don't have to transfer data manually between the different systems. The whole solution is very smooth and easy to work with.

The connection between BookVisit and MarketHype enables customer and transaction data to be synchronized in real time, making it easy to create customer segments and filters that enable more personalized communication. This synchronization gives Marholmen complete insight into their customers' demographic data, buying behaviors, and interests – a key factor in creating more loyal and satisfied customers, as well as increasing revenue.

The results

The integration between BookVisit and MarketHype has resulted in more effective guest communication and deeper insights into the business. Marholmen can now tailor their communications, offers, and campaigns based on sales statistics, guest demographics, and interests. This has made their messaging more precise and relevant to their target audience.

Time efficiency

Thanks to this combined solution, Marholmen's work is streamlined, freeing up time for other tasks.

– Thanks to the elimination of a lot of manual work, we were able to work more efficiently and in a more personalized way with our customer communication. It has worked flawlessly ever since. Now we can both send customized offers to our guests based on their chosen accommodation and fine-tune our communication and offer based on the result.

Bibi highlights the built-in automations in MarketHype as one of many time-saving benefits. The automatic emails are set up once based on the booking information from BookVisit and then transferred directly to MarketHype from where the emails are sent. This streamlines the entire communication process, making it more efficient and personalized than before.

– Now we can see in a completely different way what guests want – and also what they don't want. Now it's visual and measurable and we have full control of who our customers are, what they book and what they buy as an option and can adapt the offer accordingly, which we did not have the opportunity to do before.

Stable system solution

Having dealt with unreliable systems in the past, Marholmen values how seamlessly and reliably BookVisit and MarketHype operate. The stability of these systems has streamlined their daily operations, removing many frustrating technical obstacles.

– I've dealt with numerous systems that don't work and it can be incredibly frustrating. With your systems, I don't have to feel that way at all. Just go for it – it works!

Data-driven analysis and follow-up

For Marholmen, it is a priority to work data-driven, which the BookVisit and MarketHype solution has further enabled.

– It is so incredibly important today to be able to measure, analyze and see the results of new initiatives and efforts, and we looked for a long time for the right tool before we found this solution. One of my favorite features is being able to see the ROI directly, both on our pre-stay emails and on the newsletters once we have sent them out. I log in every day to see how it went the day before, how many new bookings we received, what our guests clicked on and what revenue this particular mailing generated. Based on that data, we constantly adjust our communication and offer to maximize our sales.

Increased profitability and engagement

Today, Marholmen has an open rate of 50-60% for the private market, 65-70% for corporate and 55% click rate – demonstrating their communication is effectively reaching the intended audience.

– As of the end of August, Marholmen's turnover has increased by 75% so far in 2024 compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019 and by 20% compared to 2023.

The future

The future is promising for Marholmen and they can clearly see a growth trend both in the private market and for corporate events.

The work of the last few years is starting to pay off, and the next step is a major refurbishment and extension of the main building which marks the final stage of the development plan they started a few years ago. The project involves creating new space for the restaurant, reception and other common areas, which requires a solid communication effort to keep guests informed at every stage.

– We will be rebuilding our main building next year, which will be a communication challenge to quickly and effectively reach out with customized messages to our guests. It feels safe to have a communication solution like this in place.

Marholmen's recommendation to other accommodation providers with similar needs

For other facilities with similar needs, Bibi has clear advice:

– Just do it! It's a solution that works. I've worked with many systems, but this one both lives up to our expectations and makes our everyday life easier.