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About Lenk Lodge
Lenk Lodge is a Swiss boutique property that lies in the stunning Simmental valley in Switzerland. It offers hotel rooms and apartments, and hosts regular events like yoga retreats, seminars and workshops. The lodge reopened in December under new ownership and after migrating to Mews. In the space of only a few weeks, they were able to transform operations and guest journeys revitalized by smart hotel tech.
We spoke to Raphael Simcic, Co-Director at Lenk Lodge and Managing Director of SUM Hospitality, a consultant agency in digital hospitality solutions. As a certified Mews deployment partner, Raphael led the deployment of Mews in Lenk Lodge.
"What's great about Mews is its flexibility. Because Lenk Ledge is a small hotel, I set up a lean tech stack in a couple of hours to maximize efficiency and simplicity."Â
Seamless payments for modern hospitality
Challenge
Hoteliers often struggle with managing multiple systems for payment card processing, online booking and on-property payments. Lenk Lodge wanted to streamline every step of the payment process.
Solution
Lenk Lodge integrated a payment terminal with Mews Payments that enabled them to be completely cashless. The move went smoothly, even in a market like Switzerland, which is still cash focused. Automation eliminates the need to count cash and store it safely in the bank, saving the team a lot of time. With tokenized card details safely stored on each guest's profile, payments conveniently blend right into the guest experience.
Result
- 30-45 minutes saved daily by automating billing and reconciliation
More efficiency for the reservation team
Challenge
Chasing down bookings, juggling multiple platforms and dealing with outdated methods of tracking occupancy limits the efficiency of any hotel reservation team.
Solution
Mews Operations saves the Lenk Lodge reservation team a lot of time. They can manage reservations from anywhere on any device, with an interactive timeline offering a simple snapshot of arrivals and departures by the hour, day or month. The user-friendly interface offers a modern way to boost occupancy and profits, while quotes and reservations can be quickly made while on the phone with bookers.
Result
- Workload reduced by 30-40%
- Easy, automated flows instead of time-consuming, manual reservation tasks
Simplifying the guest experience
Challenge
Today's guests have high expectations, and Lenk Lodge wanted to exceed them at every stage of their stay.
Solution
Lenk Lodge has embraced Mews Guest Experience, including an integrated booking engine. 31% of bookings are made directly through Mews Booking Engine on the hotel's website. In 2021, the average in Switzerland was 14%. Online check-in and check-out reduced administrative tasks like manual registration forms, passport scanning and taking payments by more than 50%. Freed from manual tasks, the team can focus on guest care, additional sales and hospitality that adds value.
Result
- 51% of guests use online check-in
- 25% of guests check out online
- Upsells like breakfast and pet fees can be easily added during online booking
Mews proves that property size is no impediment to tech-led, guest-centric hospitality. Even as a smaller hotel, we can lead the way with innovation.
Integration spotlight
Booking.com
This integration allows Lenk Lodge to receive Booking.com reservations and manage inventory directly in Mews. The connection automatically reports invalid payment cards and allows them to manage rates and restrictions easily.
Feratel
Feratel is the guest registration system used to create guest cards. The Mews-to-Feratel integration, provided by Omniboost, ensures real-time transfer of guest profiles via a fully automated API connection.