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About Southern Sun
Southern Sun is Southern Africa’s leading hospitality group comprising an extensive collection of strategically located hotels, resorts, restaurants and conference facilities in South Africa, Africa, the Seychelles and the Middle East. With a rich heritage of excellence and dedication to delivering service with flair, Southern Sun provides guests with unforgettable experiences at destinations that offer unparalleled variety and scale.
The group’s portfolio of brands comprises award-winning luxury hotels such as 54 on Bath, Arabella Hotel, Golf & Spa, the Beverly Hills, Mount Grace Hotel & Spa, the Sandton Sun & Towers and Paradise Sun, as well as renowned brand collections, including Southern Sun Hotels, SunSquare, Garden Court, StayEasy and SUN1 hotels, and a selection of Southern Sun Resorts in idyllic settings.
4x average booking conversion
Challenge
With commission rates as high as 20% with some OTAs, converting as many direct bookings as possible is vital for any hotel chain.
Solution
Mews Booking Engine is designed to convert site visitors into bookings. The user journey is fast and intuitive, and the interface modern and adapted to the Southern Sun brand. Specific rates can be applied to each individual room in each hotel, while every room type is customized with accurate pictures and descriptions.
Result
• 13.7% booking engine conversion for Sun1 Bloemfontein
• 9.9% booking engine conversion for Southern Sun de Wagen
• 9.1% booking engine conversion for Sun1 Port Elizabeth
“The benefits of Mews are manifold: from the payment gateway where guests are in control and money is in the bank, to the Mews Kiosk for guests to help themselves to check in and out, to available Marketplace direct connects as well as the opportunity to partner with Mews and our own distribution partners to quickly and efficiently develop further integrations.”
Unrivalled connectivity
Challenge
In addition to connecting to leading hotel tech software, Southern Sun needed to be able to integrate their own custom software with their hospitality cloud.
Solution
Mews Open API allows for bespoke connections to the Mews platform, giving the Southern Sun IT team access to all the code they need. In addition to this, Mews Marketplace has a collection of over 600 integrations, many of which can be connected to with just a few clicks.
Result
• Custom distribution tool seamless integrated with Mews
• 10 unique integrations
• Zero connection fees
“Mews is continually evolving and really pays attention to what guests needs. Because they’re cloud-native, they have the power to roll out new releases quickly, which gives us the confidence we’ll always be in the best position to serve our guests.”
Integration spotlight
GuestRevu
GuestRevu is a reputation management tool that gives Southern Sun a better understanding of their guests through data insights gathered through feedback and online reviews. The integration with Mews enables properties to build guest profiles, automate surveys and collate information between the two platforms.
OTA Insight – On the Books
OTA Insight’s On the Books integration with Mews gives Southern Sun even more powerful insights into revenue and distribution. It enriches external distribution and demand data with internal booking data to improve performance reporting and rate strategies.
“Mews Marketplace is a wonderful shopping basket for integration opportunities and has had a significant impact on our ability to quickly and efficiently connect to new opportunities without much fuss.”