In today’s competitive hospitality industry, efficiency and guest experience are critical to success. Premier Inn is the UK’s largest hotel brand, offering affordable and comfortable accommodations across over 850 locations. Known for its commitment to quality and customer satisfaction, Premier Inn caters to both leisure and business travelers.
Two years ago, Premier Inn began a strategic partnership with Shiji to enhance its distribution capabilities. Premier Inn completed its first connection via Shiji Distribution Solutions in June 2022. Over the past two years, Premier Inn has connected to 18 channels, becoming one of the most active suppliers in the international Shiji Distribution Solutions portfolio. Additionally, Premier Inn was the first pilot supplier to utilize Shiji’s newest product, Content Hub, which currently serves as the source of truth for both visual and descriptive content for over 900 properties.
Change Brought Opportunities
This year, Premier Inn has adopted a new Central Reservation System, opening up opportunities to boost availability and increase the Booking Success Rate. The Shiji team supported Premier Inn throughout this transition by providing daily monitoring, detailed reporting, and promptly escalating any potential issues. Through collaboration and investigation, our experts identified that improving cache accuracy could significantly increase Premier Inn’s Search Success Rate, ultimately facilitating a smoother transition.
What is Search Success Rate and why is it important for hospitality?
Search Success Rate (SSR) is a critical performance indicator that measures the percentage of successful searches leading to relevant results or bookings. In the hospitality sector, SSR reflects how effectively potential guests can find and access accommodations that meet their need
How is it calculated?
Search Success Rate=(Number of Successful Searches/Total Number of Searches)×100
A higher SSR indicates that customers can easily locate the information they are seeking, enhancing their overall experience and satisfaction. As a result, this boosts the likelihood of converting searches into actual bookings, ultimately driving revenue growth for hotels. Additionally, a higher SSR signals to customers that the hotel or platform is reliable and user-friendly, helping to differentiate it from competitors.
Shiji’s innovative solutions
To support Premier Inn during the transition to the new Central Reservation System, several innovative solutions were implemented.
• First, the introduction of an automated City Tax calculation for German properties streamlined the booking process and reduced manual errors. This automation not only enhanced the guest experience but also allowed staff to focus on more strategic tasks.
• Next, the implementation of a General Shared Cache effectively reduced the load on Premier Inn’s servers. This solution enhanced system efficiency and significantly improved cache accuracy, leading to quicker response times for customer searches and queries.
• Additionally, implementing an enhanced cache solution enabled the proactive closure of products with the highest failure rates. As a result, Premier Inn is able to maintain a higher Search Success Rate, ensuring that customers have access to reliable and accurate availability information.
Together, these solutions worked synergistically to enhance Premier Inn’s Search Success Rate, strategically improving their overall booking performance.
Key Outcomes and Quantifiable Benefits
The implementation of these strategic solutions led to impressive outcomes for Premier Inn:
• The Search Success Rate increased approximately 16.23% from the average and 25.91% from one month to the next. This demonstrated a significant improvement in ensuring that more potential guests can find relevant results quickly.
• Production grew significantly by 153% year-over-year, reflecting the effectiveness of the new systems and processes.
• The overall number of bookings increased by approximately 177% in the last quarter, demonstrating how the improved Search Success Rate positively impacted booking performance and enhanced customer satisfaction.
These remarkable results underscore the effectiveness of the collaborative efforts and innovative solutions implemented by Premier Inn and Shiji. The success of these efforts reflects not only the technical expertise and problem-solving capabilities of both companies, but also the shared commitment to improving operational efficiency and enhancing the guest experience.
In hospitality technology, increasing product and partner reliance is key. Together with Premier Inn, we can enhance conversion rates while they focus on elevating the guest experience on property. The level of service resonates long after a guest’s stay, and we are honored to partner with such an outstanding organization
Natalie Kimball, VP of Strategic Account Management at Shiji Distribution Solutions
We are excited about our partnership with Shiji as we continue to enhance our operational capabilities and guest experiences. This collaboration enables us to provide timely and relevant information to our guests while positioning us for future growth. We look forward to further elevating the Premier Inn experience for travelers.
Stephen Addison, Head of Sales and Distribution at Premier Inn
