Hotels • Ontario, Canada

Merrill House’s Journey to Innovation and a 430% ROI in Just One Month with Duve

Download as PDF

Botique Hotel
Improved ROI
Enhanced Guest Experience

Introduction

Merrill House, a boutique hotel in Ontario, Canada, accommodates up to 40 guests at a time and houses a restaurant with approximately 30 staff during the high summer season. Facing the challenges of a fairly new business and wanting to focus on expansion, Merrill House wanted to enhance their operations through digital innovation. Merrill House chose Duve as a solution to streamline its operations, maximize revenues, and boost guest satisfaction.

I find that Duve’s solution is really the future of hospitality. The experience working with Duve and integrating it into our daily operations has been really positive. It's great to see our guests enjoy interacting with us in this new way, and it's aligned perfectly with our efforts to digitize as much as we can. Duve has a lot of the functionalities that I was searching for - for example I loved the fact that I could customize the upselling process with Duve.

Jordan Martin

Owner of Merrill House

Key Challenges

Driving Higher Revenues: Merrill House’s initial approach left opportunities for additional revenue on the table. The challenge was to identify and implement an effective upselling strategy, enabling room upgrades, early check-ins, and personalized offers in order to drive higher revenues.
High Staffing Needs at Reception Desk: During peak season, Merrill House requires a significant amount of staff to manage the hotel and restaurant. This staffing level was costly, especially as the business wanted to focus on expansion.
Meeting Diverse Guest Expectations: The hotel’s goal to offer 5-star amenities in a boutique setting created a challenge in satisfying the varied expectations of guests. Younger guests favored modern, contactless features, while the older demographic preferred traditional services. Finding a balance that catered to both preferences was a significant hurdle.

Duve’s Solution

To address these challenges, Merrill House turned to Duve to learn more about how they can increase revenues, improve operations, and enhance their guest satisfaction all in a streamlined process. With Duve, Merrill House digitized many processes, making them more efficient and creating an innovative environment for guests, leading to increased satisfaction.

The Results

Digitization of Processes to Drive Higher Revenues: By adopting Duve, Merrill House not only streamlined its processes but also significantly enhanced its revenue-driving strategies. Duve enabled the automation of various add-on services, including dinner reservations, room upgrades, early check-ins, and more, blending efficiency with the capability to create personalized guest experiences. Duve’s upselling capabilities turned potential into profit, resulting in a 430% ROI for Merrill House within their first month of implementation. This alignment of technology with business goals showcased a sophisticated approach to modern hospitality, where innovation serves as a key to unlocking new revenue streams.
Complementing Staff with Automation: Duve allowed Merrill House to enhance their staffing strategy by providing automated solutions that worked in hand-in-hand with human staff. This balance between technology and personal touch enabled the hotel to maintain its high standard of service while optimizing operational costs.
Enhanced Guest Experience: Positive feedback from guests on the contactless features and ability to interact via the guest app improved guest satisfaction, catering to the preferences of different demographics.

Conclusion

Duve allowed Merrill House to take an innovative approach to hospitality while allowing them to streamline processes and unlock new revenue streams. The integration of Duve’s technology with the boutique hotel’s existing processes demonstrated a seamless blend of innovation, efficiency, and a personalized touch. The impressive ROI, enhanced guest experience, and the ability to cater to diverse demographics illustrate a successful model for leveraging technology to enrich both business growth and customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry.