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White Swan Inn
The White Swan Inn and Restaurant boosts
occupancy by 25% and turnover by 24.5% with an integrated marketing system. 
The White Swan Inn is an historic twelve room coaching inn in Pickering, North Yorkshire. In a time when the hospitality industry was facing increasing challenges they needed to boost occupancy levels and turnover to remain profitable. They approached us for help.
We were confident that they could increase occupancy and turnover without increasing the marketing budget. We often find that rather than increasing the budget, all that is needed is to cut out activities that aren’t giving a return on investment, and redirect the spending to more effective areas.
Objectives
1. Develop a marketing system that the White Swan could test, refine and successfully repeat time and time again to win new guests and diners.
2. Create a customer nurturing and referral strategy (research tells us that winning new business through existing customers is six times less expensive than converting a “cold” lead) to increase repeat and referral business.
3. Reposition the restaurant from a ‘special occasion’ dining venue to a regular place for locals to go for lunch and evening meals.
4. Review the pricing structure for room rates to maximise returns.
5. Increase occupancy levels.
Implementation
An integrated marketing system was developed and implemented which included a number of marketing strategies working together:
1. A seven stage customer nurturing and referral direct marketing strategy:
- A direct mail campaign designed to boost occupancy levels in slack months, including three nights for the price of two offer on mid week bed and breakfast.
- A handwritten “thank you” card that arrived a couple of days after guests return home hoping they’d arrived safely and looking forward to welcoming them back.
- A relaxed and informal letter, delivered a week later, incentivising them to refer friend, families and colleagues through an enclosed reply paid card.
- A newsletter.
- Special offers postcards.
- A second request letter after six months.
- Finally if 12 months elapse without any response, a letter asking “what did we do wrong” is sent.
2. A restaurant redesign taking out the ‘stuffy carpets, white tablecloths and curtains. In their place came a log fire, flagstone, candles and polished wood tabletops in keeping with the inn’s 16th century ambience. A chalkboard that was put in the street a couple of hours before service with messages enticing passers by.
3. A relaunch of the restaurant with a direct mail strategy focusing on local companies in the immediate vicinity.
4. Incentives to waiting staff to motivate them to take a pro-active approach to boosting sales of wine, water, liqueurs and coffees.
5. Further direct mail strategies to boost seasonal trade, such as at Christmas and New Year.
6. An increase in room rates, which were then discounted (still to more than the original rate) to increase off peak occupancy.
Results
- Referrals increased from an average of 3 per month to an average of 20 per month, peaking at 27 one month.
- Hotel occupancy increased by 25%.
- Annual turnover increased by 24.5% from £510,000 to £635,000.
- Restaurant covers increased by 88%.
- The average lunch value increased by 40%.
- The average dinner value increased by 53%.
“Results Corporation has given us a marketing system which has delivered results and given us the confidence to expand.”
The White Swan’s owner Victor Buchanan says:
“Results Corporation has helped transform the White Swan. Their business and marketing advice has continually be proven to be correct.
“We now have a system for rolling out relevant communications to existing and potential customers. It’s a structured, bullet-proof approach which is relevant now and for the foreseeable future.
“The lesson is not to keep trying new schemes but to stick with a predictable formula that works until customer reaction indicates that it has run its course.
“The results we achieved, with an unchanged marketing spend have been astonishing. They have given us the confidence to consider expanding the hotel.”
This Marketing Case Study has been approved by The White Swan.