In Your Shoes: Dalene visits Oak Manor.

how to manage self-catering apartments at Oak Manor
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The NightsBridge ‘In Your Shoes’ project:
We want our new team members to understand what a day in the life of one of our clients is like. The buzz, the million things happening at once. After this experience, we find they take away a huge sense of respect for the daily challenges faced, which sticks with them throughout their career. They also get to see NightsBridge in action from the client’s point of view, which helps everyone understand how important making life easier for our clients is.

I recently spent a day at Oak Manor, a 9-bedroomed property with self-catering studio apartments in Newlands, Cape Town. I was there to learn more about how to manage self-catering apartments using the NightsBridge technology.

How to manage self-catering apartments.

After the checkout time, the staff clean the rooms and prepare for the arrival of new guests. They make notes of any special requests and go out of their way to create a home-away-from-home experience, even baking a birthday cake when needed.

I jumped in to help by making a few beds. Thuli and Nosi, two of the staff members, taught me how to set the scene for a relaxing and welcoming stay. We added flowers, dimmed the lights and put on some soft music. We also had some divine scones and coffee while we chatted about the industry.

READ: Is your room guest-ready?

One of the biggest challenges Oak Manor faces is load shedding. To help mitigate the impact of being without power for periods they have installed solar lights outside and a gas stove in the kitchen. They’re also in the process of getting an inverter, which will allow them to keep the lights on even when the power is out.

Andre, the owner, runs other businesses as well so it’s important to her that she can trust her team to carry out her vision of how to manage self-catering apartments. She also believes in being prepared for anything. That’s why she loves the NightsBridge App on her phone, which she jokingly calls her ‘Bible’. With the app, she can make bookings, manage her availability and even upload new photographs to her booking engine. 95% of Oak Manor’s bookings flow through Booking.com, followed by direct commission-free bookings through the NightsBridge booking engine on their website.

How NightsBridge makes life easier.

The NightsBridge technology makes the running of the establishment so much easier for the owner. The team know what to do, and is trusted to get on with it. This is only possible because of the tools available to them. What was interesting was to see how important training was & focussing on the teams strengths.

During my day at Oak Manor, I learned various strategies for managing self-catering apartments

  • The importance of customer service: The staff at Oak Manor are always willing to go the extra mile to make sure that guests have a positive experience. They are friendly, helpful, and attentive to guests’ needs.
  • The need to constantly innovate: The hospitality industry is constantly changing, so accommodation establishments need to keep up. Oak Manor is doing this by using NightsBridge to stay on top of the latest booking technology.
  • Focussing on your property’s unique selling points: Oak Manor has a beautiful outdoor garden, which they promote with good quality photographs on their website. They’ve also enclosed an area for pet-friendly accommodation, which could be a new avenue for additional bookings.

Dalene with the Oak Manor self catering apartments teamI really enjoyed my visit and meeting the hard-working Tuli, Nosi and Andre! I’m very impressed with the steps they’ve taken to improve the property. Hopefully, the advice I could give them will help them grow even more.

** Dalene Habtewold is a Training Consultant at NightsBridge.

READ: IN YOUR SHOES: Part 1 Conrad visits Blue Bottle Guest House

Part 3: Katie visits Riversong Guest House

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