Stayokay: For adventures big and small

Stayokay Hostels is the largest hostel chain in the Netherlands. With 21 locations, they provide a hassle-free place to stay for all kinds of adventurers.

And not just any old overnight stay. Depending on where you are, you'll sleep in a castle one place and a cube-house somewhere else. As you can see, guests will go home with great stories to tell no matter what.

Aside from overnight stays, 18 of these venues also offer their own meeting rooms. Picture this: seaside brainstorming sessions or company outings in the middle of a forest. Not bad, right?

And to improve the booking process for guests with different requests, VenueSuite was asked to set up a custom booking engine for Stayokay.

Less paperwork, more business

“Booking meetings at Stayokay has always been done via a form,” says Liesbeth ten Donkelaar, manager of marketing and sales at Stayokay Hostels. “So you can imagine how much time it takes, both on the side of the booker and the organization, to actually come to an arrangement.”

Stayokay is hardly the only one facing this problem. “Approximately 80% of the hotels we are in contact with are still working with a form.” Says Ralph van Hooijdonk, CEO of VenueSuite. “That's a conversion killer. Because nobody likes to fill in a seemingly endless form, only to have to wait for a response.” Letting guests book at their own convenience is the logical solution.

"The big advantage of the meeting booking engine is that not only do we get things done faster, but we have a very clear overview of all requests as well."

A personal touch

At VenueSuite, we like to keep things simple. For both guests and our clients. Because we understand like no other that you don't have time for endless training sessions and complicated workflows. That's why we make sure you get the exact tools you need to be even better at what you do best.

But that doesn't mean we leave you to fend for yourself.

“We really enjoyed working with VenueSuite because they gave us great guidance in setting up our own booking engine,” says Liesbeth. “They also supported us with the staff training.”

Our booking engine is designed to make your job easier and provide more room for the hospitality you and your employees excel at.

Chatten through the booking engine

Feedback is an important process in any situation. The chat function within the booking engine allows you to respond to customers swiftly. A functionality Stayokay makes clever use of.

“Particularly because it allows you to offer an alternative very quickly, which helps in making faster decisions.” Says Liesbeth.

Hospitality as the starting point

After getting acquainted, we quickly figured out how we could support Stayokay: by making the booking process more accessible and efficient.

Out with the back-and-forth emailing, time to add structure clarity in the workflow. We configured the Stayokay booking engine in a way that allows guests to create their own experience. They can add the options they want per venue and will be sent a digital quote in the branding of the Stayokay immediately after confirming. This saves both sides a lot of time.

The result? A more efficient workflow and, of course, a positive partnership. “They keep us on our toes.” Ralph says of the partnership with Stayokay. “Their desire to utilize technological potential ensures that we continue to reflect on new solutions and improvements.”