Providing a bespoke reservation service to the luxury independent hotel sector, Hotellivechat has the ability to improve hotel revenues, online conversion and website return on investment all from their Head Office located in Bridge of Weir.
Gaining a first-hand insight into the luxury hotel industry through his current telephone reservation business Hotelfone, Director Roderick Whiteford, identified a gap in the market for hotels to increase their number of online bookings by engaging more effectively with website visitors.
Implementing unique software into hotel websites, this allows one of Hotellivechat’s 23 Customer Care Professionals to chat online with potential website visitors and can help increase booking conversions by 25%.
Piloting this service successfully for the past six months and with exciting partnership opportunities on the horizon, Roderick was keen to take this bespoke service to market and secured an investment of £60,000 from Business Loans Scotland.
Fully funded through the Scottish Growth Scheme and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), BLS provides business loans to Scottish SMEs from £25,000 to £100,000 and aims to ensure that good, commercially viable proposals, such as Hotellivechat, don’t fail from a lack of access to finance.
Fund Manager for Business Loans Scotland, Andrew Dickson said:
“I am delighted that Business Loans Scotland has been able to support Hotellivechat with loan finance to grow the business and take this bespoke reservation service to market. This loan demonstrates our passion and commitment for supporting Scottish SMEs with the working capital they require to fulfil their growth aspirations. I look forward to watching the business prosper and would encourage all Scottish SMEs looking for access to finance to speak with the team at Business Loans Scotland to see how we can help.”
