A 40-room boutique hotel in Edinburgh's Old Town rebuilt its direct channel with SwiftGuest — reclaiming guest relationships and £41,000 in commission in 12 months.
When Fiona MacLeod took over as general manager in 2024, Oakwood Hotel had been running the same three tools for eight years. Direct bookings were stuck, OTA commissions were climbing, and the front desk had become a data-entry team.
Oakwood migrated to SwiftGuest over a three-week phased rollout in December 2024 — with a parallel-run weekend covering Hogmanay peak trade.
A branded, mobile-first booking engine embedded on oakwoodhotel.co.uk with parity pricing enforcement.
All historical guest data migrated from three systems into a single CRM — preferences, allergies, stay history.
Automated emails at 7 days, 48 hours, and check-in day with early-check-in and room upgrade offers.
From 28 rate plans across three tools down to 9 clear, channel-mapped rates managed in one calendar.
Twelve months in, every number has moved in the right direction — and the team has its evenings back.
Numbers measured across a rolling 12-month period against the prior year, verified against Oakwood's finance export.
Year-over-year, from 33% to 46% of total channel mix.
£41,200 reclaimed in 12 months, reinvested into guest experience.
Up from 4.5 — driven by faster pre-arrival messaging.
“We finally own our guest relationships instead of renting them from booking platforms. Direct bookings now account for 46% of total revenue — up from 33% a year ago. Our team has time to do hospitality again.”
Core operating metrics from the twelve months before and after go-live.
| Metric | Before SwiftGuest | After 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| Direct booking share | 33% | 46% |
| Avg. daily admin time | 92 min | 34 min |
| Guest email open rate | 18% | 47% |
| OTA commission paid | £152,700 | £111,500 |
| Upsell revenue / stay | £3.20 | £9.80 |
Other hoteliers solving the same problems.
Talk to an implementation specialist. We will size the migration to your property and show you a 12-month projection before you sign anything.