Heidelberg House - Case Study

Heidelberg House finds TakeABreak a hit!

When Andrew Luo decided to run Heidelberg House as a self-contained apartment for visitors to Melbourne, he knew his property had many points that would appeal to the short-stay accommodation market.

“What I didn’t know was how to best communicate with that market and let them know what Heidelberg House has to offer,” says Andrew.  “We are close to Austin and Mercy Hospitals and only about 20 minutes to the CBD by public transport and offer a real alternative to motels for people who are visiting relatives in hospital or who want to be able to self-cater rather than paying to eat out.  Our location also makes us ideal for business people on a budget, or who prefer home comforts to a hotel or motel.”

While Andrew utilised some of the traditional forms of advertising to let potential guests know what he had to offer, he found that the Yellow Pages and ads on the hospital notice boards didn’t reach enough people.

So Andrew listed Heidelberg House with TakeABreak around two years ago, and he estimates now that more than 40% of his bookings come from the website.  He found that the assistance that TakeABreak gives to operators makes it really easy to get a listing up and running. “I found the system really easy to use and I love the ability to block out dates on the calendar so we don’t get enquiries for times we already have bookings,” he says.

“Also the response templates supplied by the site just make my life easier … all I have to do is put in the rate and it is personalised for my property.  TakeABreak is the only site to do this, as far as I know,” Andrew continues.

“One of the trickier things in accommodation for small operators like myself is organising payment, but the BPay facility makes that easy as well,” he says.

TakeABreak has certainly taken the hard work out of the self-contained accommodation sector, as far as Andrew is concerned!

Click here for further information on Heidelberg House.

Andrew has taken the opportunity to list his property in several categories – an option TakeABreak offers for no charge.  Heidelberg House is listed as a serviced apartment, a cottage and a holiday house.

He has chosen his themes as family-friendly, gay & lesbian friendly, student accommodation and close to public transport.