How Charles Hope Apartments Revamped Their Guest Engagement with Duve

GUEST EXPERIENCE

Charles Hope offers stylish upscale serviced apartments across the UK and Europe. Just prior to COVID, Charles Hope implemented Duve in an effort to create a systematic approach where they can track and automate all activities related to operations and communications. Now, nearly 3 years since the beginning of the pandemic, Charles Hope continues to use Duve on a daily basis to generate additional revenues, create a fully contactless experience for guests, and manage multiple apartments remotely.

Why it matters: With staff based both in Cape Town, South Africa, and in the UK, Charles Hope required a system that would be easy to use, and that would store all information related to operations, communications, upsells, and customer feedback.

Charles Hope Apartments immediately began benefitting from Duve's online-check-in, which would allow them to collect information about the guests prior to arrival, as well as e-signatures and documents. They also used Duve's guidebook to provide guests with how-to videos for operating different appliances in their serviced apartments. Lastly, they were able to grow revenues by automatically offering early check-in, late check-out and paid check-in options for guests according to Duve's smart tools that would check for availability.

Top 3 Core Objectives: Charles Hope wanted to take a systematic approach to their business and wanted to be able to track everything in one place. They were searching for a very good guest experience solution that would allow them to automate many of the operations that they were performing manually.

Automate manual operations: Automate different operations related to guest communication, arrival details, and explanations on how to operate different appliances in the apartments.
Manage all apartments remotely: With staff located across South Africa and the UK, it was very important for Charles Hope to have one system where they can track and manage all operations, while also giving access to all staff to see everything.
Break communication barriers: With many corporate clients, it was crucial for Charles Hope to create a method in which they can break communication barriers with more high-end clients.

Innovators Mentioned

Charles Hope Apartments

Duve

Richard Maurin

CEO

Charles Hope Apartments

"I can’t even remember how we did it before Duve. Duve has become an integral part of our business allowing a flow of information to be collected and releasing our Guest Services team to spend more time providing great service to our guests. Duve essentially has become our front of house with upsells sold and guest information provided on the guest's terms."

Richard Maurin

CEO

👍 CEO Richard Maurin said that adding Duve into the equation just flows:

"I can’t even remember how we did it before Duve. Duve has become an integral part of our business allowing a flow of information to be collected and releasing our Guest Services team to spend more time providing great service to our guests. Duve essentially has become our front of house with upsells sold and guest information provided on the guest's terms."

⚖️ The selection process: During their research process, Richard Maurin evaluated Duve's product differentiators, customer support, and holistic value as a strategic partner and ultimately decided that Duve was the best fit solution:

CEO Richard Maurin said, about their decision: "Our guest services team lives and breathes Duve. Honestly, if we ever decided that we wouldn't want to use Duve anymore and we told that to our Guest Services team, they may have a breakdown. The best part? It's very easy to use."

📈 The results: Duve allowed Charles Hope to grow their business, especially during COVID, which is when they started using Duve. Charles Hope shared that additional revenue streams were crucial during COVID and Duve's upsells enabled that.

With Duve, Charles Hope was able to automate things like contactless check-ins and how-to guides for different apartment appliances using Duve's guest app.
The entire team has access to view all communications with guests, all requests or feedback received, and all tasks. Duve enables the Charles Hope team to work remotely, regardless of where they are in the world.
With Duve, Charles Hope can break communication barriers especially with corporate customers. On the guest side - they get all the information they want in one place, without the need for back and forth communication with the Charles Hope team. On the business side - Charles Hope shared that the way Duve pushes guests to leave external reviews is one the best functions they've had. Thanks to Duve, Charles Hope noted that they've been getting excellent ratings on OTA sites and that Duve helps make sure their brand shines and gets good traffic.