Case study
Oliver’s Travels
Our work with Oliver’s Travels has seen them grow from being a two-man business with a portfolio of a few chateaux in France into one of the country’s leading travel companies with around a hundred employees and thousands of villas worldwide. They are a digital-first travel company and we have been central to their success.
Key tasks
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Brand development
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Design and UX
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Booking Engine
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Website Build & Support
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Salesforce Integration
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Digital Strategy
Quite a Journey
Our involvement with Oliver’s Travels encompasses all of their digital output, this includes consultancy, design and technical roles. Funny to think that we had our first meeting in a café in Soho back in 2007. It’s fair to say that our work with Oliver’s Travels has been quite a journey.
The Oliver's Travels website offers engaging ways in which to browse, compare and shortlist the properties. It also integrates with a multitude of other websites and channel managers through its extensive API. Our work on the site encompasses all aspects of their site, each pretty involved and each requiring a detailed understanding of the users, and their requirements.
Bigger Fish
We built their booking system from the ground up, it is deeply embedded in the site and ensures that their tie-in with the wider travel ecosystem is constantly active. To call the booking system a booking system is underplaying it somewhat, it manages all aspects of property management and integrates with multiple third party importers and services. In 2021 we completed our deep integration with Rentals United which gives the team at Oliver’s Travels access to a new world of villa bookings and enables sharing of their extensive portfolio to many new channels. Used by the sales team every day the booking system has been an important investment for Oliver’s Travels and is key to their business.
The Oliver’s Travels site is now in its third iteration since we originally launched the brand back in 2014. The team at Oliver’s Travels recognise that their site is their key to making new bookings and have therefore been keen to keep it up to date and snappy. 2024 will see our new design rolled out and we are working hard with them to ensure that this complete redesign serves them well for the next phase of growth.
It all goes on behind the scenes
The site gives a seamless experience where the users can browse, compare and shortlist holiday destinations. It’s an immersive experience and before you know it, you’ve wasted a good 30 minutes of your day looking at nice places to go on holiday – but that’s the point right?
The aforementioned booking system models all of the data being presented to users and handles the process of taking on a new rental property, pricing structures allowing for discounts and multiple currencies. The system we have built allows for their suppliers to be paid in currencies of their choice and caters for international tax rules.
Analytics cover every aspect of the user journey, and the Salesforce CRM is embedded into the system. Email communication with property owners and customers is integrated and automated. Inbound email communication from third parties is integrated directly into the CRM and booking process. Since 2022, Oliver’s Travels has employed our former tech lead Ben to establish an in-house team. Given the pivotal role technology plays in their business, this move is entirely logical. The new site, going live in 2024 is therefore being built by both our team and theirs, important to note that the reason it will look awesome is all down to us!
