About Dajon Luxury Apartments

Dajon Luxury Apartments (DLA) is a new development in Skiathos, Greece which comprises 8 large two-bedroom apartments and 2 large studios, and is quietly located 5 minutes walk from the centre of the popular and lively resort of Skiathos Town.

DLA were entering the lodging industry in Skiathos at a difficult time. Over the previous 10 years, the number of rooms available for rent on the island had increased dramatically, which meant they would be competing in an already over-supplied accommodation sector.

And competition was about to intensify further as previously reliable markets in Britain, Germany and Scandinavia started showing signs of decline - the global recession had begun to affect the plans of holiday-makers.

GSP Consulting were commissioned to devise and implement a marketing plan to help the company achieve it’s goals of:

A review of competitors in Skiathos helped us identify space for DLA towards the top end of the market, and informed the development of a brand name and identity which positioned DLA as an ‘affordable luxury’.

Then we needed to find a way of placing DLA’s apartments and studios among the multitude of choices that visitors to the island would actively consider. But who were these visitors? And how would we reach them?

With the start of the season fast approaching, we selected independent travellers as our primary target audience; mainly Greek and European holiday-makers who would be arriving on the island without the assistance of a tour operator.

For this group of visitors, online was a key research tool for lodgings and
a small number of local online directories were highly influential in driving traffic to the websites of accommodation providers. So we created a high profile presence on each directory and guided potential customers to DLA’s website, which we produced in 3 versions (Greek, English and German).

Visitors to the site were able to download brochures, price lists and maps for circulation among decision-makers, and designed to boost consideration and preference for DLA. Furthermore, photographs of their modern, spacious accommodation were interspersed with images from around Skiathos to promote the island as an idyllic holiday destination.

Our marketing plan worked well, comfortably exceeding the targets we were set. By tracking room nights booked following an
online enquiry, and then calculating the total revenue generated by these room nights, we found that online marketing was a consistent income generator for DLA, producing an ROI of 476%.

And in their first season, DLA’s occupancy rate was 58%, a creditable performance given the heightened level of competitive intensity at that time and the relative inexperience of the team in the lodging industry.

Results from Guest Satisfaction Surveys revealed high levels of approval with the accommodation provided (DLA scored an
average of 8.3 out of 10 for the overall experience), and showed where improvements to the customer experience should be focused for the following season.

The learnings from 2009 have also helped us refine our marketing plans for this year. While we will almost certainly establish a high profile presence on the key online directories this summer, DLA have already made progress towards their occupancy target for 2010 by taking advance bookings.

In January we launched an ‘Early Booker’ pay per click campaign which has produced over 40 bookings so far for Summer 2010. And DLA are waiting for a decision from a further 55 enquirers as more than 1,900 unique visitors spent an average of 6 minutes browsing DLA's website in the first 3 months of the year.