Marc Wood and Sarah Kilvington are the proud new owners of the Ambassador Guest House, based in the coastal town of Paignton, within the picturesque English Riviera. 

Although the previous owners were using a well-known property management system (PMS), Marc and Sarah wanted to do some research into what booking software was going to be the right fit for them. 

First Thoughts

They first heard of freetobook through a local recommendation. After further online research and demos, two clear issues with the current PMS began to stand out: it was more expensive and more complicated. 

Marc and Sarah felt they were going to be charged for premium, complex features they didn’t need, at a high monthly base cost, plus a charge for every direct booking. They began to think, “We’re not saying that we just focus on cost, obviously, but it is a big part of what we’re doing running a business. But the more we looked at it, the more everybody’s taking their little cut, aren’t they?” 

Enter freetobook

Once learning more about freetobook, they realised they would only need to pay for the features they actually needed, with no charge for direct bookings through their website. 

“…when we looked at freetobook it appeared to offer all of the things that we were looking for. It’s a comprehensive package, and it covers all the bases that we need it to do without all the extra knobs and whistles that you’re paying for with a premium package. So, for us, it made sense.

It was a bit of a no-brainer.” 

Making the Switch

Along every step of the way, Marc and Sarah have been looked after by freetobook’s Account Manager, Heather. 

Reflecting on Heather’s assistance, they shared, “the support and the advice that she’s been able to give us, she’s been incredibly patient and explained things quite a few times to us. The other good thing about Heather is she’s actually run a guest house before, so she knows what she’s talking about. A lot of people don’t know anything about it.”

As it came to the time for them to make the final decision between the previous owners’ PMS and freetobook, Marc added, “One of the other subsequent reasons why I’m not overly keen on the current system – Sarah mentioned this as well – it looks horrible!” Referring to the customer-facing booking pages, he explained, “It looks like a completely different website. It looks like you’ve been taken to some dodgy website.”

That, along with the idea of being locked into a one-year contract – compared to freetobook’s no-tie in approach – and the decision was made. Welcome to freetobook, Ambassador Guest House! We wish you all the best with your new venture.