Garda Relais

Context

Located close to the main parks of the southern Lake Garda area – including Gardaland, Movieland, and Caneva World – Garda Relais is a B&B that has evolved over time, maintaining a warm and family-friendly atmosphere while offering modern comforts and a focus on sustainability.

The property features 21 rooms – double, triple, and family rooms – mainly welcoming families and couples. Over the last year, it has expanded both its target audience and its seasonality, experimenting with winter opening to successfully cater to business travelers, a segment often overlooked in the area.

In addition to overnight stays and a buffet breakfast, Garda Relais enriches the guest experience with extra services, including tours, local experiences, and discounted tickets to amusement parks.

The challenge

Before using Smartconnect, Garda Relais focused exclusively on acquiring new customers. Through the CiaoBooking property management system, they sent pre- and post-stay communications but lacked a targeted email marketing strategy aimed at guest retention.

Additionally, booking distribution was heavily skewed toward OTAs (64% from Booking.com, 34% direct), reducing profit margins and limiting control over guest relationships.

The solution

Garda Relais chose Smartconnect to work more effectively with their contact database, enabling them to send relevant messages and reactivate relationships with former guests. With Smartconnect, the property was able to:

• Segment contacts into micro-audiences, creating personalized newsletters and offers based on guests’ real interests.
• Easily create an editorial calendar, allowing the team to plan and implement communications effectively throughout the year.
• Automate email creation and sending, without investing additional time in manual tasks.

The results

One year after implementing Smartconnect, Garda Relais has established email marketing as a regular activity supporting direct bookings.

€34,929.74 in revenue from newsletters

Over the year, the property sent 44 newsletters, generating 136 bookings and a total revenue of €34,929.74. This result provides a clear view of how email campaigns contribute to direct sales.

42% open rate

The campaigns achieved an average open rate of 42%. This indicates a well-managed database, content perceived as relevant, and communication that consistently maintains guest attention over time.

Average CTR between 9% and 10%

The average Click-Through Rate (CTR) ranged between 9% and 10%, showing strong engagement even after the email is opened. The newsletters did not just generate visibility, but also drove traffic to the property’s offers and pages.

ROI: €9.7 generated for every €1 invested

From a financial perspective, the ROI reached 9.7x, meaning that every euro invested in Smartconnect generated €9.7 in return. This helps position email marketing not just as a communication tool, but as a channel with measurable impact on revenue.