Revenue growth through gift voucher system

What can you learn from an enthusiastic colleague in the hospitality industry? Someone who, like you, works tirelessly in this beautiful profession? Like born entrepreneur Marco Peek of hospitality organization BHG. Together with his brother Rob, he enhances life at now 19 hospitality locations, and counting. You can’t ignore their successes. But are there also pitfalls or useful eye-openers?

Marco Peek: ‘Of course. I would almost say: Do you have a moment? There are always processes that can be more efficient. You can’t overlook those opportunities. Our operations are constantly evolving, and they need to be. My brother and I have a general division of tasks. Rob focuses on F&B procurement and the human aspect within our organization. He has a keen eye for the internal ambitions of BHG staff. Together with the HR team, he recruits our new people. I mainly focus on processes such as finance and contacts with public entities like municipalities. But we also often meddle in each other’s affairs. And that’s fine; as brothers, we’ve known that since childhood.’

Focus on improvement

Together with over 350 employees, we work on creating ultimate experiences for our guests. So, Rob and I are definitely not the only ones focused on new opportunities and improvements. Our colleagues on the work floor notice a lot. They have intense contact with the guests and know exactly what is going on

A lot of time spent on administration

A good example is the gift vouchers. To be honest: it was always a hassle. If someone wanted to buy a gift voucher – which in itself is a great compliment – it took a lot of time in administration and registration. And always at the moment when the place was full, and no one really had time for it. Additionally, we stored the gift vouchers in a safe to prevent fraud. To open it, a member of the management team had to be present. You can guess what happened; they weren’t there at that moment. So, you were left standing there with your guest. Very annoying. Of course, we came up with solutions, but efficient: no

Previously prehistoric process

We also received emails and calls; if we could send a gift voucher? Not an unreasonable request, but we weren’t set up for it. We would send an email with the bank account number and keep an eye on whether the money had been transferred so that we could then send someone to a mailbox. Still following? It sounds almost prehistoric now. Anyway, we did it all because we don’t like disappointing guests. There was also a high demand for digital gift vouchers, but that’s difficult to manage. You never know if a voucher has already been used, for example. So, the gift voucher system was never high on the action list until recently. A shame, because now that we have set it up properly, I see what it yields.

Increasing number of new guests

We have instantly gotten rid of all the hassle and are receiving significantly more new guests than before. Gift vouchers are still available in our establishments but also on the website. The gift vouchers ordered through our sites are printed and sent without our involvement, ideal. And everything is now automatically registered via our cash register system, which is linked with the Gifty gift voucher system. Another advantage: any amount can be entered. People, for example, like to give a €33.00 gift voucher to someone turning 33 years old, which was not possible before.

Extra revenue under the Christmas tree

I am really happy with such a new service. We are freed from the hassle and it brings in revenue. Being able to grow so easily through gift vouchers is truly an eye-opener for me. Especially the digital gift vouchers are now doing very well. In hindsight, I could have given it more priority. We are now looking forward to the holidays. That extra revenue from the vouchers is our gift.