In this article, we will share the story of how the use of Atomize has helped Yasuragi adopt new improved ways of handling their price optimization and increased their revenue KPIs compared to pre-pandemic times.
At the beginning of 2023, we had a chat with Yasuragi’s Commercial Director, Charlotte Thulin in order to get an update on their progress and results for 2022. Yasuragi has been a customer of Atomize since the beginning of 2021 and they have previously shared their story of how they handled the impact of the pandemic and how they managed to capitalize on the leisure segment.
Charlotte Thulin has 12 years of experience in handling different positions within Yasuragi and she has broad expertise in sales, marketing, and revenue management.
About Yasuragi
Yasuragi, part of Nordic Hotels & Resorts and Nordic Choice is one of Atomize’s most iconic customers. The Yasuragi – Japanese Spa- and Conference Hotel, is a unique Spa and Conference Hotel built with the Japanese lifestyle as the source of inspiration. It is beautifully situated on the outskirts of Stockholm and has a touch of Japanese high design throughout.
Yasuragi is the perfect place for modern urban citizens to escape the demands of their everyday routine. Yasuragi offers 191 Japanese-themed rooms and suites, 3 restaurants, and a 500 m2 rooftop terrace facing the sea.
At the heart of Yasuragi, you will find a beautiful 3000-square-meter Japanese bathhouse with a mix of indoor and outdoor hot springs, a variety of saunas, quiet lounges, a Dojo for activities and treatments, and a Japanese washroom.
With the use of Atomize RMS, Yasuragi has taken its tactical pricing to a new level based on automated dynamic room pricing and the possibility to better capitalize on future demand with the right rates and offers.
The year 2022 – the end of the pandemic
Yasuragi did not escape the effects of the pandemic and the last two years have been challenging. The unpredictable market shifts made it hard to forecast demand, and the government-imposed restrictions reduced the number of guests Yasuragi was able to receive. Despite these difficult trading conditions, Yasuragi was experiencing strong demand from the leisure segment during the pandemic.
“The need to escape from everyday life and experience new environments was a way for people to cope with the stress the pandemic put on our daily lives. Yasuragi offered an escape into a world where you could forget the pandemic and unwind in a fantastic environment,” says Charlotte.
To be able to comply with the safety regulations during the pandemic, Yasuragi was only able to run at half capacity in terms of the number of guests and staff. By really understanding their potential guests’ needs and the changes in consumer behavior the available inventory was frequently sold out and as a result, the hotel has performed better than its competition during these challenging years.
„Going into 2022, it started off a bit tough due to the continued restrictions that affected Yasuragi, but during quarter one last year things started to turn around and at the end we had a fantastic year,“ says Charlotte.
Yasuragi has done very well compared to many of its competitors. Generally, the pandemic in one way made Swedes appreciate their local destinations more and many resort hotels have experienced a strong demand throughout the pandemic as many guests began to discover Sweden.
„We managed to increase our market share and RGI by 50% during 2022 compared to 2021 and +22% in RevPAR which is a strong proof that we continue to perform much better than our competition,“ says Charlotte.
Proactive, automated pricing contributes to strong results
Atomize has been extremely valuable in supporting Charlotte and her team at Yasuragi in optimizing their prices and automating their pricing strategy. It has also helped them be much more proactive in their pricing with the input of forward-looking data the system provides a clear overview of stay dates with high and low demand. On top of that, it also visualizes your current activity such as booking pace, as well as your current inventory and demand per room type. We also got a good picture of how the competitors are doing.
With the use of Atomize, the system picks up the booking intentions and indications of high demand before the reservations happen – and results in more bookings at higher rates.
„For us it is extremely valuable to see indications of high demand in Atomize that automatically increase our room rates before the bookings take place. With the help of Atomize we have implemented proactive pricing, it could never have been done without Atomize,“ says Charlotte.
Prior to Atomize, Charlotte would manually adjust rates upwards on days when they experienced a high demand through a rising number of reservations – but the manual approach meant they were acting “too late” and missed revenue opportunities.
„What we also appreciate with Atomize is the proactivity and user-friendliness of the system. Everything happens live against our PMS system and it is very easy to get a quick overview of the actions that need to be taken right now that will have the greatest impact on our revenue,“ says Charlotte.
Outperforming the competition with Atomize
With help from Atomize, Charlotte and her team at Yasuragi have managed to improve their KPIs year over year. During 2022 they managed to increase their RevPar by 22% compared to 2021.
Also compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019, Yasuragi had an increase in ADR by 20% and RevPar by 24% during 2022 which shows that they continue to improve the numbers over time.
„With the use of Atomize, we have had the best conditions to capitalize on the market demand. Without Atomize, I don’t believe we would have been able to improve our KPIs as we have managed to do,“, says Charlotte.
By implementing Atomize in the operation, Yasuragi has created a much more efficient and streamlined operation.
“We used to spend around 30 minutes per day setting prices which, with Atomize, is down to a couple of minutes per day.”
If Yasuragi’s story has made you curious about how you could benefit from an RMS, you can learn more about Atomize here.
