How Mackinder Farms Boosted Profits and Booking Value with Beyond
Mackinder Farms, located just south of York, offers a unique mix of holiday accommodations, including cottages, log cabins, and glamping pods. Over the past 15 years, they have expanded from a single rental to 11 properties while maintaining a focus on sustainable growth and excellent guest satisfaction. Their business has evolved to securing more direct bookings, with additional reservations from platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com.
With a shift in demand toward shorter stays and the challenges that came with growing a business, James Middlebrook, Operations Manager at Mackinder Farms, sought a better way to grow his business through dynamic pricing and modern revenue management.
"After three days, I just put everything on because the bookings were just coming in like mad"
The Challenge: Growing Revenue Without Increasing Workload
Before using Beyond, James managed pricing manually alongside his property management system (PMS), SuperControl. His biggest challenge was weekend pricing aligned with the market and optimising revenue without increasing operational workload.
James first heard about Beyond through SuperControl and decided to test it on one property for a month. The results were immediate, with high-value bookings coming in almost immediately.
Seeing this instant success, he rolled out Beyond across all properties."After three days, I just put everything on because the bookings were just coming in like mad," James said.
The Solution: Beyond’s Revenue Management System
James turned to Beyond, a complete revenue management system designed to optimise holiday let revenue. Beyond offers an integrated suite of solutions that work together to improve portfolio performance from top to bottom. Beyond’s advanced solutions build on dynamic pricing to create predictive revenue streams via insights into market and consumer search trends, real-time demand data, high-converting booking engines, as well as cost-efficient and mobile-friendly payment processing.
James considers Beyond as an essential member of his team, spending just 15 minutes a week reviewing pricing strategies. By working with Beyond’s dynamic pricing algorithm, he ensures optimal pricing and visibility.
The Results:
Mackinder Farms saw significant growth after implementing Beyond’s dynamic pricing. In just one year, bookings increased several times over, and revenue grew substantially. By their second year with Beyond, both metrics had climbed even higher, solidifying their position in the market.
A key driver of this success was Beyond’s advanced pricing tools included in the Beyond Pro package, which helped optimise weekend rates.
With Beyond, Mackinder Farms was able to:
- Increase revenue by 23% this year
- Set higher daily rates aligned with high-demand days, increasing average booking value by 20% (£480 this year compared to £400 the previous year)
- Boost bookings by 1.2%
- Beyond’s pricing automation also freed up time for cost control, enabling James to reduce expenses by 4%. As a result, profit increased year-over-year—with no extra workload.
In terms of value, Beyond paid for itself almost instantly: "The increase in revenue Beyond brought us in the first month paid the commission for the year. And then we get 11 months free." For James, Beyond is like having a full-time revenue manager at a fraction of the cost: "It’s like having a permanent member of your team looking after your pricing"—a role that would typically cost £20,000 per year.
Beyond’s Support & Recommendation
James finds Beyond’s system intuitive and easy to use, requiring minimal support. He also appreciates the email updates that provide valuable insights. When asked what he’d say to other property managers considering Beyond, his response was clear:
"Why aren’t you using it?" James asked.
He also compared Beyond to other pricing tools: "Beyond is more effective than other solutions for our scale of operation."
Final Thoughts
Beyond has helped Mackinder Farms increase revenue, optimise pricing, and improve efficiency, allowing James to focus more on staff well-being and guest experience. By leveraging Beyond’s data-driven pricing, he has transformed his business without adding to his workload. And with Beyond’s seamless integration with SuperControl, Mackinder Farms automates pricing and booking management, ensuring they always secure the best possible rates without constant manual adjustments.
For property managers looking to maximise revenue, James offers one simple piece of advice: "Use the best tools available—Beyond is one of them."
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