How Lapland’s Apukka Resort enhanced direct customer experience whilst boosting ADR and booking value in the process

Steeped in over 150 years of history and culture, Apukka Resort’s legacy as a taverna and later a nature research station was reflected in its 2017 evolution into a luxury Lapland Resort.

Boasting a range of accommodation options perfect for families and couples alike, guests can choose to stay in glass igloos, aurora cabins, luxury suites to enjoy the hotel’s two traditional Nordic restaurants, as well as its ice and igloo saunas.

In arguably the most magical place on the globe for both children and adults, the hotel’s location means that guests are surrounded by adventure and possibility at every angle, whether they want to share their present list with Santa, zip around on a snowmobile, hunt the mysterious Northern Lights, delight in husky and reindeer tours or try their hand at ice fishing.

The vast range of adventure opportunities, coupled with the region historically being dominated by tour operators, presented real challenges for the resort in terms of Competition.

When using a previous booking engine, customers were often only given the option to book accommodation, resulting in ongoing missed revenue from the very activities most of its guests were in the region for. It was essential that customers could book accommodation and activities in the same process through its website, which the Apukka Resort team hoped would increase ADR and help the team upsell activities to ultimately drive more revenue.

Apukka Resort began working with Profitroom in October 2021, using Profitroom’s Booking Engine 360 and Channel Manager to turn its website into a platform where they could sell not just accommodation, but also packages, a big part of the business.

Integrating these with the property’s own PMS, OTAs, and GDS was important to lead to a significant rise in direct bookings and was also key to simplifying processes and helping Apukka Resort set up new trial holiday packages for certain dates to test their success and popularity.

Working with Profitroom significantly increased Apukka Resort’s profits, with 30% higher ADR compared to OTAs, and an average booking value at 42% on its booking engine Comparatively.

The new system allows guests to book multi-day holiday packages online and helps the hotel to upsell activities as add-ons.

Kaisu Väänänen, Sales Director at Apukka Resort, said “The greatest change since working with Profitroom has been an increase in bookings, and of course that we are able to make our guests commit better because they are able to book their whole holiday at once.”

Founding Partner and Administrative Director Miika Sorvari also commented, “Our new booking engine created a clearer, more customer-friendly shopping path…which meant we’ve seen a significant rise in direct bookings with Profitroom."

The property has also focused on cutting down on internal manual work by selling offers dedicated to tour operators who can access the dedicated packages online with a dedicated code and the team has plans to further customise and integrate its activity booking system which will further save time, as well as provide more options for clients to plan their holidays better.