Who are you and what company do you work for?
I'm Jasper ten Cate, director and owner of Hotel ten Cate in Emmen for three years now. My job is mainly in front of the scenes, so I'm in the restaurant a lot. That's mainly my department. Apart from that, of course, I go to meetings and acquire new customers.
Hotel ten Cate is located 900 metres from the centre of Emmen and has various functions. We have three bars, a restaurant, a private dining room, several meeting rooms and a total of 57 hotel rooms with additional facilities, such as our health centre and fitness centre. In total, we employ 55 people.
What problem(s) were you trying to solve with our services?
We were looking for a way to use marketing to maximise turnover. So we wanted to make sure more occupation in our hotel. We also wanted to be at the top of Google when someone searches for Emmen. We did some Facebook ads ourselves, but not much in terms of marketing. We came into contact with you through an acquaintance. He said: "Can The Fully Bookers mean anything to you? Maybe you can start a collaboration with them?"
A company of our size actually needs a department or at least you need to employ someone to take on all such work. For us, it was interesting to involve an external party in this case, because then you can start immediately. And you were able to do that.
In the beginning, it was a bit of a challenge for both parties. You wanted to get started right away, but we entered a test phase first. We achieved good results fairly quickly. Our approach was always: it costs something and it may cost something, but you have to earn yourself back and more. That worked well.
"It is interesting to involve an external party, because then you can start immediately. You could do that too."
In which three areas do our services differ from other options?
- By the personal relationship. That is very important. You really take the time to visit us here - we are in Emmen, you in The Hague.
- The communication is pleasant. Even if we don't hear from you, you do a good job. When we call, there is often something wrong and it is solved immediately.
- You have a proactive attitude and are also open to feedback. So instead of thinking in terms of problems, it's often: how do you experience something, what do you want to see done differently and how can we make that happen as quickly as possible? I like that mentality.
You also have a young team. You have sense of accelerationWe have that too. We are also young. Of course, we also employ older people, but we have a young mentality. We want to be progressive in Emmen and you always respond well to that.
What do you value most in working with The Fully Bookers?
The actively thinking with us. We have been working together for three and a half years now, which means that you know our business very well. You know what we need, what we want and you often take the initiative. If you see something passing by, something fun, something new or innovative, you approach us: "take a look at this, maybe it could be something for you". You think along with us, as a company. I like that.
We started to try it. It was a new collaboration for you and for us too. We hadn't worked with a company that did the marketing for us before. It worked well and we got really good results, because we saw huge differences. In the meantime, you developed further as a company and we were always included in those developments.
Moreover, you always come to us when we want to make changes. We did that fairly recently, for example. I found the marketing on social media too sweet and I thought we could give it a different twist. We then sat down together: where do we want to go and what do we want to do? Based on that meeting, we made a plan and it is implemented immediately.
"You think along with us, as a company. I like that."
What would you say to someone considering working with us?
I like your productivity, innovativeness, thinking along with me, and quick thinking; you are also constantly developing. So what would I say? Give The Fully Bookers a chance and expect a lot, because I can say that.