LEISURE ESTATES INTERNATIONAL GROUP


Embracing e-business has allowed Leisure Estates International (LEI) to expand and diversify its offer, and develop valuable new partnerships.

Best practice in:   Technology
Sector:             Travel and tourism
Size of firm:       50 employees
Location:           Market Harborough, Leicestershire
Website:   www.leisure-estates.co.uk


OBJECTIVES

LEI operates five ski travel agency brands and two villa brands
online. Using cross-selling on all its branded websites, LEI is
able to cater to the full spectrum of skiing and accommodation
needs. As John Neilson, LEI's Chairman, explains: "The travel
business suffers from 'the grass is greener' syndrome.
Customers always believe they can get a better deal elsewhere.
Our multiple brand strategy allows them to shop around but still
keeps them within our business."

The different ski and villa brands are supported by one
integrated back office system that:
- contains all the holiday details in a bespoke database
- filters booking information to the database and accounting
systems
- allows LEI to share information with trading partners
- generates Customer Relationship Management data for
profiling the most valuable customers and targeting sales
initiatives.


THE BENEFITS

LEI's integrated internal processes have allowed it to offer a
huge range of holidays online and embark on supply chain
integration by drawing partner companies into closer
relationships.

LEI encourages suppliers to submit information to its holiday
database electronically and, in return, allows them to connect
directly to its accounts system where they can view transaction
information. This forward thinking, collaborative approach has
strengthened relationships with suppliers and given the
company the capacity to move into 'white labelled' packages.
This is where LEI leases its fulfilment system to affiliate
companies. Offering holidays this way has enabled the company
to strike deals with giants of the travel industry like Expedia.

The net results of using technology are impressive: over 50%
of ski holiday sales (worth £4m) come in via the internet, and
LEI estimates that 60-70% of its growth can be attributed to
e-business.





THE CHALLENGES

Where possible, LEI takes holiday availability information
directly from tour operators' systems. The company is
convinced that further supply chain integration aimed at
smoothing the flow of information will help cut costs industry
wide. At the moment, however, tour operators haven't been able
to agree on a common data format.

"Getting the support of suppliers to provide data for our
accommodation and resort database is our biggest challenge,"
admits John. "But if we crack that problem, it will give us a
huge advantage over our competitors."


THE LAST WORD

John believes that an e-business strategy will only be successful
if managers understand the technology as well as they
understand the business - it's not enough to trust that
consultants or agencies will get it right, particularly if you want
to implement a bespoke solution for your business. He advises:
"Know how long it takes to design a bespoke piece of software
and remember to build time for testing into your schedule. Be
flexible with your timescales."


"The internet is the best medium to market our
products, so we have to give our customers all the
information they need to find the right holiday."


JOHN NEILSON - CHAIRMAN