Search Icon

SUCCESS STORY

Juneau Whale Watch

juneau-whale-watch

Overview

 

In its 17th year of operation, Alaskan-owned company Juneau Tours and Whale Watch weighs in as the largest independent tour provider in Southeast Alaska. But don’t let that title mislead you, this family operation is all about the customer experience. From sales agents and dock representatives to bus drivers/ guides, naturalists/deck hands and boat captains, Juneau Tours and Whale Watch treats everyone like well-loved family.

Back in 1998, Sky Bonnell relocated from Hawaii to fish commercially and drive a cab in the off-season. Even back then—before everyone owned a cell phone—Juneau greeted a large number of visitors. The growing demand soon warranted the need for a larger vehicle so Sky bought a bus in 2002.

Flash forward to 2019, Sky’s little company that started with a cab is now in two locations (Juneau and Skagway), offers more than eight different tours and serves close to 90,000 guests every summer. Managed by his sister, Serene Hutchinson, Juneau Tours and Whale Watch employs 60+ employees (more than half call Alaska their home) and has a whopping 70% employee retention rate!

Results

 

After deciding to move forward with Rezgo, they visited our office for an in-person onboarding experience.  Within two days, they were able to answer our accounting, operations, sales, and marketing department questions.  Rezgo helped us resolve our previous pain points related to our daily operational flow and revenue channels.

The Rezgo app is also a great addition for dock sales during peak season.  Bookings can be completed with just a few clicks. We’re looking forward to working with Rezgo on future projects!

MORE SUCCESS STORIES

Don't Just Take Our Word For It

  • Kayaking tours and adventures

    Emerald Outdoors

    Emerald Outdoors, located in Kenmare, Ireland, and founded by Jamie and Colin, is renowned for outstanding Kayaking tours and adventures. We’ve partnered with Rezgo to enhance our operations and fuel future growth. Seeking a solution to streamline our booking processes and boost operational efficiency, we chose Rezgo for its comprehensive features and automation capabilities. Results Since integrating Rezgo, we have seen significant improvements in managing our bookings and automating various operational tasks, including handling waivers, check-ins, and notifications. The platform’s automation has greatly reduced our manual effort and provided a smoother experience for our customers. The support we’ve received from Rezgo has been outstanding. From the initial onboarding to the ongoing assistance, the support team has been exceptional. We have nothing but positive feedback about our experience with Rezgo, especially regarding how the platform has positively impacted our operations and the excellent support we’ve received. As we continue to grow and expand, Rezgo remains a crucial partner in supporting our operational needs and helping us achieve our future goals.

    Read More
  • Ferry Company

    Doolin2Aran Ferries

    Doolin2Aran Ferries is a tourist ferry and boat trip service based in a little village on the west coast of Ireland. We provide comfortable eco-friendly sailings from Doolin to the nearby Aran Islands for a half-day or full-day, and to the world renown Cliffs of Moher for a short boat cruise, offering visitors a hugely rewarding Irish cultural experience. Our Cliffs Of Moher cruise gives access to the most spectacular views of the renowned Cliffs, away from crowds and traffic on land, with the best opportunities to see Puffins and the Sea Cave that featured in Harry Potter. As our business expanded, we invested in more vessels and to all 3 islands as well as to the cliffs. There were various different capacities on the vessels and sometimes even a different vessel with a different capacity making the return leg of a daytrip. There are various ways to sail, so there could be 32 different sailing options in 1 day! This made for a very complicated UX for our end user, and a lot of bookings ended up being taken over the phone or by several individual emails rather than a self-selection process on our website. Results From the outset, the Rezgo team took the time to learn what issues were important to us, to discover the major roadblocks and suggest solutions from their experience and knowledge of other businesses similar to ours around the world. We really felt that they were on our side and wanted us to succeed. The Rezgo software is very robust and easy to use and we immediately felt confident that it was a winner. The UX for the end customer improved beyond recognition and our online sales almost tripled in some periods, so that speaks volumes! Because the Rezgo backend dashboard is so user-friendly with customizable reports, even our less “techie” personnel felt confident in accessing data on-screen instantly. Rezgo has also given us the opportunity to expand our B2B business with easy 3rd party access for our larger tour operator clients.

    Read More
  • Wildlife Adventures

    Safari West

    Founded in 1993 by Nancy and Peter Lang, Safari West Wildlife Preserve and African tent camp is one of the most extraordinary and exciting places located in Sonoma County, California. Safari West is a one-of-a-kind resort—accommodating both day guests and overnight visitors- there is no comparable property. We reward our guests with a high-quality wildlife adventure available nowhere else. We are the only wildlife experience in the area and the only preserve in the United States that combines education, tours, research, and overnight lodging near such an inspiring variety of exotic wildlife. There is no comparable property in North America. Before Rezgo, we had to manage our day guests on a beta tour scheduling system which did not have a fully integrated online reservation system with real time rates and availability. We were unable to book and sell our safari tours online. Unable to fully manage our in demand and sought-after tours and activities, we were experiencing reservation errors such as incorrect availability, double bookings, no shows and inaccurate guide scheduling, wrong dates, and uncollected payments. We desperately needed to transform our business and needed a robust tour scheduling software. Results The reason we chose Rezgo was, first and foremost, trust. We weren’t just looking for a vendor that could provide the scheduling and booking software. We were looking for an innovative partner. A partner that would follow through with what they say they could do—and provide us with solutions to expand our day-to-day booking operations. Rezgo is always willing to have honest and transparent conversations about what is going well and what is not. We rely on their team and Rezgo never disappoints us. They provided us with all the expertise and support we needed to get started—we knew with everything we had to gain; it was a no-brainer. Rezgo became an invaluable partner, and the value of that relationship is priceless. Rezgo improved our tour operation and reduced our operational costs which unquestionably increased sales and boosted overall revenue. But foremost it provided us with the guest service tools to streamline our reservation process and improve guest relations. Visitors to our website were easily converted into revenue through the online booking system. With Rezgo, we are always open for business. We were able to accept bookings and reservations online and able to manage our phone and in-person bookings with ease.

    Read More