Stromma Group

Stromma is a leading provider of sightseeing tours and experiences across Northern Europe, specializing in bus and boat excursions under brands such as Hop On-Hop Off/City Sightseeing, Canal Tours and Strömma Kanalbolaget to name a few. Stromma has a history dating back to 1809 and fast forwarding to today, Strommas’ journey has been (to say the least) remarkable, now operating in 17 destinations across five countries. Stromma offers a range of activities such as hop-on-hop-off tours, guided tours, and dining cruises. Committed to sustainability and high customer service standards, Stromma aims to enhance visitor experiences while promoting environmental responsibility.

Challenge

Stromma faced significant operational challenges due to the complexity of selling experiences across various platforms and regions. Christine Vesterholm, Head of Business Support, and Anna-Karin Andersson, Head of Online Sales, highlighted issues such as over booking and the lack of real-time sales synchronization across different sales channels for example an integrated POS solution. Additionally, managing different types of experiences on the same tour, such as dinner cruises in Stockholm and Gothenburg with variable seating capacities and tour options, added to the complexity. The manual management of different Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) was also time-consuming and prone to lead to errors.

Solution

Stromma’s implementation of iTicket was driven by the platform’s ability to consolidate multiple operational needs into a single, integrated solution. This not only streamlined their ticketing process but also enabled real-time inventory management across all sales channels, ensuring that over booking issues were a thing of the past. The system’s flexibility allowed for distinct operational modes tailored to the unique requirements of each destination, enhancing local operational efficiency while maintaining a cohesive strategy across the company.

iTicket’s seamless integration capabilities extend across its own ecosystem and to Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) for online sales. This integration provides Stromma with a unified view of sales and inventory, essential for the efficient management of their diverse offerings. Such integration is particularly vital for products that feature variable components with different capacities and suppliers. By consolidating these details into a single platform, iTicket enables Stromma to manage their offerings more effectively, ensuring that each aspect of the customer experience is well-coordinated, and that no booking opportunity is missed due to system disparities.

“We get a true all-in-one solution with iTicket, allowing us to do complex things back office to make it easier for our guest to book their experience,” noted Anna-Karin Andersson.

The strategic partnership between Stromma and iTicket also included regular collaboration on business development and system optimization. This ongoing dialogue ensured that the iTicket system continuously evolved in line with Stromma’s expanding needs and helped identify new opportunities for enhancing customer engagement and operational efficiency.

The partnership between Stromma and iTicket is described as close and collaborative, with regular strategic workshops and follow-ups that go beyond a typical vendor-client relationship. iTicket’s integration capabilities allowed for real-time updates and external voucher validation from OTAs, ensuring all bookings were using a unified inventory system.

"Stromma's need is to sell to the guest where the guest is. Online, offline, ticket shops, by phone, and through OTAsiTicket helps us to do this in an effective way, using capacity from the same inventory"

CHRISTINE VESTERHOLM, HEAD OF BUSINESS SUPPORT

Results

Immediate Outcomes

Implementing iTicket led to immediate improvements in operational efficiency and customer experience. The mobile POS systems as well as the regular POS provided by iTicket allowed Stromma to serve guests directly and seamlessly check them in, even integrating tickets issued by OTAs. Variable pricing strategies were easily managed within iTicket, optimizing revenue by adjusting prices based on demand.

iTicket’s robust financial tools have brought substantial benefits to Stromma’s operations. With precise tracking and management capabilities, iTicket allows for accurate handling of multiple VAT rates across different service components. This functionality is crucial in ensuring compliance with tax regulations and simplifying complex financial processes internally. The system effectively addresses the financial nuances of variable products and experiences, such as dinner cruises, where components like travel, food, and beverages may each have distinct VAT implications.

Long-term Benefits

Stromma has seen significant long-term benefits from their partnership with iTicket. The ability to manage all tours regardless of complexity from a single system has simplified operations significantly. For instance, in Amsterdam and Copenhagen, guests can choose their boarding points when booking in Stromma’sonline channel, whilebeing able to steering locations in other channels to balance loads and enhance the guest experience. The iTicket Manifest has also streamlined daily operations, allowing external partners like restauratuers to access relevant data securely, ensuring efficient preparation and delivery.

To fellow industry colleagues Stromma would like to say…

Both Christine and Anna-Karin stress the importance of thorough training for staff on the iTicket system to fully leverage its capabilities. The all-in-one solution simplifies the booking process for customers and allows for sophisticated backend operations, making it a recommended choice for businesses using multiple sales channels and a diverse range of products.

In conclusion, Stromma’s implementation of iTicket has transformed their ability to manage a complex, multi-destination operation, enhancing both the customer experience and operational efficiency. This partnership not only meets current needs but also equips Stromma and iTicket to adapt to future challenges in the ever-evolving tourism industry.