Aberconwy Web Solutions
Aberconwy Web Solutions, Betws-y-Coed, Conwy

Kevin Jones is the man behind one of the most successful Internet-based operations in Wales, keeping people up-to-date with events, accommodation, and features on the north Wales region. He is also the winner of the Opportunity Wales eCommerce Award, part of the Western Mail Business Awards for 2005.

Kevin runs two diverse businesses, with his wife. The first is a successful guest house, Aberconwy House, in Betws-y-Coed. Whilst running Aberconwy House, Kevin considered what software he would like to use to automate and improve the running of the guest house business. These “what if?” questions led Kevin to take the plunge and develop his own suite of tourism software products.

This new company, Aberconwy Web Solutions, allowed Kevin to put his knowledge of the tourism sector to the test by developing bespoke, Internet-ready packages which guest houses and hotels can use.

One part of the Aberconwy Web Solutions portfolio is a digital content development service for the sector, which was the company’s first service and remains active to this day. The service builds Web sites and multimedia CDs for tourism businesses across north Wales. The other, and largest part of the portfolio, is a Customer Relationship Management and eMail newsletter service called Info4-u.

The Info4-u system and support is provided for free, and is sponsored by the Wales Tourist Board and Tourism Partnership North Wales.

CRM is undoubtedly one of the key components that a business can use, providing important information on visitors, the quality of their visit, and the way in which they choose to engage with the company in the future. Upon commencing development of Info4-u, Kevin felt that CRM and regular electronic communications to customers was extremely important to the tourism industry as a whole, but that take-up across north Wales could have been improved. However, once businesses saw the possibilities that eCommerce can bring, the logic was compelling.

Kevin first started producing eMail newsletters to customers, using off-the-shelf software. Once this had proved a success, some colleagues in the sector approached him to develop a similar solution for them. Content covered in the newsletter features not only information on where to stay, but what to do during the stay – walks, cycle paths, activities, and so on. The primary idea of the newsletter was to suggest new and innovative ways to attract return visitors to north Wales.

Innovation and new ideas kept the CRM/newsletter service continually at the forefront of tourism communications in the area. The “lag time” between a booking and occupation provided a clear path for marketing. “If somebody books in January, and they’re not going to be with you until August, they will receive – if they wish – quite a lot of newsletters, giving them things that they can think of, to increase the enjoyment of their stay”, says Kevin. Out of this communication, booking durations have grown: “People realise how much there is to see and do in North Wales, and they actually extend their stay.”

The look and feel of the newsletter is completely customisable to the business sending it. Its content can consist of up to 9 articles, produced from a database of articles, submitted by the businesses themselves. Kevin feels that this level of co-operation has worked to everyone’s benefit: the readers, who will hopefully gravitate to becoming customers; the businesses themselves, writing and promoting the north Wales region; and the Web presence of sites in north Wales, where the co-operation has led to a high degree of linking to business and promotional sites, from each newsletter article, leading to a greater search engine presence overall.

As Kevin has moved forward with this co-operative culture in mind, the software has been continually advancing. Kevin relates the development of Info4-u to the Opportunity Wales eCommerce ladder: “This has been very much along the ladder. We’ve moved, as a group – as an increasingly growing group – up the ladder together.”

Some of the businesses using Info4-u have claimed over 1000 active subscribers to their newsletter, ensuring that timely and pertinent communications can both inform and inspire.

Kevin now feels that being the holder of the award for 2005 will enable him to generate further business from the merit it can bring, as well as delivering recognition and congratulations for a product which has really captured the spirit of north Wales, being developed ‘from the ground up’ with the local business community on board from the start.

“I believe in this product. I wanted a critical body to look at it, and say ‘yes – it’s good, it has potential’ – and, the prestige that comes from winning an award would be a boost… To have a body like Opportunity Wales to look at this, and to judge this of such merit to win such an award… it’s really boosted my enthusiasm – higher than it normally is!”

“The exposure that’s come from winning the award in the local papers has done exactly what I wanted it to do – it’s increased the amount of people that have looked at the system, and said ‘yes, I think that I can use that, I can see the benefits’ – so it’s done everything that I set out and hoped that it would.”

www.info4-u.com