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SUCCESS STORY

Adventures Cambodia

adventures-cambodia

Overview

 

I am Akim Ly, founder of Adventures Cambodia. My story starts inside Angkor Wat. I was raised in the pagoda inside the walls; my grandfather was the Grand Abbot there. As a girl, I shaved my head and lived like a boy so the monks let me stay. In the rainy season, I swam in the temple pools. At sixteen I opened my own small restaurant in front of Angkor Wat. Then I spent fifteen years abroad.

 

In 2013, I came home to Siem Reap and started Adventures Cambodia, a women-owned private tour company. We run private guided tours of Angkor and the Siem Reap countryside by Vespa, vintage Jeep and pedal-assist e-bike, with licensed guides and hotel pickup included. We also run an After Dark food tour and private multi-day packages. For our guests, Angkor is a wonder of the world. For me, it is home.

 

When I started the company thirteen years ago, our sales came mainly from the OTAs and from our local partners. The tours were good, the guests were happy, but the money side was the wall. In Cambodia, getting paid online is not simple. And when a guest cannot pay you direct, the middle man takes his part. We tried to do it ourselves first. We used WordPress and WooCommerce. But we are a very small operator. We are tour people, not IT people, and to maintain that system was eating our time.

 

 

 

Results

 

With Rezgo, the booking side works and I don’t have to think about it. And now Rezgo is linked with our OTAs, so our inventory is live everywhere. We cannot sell the same date two times by mistake. For a small team, this peace is worth a lot.

 

I like the support very much. It is very one to one. When I write, a real person answers me, someone who knows us. I feel we are talking to a human and not a robot. For a small company on the other side of the world, this is important.

 

Cambodia is far from everywhere. When our guests plan their trip, often we are sleeping. Now they go on adventurescambodia.com at any hour, they see the real availability, they pay securely by card, and the confirmation arrives right away. We wake up and the tour is booked already.

 

Rezgo’s flexibility has been valuable to us. A family asks for a child price, a couple wants a private tour, some guests like to share, and our Jeep rental has one price for the whole vehicle. Rezgo can manage all of this in one place. I don’t need to be technical, and it works.

 

Since we moved to Rezgo, our direct online sales have grown exponentially, year on year. When I started, other people sold for us. Now, the guests come to us direct. For me, that is everything.

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Don't Just Take Our Word For It

  • Attractions

    Phare, The Cambodian Circus

    Phare Circus is the most unique, authentic and socially responsible business in Siem Reap. The circus is the social business extension of Phare Ponleu Selpaknon-profit school. The school was founded by 9 young men and an art teacher from France who came together in the refugee camp during the Khmer Rouge war. Arts, education and social support are the primary missions, but some students showed tremendous talent and determination. The circus was started to provide those students well-paying job opportunities that didn’t previously exist in Cambodia, while at the same time providing financial support to the non-profit school. Phare Circus is the textbook definition of a social enterprise. The business is 75% owned by the non-profit school. All revenue generated from the business supports the school or other social causes. Jobs created have helped break the cycle of poverty of at-risk Cambodian youth. Phare Circus is not a conventional acrobatic circus. It’s uniquely Cambodian story telling using live music, dance, drama, circus and sometimes visual arts. The artists create the stories themselves based on their life experiences. This brings a character and authenticity not often found in live performances. They share a part of their lives with guests. Before Rezgo, Phare Circus did not have its own online booking platform. A link to a third-party site was provided on the ticketing page, which was the only online sales presence we had at the time. It worked, but didn’t help with credibility to send sales to another site. It limited the amount of customer information we could get and how we interacted with them. It’s also an expensive way to sell compared to a proper direct-sales mechanism. Then our CEO met Rezgo at an event in Singapore. It happened to be at the same time that a bank in Cambodia first introduced online merchant accounts. We introduced Rezgo to the bank and they worked out all the programming needed to connect. This kind of service has been one of the main reasons Rezgo has retained our business. There have been several competitors approaching us since then, but we feel Rezgo has been a true partner and that means something. Rezgo has been very responsive to our requests, even if they are a bit unique. Results With Rezgo, our website bookings have become our #1 single source of ticket sales. In 2019, ticket sales on the Phare Circus website were four times higher than the highest-selling DMC. Having more control over sales allows us to make decisions that best benefit the organization vs being at the mercy of business partners. Customer information collected during the booking process has allowed us to build relationships with guests. The most important element of Rezgo for us is that customers can book, pay and receive instant confirmation from our own website. Online direct bookers don’t want to wait, and the process must be fast and easy. Providing POS access to higher volume local agents took a lot of pressure off our own customer service staff too, automating the transaction rather than having them call in. Rezgo’s personal service and flexibility has helped make Phare Circus a leader in Cambodia for booking and paying online.

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  • Sightseeing and Transportation

    Tofino Water Taxi

    Tofino Water Taxi has been operating a thriving water taxi service in Tofino, British Columbia for over 17 years. Nestled on the stunning Pacific coast, our company offers transportation services to remote islands, secluded natural hot springs and wildlife tours, allowing tourists and locals alike to explore the natural beauty of the region in an environmentally sustainable manner. Recognizing the growing demand for online bookings, we decided to invest in a booking system that could streamline our operations and enhance customer convenience. After careful research and consideration, we chose Rezgo as our preferred booking system provider. We were impressed by their local team, robust features, user-friendly interface, and reputation in the industry. Little did we know just how much of an impact this decision would have on our business. Results Since implementing Rezgo’s booking system into our operations, we have seen a significant increase in sales. The ease of use and accessibility of online bookings has attracted more customers than ever before. With just a few clicks, travelers can now secure their seats on our water taxis from anywhere at any time. In addition to boosting sales figures, Rezgo has also greatly improved efficiency within our company. The automated processes for managing reservations and tracking availability have eliminated double bookings or scheduling conflicts that used to take up much time when relying solely on manual systems. Overall, I couldn’t be happier with my decision to choose Rezgo as our booking system provider. Their flexible capabilities perfectly suit niche businesses like ours that require specific functionality when communicating with offline drivers. If you’re seeking an efficient and reliable solution for your booking needs, I highly recommend giving Rezgo a try. Thank you once again to the entire team at Rezgo for revolutionizing how Tofino Water Taxi operates its business – we are thrilled with results thus far!

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  • Woodland Adventures

    Bowhunter Archery

    Based near Nairn in the Scottish Highlands, Bowhunter Archery offers visitors the chance to experience exciting outdoor activities like woodland archery, axe throwing, and bushcraft in small groups, guided by experienced instructors. Being a small, family-run business, time management is one of our greatest financial challenges. Since we operate over 8 different outdoor, woodland-based activities, we aren’t always able to answer phone calls or respond promptly to emails, messages, or even texts. On top of that, our remote location means mobile phone signals are unreliable, making it difficult to handle bookings or reply to enquiries efficiently. As a result, we were missing out on potential visitors, unable to fill last-minute spots simply because we couldn’t receive those calls. To address this, we realised the need for a system that would allow guests to check real-time availability and reserve their preferred slots at their own convenience—ensuring they can choose what best suits their memorable experiences in Scotland. During our evaluation of potential booking systems, we prioritised flexibility to accommodate multiple activities for a specific number of participants. It was essential that we retained control over activity management to enable us to consistently deliver a high-quality service. Given that our activities are already competitively priced, minimising revenue loss due to fees was critical. And finally, having clear tutorials and human support that empower users to independently manage their systems was a winner for us. Results The main advantage we’ve experienced with Rezgo is significant time savings. This has translated into cost efficiency because the staff member who used to manage bookings can now spend more time in the woods leading activities, like Haggis Herding! Bookings are submitted, assigned to instructors, and all logistics—including mandatory waivers—are organised before the visitors even arrive. The system has greatly improved our efficiency and reduced administrative workload. There’s been an increase–approximately 10%–in last-minute bookings that we were previously missing out on. Our resource-based setup provides real-time availability, giving customers control over their own experience, whilst we still have control over what is on offer for that specific date. And we’ve also made it easier for guests who plan ahead by allowing them to book well in advance. Rezgo’s booking software allows us to concentrate on business growth and quality by managing notifications, payments, gift vouchers, feedback, and comprehensive reports—including data on visitor origins. This facility has really helped us track and anticipate trends within worldwide tourism. We also use the reports to establish what activities are the most popular, patterns in days and times, along with all the usual financial reporting (and the most popular session is always the Woodland Archery!). With automated capacity management and instant communication, we can focus on growing our business and creating new experiences for our visitors–without losing our voice to the booking system, since we can customize it to reflect who we are. Rezgo’s onboarding experience was handled smoothly, complete with tutorials and ongoing support. Adopting new technology can feel intimidating, especially when it’s something as complex as a booking system. Many of our staff aren’t comfortable with technology—they’re more at home in the woods with the dinosaurs, and using a phone is already pushing their comfort zone. However, thanks to excellent tutorials, a helpful support team, and a well-organized knowledge base on the booking platform’s website, our staff have received strong guidance so far. As I prepare to add staff to the process, I am confident that any potential issues will be easily addressed by Rezgo’s support team. They are invested in our success and ensure our operations run efficiently.

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