Search Icon

SUCCESS STORY

Phare, The Cambodian Circus

phare-the-cambodian-circus

Overview

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.

MORE SUCCESS STORIES

Don't Just Take Our Word For It

  • 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.

    Read More
  • Kayaking

    Atlantic Sea Kayaking

    At Atlantic Sea Kayaking, we’ve been offering unforgettable kayaking experiences on the stunning west coast of Ireland for over 25 years. Our passion is sharing the beauty and tranquillity of our local waters with adventurers from all over the world. We provide a wide variety of tours, from serene moonlight paddles and wildlife encounters to exhilarating open water sea kayaking adventures. Whether you’re an experienced kayaker or a first-timer, our highly trained guides ensure that every tour is tailored to your abilities, offering both safety and adventure. Results A few months back, we switched from WooCommerce to Rezgo, and it’s been a total game-changer for us. Before that, we were spending hours on bookings, sorting payments, sending out notifications, and chasing after customers for simple things such as waivers. One of the biggest advantages of Rezgo has been its ease of use. The platform effortlessly integrates into our daily operations, simplifying processes that once seemed overwhelming. It’s clear that Rezgo was designed with tour operators like us in mind. The support we’ve received from Rezgo has been top-class. From the very first demo and local support, the team is always on hand. We know that no booking system is perfect for everyone, but Rezgo has really shown they’re dedicated to working with us as genuine partners. They’re always keen to hear our feedback and are constantly improving the system to suit our needs. The Rezgo team has really gone above and beyond for us, and we couldn’t be happier with their support so far.

    Read More
  • Adventure Company

    Chukka Caribbean Adventures

    Chukka began in 1983 when an idea for a tour was born after visitors were encouraged to enjoy swimming the polo ponies in the warm Caribbean Sea. The combination of the scenic ride along a spectacular coast and a thrilling swim on horseback proved to be a launching pad for the company. Today, Chukka delivers over 750,000 tour experiences annually through roughly 85 tour packages across 15 independent excursion locations in Jamaica, Belize, Dominican Republic, Turks & Caicos and Barbados. Chukka excels at showcasing the natural side of the Caribbean through unique value-added experiences. We however struggled with our booking system. We lacked a proper online presence and had almost close to zero website sales. Inefficiency was the norm as our sales process was quite manual and tedious. Our existing booking system was inconsistent, lacked flexibility and didn’t allow us to connect to the outside world. Our team faced daily frustrations as we were constantly facing system outages, restoration of data, manual updates and delays due technical support. Results Approximately 10 years ago we had reached a peak of challenges and needed to find a partner who could help us to take charge of our booking process with a dynamic system. We went to the market with a RFP and engaged numerous developers but none seemed to have the experience and forward thinking for our industry. After many months we stumbled upon Rezgo’s website, they offered an immediate signup, no hassle and I could test it quickly without having to commit. Within a few hours of signup I recognized that there was definitely a partnership brewing. I reached out to the company and the CEO at the time emailed me back the same day. Now that, I thought, was the right way to begin a relationship that has lasted close to 10 years. Over the next few months and a few trips to Jamaica the team helped us to not only understand how Rezgo works but also gave us insight in how we could tweak our business process to maximize Rezgo’s potential. Since then, we have built our entire booking process, systems and sales departments around Rezgo, from our now big presence online with direct web sales to dynamic capacity management to reseller connections and API integrations. Rezgo has allowed us to get away from having a Reservations department locked away in a building to having our sales reps having the ability to make a booking, check availability at anytime, anywhere. With COVID-19, we’ve been able to utilize the check-in and electronic waiver features that have greatly improved our paperless environment.

    Read More