We recently caught up with Mark Murphy, owner and founder of Oyster Luxury Scuba Diving and Travel Centre. We wanted to find out how Bookeo has been helping to keep his London, UK, business well above water.
Talking to Murphy, you’d never mistake him for fish food. But that’s exactly what a whale shark once did when the award-winning diving instructor was under the clear blue-green waters of Djibouti. He says it’s one of his favorite stories.
“Five whale sharks were swimming toward me, eating plankton,” Murphy recounts, “I couldn’t get out of the way, so I ended up in the mouth of one of them.”
The vacationing London marketing man was hooked. Not by the shark (fun fact: whale sharks are vegetarians), but by the idea of turning his passion into a profitable business venture: Oyster Luxury Scuba Diving and Travel Centre.
How do you run a business from ten leagues under the sea, you ask?
Well, Bookeo. Five years ago, after vetting several other options, Mark started using Bookeo for his diving school’s online bookings and payments. He says he’s been happy with it ever since.
Simple to use, yet more robust
Like most smart entrepreneurs, Mark stays focused on his business and his customers. “I’m not a web developer,” he says, continuing that he needs a system that’s “simple and straightforward so I can use it internally, and my staff can use it as well”.
Before choosing Bookeo, Mark says that he tried three or four other online booking systems. “We did a couple of free tests with a few of the others,” he says, “They were not up to the job - or they were just too complicated.”
Bookeo, on the other hand, combined user-friendly simplicity with the power and flexibility that Oyster Diving needed.
Perfect for clients too busy to call
Oyster Luxury Scuba Diving’s primary target customers are high income professionals. With locations including Soho and nine other posh London neighborhoods, Mark has a large and demanding market. He says that his clients have money - but they’re often “poor” on time.
Bookeo solved that problem instantly.
To book a lesson, his clientele used to have to send an email, “or they called us in the office.” Now, with Bookeo, Mark says they can find the service they want, learn what they need to know, and book their favorite time and place without any fuss, lost time, or even a phone call.
SMS reminders: Good for cash flow
Mark says that Bookeo’s automatic SMS and email reminders have been a boon to his business - and to his cash flow. Although they want to learn how to scuba dive, sometimes Oyster Diving’s busy, affluent customers need these reminders to stay on schedule.
Bookeo’s automatic reminders eliminate the aggravation of no-shows. Mark and his staff no longer lose any time spent rescheduling or explaining no-show policies to forgetful customers.
Premium online booking for a premium diving service
According to Mark, there are about ten competing dive centers in and around London, but having a good online booking system “does definitely set us apart from our competitors.” Bookeo’s deceptively well-designed simplicity has the power to handle multiple offerings, instructors, and locations, and Mark believes it helps Oyster Luxury Scuba Diving stand out from the diving school crowd.
“Bookeo gives us a calendar with exactly how many people are in each course, with details and sizes, so I would say it makes us more professional.” What’s more, Bookeo’s mobile app is easy for his customers to use on their mobile phones or tablets as well. That “makes us look very professional. We definitely increased our revenue as a result.”
Come on in. The water’s fine!
Whether you love scuba diving in sublime tropical locales, or you live in the southern UK and just want to learn how to dive, be sure to check out Oyster Luxury Scuba Diving and Travel Centre for a top quality experience.
If you own a business that uses Bookeo, we’d love to talk to you and feature your business in a case study as well. Message us at marketing@bookeo.com anytime!
