Much of the last 12 months or so will of course be remembered for COVID-19 and the devastating impact it had on our communities, businesses and lives. And yet through this time, we have witnessed tremendous generosity from many hospitality venues and been reminded of...
The next key gifting date on the horizon is Valentine’s Day on Friday 14th February. Although so many things have changed due to the pandemic, one of the things that has remained is that people love to gift It’s highly likely that more gifts for this date will...
Black Friday represents a huge opportunity for many luxury hotels. For the past two years, it’s been the biggest sales date of the year (based on the sales data of over 300 luxury hotels) and venues with a successful campaign achieved, on average, an increase of...
Now more than ever the hospitality industry needs our support. 2020 has been a tough year, with hospitality being one of the sectors hardest hit by the restrictions put in place due to COVID-19. The next few months will be a critical time for venues and the...
Life seems to flow along quite smoothly in general, don’t you think? We live, we make plans, we work.. And at work – ideas & innovations unfold, we set goals, we fine tune – there’s a bit of surface ‘stuff’ to brush off from time to time and we reset and...
It’s been nearly three months since hotels in the UK have closed, in line with government guidance to minimise the spread of the coronavirus. Recent weeks and months have been and will continue to be incredibly challenging as hotels continue to navigate this dynamic...
Gifts that deliver happiness, hopefulness & love VISIT ‘TOGETHER’ GIFT STORE We’ve been looking at ways in which we can help and support our hotel clients during these unprecedented times, both on a deeper client to client level, and in a wider...
SK Chase works within the hospitality sector, where we work together with over 300 luxury hotels, providing the software and service that enables them to successfully sell their gift ‘experiences’ online. In line with government guidelines to prevent the spread of...
With many of our clients making the decision to close this week, we’ve looked again at how we can help and support hotels navigating the deeply concerning coronavirus situation. SK Chase works within the hospitality sector, where we work together with over 300 luxury...
The future is never certain, but this feels never more so than in the present time, with the deeply concerning worldwide coronavirus situation, with news and advice on what to do changing by the day and hour. SK Chase works within the hospitality sector, where we work...
Did you know that Mother’s Day is the third biggest luxury hotel gift voucher shopping date of the year (after Black Friday and Christmas), where a number of hotels that we work with who run a strong campaign can sell up to 7 times more than usual week!The power...
Cybercrime is on the increase and no industry is immune as cybercriminals come up with increasingly creative ways to steal money! Here’s some helpful advice on the common characteristics of a fraudulent gift voucher order and what to do if you think all is not...
We help our clients develop and grow their gift voucher sales with our software and service, which includes providing personalised relevant marketing insights (particulary at key gifting dates) that lead to meaningful actions & increased conversions. Here’s...
We’re now just one week away from Black Friday, approaching what could be the busiest sales date of the year, in terms of gift voucher / certificate sales, for some luxury hotels. We work with over 300 luxury hotels, based mainly in UK and in 2018 Black Friday...
More gift voucher / gift certificate orders are placed on weekdays rather than weekends, with Monday being the day most orders are placed. Less orders are put through on Friday and Saturday evenings, than any other days of the week.
Over the last few years the craze of the ‘gin boom’ has influenced bars around the UK and has quickly become one of the trendiest tipples in the drinks industry. From gin tastings to gin distillery tours to gin and tonic sweets and to the latest trend gin & tonic...
When we think of ‘Mondays’, first thoughts may be that it’s perhaps not a favourite day of the week, but our research shows that it’s the most popular day of the week to purchase a hotel gift experience, as you can see in the graph below, based...
We’ve recently released a new feature! BUYING OPTIONS This enhancement enables different buying ‘options’ associated with an experience to be presented on one voucher card on a gift site, giving an improved user experience for people browsing gift...
Your first thought may be ‘Father’s Day’, however analysis we’ve conducted shows that ‘Thank You’ gifts are nine times more popular as a ‘reason for purchase’ over the same period (May & June 2018 stats). When we...
And luxury hotels are a huge part of it! As Sales Manager here at SK Chase, I attend the UK Gift Voucher Conference each year where the latest trends in the industry are being shared. This year there was an exciting speaker on stage called James Wallman. He wrote the...
Afternoon tea is a long-running quintessentially British tradition, dating back to the early 18th century and we have seen the experience increase in popularity over the years. There is certainly a lot of choice for an afternoon indulgence, but I must say The Waldorf...
If you are wondering whether it’s too soon to begin any ‘last minute’ festive gift voucher sales and marketing ideas / campaigns, wonder no more. It definitely isn’t. Up to 40% of shoppers will wait until the last 10 days before Christmas to...
Men spend on average 24% more per gift voucher purchased than women, according to the latest research from SK Chase, specialist in luxury hotels and resorts gift voucher solutions, with a male average selling price of £96.89 and female average selling price at £77.86....
Social media is an essential part of a hotels’ Marketing Strategy, with Facebook and Instagram at the forefront. These two giants dominate social media over 30 million people in the UK actively using Facebook (and checking their feed on average 8 times a day!),...
“Sell the right gift experience, to the right customer, at the right time and at the right price” Since the concept of Black Friday was introduced to the UK back in 2010 followed by Cyber Monday a few years later, it would appear that it’s here to stay. So, let...
For the first time ever, the busiest gift voucher / certificate sales for our luxury hotel clients date fell on Black Friday last year, as oppose to late December, as you can see in the infographic above, which highlights voucher buying trends from 01 November –...
You’ve done it! You have a beautiful and luxurious website, giving people a wonderful flavour of your venue and brand, with links to your gift voucher site in all the relevant places, such as: Main navigation menu Sub menus, such as dining, spa, golf and overnight...
A dedicated team of developers are continuing work on the SK Chase suite of applications and we’re currently implementing a new design and user experience of the voucher ‘browse’ on our clients’ digital voucher stores, with a number of going ‘live’ with the new design...
Did you know that mobile is now the primary channel on which consumers read marketing emails (according to research published in ‘Marketing Week’)? It’s not surprising really when you consider that around 81% of adults in the UK own a smartphone, spending on...
Monday – the first day of the week may not be a favourite day in our minds, but they are generally the most popular day of the week for online shopping. According to Criteo (which represents a growing network of 15,000 advertisers across the globe and reaches 1.2B...
In today’s competitive market, luxury brands such as yours have to connect with customers in more creative ways than ever during the weekend sales bonanza of Black Friday – Cyber Monday. Our cloud based gift voucher management system makes it very easy to...
Cyber-crime is on the increase and no industry is immune as people devise increasingly creative methods to commit fraud. The UK lost almost £11bn to cyber criminals in 2016 and this figure is set to grow as offenders come up with more sophisticated ways to harm to any...
New Gift Voucher ‘Dashboard’ released We were delighted to release a new gift voucher dashboard to all our 330+ clients in March 2017, bringing them instant access to their gift voucher sales data and all the benefits that having this at their fingertips...
At SK Chase we create personable and bespoke training sessions for our clients, to inspire and build confidence in using our gift voucher software. Our software (and service) make it easy for hotels to sell & manage their gift experiences and we work with over 330...
Breathe new life into your gift voucher copy Spring is in the air. We can see it and finally after a long winter, feel it too. It’s a time of new life, renewal and growth. Take all that this season brings to breathe new life and energy into your hotel’s gift...
As the shops begin to play a couple more festive songs, and the street decoration boxes begin to get unpacked up and down the country, it is near on impossible to miss that Christmas is coming… and for some it comes earlier and earlier each year. Each year, we dust of...
A move from sometimes ‘boring’ eLearning to a ‘blended’ learning environment As Head of Training at SK Chase it’s my responsibility to ensure that our clients are using their gift voucher site to its best and are as knowledgeable as possible on how...
‘Letting your heart rule your head’ To me, I have always associated that saying, with when you think someone is making the wrong choice. I’m sure I’ve said it at times when I thought my friends shouldn’t continue in their current...
Happiness… It even has its own day now! Happiness. It’s important, right? Throughout our lives we will all experience times of happiness and times of sadness. Whilst we might not be able to control everything going on around us, most of us would prefer to go about our...
Online shopping – where would we be without it! I really mean it, from organising flights and holidays to bargain hunting for clothes and even ordering food for dinner. It can all be done within a few clicks. As a consumer, the convenience of online shopping and the...
Ok, so where is he going with this, I hear you ask… but stick with me, there is a point to it! Most drivers will have seen the signs along the road intended to reduce the numbers of road traffic accidents, but have you ever considered taking this advice “off-road”. I...
After looking into happiness economics, knowing that experiences make people happy, means that we are in a great position to spread the joy! As gift voucher specialists we are so excited to introduce What I Really Wanted. This is our new consumer brand to help people...
What makes people happy…and why? There has been a lot of work carried out and theories created that revolve around the economics of ‘happiness’. The Easterlin Paradox – a key concept in this – concludes that higher incomes relate to happiness,...
As many people do, I am subscribed to various industry related mailers and often delete these before I get the chance to read them. One that recently arrived in my inbox really struck a chord with me, it was titled “The importance of empathy in customer service”. I...
‘Change’ it’s a funny old word… And it is…isn’t it? But no doubt something we are all fairly familiar with, be it in our working lives or our personal ones. If you were to believe in anything to do with horoscopes, I’m not supposed to like change. I’m a Taurean (the...
In June 2015 we asked our clients to spare a few moments of their time to complete a survey that we created all about their gift voucher business. The results are invaluable; it helps us understand what our clients really value, turn this insight into action and...
Did you know that mobile is now the primary channel on which consumers read marketing emails (according to research published in ‘Marketing Week’)? It’s not surprising really when you consider that around 70% of adults in the UK own a smartphone and 91% of people keep...
If you own a smartphone the chances are you’ve been on Google and made a search. How annoying is it when you click on a result and your chosen website takes some time to load? According to Kissmetrics frustration leads to abandonment for many of us after only 6...
Last November I was scrolling through my LinkedIn feed and I came across a quote which really struck a chord with me. The person who shared the quote noted that one of the most dangerous things that you can ever hear within a business is: “We’ve always done it this...
As Training Manager for SK Chase I am fortunate enough to visit and stay in our clients’ amazing hotels and resorts. Friends often ask me ‘which hotels are your favourites?’ This is such a hard question to answer. I have visited so many beautiful properties. Is it...
This month I wish to discuss work life balance. The subject of emailing out of hours has come up in conversation in the office a few times in recent weeks, which has sparked an interest in this topic for me. Is it possible in today’s fast moving society to...
We offer a ‘complete’ gift voucher solution to luxury hotels and resorts. A solution that enables luxury hotels, resorts and collections, such as Gleneagles, Rocco Forte Hotels, The Savoy, Chewton Glen and Elite Hotels to sell gift experiences directly via...
Why do luxury hotels and resorts choose to work with us? We’ve thought long and hard about what sets us apart from other gift voucher companies. So rather than just list out our attributes, (which if you’re interested to read, you’ll find them below!) we decided to...
We’re often asked when meeting with potential clients, ‘Why is SK Chase the specialist in luxury hotels’ & resorts’ gift voucher solutions’? That’s our tagline at SK Chase – but just what is it that makes us able to say that we believe this to be the...
Why we’re here is simple: we set people free. The reason SK Chase is in business, is to set our clients free from the day to day hassle of gift vouchers and give them the opportunity to generate more money from them; we enable luxury hotels and resorts to focus on...
People who care are my favourite. You know the people I mean. Those that actually care about their impact on the world and people around them. Even knowing them is fun and rewarding. Now I’m not just talking about the big things, like saving the planet or...
Have you ever watched a talk online and been so inspired by it, that you watched it again straight away? A friend shared a TED talk by Shawn Achor called ‘The happy secret to better work’, and I LOVED it. As soon as I had watched it once, I watched it again 🙂 ‘The...
My life has changed quite considerably in the past 8 months. Not only have I started a fantastic new job, I have also moved out of home into my first ever property. Moving & changing jobs came within just a few months of each other and I was aware that I was...
We’ve been working on a new and improved ‘Help’ section for our clients, which will help them find out whatever they need to know about gift vouchers quickly, helping them complete any task with ease, making using our gift voucher website and management...
Prior to joining SK Chase, I came from a hotel background. Hotels are made up of many departments, involving lots of people working to different agendas. Of course the vision was always to provide outstanding service to our guests, however, the journey in how we...
With a background in education and the knowledge that learning is ‘for life’, I knew that I was particular as to the type of environment that I wanted to work in. I needed one that would give me the opportunity to progress and continue to encourage learning. A new...
This particular post is more of a ‘visual’ one (so if you are reading this via email, it would be best to go to our blog to ‘see’ what I mean!) Our culture The company culture at SK Chase is unique – and it means so much to the people who work here. We invest in...
‘Space’ and particularly the taking of space in relation to work, has been something which had really come into focus for me this past month. As a result of me delving a little deeper into this, I thought it fitting to then base this blog post on my...
SK Chase – the next phase As I sit here writing this blog on the 30th of December, just after our busiest period of the year, I have been able to reflect on the past year at SK Chase, and in particular the last 3-6 months. I wanted to take some space to...
Everyone loves picking up a bargain in the January sales, so we recommend that our clients also consider running a special gift voucher promotion as a ‘January Sale’ with vouchers available at a discounted rate or with extra value added to them....
Would you like to see into the future? Predicting our clients’ gift voucher sales in December Of course, nobody can really see into the future, but what we can do is look back, see any trends that develop and predict what is likely to happen based on previous...
After three and a half years of working with SK Chase, it’s time for me to slowly say good bye. I am moving back to Vienna, Austria to set up my own business where I will be holding workshops and creating empowerment tools for people that are on their own...
Receiving a gift voucher My husband and I were so grateful to receive some amazing and generous presents at our recent wedding two months ago. Among our gifts were some gift vouchers, some for shops, so we can choose what to buy and some for a specific use, even one...
We’d all like to get a bit closer to our customers and our latest infographic looks at just how close our clients’ are to their gift voucher buyers, in relation to their hotel or resort. We looked at a mixture of both city centre hotels and resorts and...
In today’s society we are constantly on the go, always in a rush, burning the candle at both ends. Our days are mapped out to the last minute, we follow high schedules. Our world is geared up to feed our desire to cram as many activities into our day as possible. I...
SK Chase is ten years old this week! To celebrate we’ve created this video, where the two founders of SK Chase (Kaye & Steph) reflect on ten years in business, share their thoughts and talk about what’s next for the business. Enjoy!
Welcome to infographic #2 This infographic looks at the male / female buyer percentage split. It’s best to view our infographic in full by clicking onto this PDF. As you can see, women purchase the most gift vouchers! Although not a huge surprise that women are the...
This is the first of our new guest blogs. We are delighted that Fergus King of Shirlaws will be writing a series of business blogs for us over the coming months. Over the last 14 years and now in 11 countries, Shirlaws has helped more than 3,000 business owners build...
SK Chase are excited to announce that we are in the process of recruiting for three new roles within the business. These roles are Service Manager, Client Support Administrator and Training Manager. Both the Service Manager and Client Support Administrator roles are...
Have you ever been stopped in your tracks, struck by what someone has just said? It happened to me the other day. I had just turned on the radio in the car and what the presenter said hooked me straight away. Which is really saying something because my two seven year...
Visiting JEM Marketing Jon and Linda took a trip to visit JEM Marketing, our fulfilment partner. After a drive through the leafy lanes of Cranleigh, they arrived at their impressive warehouse. Before having a look around, they met their lovely team who consistently...
Welcome to the first SK Chase Infographic post! Each month, we’d like to share information, data or knowledge about gift vouchers with you in a visual way. We’ll be using the data we’ve stored over the years to create these to share with...
As self proclaimed Queen of Culture at SK Chase I was feeling rather smug when I arrived for Julie Grieve’s recent talk on How to Avoid Toxic Teams. “It’s not really relevant for us” was my remark to Steph as we made our way to the Morton Fraser Business Women’s...
Visions Each function manager is in the process of putting together a new vision for their functions. A vision is a clear picture of the future, which is something that you choose to become real and when painted properly, conjures up positive emotions and feelings....
I’m currently attending “B-School” with Marie Forleo which is an online business school for entrepreneurs that want to set up an online business. It was sponsored by SK Chase as part of my personal development! Thank you Kaye & Steph 🙂 In one of...
What a team! Check out one of our team shots from last month’s photo shoot by Marc from Klaklak – what a lovely team we make (if we do say so ourselves!). We’ve been using the individual photos taken for our Linkedin profile pictures and on other relevant...
No-one knows the true origin of April Fool’s Day, but there are many possible stories claiming ownership of it. One of the most popular is that it originated in France in the 16th century. Historically, the New Year fell on the 25th March and was celebrated by a...
Smile! The SK Chase team were all smiles yesterday as the marketing function had organised a photoshoot for everyone, so we can use the photos in our material, including our new website. Marc from Klaklak was our photographer. We had an awesome time and got some...
At a time where mistrust and dishonesty seem to be at the forefront of our daily news bulletins, with the world divided over the recent Oscar Pistorius murder case and afore that the Lance Armstrong drugs scandal, it seems topical to talk about culture and...
Functionality Functionality is still one of our business focal points. Since our last functionality workshop we are working on getting clear on what the ‘next phase’ of SK Chase looks like. Kaye is back in Edinburgh, where the SK Chase office is based, for...
Before I started writing this blog I thought I knew exactly how it would turn out. I had the structure planned out in my head and a page full of notes. As a thinker I thought I knew every detail, word for word, can you sense there is a BUT coming up here? I don’t...
Happy New Year from the SK Chase Team! Values Our culture is very unique and special to us, therefore when anyone new joins SK Chase we make sure they understand our values. Kaye has recently held two values workshops for our two newest recruits, Jon and Linda. She...
Kaye and I were having a coaching session a while back and I had a lovely realisation that I didn’t actually have to ‘do’ anything other than connect to myself. Whilst this may sound a bit obvious to some and perhaps a bit weird to others, I’m going to attempt to...
New Start – New Outlook Since starting at SK Chase on June 19th, I have absorbed an abundance of business changing frameworks and techniques, learnt company ins and outs, and attended some wonderfully insightful and inspiring team workshops. As a result, the...
Communication The team have now transformed internal communications since our Communications Workshop. We are all now trying to think and put in to action ways we can implement the same transformation to external communication and utilise our key learnings across...
Applying Context So many choices. So many options. How do you create the Wedding of your dreams once it’s ‘real’ when there are so many decisions to make and each decision has so many options? The answer: apply a context and the decisions become so much easier. Since...
Communication Project Since our Together Project sessions, Kaye can feel herself moving from an ‘independent’ state to a place of interdependence with the team – and that’s all because of trust (trusting myself and my colleagues). It feels...
We’ve come to the end now of our ‘Together’ workshops (but really of course, it’s just the beginning). Together business At SK Chase we’re all aware that we’d like to work more closely together, and at the three workshops we agreed: What working together means (being...
Improving Customer Service We are very excited to be improving our customer service by entering into a new partnership with a team who specialise in providing customer services to luxury brands. They will provide telephone and email support to our clients from 29th...
It’s quite apt that this blog is called ‘together-business’; I didn’t consciously realise the full significance and depth of our chosen business tag line (SK Chase – the together business) until very recently. A few days ago, in fact. Did I say that out loud? I’ve...
The whole team are still committed to our ‘Together’ project and had another ‘Together’ workshop at the end of last month, where we were coached on what we need to focus on to achieve togetherness, ie what’s at the source/ It was great to acknowledge what we do well...
I was lucky enough to be able to attend a one day course hosted by Hub Events and facilitated by Larry Reynolds on the 24th May, which was titled “The Manager’s Guide to Flexible Working”. As a business SK Chase is really focused on creating a healthy work/life...
The whole team were in Edinburgh for our ‘Together’ workshop with our business coach Fergus King from Shirlaws. During this time, we got to the heart of what ‘together’ means, why it is valuable to choose to work together and reflected on our own personal reasons for...
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