StayPlayUK partners with TXGB to create a simplified booking experience for family holiday makers

With an estimated 19.4 million families in the UK* and rising, the family traveller has long been a key target market for tourism businesses.

That’s why we’re delighted to be the booking technology partner for StayPlayUK – an exciting new platform for planning UK family adventures, launched by entrepreneur, Katie Manson.

Katie and her team share our passion for making the booking experience as seamless and efficient as possible for travellers, particularly parents and guardians on the go.

By pairing accommodation choices with local attractions and ‘things to do’, StayPlayUK makes it easy (and enjoyable) for families in search of spending quality time together.

Powered by TXGBs online booking technology, they have not only simplified the customer journey, but enabled tourism businesses to seamlessly share and manage live availability, pricing and bookings.

With over 1000 listings already live and a new events section soon to come, the one-stop-shop for sorting local day trips, short breaks or extended staycations is sure to be a hit with visitors, as well as tourism businesses keen to feature on the site and tap into a burgeoning audience.

A partnership with hugely popular Facebook group, The Family Lowdown (1.2 million members and counting), means that StayPlayUK already has incredible outreach.

Coupled with the connectivity that TXGB’s technology and the collaborating brands delivers, this means business owners can tap into a vast online distribution network reaching experience-seeking audiences.

‘Starting StayPlayUK has been a labour of love but I was never in any doubt that it wouldn’t take off with the people we’ve developed this for – primarily Mums.’ says Katie Manson, who has a background in travel and mother and baby journalism.

‘I was very clear from the outset on the experience I wanted to deliver. But making it work as a commercial model was a different story. Then, while researching how to make the site really user-friendly with a bookable element, I discovered TXGB. The team opened my eyes to the world of digital distribution and the technology to make my vision a reality. Through their API integration, we were able to bring the ‘search and book’ functionality together in one place, much quicker and in a commercially viable way.

‘With a helping hand from my team of parent researchers and uploaders who craft the content listings – the site shares all the information relevant to families without having to scour the web. What TXGB has enabled is a game changer that will undoubtedly reflect in even better conversion rates than we anticipated.’

Through a single API connection TXGB has provided StayPlayUK with access to both accommodation, attraction and ‘things to do’ businesses – unique in itself as most integrations would require bespoke development for each sector.

What’s more, using TXGB enhances StayPlayUK’s appeal for businesses looking for a listing because the commission is much lower than is typical.

‘StayPlayUK embraces everything TXGB stands for: community, collaboration and creating user experiences that benefit everyone. Katie and the team have reimagined family itinerary planning in a very timely and relevant way.’ says TXGB’s Managing Director, James Berzins.

‘I recently covered some of the key booking trends that are giving rise to the experiential traveller and StayPlayUK is a perfect example of a forward-thinking business that is leveraging these opportunities. Knowing that adventure planning often begins on social media, working with Family Lowdown is a clever move that, boosted by TXGB connectivity, will catapult StayPlayUK in front of countless families currently planning for school holidays.’

Businesses featured on StayPlayUK pay a small annual listing fee, which is reduced if they choose to be bookable via TXGB, paying a lower than average commission per booking made.

Key benefits:

• StayPlayUK provides detailed and tailored listings for families
• Reduced commission via TXGB – with option to to opt into additional distribution networks via an easy to use TXGB dashboard
• Tap into active audience of 1.2 million members in Family Lowdown FaceBook group
• Opportunity to collaborate on exciting competition packages with different destinations and brands to offer consumers great offers to Stay and Play in the UK.
• Bookings will go directly into your connected booking system or TXGB’s inventory loading software TXLoad

For more information download the StayPlayUK media kit.