Case Study: Chiltern Canal Boat Holidays achieves direct bookings and a fully booked season with Lodgify

UK Couple Uses Lodgify to Launch Canal Boat Holiday Business

Chiltern Canal Boat Holidays, founded by Gareth and Corinne Newmans, launched a canal boat holiday business on the Grand Union Canal in the Chilterns, UK. As a new small operator competing with larger boat hire companies, they needed an easy way to build visibility online, take bookings directly, and manage guests efficiently. Lodgify provided the website builder and booking system they used to get started.

With Lodgify, Chiltern Canal Boat Holidays created a professional direct-booking website, added secure payment options, and automated customer emails to streamline guest communication. They also promoted the business through Facebook, Instagram, Google Maps, and Google Ads, and saw strong early demand: within weeks, their boats were fully booked from mid-June to mid-November. They also added a second boat by the end of the year, and all bookings remained direct, without needing OTAs.

Chiltern Canal Boat Holidays

Gareth Newman