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Highlights In just a 5-month period, The Edwin Hotel has used Runnr.ai to handle over 6,000 messages and achieve real results:
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The Edwin Hotel, part of the Capilon Hotels Portfolio, is a 60-room boutique hotel in London that opened its doors in September 2025, with a clear goal of building its reputation as one of the city's top boutique stays. With guests visiting from across the UK, Europe and further afield, the team needed a way to handle a high volume of inbound questions across multiple channels, in multiple time zones, from day one.
The Challenge: Building a Reputation From Scratch
For any hotel, the first twelve months, or more specifically, the early reviews on Google, TripAdvisor, and OTAs like Booking.com, tend to make or break its long-term success. And one of the most common drivers of negative reviews is slow responses or just bad communication from the hotel.
For The Edwin Hotel, the stakes were heightened by timing as the team had a narrow window from its opening date to get the booking and guest communication systems up and running in time for the busy festive period.
While hiring more seasonal staff was one solution, this would’ve been costly and involved putting a burden on existing staff to bring new members up to speed. Yet, it was also not feasible to handle the incoming queries manually, especially since every guest was a first-time visitor and likely to have extra questions.
The Solution: Automating Responses to 91% of Guest Messages
Two months after opening, The Edwin Hotel started to use Runnr.ai to handle guest communication across its channels: WhatsApp, Booking.com, Expedia, and its own website. Since then, all pre-arrival messages, responses to 91% of inbound queries, and proactive upsell prompts are automated, while staying true to the hotel’s tone of voice.
Runnr.ai integrates directly with The Edwin Hotel’s property management system (PMS), Mews, meaning that it always has access to the guests’ booking details and can thus personalize responses and immediately action requests in the PMS.
The platform was up and running well before the December peak, giving the front desk team plenty of time to get used to working alongside Runnr.ai, and freeing up their time to deal with more sensitive issues and making sure that guests have enjoyable and memorable stays.
The Result: Improved Experience Across the Entire Guest Journey
In the first five months, 6,154 messages were managed by Runnr.ai, with 1,685 messages handled in just its second month which was also the Christmas and New Year peak of December. And the numbers speak for themselves:
Higher guest engagement leading to higher review scores
The share of guests who actually replied and interacted with the automated messages climbed during the period, from 46% in November to 67% in March. This high guest engagement shows that guests appreciate the proactive messages and fast, personalized responses, which contributes to the hotel achieving a 4.6 star rating on Google and 8.5 on Booking.com.
More time for meaningful guest interactions
By automated responses and proactively sending useful information to guests, Runnr.ai saved The Edwin Hotel’s front desk team more than 427 hours in just five months, which is more than 10 full working weeks. This reduces the need for extra staff and gives staff more time to actually spend with guests rather than responding to the same “What time is check-in?” messages.
99.3% of guest requests instantly resolved
Sending automated messages is one thing, but actually resolving guest questions and accommodating their requests is another thing. Of the 570+ formal guest requests logged in the period, such as late checkouts or early check-in, 99.3% were managed and actioned in the PMS entirely by Runnr.ai.
Extra £2,740 in revenue through perfectly timed upsells
Even in this short period, The Edwin Hotel earned £2,740 in incremental upsell revenue through automated upsell prompts that were personalized based on each guest’s booking and what add-ons would be of most interest to them, whether that’s a room upgrade or a bouquet of flowers.
What’s Next: Delivering Consistent, 5-Star Guest Experiences
With 91% of guest messages now handled automatically, The Edwin Hotel has a strong foundation to continue giving every guest the 5-star experience, even when it’s at full occupancy.
"Going live with Runnr.ai before Christmas was one of the best decisions we made in our first year. Guests get instant, on-brand responses which has helped us achieve solid review scores, while our front desk staff have the time to manage the more sensitive cases that need a personal touch.”
Sam Shepherd, Chief Operating Officer, Capilon Hotels
Get started with Runnr.ai
Used by 750+ accommodations across Europe, Runnr.ai is the platform of choice for hotels to automate messages across WhatsApp, SMS, OTA inboxes, webchat, and more, so hospitality teams can focus on real hospitality.
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