Every tour operator assumes the same thing: add one more question to check-in, and you’ll lose a guest’s patience. Laura Blackhall found the opposite. The faster her check-in got, the more she could ask.
Laura owns and operates Hello! Hong Kong, running private and small-group tours across the city, food tours, walking tours, Lantau Island day trips, boat charters. Before switching to Wherewolf in August 2016, guests filled out a Google Form ahead of time. Laura called it “cumbersome,” and it’s easy to see why: a form guests have to remember to open on their own time, disconnected from the actual moment they show up.
Faster Process, More Questions
Wherewolf moved check-in to the moment guests actually arrive, on a branded iPad, working offline, no dependence on a guest’s phone or signal.
“Because our Wherewolf app looks so professional and can be used offline we now collect the data in person on the day. We actually ask our customers more questions now because the process is so efficient we can get more information from people in a very short amount of time.”
— Laura Blackhall, Hello! Hong Kong
That’s the part worth sitting with. Friction was never really about the number of questions. It was about how long and clunky the process felt. A five-question check-in that takes ninety seconds beats a two-question form guests have to dig up on their own phone.
Data Nobody Had Time to Use
Before Wherewolf, Laura had plenty of data, just not the time to do anything with it.
“Prior to using Wherewolf we had reams of data collected from the Google forms but no time efficient way of analyzing it. What we had was not being utilized at all. With Wherewolf I regularly look through our data and use it for decision making and business development.”
From Spreadsheet to Inbox
Wherewolf exports guest data, including email addresses, directly into Hello! Hong Kong’s email marketing platform, turning generic mailouts into personalized ones.
“Wherewolf makes it very easy to export collected data into other business tools. We are exporting some of our key metrics, along with email addresses, into our email marketing system. This has enabled us to better personalize our mailouts, which make our marketing more effective.”
A Waiver That Actually Protects the Business
Every guest signs a waiver and disclaimer before stepping onto a tour, no exceptions, no guests slipping through without one.
“Using the Wherewolf app ensures that each and every person that comes on one of our tours physically signs our waiver and disclaimer. This gives us a level of protection which we didn’t have prior to using Wherewolf.”
One System, Then Four Cities
At the time, Laura was having a second Wherewolf system built for Hello! Hong Kong’s expansion into Singapore.
“The product that I have is excellent and something which I now consider to be an integral part of my business. In fact, we are having a second one built for our expansion into Singapore. Not only is it a valuable business tool but from a security perspective, it has enabled us to hold large quantities of data in a secure environment, which is particularly important in today’s digital world.”
That Singapore expansion happened. Today, the same group runs tours under Hello! Hong Kong, Hello! Singapore, Hello! Tokyo, and Hello! Yokohama, four cities built on a check-in process that started with one honest complaint about a clunky Google Form.
The Real Lesson: Efficient Isn’t the Same as Minimal
Cutting questions isn’t what makes check-in feel effortless. A fast, professional process does, and once you have one, you can ask for more, not less.
“Working with the Wherewolf team has been an absolute pleasure. From my initial discussions about the possibility of having a system built for Hello Hong Kong through to implementation and ongoing support, the build and implementation process was both straightforward and at the same time highly customizable.”
— Laura Blackhall, Hello! Hong Kong