Dalhousie Castle slashes blended OTA commissions by 15 percentage points and boosts restaurant pre-bookings to 90% following digital transformation.
Dalhousie Castle, an 800-year-old fortress and Scotland’s oldest inhabited castle, has announced a significant digital transformation in partnership with award-winning booking platform, Profitroom.
The 13th-century property, which is currently undergoing an extensive refurbishment, has successfully repositioned itself at the top end of the luxury hospitality market by consolidating its tech stack into Profitroom’s all-in-one e-commerce platform.
The move has yielded extraordinary financial results, including a doubling of online revenue between June and September 2025. By introducing Profitroom’s RevenuePro, Dalhousie Castle has gained unprecedented control over its distribution strategy, reducing the overall blended commission rate by 15 percentage points. Specific channel improvements saw Booking.com commissions drop from 23% to 16% and Expedia rates fall from 24% to 13%.
Key to this success has been the redesign of the guest journey. The booking engine now mirrors the castle’s luxury aesthetic and allows guests to complete reservations in as little as five clicks. This seamless experience, combined with a 429% growth in loyalty program enrollment, has seen direct bookings soar.
Operational efficiency has also been transformed through a strategic integration with ResDiary. By automating dinner reservations within ‘Dinner, Bed and Breakfast’ packages, the castle has seen guests pre-booking restaurant tables rise from 15% to as high as 90%. Furthermore, the property achieved a 21% year-on-year increase in ADR (Average Daily Rate) while maintaining strong occupancy..
Patryk Luszcz, UK Regional Director at Profitroom, said: “This partnership with Dalhousie Castle is part of our wider mission to team up with best-in-class providers who help our hotel partners unlock profit from every corner of their business.
“With operating costs at an all-time high, hoteliers can’t afford to let valuable space sit underused. This integration tackles that challenge head-on. Together, we’re helping hotels not just fill tables, but reposition their on-site offerings as destinations in their own right, while building stronger, more profitable businesses.”
The transition to an all-in-one setup has also empowered the castle to expand its international reach. With a strengthened distribution strategy and an extended booking window – now reaching 18 months in advance – the property has seen a surge in global visitors, with the United States emerging as one of its strongest markets.
Beyond the numbers, the partnership has focused on the human element of hospitality. The Profitroom team provided intensive support to ensure castle staff understood the data-driven insights provided by the platform, allowing them to focus on delivering a personalized, heritage-first guest experience.
For more information on Profitroom, visit www.profitroom.com.