Paradise & Wilderness moved its entire guest service operation from Freshdesk to HubSpot Service Hub, handling around 1,500 tickets a day. It replaced 11 brand websites with 2 on HubSpot Content Hub, and launched direct online booking for all 17 properties and for its Tanzania and Zanzibar safari packages.
HubSpot now handles all B2B (travel agents) and B2C (direct customers and guests) lines of business for the group.
At a glance: Service, sales, websites and booking for five brands on one HubSpot platform
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Daily ticket volume migrated from Freshdesk with no service interruption | 1,500 tickets a day |
| Websites consolidated | 11 into 2 |
| Properties bookable direct | 17 lodges, camps and resorts |
| Brands on one CRM | 5 |
| Service channels unified | Email, WhatsApp, web chat, forms |
| HubSpot hubs live | Marketing, Content, Sales, Service, and Data Hubs |
The new Beach Safari site on HubSpot Content Hub: trip planner, priced itineraries and agent login in one place.
The client
Paradise & Wilderness is a Tanzania-based hospitality and travel group with beach resorts in Zanzibar and safari lodges across the northern and southern circuits.
- Brands: Beach Safari, Hotel Zanzibar, Africa Safari, Shemeji and Now Safari
- Properties: 5 Zanzibar resorts and 12 safari lodges and camps, from the Serengeti to Nyerere
- Markets: direct travellers plus international, domestic and key travel agents
- Languages: sales in English, German, French and Italian
- Customers: Travel agents (B2B) and travellers (B2C)
The challenge
Every brand had its own website, inboxes and chat, so enquiries landed in too many places and routing depended on one person. Most bookings came through travel agents and tour operators, with no way for travellers to book a safari direct.
- 11 websites on separate domains, each with its own forms and email aliases
- Freshdesk and Freshchat for service, with automations locked in raw JSON
- 4 WhatsApp numbers in Freshchat, plus guest conversations on staff phones with no record
- Manual triage: one coordinator assigned most tickets by hand
- Booking engine, trip builder and property management system disconnected from sales and service
One of the many tented camps owned and operated by the group in Tanzania.
One of the group's 5 beach resorts on Zanzibar
What MO delivered
1. Freshdesk to HubSpot Service Hub
- Migrated historical Freshdesk contacts, companies and tickets, then ran a live sync until cutover so no open ticket was lost
- Switched the whole service team over on a fixed date in June 2025, with training beforehand and launch-day support
- Routing by language, brand and enquiry type (sales, support, booking), with tiered agent permissions
- Email, WhatsApp and web chat in one HubSpot help desk, with department views for Ops, Flights, Transfers and Reservations
- Website chatbot plus a QR-code in-resort bot for guests on property
2. 11 x WordPress websites into 2 on Content Hub
- Brand sites consolidated into two HubSpot Content Hub websites
- Structured HubSpot forms replaced ad-hoc contact forms and feed routing directly
- Two HubSpot-hosted sites replace 11 WordPress installs, with no plugins or security patches to maintain.
3. Direct booking and travel systems
- Direct booking for all 17 properties: live availability, date and room selection and checkout on every accommodation page, the experience guests expect from the big booking platforms, booked direct with the group
- Direct safari booking: bookable safari and beach itineraries across Tanzania's northern and southern circuits and Zanzibar, from 6 to 13 days, built on the group's trip builder that travel agents also use
- Property management system references carried into HubSpot, linking each booking to its service tickets
- Third-party sources such as SafariBookings and GetYourGuide routed into the same pipeline
Safari, migration, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar itineraries, priced and bookable direct.
Results
The group now runs guest service, sales and marketing for every brand from one system, with no service downtime at cutover.
- 1,500 tickets a day moved from Freshdesk to HubSpot without stopping guest service
- One help desk for email, WhatsApp, web chat and forms, instead of staff phones and separate tools
- Automatic routing by brand, language and enquiry type replaced manual triage
- Direct-to-consumer booking for rooms and safari packages, a new channel alongside the travel agent business
- Bookings and tickets linked on the same record, so agents see a guest's reservation while they answer
- Workload and lead dashboards by brand, source and consultant
Why it matters for tourism operators
- One CRM for service and sales means an enquiry, a booking and a support ticket share one record
- Fewer websites means one place to run SEO, campaigns and tracking
- Direct booking for rooms and safaris wins back bookings, and the guest relationship, from third-party platforms
- Booking engines, trip builders and PMS data can feed HubSpot rather than sit beside it
Frequently asked questions
Can HubSpot replace Freshdesk for a hotel and safari group?
Yes. This group moved its whole guest service operation, around 1,500 tickets a day, from Freshdesk and Freshchat to HubSpot Service Hub, with email, WhatsApp and web chat in one help desk and no service interruption at cutover.
Can a HubSpot website take direct bookings?
Yes. The group's two HubSpot Content Hub websites carry live availability, room selection and checkout for all 17 properties, plus bookable safari and Zanzibar itineraries from 6 to 13 days.
How was the Freshdesk migration done without downtime?
Historical contacts, companies and tickets were migrated first, then a live sync ran until a fixed cutover date in June 2025, with training beforehand and launch-day support, so no open ticket was lost.
Running a lodge group, DMC or tour operator on disconnected tools? Talk to MO Worldwide, a HubSpot Elite Partner with 500+ CRM implementations, about bringing service, sales, websites and direct booking onto HubSpot.
