Whoever clicks fastest wins: how Highgrove House stays easily bookable with Wetu

The short version

Highgrove House, an eight-suite, five-star farm hotel near White River in Mpumalanga, uses Wetu to give tour operators and agents everything they need to sell it in a couple of clicks. Its Wetu profile is comprehensive and complete, from photos and room details to specials and sustainability, so that their trade partners  can build their own brochures without waiting on emails or image transfers. When a last-minute honeymoon couple needed a stay close to Kruger, the booking link went out in two clicks.

Power Points

• A Professional profile, 100% complete: Highgrove is on Wetu Professional with a 100% content rating, so every photo, room, and special is there when an operator needs it.

• One link, not 468 images: Tour operators pick the photos and details they want straight from Highgrove's Wetu listing, instead of asking for WeTransfer links.

• Specials that sell themselves: A Chaîne des Rôtisseurs package went onto Wetu as a special, and agents used it to build Highgrove into trips around Kruger and the Panorama Route.

• A sustainability story operators can check: Highgrove's 40-page sustainability profile is on Wetu, so operators who ask "what are you doing?" get a link, not a long email.

• A brochure in your pocket: Highgrove's 67-year-old owner shares the Wetu brochure on WhatsApp with people she meets while travelling.

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A hotel with a farm attached

In 2007, Tracy Jane Groves' aunt stayed one night at Highgrove House and fell in love with it. She put in an offer. Then she found out there was a farm attached.

Today that farm covers 64 hectares, with 7,000 macadamia trees and 500 avocado trees. Her aunt became a farmer and a hotelier at the same time, with no experience in either. She's still one of the only female farmers in the White River area. The local farmers still laugh about the chandeliers hanging in the barn where the macadamia nuts and avos are harvested.

Tracy came to help for a couple of months, four years ago. She's still there and with no plans to leave.

Highgrove has just eight suites, for a maximum of 16 guests. It's a five-star farm and fine-dining hotel, and it runs on personal attention.

"We often say to the guests, you come as a guest, but you leave as a family member," says Tracy. "They lie on our couches and read their books. They feel so at home here, but they're still getting the service and the attention to detail that they absolutely love."

Guests come back. Some fly in from the UK every second year. Locals return once or twice a year. Next week, the hotel is full, all with regulars.

The challenge: "Where's your Wetu link?"

Highgrove had been on Wetu before, but previous managers never used it fully, while Tracy's aunt wasn't convinced it worked.

Then, one day, a tour operator asked her, "Where's your Wetu link?"

This question caused Tracy to do some homework and come to the conclusion that in her company: "Nobody's actually used it properly." So, she showed her aunt how easy it was for operators to work with, and how simple it was to load information.

Tracy doesn't have just one job; she runs social media, the farm, guest relations, and Wetu, among other things. "Many hats that I have to wear," she says. Suffice to say, anything she sets up has to be simple enough for someone else to run if she wasn't around.

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Why Wetu

Loading Highgrove's content was quick. "Enter, enter, go, copy, paste, done. So it was that simple," says Tracy.

When she got stuck, Wetu's support team stepped in, even while they were busy at World Travel Market (WTM). Tracy singles out Ruwayda, who walked her through everything by email so she'd have the answers on record.

"Even though I was IT savvy, the way she communicated was [so clear] even a person who's not IT savvy [could follow]," says Tracy. "And a lot of guest house owners are not. So she was brilliant in every essence."

The results

A complete profile does the selling

Before Wetu, the trade asked for images by email. Then they'd ask for different ones.

"Instead of 'Tracy, please send us the WeTransfer link with the 468 images,'" she says, "now everything is on [Wetu] and they can pick and choose what they want in their brochure."

Every guest wants something different; one cares about a separate bathroom, another about fluffy pillows, another about jogging on the farm, so operators will choose the photos that fit their guest.  

With Wetu, Tracy no longer has to say, "Hold on, I'll send it just now."

That kind of speed protects her bookings, as waiting on images is how a property loses one. "In this day and age, it's essentially whoever clicks the fastest is the one who wins."

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A traveling special

Highgrove belongs to the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, an international gastronomic society founded in France and holds one of its top accolades. When the society's South African head suggested a package to bring members to Highgrove, Tracy's aunt had a lightbulb moment; put it on Wetu as a special.

Agents picked it up right away. Highgrove isn't in Kruger, but it's close. With fine dining, personal service, a farm and factory tour next door, the Panorama Route, and day trips to Kruger, agents had a complete package to sell. "All the agents had to do was click on a link," says Tracy.

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A honeymoon, booked in two clicks

A honeymoon couple from the US decided to come to South Africa at the last minute, to join friends heading to Victoria Falls. They couldn't get onto the same flight.

Their tour operator suggested two nights at Highgrove, close to Kruger, before joining their friends on day three. Highgrove's booking colleague sent the Wetu link. "Two clicks," says Tracy. The booking was made.

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A sustainability story operators can see

When tour operators started asking what Highgrove does for sustainability, Tracy pulled it all together. The result is a 40-page profile of every initiative at the hotel, now on Wetu. "Slow baby steps one at a time, but it's happening," she says.

Now, when operators ask, the answer is simple. "We say, well, just go and have a look."

That work led Highgrove to 1 Million Tables, an initiative promoting plant-based meals. Highgrove's kitchen can serve a six-course plant-based menu, and Tracy, a vegetarian, tests every swap herself. 1 Million Tables plans to profile Highgrove with a live feed tracking the impact of its plant-based, farm-to-table meals.

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A brochure that goes everywhere

Tracy's aunt is 67. She travels between Johannesburg and Durban, and she talks to everyone she meets. Now she shares Highgrove's Wetu brochure from her phone.

"Now she doesn't have to carry 20 folders and 68 business cards that people lose anyway," says Tracy. "Now she just clicks on the link and shares it with whoever, or even WhatsApp's them."

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Why a complete profile pays

Highgrove's experience matches what operators tell us. In Wetu's survey of 498 tour operators, 89% want up-to-date descriptions, 82% want high-res imagery, and 82% want full room details.

Highgrove, on Wetu Professional with a 100% content rating, gives them all three. So when a guest asks about the bathroom, the pillows, or a jog on the farm, the operator already has the answer.  

No email.

No waiting.

No lost booking.

Tracy's advice for other property owners

For Tracy, the biggest win is fewer mix-ups. No more room one's photo sent for room eight, and no more luxury suite details being confused with the executive suites.

"It's all in one single place with a couple of clicks. It's not complicated to follow," she says. "It's definitely a wonderful, even walking-around, marketing tool."

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What's next for Highgrove

Highgrove is building out what guests can do. Before the end of 2026, Tracy plans to add farm and factory tours, wellness experiences, and yoga and meditation sessions. Guests will be able to pick a couple's massage and lunch in the garden, and book it simply.

Highgrove has also moved to a new back-end booking system that works better with Wetu. The plan is that the Wetu brochure starts the journey, and guests click through to Highgrove's website to add champagne, turn-down, or flowers for a birthday. No more back-and-forth asking, "Did you get the champagne?"

"The brochure is the start of that with the tour operators," says Tracy.

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