How Gosford RSL Uses Automation and AI to Improve Google Reviews & Member Engagement

Located at the gateway to the Central Coast in West Gosford, NSW, the Gosford RSL Club is a prominent landmark, epitomising a pillar of community life with its diverse dining, entertainment and event offerings.

But managing a venue with 47,000 members and thousands of monthly covers presents its challenges. With five distinct dining options—from an Argentinian grill to Aussie bistro fare—they needed a system to help them streamline operations and maintain strong member relationships. Andrew Strickland, the F&B Manager at Gosford RSL, turned to SevenRooms’ all-in-one CRM, Marketing and Operations platform.

The seamless transition from Now Book It to SevenRooms

Prior to integrating SevenRooms, Gosford RSL used Now Book It, a reservation platform that lacked the features they needed to meet the growing demands of their venue.

“With SevenRooms, the marketing capabilities were just so much more powerful,” Andrew explains. “It’s much more intuitive, and that’s something I found lacking with Now Book It. It was somewhat cumbersome, I felt there had to be a better solution.”

In terms of customer support, Andrew also shared a key difference. “As a SevenRooms customer, we experience unmatched support and a clear sense of ambition from their team. That really resonates with us and it truly feels like a partnership. If you get stuck with something, you can just open up the chat and talk to someone right away. We didn’t have that ability before.”

Emails that scale the personal touch

At Gosford RSL, personalisation is key to success. With such a large membership base, the team at Gosford RSL knew offering tailored experiences and communication would improve the guest experience. Enter SevenRooms' Marketing Automation.

Andrew and his team set up personalised emails for different stages of the guest journey—whether it’s confirming a booking, following up after a visit or asking for a review.

“The automated emails are written in my voice—they're from me. This adds a personal touch that helps us truly connect with our customers and helps drive engagement,” Andrew shares.

SevenRooms Marketing Automation dashboard allows Andrew and his team to track open and click rates, revenue and covers generated from each campaign. With automated emails, Gosford RSL has averaged a 54% open rate and has driven $121,380 in revenue in less than a year.

AI and automation that stop bad reviews before they happen

One of the most powerful features of SevenRooms for Gosford RSL has been its review management and guest feedback automation. “Service recovery is massive for us, and SevenRooms makes it so easy.”

Shortly after opening their new Clubhouse in March 2024, Andrew and the team began using SevenRooms’ automated emails to capture guest feedback.

“When we opened the new building, we were still adjusting and faced the typical teething issues associated with such a large-scale project. Naturally, this initial period attracted numerous negative reviews from customers, which impacted our Google score,” explained Andrew. 

“With automated emails, we started proactively asking diners for feedback. Whenever we received a negative response, we addressed it immediately to try and transform that feedback into a positive outcome. This feedback was crucial in helping us correct our mistakes. It’s a safety net where if a guest goes home unhappy, they let us know before posting on Google. It’s helped us improve our score.”

Recently, Andrew and the team also started using SevenRooms’ AI feedback summaries to understand review trends at a higher level.