8. CASE STUDY AND LEARNING ACTIVITY Case Study A Day in the Life-Ana, New York City Hotel and her team'rely heavily on the variety of technology in place Manager on property. Front Desk-Her front desk team sees hundreds of arrivals and See How the Technology All Comes Together departures each day The PMS used by her hotel allows them Ana is the general manager at a large New York City hotel, boast- to see the arrival lists, identify their source (Travel Agent, OTA. ing over 1,000 guest rooms and 60,000 square feet of meeting Company, Loyalty Program, to name a few), and assign the space. No two days are the same for her, given the large array rooms. Preferences of members of the loyalty program, along of events, delegations, tourists, and corporate guests transiting with any notes added on other guests' reservations, are used through her hotel on a daily basis. To stay on top of it all, Ana to pre-assign the best room for each arrival; for example, high ( Continuedfloot, rion-smoking, or away from the elevator. Guests who use stay on top of requests logged in Hotsos in guestrooms, com. the digital check-in on the hotel's mobile noplication, which is mon areas, and meeting space in an effort to keep the hotel in integrated with the PMS and the e checking dashboard system top shape. used by the property, will choose their own rooms and receive Revenue Management- Ana's Revenue team relies on several notification on their smartphone when their room becomes systems and external reporting agencies to optimize their manage. eveilable. Guests checking In at the hotel provide their phone ment of the hotel's rates and inventory Ana's budget allows for number and receive a text message when their room becomes them to subscribe to STA, an external research company which available. The PMS is Integrated with the housekeeping depart- provides a weekly analysis of her hotel's "piece of the pie" versus ment, so the front desk monitors the status of the rooms as they her competitive set. Her hotel also utilizes a forecasting system, become available and are inspected directly through the PMS. which takes into account special events, forecasted productivity Every morning, the front desk runs a GRIM report to track the per market segment, and estimated wash (deleting unnecessary information about their lovalty program arrivals using the hotel rooms from a room block) to properly price and sell her available in- chain's CRM database. From the PMS, they also run a service veritory. Her team also uses a centralized revenue management da- recovery report to track all complaints made the day before so as tabase to lay the foundation of her hotel's rates and rate codes This to provide managerial follow-up and ensure guest satisfaction database is connected to external agencies like OTAs as well as to The PMS also provides reports like the credit report and trace the hotel's PMS to provide real-time rates and inventory availability. report The former tracks all rooms without sufficient credit card guarantee on file, while the latter tracks important reminders Sales Ana's sales team utilizes a system separate from the set by the front office team like "Mr. Rivera's birthday in room PMS, called Delphi, which enables them to elaborate BEOs 603 on July 10th." Additionally, the front desk team relies on a (Banquet Event Orders). These BEOs specify the catering key card system, which enables them to code guests' key cards booked, audio/visual setup of the meetings, and the meeting unique to their room number and check out date. The PMS also room setup. The banquets, stewarding, and A/V.teams then take has an integration with the credit card companies, like American this information to order all products necessary for the event Express and Vise. to preauthorize and charge guest credit cards. and set up properly on the actual day of the event. The sales team also runs reports from external systems like Cognos so as PEX-In And's hotel. the operator or PBX team tracks all guest to obtain market intelligence data, as well as different lead re calis in a system called HotSos. Room 705 needs more towels? sponse programs to manage requests for proposals from globa A request is logged in HotSos and assigned to a housekeeping companies and event planners. The sales team utilizes the PMS runner. Room 1012's bedroom ceiling light bulb burned out? A re- to generate their groups' house accounts, as well as the same quest is logged in HotSos and assigned to maintenance, To guar- inventory management system used by the revenue department entee the guest calls are resolved in an efficient manner, the PBX to create the room blocks. team tracks the request times on each ticket and ensures none. surpass 30 minutes. Nowadays, many of Ana's guests prefer to Food and Beverage Along with relying on the sales team's send their requests electronically as opposed to calling the ho- BEOs, the food and beverage team also utilizes several differ tel operator, so Ana also invested in tablets for each guestroom. ent systems, For most purchasing needs, they use a purchasing The information on the tablets is translated into five different lan- system that holds all suppliers' electronic ordering forms, thus guages, and guests can use the tablet to verify restaurant hours, simplifying the ordering process drastically. In the hotel's restau order room service, and request amenity delivery to their rooms. rants, the food and beverage team also uses the Micros/Oracle Guests can also configure wake up calls and seek information POS (point of-sale) system to log all customer orders and send about activities and restaurants in New York right from the tablet. them to the kitchen: The POS is integrated with the PMS. thus allowing the front desk to receive updated room charges on the Housekeeping-When Ana heads over to visit the house- guests' accounts. keeping department, they are running their housekeeper room assignments for the day The PMS has a report capability that Administrative Teams-The financial teams of the hotel utilize automatically assigns the housekeepers rooms based on the separate financial and accounting systems to process accounts amount of credits. For example, each housekeeper may be as- receivable and accounts payable details. Employee time cards signed 10 credits daily. A standard room may be worth 1 credit. are processed through a system call PeopleSoft, and paychecks whereas a two-bedroom suite may be worth 2.5. As the house- are delivered through an external company, ADP system. keepers complete each room assignment, they dial an extension As you can see, this is just a mere glimpse of the array configured into the guestroom phone indicating that the room of technology integrated into a hotel's day to-day operation is ready to be inspected. The housekeeping team also utilizes and Ana's hotel is a prime example, given the size of her HotSos to log any deep-cleaning needs observed in guestrooms, hotel and complexity of her operation. common areas, and meeting space like curtain washes or carpet treatments to track and provide proper follow up. Learning Activity 1. Approximately how many different systems, including Maintenance-Maintenance uses the PMS to block off rooms external reporting companies, were identified across for their quarterly preventative maintenance schedule. They also Ana's major departments?Chapter 5 . Hotel and Resort Technology 85 2 # the PMS were to fall, what domino effect would it have identify two opportunities this hotel faces as well as two on the hotel's various departments? threats or disadvantages to such a variety of systems. pick any two teams in the hotel and describe how 5. This example described systems used by a large hotel the communication is directly correlated by shared property in New York City. Describe how this may differ technology. if she ran a smaller property with just one restaurant and 4. Based on the advantages and disadvantages of external no banquet space, Also, identify how this may differ if she technologies identified toward the end of this chapter, ran an all-inclusive golf resort and spa in the Caribbean