Extending Opportunities

Hotels are finding ways to make extra use of point-of-sale and sales & catering systems by interfacing them with other systems.

By Rebecca Oliva, Technology Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 10/1/2001

There are few boundaries set by system

integration. When linked together, systems that are

used on opposite ends of hotel operations offer unlimited potential.

Managers are relying on one database to keep multiple

business units together. While property management

systems (PMSs) are most commonly linked to other

systems, hotels are finding point-of-sale (POS) and

sales and catering (S&C) systems can offer

many benefits by either integrating or interfacing them with back

office, front office or other systems. These links have given hotel

properties the tools to interface every aspect of their operational

systems to achieve a higher rate of accuracy and better overall customer

relations.

Many properties use POS systems for customer data

collection, or business intelligence. POS and S&C systems offer properties the ability to

run various reports by category. “‘Business intelligence’ is

the new name they are giving ‘creating trends’ through a

property’s POS,” says Michael Squires, president of Softscribe,

a consulting firm in Atlanta.

But more than customer data and loyalty, hotel

properties are finding POS and S&C systems serve as a valuable tool to interface in almost

any area of hotel operations. Back office integration can help the accounting

office spot trends and costs, Squires says. “It allows all the

data from those different sites to be

put into a database so they can drill down where

the expenses are,” Squires

says. “In order to figure out where your money is coming from,

you need to have an interface between the POS and back-office

system.”

Handling Multiple Transactions

More than a mere accounting perk, the ability

to interface the back office with a POS system can be an aid when

dealing with multiple F&B

outlets. The 2,317-room Atlantis Resort, Paradise Island, The Bahamas,

recently upgraded its Micros Hospitality Management System (HMS) 8700

to the 9700 version. “We did the upgrade because we needed a system

that could handle different outlets,” says Charles Colebrooke,

vice president of F&B specialty dining, Atlantis Resort, Paradise

Island, The Bahamas. “What we realized is the system is a lot

faster.” Atlantis has roughly 33 F&B outlets, which use the

Micros POS system, and one on-property store; each location

has four POS terminals.

Transactions are completed much more quickly than

before because the HMS 9700 is designed for the large enterprise and

integrates all functions of both front-end and back-office restaurant

and retail service. Colebrooke says it’s easy for employees

to learn because it is Windows based.

While speed was a factor in the upgrade, so was

the ability to interface with the back office system. Through the

accounting system, management at Atlantis can run reports that are

specific to food and beverage sales. “A

manager can run a revenue report for every outlet on the property,” Colebrooke

says. “Accounting can run revenue reports by meal period or by

each outlet. The system gives us a good breakdown of categories.” Specific

reports run on a daily basis include covers, voided transactions

and revenue.

But Colebrooke found that interfacing the POS with other property systems

produced unexpected benefits. Since Atlantis is a casino hotel, it has

an extensive security system with many surveillance cameras throughout

the property. The upgrade to the new POS system allowed for an interface

with the security system. This link provides the central security office

with the option to view the actual transaction screen on each POS terminal.

Colebrooke says in the three months it has been monitoring transactions,

the hotel has saved about 10% to 15% of revenues it was once losing

due to staff error or theft.

Manual Vs. Automatic

Back office and POS system interfaces can help

hotels weed out true F&B expenses much more quickly than doing it manually. Time is saved

in both the accounting and F&B departments, therefore producing

more efficient labor hours. Hotel Beau Rivage Hotel, Cyprus, recently

installed Silverbyte’s Optima POS system for all of its F&B

outlets. The Optima solution is designed for a variety

of food service establishments that require quick service. The system

is Windows based, which makes it very quick for the user.

Sometimes, a back office/POS interface goes above

and beyond the standard advantages. Cyprus has a complicated sales

tax system on alcohol that constantly changes the purchasing prices.

Manual calculations were necessary to break down the cost of each

item. “The reports generated from

the POS allow us to break down the number of alcohol sales and compare

taxes,” says Andreas Savva, systems administrator, Hotel Beau

Rivage, Cyprus. “With the Optima system, you know what everything

is costing. I can see in real time when I am breaking

even and when I am making a profit.”

Since Hotel Beau Rivage offers an all-inclusive

option for guests, the Optima system makes for easy tracking of sales.

Guests no longer have to wear armbands to show servers they are all-inclusive

guests. Their information is already in the system. “It helps with the

standard of service,” Savva says. “The staff don’t

know who the all-inclusive guests are, so they don’t give them

less priority.”

Since January, Hotel Beau Rivage has been using

Optima for its four F&B outlets with future plans to extend it to the gift shop. Savva

quantifies his savings in terms of labor. The Optima system saves staff

from spending most of their time entering orders and tracking purchases.

Now they are spending more time on customers. Savva says: “You

save on time and errors. You can’t put a price on that.”

Dual Delivery

Aside from POS systems, S&C systems have proven their value by

being versatile. London-based Thistle Hotels is in the midst of rolling

out Newmarket International’s NetDelphi Enterprise system, a thin-client

enterprise application for groups of hotels. Part of Thistle’s

decision to go with Delphi was because of its ability

to integrate with other Thistle applications. The Delphi system enables

all sales, conference and events people in Thistle with single-image

inventory and customer relationship management tools to manage their

sales efforts.

Thistle interfaces the system with its PMS and

reservations system. “It

gives us a one stop shop that can handle both reservations,” says

Emma Smith, project manager, Thistle Hotels. “It is basically

taking away the need for dual inputting and group bedroom bookings.” Bookings

made on the hotel’s reservations system are pulled into the Delphi

system. “It gives you a little bit of control with reservations.”

All the data is stored at Thistle’s data warehouse, which is

centrally located. Smith says the central system gives them the ability

to access data at any property and allows for cross-selling. A central

database is easily accessed to sales and corporate reporting. “From

a sales perspective, the different reporting tools are key to this system,” Smith

says. “Reports can be written in a matter of minutes.”

Since the new system has been in use, Smith says

the hotels have seen an increase in accuracy and in speed of the response

to the client. “We

are able to take more inquiries per day than we ever have been,” she

says. Smith expects to see a 4% increase in revenues per year but says

that is a “pessimistic prediction.”

Delphi offers another aspect to the system with

NetXchange Meeting Broker, an Internet-based exchange that integrates

hotel booking lead sources and national sales offices to a hotel’s

sales system. It is offered as a subscription service and connects

buyers and sellers electronically. Smith says Thistle will incorporate

Meeting Broker by the end of the year.

Tech Den Attracts Business Clientele

The newly renovated and renamed Metropolitan Hotel in New York recently

unveiled its Tech Den. The room was created to offer frequent users

of cell phones and laptop computers a place to gather and talk.

“No matter how nice a hotel room is, no one wants to be cooped

up in one all day and all night working,” says Michael Lyman,

director of sales and marketing, Metropolitan Hotel.

Computers can be plugged in via Internet data

ports located directly on the tabletops for US$5.95 per hour with

F&B purchase, or US$9.95

without purchase. In addition to a cuisine menu, the

Tech Den offers a menu of office supplies, including paper clips,

staples, envelopes, floppy disks and wireless phone battery re-chargers,

among other items.

Tech Den offers services such as secretaries-on-demand, translation

services, faxing and printing. Guests can even e-mail documents to the

business center for butler delivery.

“Our new Tech Den enables hotel guests who need to be plugged

in while traveling a chance to get out of their room, stretch their

legs, get a ‘byte’ to eat and even socialize,” Lyman

says. “If your cell phone rings or you pull out a laptop in a

restaurant, stares are often sent your way. In the Tech

Den, you might get funny looks if you show up sans laptop.”

Supply Line

Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, LLC,
San Francisco, chooses Dallas-based Pegasus Solutions
RezView central reservations system

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, White Plains, New York, chooses
Infotriever, Toronto, to provide personal organizer
integration

Greg Cannon joins AremisSoft, Atlanta, as chief operating officer
and Shire Inns, England, selects AremisSoft to provide the complete
enterprise solution for its eight properties

London-based Supranatural Hotels chooses NoBarriers, Boston, to
provide RezRobot, an integration solution

Kempinski Hotels and Resorts, Berlin, selects
Serenata IntraWare, Munich, to provide electronic
invoicing via VISA Enhanced Data. Serenata also was
chosen by Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts,
Zurich, to enhance its customer relationship management
system

Hawthorn Suites Franchising, Atlanta, chooses Phoenix-based Multi-Systems
(MSI) to provide its PMS

Opryland Hospitality Group, Nashville, Tennessee, chooses IDeaS,
Minneapolis, to provide its revenue management system

SAFLOK, Troy, Michigan, appoints Nancy Miron to director of systems
development and support

La Quinta Inns, Dallas, chooses LodgeNet Entertainment, Sioux Falls,
South Dakota, to provide digital television to 300
properties

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Toronto, selects Scala Hospitality,
Lake Mary, Florida, for back-office accounting system
in nine more of its properties.