HOTEL SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

Transcription

SPECIAL
REPORT
HOTEL
INNOVATIONS
& TECHNOLOGIES
Hotel software
solutions
Current state of play
and future roadmap
TABLETS,
SMARTPHONES
AND THE CLOUD
Manfred
Osthues
Ingo
Dignas
Co-Owner
& Founder of protel
Co-Owner
& Founder of protel
®
March 2012
Streamlining Efficiency
EDITOR’S NOTE
Keeping up with the Joneses, or creating a
competitive advantage? It’s best to be on the
leading edge of new technologies
P
Richard Barnes
Editor-in-chief
Cleverdis
Australian-born Richard Barnes has worked
at a high level in media around the world for
over 30 years, in top radio, television and print
organizations. In 2000, he took on the role
of Editor-in-Chief at Cleverdis, responsible
for overseeing content of all international
publications. To this end, Barnes is in close
contact with the world’s biggest electronics
manufacturers (such as Philips, Panasonic,
Sony, Samsung, etc.).
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Cover: © protel hotelsoftware GmbH
2
SPECIALreport by Cleverdis • March 2012
eople in the business frequently talk
about improving efficiency through
technical means. Those who want to
lead the field need to take into account the
impact of technological developments. To gain
a competitive advantage, keeping up is simply
not enough.
It’s a little like when smartphones first arrived
onto the market. The first people who used them
had a competitive advantage over people who
didn’t. Smartphones could receive and send
email much more efficiently, pinpoint locations
via GPS and use countless applications to help
users improve business practices. Since then,
almost everyone has a smartphone, providing
users with all the same advantages and in
turn levelling the playing field. Those without
a mobile device are in many ways simply less
efficient. Today, it is essential in business to
use the latest technology in order to maintain
a competitive advantage.
In the hotel business, the same is true in terms
of technology. Can you imagine, for example,
a hotel without a PC? No. Can you imagine
a hotel without the latest, market-tested
and proven solutions to increase efficiency?
The answer comes back to the smartphone
scenario. A hotel business can, of course,
run without a full-featured hotel management
system, without mobile solutions, without SaaS
(Software as a Service) or web-based hotel
software. The ‘slow-to-adopt’ businessman
can also get by without the latest smartphone.
But both, inevitably, will be left behind.
Indeed, it is no longer just a case of finding
differentiation factors through technology, but
of realizing that one must keep up with the
times in order to be competitive in today’s
“jungle-like” marketplace. Why is this so? It is
partly because sales and marketing channels
are evolving at such a rate that no one can keep
up if they aren’t properly equipped. It is also
because customers expect total efficiency…
with zero errors.
In our role at Cleverdis as ‘radars’ in the
hospitality market, we are well placed to assess
significant evolving trends. This SPECIALreport
highlights an important ‘blip’ on our radar
screen – in the form of technology onset.
By being well informed, hoteliers can gain a
competitive edge over their ‘tech-unfriendly’
competitors who lag behind. We thank protel
for sponsoring this report, and hope it will be of
great use to the reader.
CONTENT
03 The Times They Are a Changin’
Manfred Osthues, Co-owner & Founder, protel
04The Experts’ Viewpoints
Fraser Hickox, Executive Director, conceptual:™group
and Ted Horner, Hospitality Consultant
05protel Leads in Customer Satisfaction
and Functionality Survey in Germany
06 In the Cloud and on the Tablet
08Software Evolves with Guest Wants and
11Creating the Luxury Effect
Emmanuel Clavé, Group Director of Information
Technology, Rocco Forte Hotels
12Creating Efficiencies in Operation
Michael Herman, Executive Development Manager,
Hospitality, Toga Group
13A Day in the Life of a protel Consultant...
Sebastien Esch, Software Consultant, protel
14
A Savy Combination of Talents
15
“Being First” CAN Mean “Being Right”!
Needs
Ingo Dignas, Co-Owner & Founder, protel
10Hospitality Education Is Key to the Future
Jessica Lohmann, Head of Marketing, protel
Alessandro Calligaris, Marketing Director,
Serenissima Informatica SpA
Mike Kistner, CEO, Pegasus Solutions Ltd.
Gerard Lefebvre, President, Cleverdis
cleverhotel.org
The Times They Are a Changin’
Manfred Osthues, who co-founded protel together with Ingo
Dignas and Joerg Hermann (all three are still active as Managing
Partners of protel), looks back at the past, and to the future of
hotel software solutions...
Times are changing. In the hotel business of yesterday,
the big used to eat the small. Nowadays however, in
these times of social networking, it’s the fast that eat the
slow!
Manfred Osthues
Co-Owner & Founder of protel
Our clients’
satisfaction is
the veritable
benchmark of
our success
www.protel.net
By the same token, we
their expectations and needs correctly?
still see some hoteliers
Did we formulate realistic requirements?
unsure about the idea
Did we provide them with precisely the
of migrating services
solutions they required? Did we ensure
to “the cloud”, much
a smooth implementation process? Did
as they doubted the
the training sessions enable the users
idea of using a “mouse”
to get the most out of their software?
when protel was first to
Our clients’ feedback is a steady stream
“dare” to introduce a
that encompasses all our activities and
Windows-based PMS
provides us with one of our most important
in 1995. Some said,
guidelines.
“It’ll never work”, while
That is why we were more than proud
our competitors sat
and happy when an industry survey in
back, watched and
2011 revealed that among the renowned
waited... and in the
software providers in Germany, protel
following years, all “big”
claimed the leading position with regard
classic PMS vendors
to the range of functions and to customer
followed one after the other and began to
service.
offer their products as Windows versions.
With almost 7,000 installations in 70
And although we continue to be leaders in
countries, and 3,000 clients now using
the development of Software as a Service
our cloud solutions, protel is today a top-
(SaaS), it was not really all about breaking
line international player, while remaining
new ground. At the time, it was and still is
at a size that not only allows for a true
about taking care of the operative work so
understanding of our clients’ unique and
that the hotelier and staff can concentrate
individual needs but also provides the
on strategic decisions. As we are all aware,
flexibility to react quickly to ever-changing
hotels are all unique in their own way.
developments.
Therefore, a hotel management system is
only effective if it provides a comprehensive
I remember an ad campaign years ago for
range of features and options to meet the
Minis: “You don’t have to prove a thing”.
highly individual requirements of each
It kind of echoes where we are today. Our
single client.
best proof of service comes in the form of
Our clients’ satisfaction is the veritable
highly satisfied clients. So don’t ask me...
benchmark of our success. Did we assess
ask them!
3
The Experts’ Viewpoints
Two of the world’s top hotel industry consultants give their views
on the future of hotel software solutions
Fraser Hickox
Ted Horner
Executive Director conceptual:™group
Australian Hospitality Consultant
Creative thinking and a
solid scientific background
have kept Fraser Hickox
at the forefront of guest
room technology for over
20 years. In 2008, Hickox
was inducted into the HFTP
(Hospitality Financial and
Technology Professionals)
Hall of Fame, thanks to his
leading-edge approach to
technology in the hospitality
industry.
The next generation of PMS
is witnessing a number of
competitive vendors in the
form of cloud computing,
where many of the technical
aspects are simplified
and moved off property,
removing the need for
specialised air-conditioning,
raised floors, extortionate
maintenance costs and a
team of IT people to keep
this.
4
This is particularly appealing
to small-scale operations
that are keen to reduce
costs but more importantly,
do not want to find
themselves caught up in
the self-inflating technology
bubble. The cloud removes
the technology burden from
the owners and operators,
yet ensures that a high
degree of technology is
maintained through central
facilities management. All is
transparent to the guest, but
the efficiency is enhanced.
This is a quantum leap
and will result in major cost
reduction.
Where will the cloud take
us in the future? How
about centralised telephone
systems, entertainment and
facilities monitoring. It is an
exciting future!
For his part, Ted Horner was
the 2004 HFTP Hall of Fame
inductee. He and Fraser Hickox
were among the founding
members of HTNG (Hotel
Technology Next Generation).
Horner has dedicated most of
his working life to advancing
technology in the hospitality
industry and has given countless
speeches at conferences around
the world including HITEC, HITA,
Eurhotec, Hostec and major
conferences across the Far East.
Today’s new software concept is
known as ‘hotel in a box’.
With this, a master system
integrator assumes responsibility
for all the technology. My belief is
that some old style vendors will
use FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and
Doubt) to convince people that
this is not the right way to go.
There will be early adopters in
the marketplace, who will jump
onboard and they will be the
evangelists moving forward.
They will start telling people
about the cost of ownership
being substantially lower, and
that will drive people to it.
Take the example of someone
setting up a new hotel in
Vietnam. They currently have
between 15 and 30 different
vendors. The hotelier has
to fly all those people in,
accommodate them and so on.
If they had a cloud solution, and
he had web-based training, he
would not have to send all those
people out. He can have all the
applications hosted somewhere
else and keep his costs down.
To quote the venerable Nick
Price, who just retired from
Mandarin Oriental group, and is
also one of the founding fathers
of HTNG; his thoughts are that
by 2015, 75% of all hotels in the
world will have a majority of their
applications hosted in the cloud.
cleverhotel.org
protel Leads in Customer Satisfaction
and Functionality Survey in Germany
The Business Target Group 2011 survey reveals statistics in this
highly fragmented market
When attempting to provide customer satisfaction, it is not enough to just talk about it. A recent survey of
10,689 German hotel businesses concluded that protel hotelsoftware GmbH heads the field of the leading
hotel management system providers, when it comes to customer satisfaction and functionality.
The independent survey was conducted
in May/June 2011 by market research
institute The Business Target Group. The
survey also confirmed that protel holds the
second largest market share next to the
world market leader in hotel software.
Among the renowned software providers,
solutions by protel have claimed the leading
position twice. Questioned about the range
of functions used in their businesses and
their satisfaction with the customer service,
97% of all protel customers stated they are
“satisfied” or “very satisfied”.
proving protel’s forecast in the mid 90’s:
“The mouse will have a place in each hotel.”
In 2007, protel was one of the early leaders
to launch an SaaS (Software as a Service)
solution with bookatonce to cater to B&B’s,
inns and small hotels. protel’s ingenuity
is now in full flight – with protel Air: A fullservice cloud-based solution for mid-sized
hotels and hotel chains, further expanding
the SaaS product palette.
97% of all
protel customers
are either
“satisfied” or
“very satisfied”
The Business Target Group survey
underlined the fact that the German market
is highly fragmented in every aspect. Market
shares alone indicate the disparity of
competing providers of hotel management
software in Germany. Only two software
providers, Micros Fidelio (20%) and protel
(14%), share the upper third of the market.
The other two thirds consist of more than
50 software providers, none of which reach
more than 7.5%.
The majority of the businesses that
participated in the survey fall within a 3or 4-star category. These hotels are either
individually owned or part of a hotel chain
and are using an external software solution.
The results of the institute’s research
confirm protel’s continued success,
which started back in 1994, when protel
stirred the market by developing the first
MS Windows-based hotel management
system. Nowadays, almost all businesses
that use hotel management software are
working with a Windows-based solution,
www.protel.net
5
In the Cloud and on
Spotlight on just a few of protel’s latest hospitality software
Since 1994, protel has been developing software that enables hoteliers to keep up with the times... not only
making life easier for staff and guests alike, but increasing profitability, RevPAR and overall efficiency. And the
beat goes on…
Hotel management in the Cloud:
protel Air with E-Commerce Manager
The concept of renting software and using
it via an Internet browser instead of buying
and installing it in the hotel is increasingly
appealing. Software as a Service (SaaS)
solutions outsource the software and the
data to the Internet “cloud” and open up
many new possibilities for IT management.
protel Air is a full-service hotel management
solution -- a true SaaS application -- hosted
in a secure data center in Germany.
While each hotel uses a dedicated database
for their data and content, all protel Air
clients share the technical infrastructure
of one data center, where the software is
running. Thus, the individual hotel can stop
bothering with hardware maintenance or
software updates; their protel Air system
will always be up-to date and ready-for use.
Useful features support all areas of work
at the front office. The protel Air “active
desktop” presents all information needed
for the daily routine at the front desk: With
just a click of the mouse, reservations
and guest data can easily be edited. The
room type plan and room plan show all
availabilities at a glance, allowing the
booking of several rooms for any number of
guests in a single work step. The optional
protel Air E-Commerce Manager supports
marketing and sales activities on the
Internet and allows for easy evaluation of all
Key ongoing protel products
protel “covers all bases” with software for properties of all sizes and
solutions for all working areas in a hotel.
W
eb-based solution for small hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses:
bookatonce
F ull-service Cloud solution for all hotel segments, independent of size
or location: protel Air
R
eservation software for small and mid-market hotels: protel smart
H
otel management software for mid-market and large individual
hotels: protel SPE (protel Single Property Edition)
P roperty management system for chain hotels and hotel groups:
protel MPE (protel Multi Property Edition)
Extension modules for banquet management or sales and marketing,
online booking functionalities such as a Web Booking Engine and a
connection to Internet distribution channels, and much more…
6
distribution channels. The broad spectrum
of protel interfaces connect protel Air to
other systems employed in the hotel,
ranging from the telephone system to online
reservation platforms.
The main overall advantages of this easily
scalable cloud application are flexibility,
reliability and security, making protel Air the
ideal solution for hotels, who do not want
to be burdened with maintaining their own
technical infrastructure.
Key Benefits
of protel Air
1. Instead of a high initial
investment, expenses are spread
over time.
2. All you need is an Internet
browser. Staff can access the
PMS via any Internet-ready device
(including mobile devices), meaning
that neither specific hardware or
software installation, nor manual
updates or maintenance are required.
3. protel Air is platform independent
(can run on any operating system)
and has the look and feel of a “normal”
desktop application.
cleverhotel.org
the Tablet
innovations
The Hotel in the Palm of
your Hand
protel homes in on mobility and accessibility
For software developers and users,
mobility and accessibility remain hot
topics. Besides new products in the
continuously growing SaaS product line,
protel presents a wide range of hotel apps,
mobile applications for the hospitality
industry including the first complete hotel
management system for the Apple iPad
as well as matching mobile solutions for
the hotel team and the active guest.
Again, protel makes a point of providing
a broad spectrum of targeted solutions
on various platforms. Depending on the
specific need, there are native apps for the
iPad or iPhone as well as web-based apps
that can be used via the webkit browser
of any mobile device with a touchscreen.
Native applications are fast, reliable, and
powerful but are tied to a mobile platform,
meaning they have to be installed and
updated on the user’s device. Web apps
are designed to run in the browser of
every web-enabled mobile device, thus
ensuring cross-platform compatibility.
The web-based hotel apps “protel
Cockpit” and “protel Voyager” enable
hotel managers, teams and guests to
access, enter and edit information and
data wherever they are and whenever
they need to. “protel for iPad” and
“protel Air for iPad” are the first hotel
www.protel.net
management systems that can be used
entirely on a mobile device; the native
apps for the Apple iPad provide all
classic front desk functions at a fingerstroke. The clearly structured layout of
all protel apps offers excellent usability
even for inexperienced users. According
to protel, “working with the graphical
user interface of the protel iPad Apps is
‘a sheer aesthetic pleasure’: Once you’ve
swiped through the calendar days in the
room plan of ‘protel for iPad’, it’s not likely
you’ll put down your iPad anytime soon.”
protel reports that, having tried their hand
at the app, some trade show visitors
spontaneously considered getting rid of
their stationary workstations altogether.
Hotels’ workflows and processes
are being revolutionized by mobile
applications becoming independent of
location. Innovative concepts arise: Why
should a guest wait at the front desk, if
the front desk could come to him? Why
not allow the guest to check in while still
on the way to the hotel? Why shouldn’t
the revenue manager be able to enter
the latest numbers into the system while
attending a sales meeting? Wouldn’t it be
great customer service to enable guests
to extend their reservations or edit their
personal guest data on their own if that
is their preference? Hotels can even use
iPads as “floating workstations” to cut
demand peaks at the front desk.
Susen Stanberger, Director of Business
Development, sums up why platform
independence is a core objective at protel:
“Our clients should be able to access and
use our software anytime and anywhere
and on all major devices .”
Mobile applications
by protel
Hoteliers do not need to rely on a computer
to use hotel software from protel. All
functions they need are available to them
on their mobile device, too – no matter
where they are.
Hotel management to go: protel for iPad
Front office to go: protel Air for iPad
M
ore flexibility for hotel managers and
their teams: protel Cockpit
S tay management for the active guest:
protel Voyager
R
oom management wherever and
whenever: bookatonce for iPad
T he most important functions at your
fingertips: bookatonce for iPhone
7
Software Evolves with Guest
The cloud, mobile devices and social media: A shift in usage
The trends towards accepting rooms via the Internet, and now even via Facebook, show that the way people
work with technology is reflected in the hospitality industry. Ingo Dignas, Co-owner and Founder of protel,
explains how he sees the market evolving…
The two most important trends are the
increased use of cloud technology, and the
growing use of mobile devices. An example:
People can log into their Facebook account
and write messages, no matter which
computer or mobile device they are using.
They can go to a friend’s place, open up a
browser at his computer and use Facebook
right away. Without thinking about it, they
are thus using cloud technology: People
today are no longer bound to a single
device. They therefore expect the same
experience when they book a hotel room.
Hotels often ask me ‘Do I need a social
media presence?’ Even large chains are
unsure how to handle social media. We
have to explain that guests have changed
their way of interacting with hotels: With
800 million Facebook users, many people
don’t want to leave Facebook to make a
booking. They believe they should be able
to go to a hotel’s Facebook page, scan
comments, and then make a booking. Or
they want to exchange experiences with
other hotel guests, asking what to do
when at the hotel, and where to go in the
surrounding area. They are used to this now.
Do the kinds of establishments and how
they use your services differ greatly?
Yes. Especially smaller properties are
taking advantage of migrating to the cloud.
They need a powerful booking engine and
more and more connections to Internet
Distribution Systems, but they do not
want to invest in a PMS and the required
server technology, network or storage
systems. They also do not look favorably
to additional maintenance efforts. By using
a cloud-based system, they can partake in
a solution that is as professional as those
of the “large players” and at the same time
share – and thus reduce – costs and efforts.
On the other hand, our large clients take
advantage of the better scalability of a cloud
PMS. More and more clients start moving
those services to the cloud that require high
performance and high availability servers.
Safer
More flexible
More efficient
Hotel Software
in the Cloud
Less expensive
Greener
More mobile
8
How are products
evolving? Is everything
going to the cloud?
Important parts of it
are. A cloud-based
architecture offers so
many advantages that
more and more services
will move into the cloud.
For example, a booking
engine has to interact
with the hotel system’s
web services. If there are
many guests visiting the
The two most
important trends
are the increased
use of cloud
technology, and
the growing use of
mobile devices.
website at the same time, very sophisticated
server technology is required for handling all
those shopping requests and guaranteeing
short response times all the same.
On the other hand, on-premises solutions
are still needed, because in many parts
of the world we have no reliable internet
connection. But even when clients prefer
to maintain their own servers, they can still
take advantage of the cloud by connecting
their on-site PMS to our protel Cloud
Services infrastructure.
What are the main concerns of hoteliers
and how can the migration to the cloud
solve them?
The main concerns are managing the
complexity of interfaces to external systems
such as booking channels. An essential
point for all hotels is having a powerful
booking engine on their own homepage,
which helps reduce distribution channel
costs. And of course, data security is also a
main concern.
cleverhotel.org
Wants and Needs
paradigm calls for new responses
With protel Cloud Services, we take care
of interfaces and ensure that all relevant
parts of the system are being updated
automatically, thus maintaining an
uninterrupted operation. What’s more, we
make sure that all components are secure
and credit card information does not
escape the system, so hoteliers do not
have to worry about “PCI Compliance” or
about certifying their own establishments.
So, the bottom line is that by using a
cloud-based system, hoteliers can gain
exactly the stability and security they are
seeking.
Tell us a little bit more about the mobile
evolution.
There will be one billion HTML5-capable
phones sold in 2013, according to new
research from Strategy Analytics. This
is an enormous growth from the 2011
number of 336 million. So, smartphones
and tablets will become the primary
device for many. For hotels, this means
that guests not only want to book rooms
on their mobile phones, but also expect
to use more and more services on their
device: Being notified of how to get there
when arriving in the area, so they can
program the sat nav, can be really helpful,
or notifying the front desk if they will be
late can also be useful.
We also believe that mobile applications
will replace a lot of standard PC
applications. Not only is a mobile device
divorced from a fixed stationary working
space, but there is also the advantage of
working with a touch device. After having
launched “protel for iPad” at the ITB in
2011, we got a lot of positive feedback
from users just because using the system
on an iPad is so much easier than through
a PC-based user interface.
www.protel.net
What makes protel’s products different?
We love technology. We look at new
technologies thinking: How can we use
the fantastic possibilities available today
to create something really special for
the hospitality industry? In 1994, we
were the first who introduced a graphical
user interface to hotels. Using a PMS
on Windows 3.11 with a mouse was a
paradigm shift and the base for protel’s
success.
In 2008, cloud technology was still
completely unknown in the hotel industry,
but we looked at the technology building
up, and cloud solutions were taking-off in
almost every other business sector. So we
developed a great new solution for hotels
using the cloud and called it bookatonce.
We wanted to find something
for very small properties that
didn’t use software at all,
and provided them with a
booking engine that can be
used not only on Windows,
but also on Macs and Linuxbased computers, and on
mobile devices, too. This
cloud-based PMS is easy to
adopt and self-explanatory.
Hoteliers just register, create
the hotel profile, and then start
working. We got hundreds of
registrations from all over the
world within months and so
in 2011, we launched protel
Air, a more comprehensive
cloud solution that caters to
mid-sized hotels and hotel chains offering
more features to suit their needs. With the
rise of Apple’s iPhone and iPad, we started
to develop touch based solutions and as
of today, there is no other vendor with an
iPad solution for hotels.
Ingo Dignas
Co-Owner & Founder of protel
9
Hospitality Education Is Key to the Future
protel invests in the industry’s thought leaders of tomorrow
through top hotel schools
While convincing today’s hoteliers that “moving to the cloud”, or staying at the forefront of mobile technologies
is essential to business may be a little difficult at times, it’s vital to ensure that the hoteliers of tomorrow are
made aware of the evolution of products and services. We asked Jessica Lohmann (Head of Marketing) why
it’s so important to work with the top hotel management schools…
Jessica Lohmann
Head of Marketing,
protel
Tygerberg Northlink College
(students get their first taste of protel)
10
We believe that as students get hands-on
experience of products that facilitate their
(future) business and increase efficiencies,
they are being trained to be among the true
forerunners in the industry. For a long time,
protel has in fact been at the heart of efforts
to keep students up to date with the latest
software solutions. To this end, our business
partners, IDEOSOFT, France, and the Swiss
company REBAG DATA AG Hotelinformatik
co-operated with the Ecole hôtelière de
Lausanne in 2011, supplying protel SPE –
the single property management system –
for use by students enrolled in the two-year
hotel management diploma programme. It
must be underlined that we are dedicated to
developing the industry’s future leadership
talents to the highest possible level, and
we believe it is essential to support the
educational institutions for the hospitality
industry worldwide in order to foster the
talents of the future in this sector.
Cape Town’s Northlink Hotel School
selected protel and Ankerdata, an
authorized protel dealer in South
Africa, as partners for their new
Property Management Systems
training facility. Could you tell us
more about that?
After a due diligence study in
computerised hotel information
systems, the decision was
made by the school to use our
Multi-Property Edition (MPE).
Northlink thus became one of
many hospitality management
educational facilities worldwide
For a long time,
protel has in fact
been at the heart
of efforts to keep
students up to date
with the latest
software solutions
with which we are involved. Ankerdata
was selected for the implementation of
protel MPE. Thirty workstations were
commissioned, each running protel MPE
from a central server. The benefits of protel
MPE are apparent: All connected hotels
access the same guest information from a
central database. Data and functions are
available in real time at every property.
You say this is one of many institutions.
What are the others?
The following institutions have implemented
protel into their curriculum: University of
Nevada Las Vegas (U.S.), School of Tourism
& Hotel - HCMC (Vietnam), Universidade
do Algarve, Escola Profissional DR de
Grândola and Escola Secundária de
Albufeira (Portugal), Wihoga (Germany),
The European College for Tourism Studies
and The American College of Thessalonik
(Greece), the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne,
as previously mentioned. These are just a
few…
cleverhotel.org
TESTIMONIAL
Established by Sir Rocco Forte in 1996, Rocco Forte Hotels is a family
of 13 individual hotels and resorts. Each property has a unique style,
reflecting its nationality and location, but all share Rocco Forte Hotels’
trademark attention to detail, high quality and immaculate service.
Creating the Luxury Effect
Prestige does not only show on the surface; irreproachable
service and efficiency are a must
Rocco Forte Hotels is a family of 13 highly individual prestige hotels and resorts. Creating an ambience does
not just come with fine architecture, unique interior design and quality customer service. It is also largely
created by the use of intelligent systems, such as protel, which was first implemented in 2004. We asked
Emmanuel Clavé, Group Director of Information Technology at Rocco Forte Hotels, what software by protel is
used to create the “luxury effect”…
We are using protel MPE, protel Banquet,
protel IDS, protel WBE and protel Business
Intelligence, and are looking into protel
Cockpit and protel Voyager.
You renewed your IT infrastructure in
2004. How did you go about ascertaining
or judging your software needs?
The need was driven by three factors: First
of all, the users need to
simplify their tasks through
interfacing and centralising
systems; secondly, the
market demands and
needs of the guests; and
thirdly, technology progress
and development. We
tried to match products to
these criteria and provide
a solution for the user
that would reduce their
workload, increase their
productivity and meet the
needs and requirements
from an increasingly demanding and
competitive market. We identified a
new partner that offers all of this with a
centralised hosted solution that could run
all 13 hotels across Europe and Russia in a
single environment.
a four weeks period for each system, we
felt that protel would meet our requirements
in terms of product needs, customer care,
response to product needs and changes,
and meet the three criteria of selection. We
were looking for a fully centralised hosted
solution that was provided by protel and
partners, and an evolving product that
would enable us to focus on customer
care and recognition, as
well as a sales driven tool
to facilitate our sales and
reporting.
(...) protel
software
enabled us
to move
to a fully
centralised
solution (...)
Is this your reason for cooperating with
protel?
Following intensive trials involving a team of
specialists from various departments over
www.protel.net
In concrete terms, what
does it add to your
business?
Back in 2005, protel
software enabled us to
move to a fully centralised
solution for all of our
properties, with a single
source of data, centralised
and
consolidated
reporting system, without the need of heavy
integration.
Over the years, and with protel’s help, we
have also been able to integrate various
systems, from email to OTA, including a
yield management system, and we are
working on other integration projects.
It has enabled us to keep our “best of
breed” policy and choose what we feel is
the best system to perform any specific
tasks.
Emmanuel
Clavé
Group Director of Information
Technology
Rocco Forte Hotels
After obtaining a Hotel and Catering Diploma
in France, Emmanuel moved to England in the
early ‘80s and spent his early career in Food
& Beverage and Hotel Management. In the
late ‘90s, he started in IT with Hilton and was
promoted to Regional IT Manager. He joined
Rocco Forte Collection in 2003 as the UK IT
Director before being promoted to Group IT
Director 18 months later. Since joining Rocco
Forte Hotels, Emmanuel and his team have
opened eight hotels, built an MPLS infrastructure
for all hotels and centralised all main systems
into a single data centre.
CONTACT
[email protected]
www.roccofortehotels.com
11
TESTIMONIAL
The Toga Group was established in 1963 as a property development,
construction, investment and management group initially focusing on
medium sized residential and commercial developments. Toga now
employs in excess 1800 staff in Australia, New Zealand and Europe.
Creating Efficiencies in Operation
Toga Hospitality explains the hows and whys of choosing the
right systems partner
Toga Hospitality began operations in 1982 and currently operates 52 strategically located hotels throughout
Australia, New Zealand and in Budapest, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Berlin in Europe. The group
includes such names as Medina Apartment Hotels, Vibe Hotels, Travelodge Hotels and Adina Apartment
Hotels. Toga Hospitality recently took out three awards and was highly commended in one category at the
ninth annual HM Awards for Hotel and Accommodation Excellence, 2011. For the management of such a
broad variety of properties, it was important for Toga to have the right partners. Michael Herman, Executive
Development Manager – Hospitality, explains how and why the group chose protel MPE.
Our main aim was to use a system that
allowed for a central database for all of our
hotels. We also wanted a system using an
SQL database. For the decision-making
process, we have an internal IT committee,
made up of heads of departments from all
divisions of our group.
We also have a Super
User Group for the hotel
management system,
which has input into the
decision-making process.
So generally, it is a joint
effort within Toga. Today,
we already have 52 hotels
on protel. Any hotel that
is to be purchased or built
will always be on the same system. We’ve
just bought the protel licence for the next
scheduled opening.
Why did you decide to go with protel?
We were looking for a centralised system.
At the time, in 2004, only protel and another
major player had truly centralised systems.
protel and their authorised dealer, Xn Hotel
Systems Pte Limited, proved to be the
more competent partner.
protel has
allowed us
to operate
far more
efficiently
In concrete terms what
has it added to your
business?
It has allowed us to
centrally manage the
business. We operate
with centralised sales,
marketing, central
reservations, accounting
and operations management. It is almost
impossible to do this without a centralised
system. protel has allowed us to operate
far more efficiently compared to having
individual systems at each hotel.
Can you calculate ROI?
We do not calculate ROI. With anything
more than 20 hotels, in our opinion it is too
costly not to have a centralised system.
Being able to work with centralised teams,
for instance, we can optimise the staffing
levels at each single property. We simply do
not need to calculate ROI to be able to see
the over-all benefits.
12
Michael
Herman
Executive Development Manager,
Hospitality, Toga Group
Michael Herman joined the Toga Group in 1997
as the group’s Hospitality Financial Controller
and head of IT. Since then, Michael has been
involved in many aspects of the group’s growth
from 8 Medina serviced apartments to its
current 53 properties across the 4 brands of
Medina, Adina, Vibe and Travelodge hotels.
Today, the majority of Michael’s time is taken up
in evaluating new hotel opportunities.
CONTACT
[email protected]
www.toga.com.au
cleverhotel.org
A Day in the Life of a protel
Consultant...
It’s not about the company, it’s about the
people behind the company…
On Sebastian Esch’s business card, the title reads “Software Consultant”.
We got “close-up and personal” and found out exactly what this means…
When I am in the office, I work as a support
agent for all protel clients, answering
their technical questions and giving them
valuable tips to ease their daily workload.
I also organise telephone conferences with
hotel owners, directors and IT staff in order
to prepare for any upcoming installations.
You travel often to install protel software
and train hotel staff. How many countries
and cities did you visit last year?
Quite a lot! It started with Brussels in
January, and then there was Dubai and Abu
Dhabi. I stayed in Prague for a week, Vienna
three or four times, Croatia for a week and
Italy two or three times... Then I travelled to
many German cities, including Hamburg,
Munich, Düsseldorf... the list goes on.
Please tell us about your training
sessions...
It all depends on the size of the hotel and the
learning group. We work from the bottom
up, starting with daily work processes such
as booking rooms via the room type plan or
checking reservations in or out. This way,
the participants get acquainted with the
entire program. We also provide online
training for big chains to cut out travel
expenses. Such training lasts about
four hours, and six or eight people can
participate at a time. I prefer doing it the
old way though – face to face!
business. For protel, it is important to have
people who really understand the needs
of hoteliers, so they employ people with a
hospitality background. protel trained me
“on the job”. Everything I know about hotel
management technology, I learned here.
It’s a little over a year that you’ve been
with protel... what is the most stimulating
aspect of the job?
The most exciting moment is when you
work on a project for a long time, prepare
everything, train everyone, implement the
systems and then finally the day comes
when the hotel opens, and as the staff
starts to work with protel, everything works
out well and I am told ‘you did a great job’...
that’s a nice feeling.
What else do you like about working at
protel?
The variety of my tasks and of the clients
I work for. It is never boring, every day is
different. I also really enjoy travelling and
building up my network.
Sebastian Esch
Software Consultant,
protel
for protel, it is
more important to
have people who
really understand
the needs of
hoteliers
Tell us about your background...
I was educated in the hospitality industry
for three years, after which I worked as
a front office agent, and then as a front
office supervisor for a big German
hotel chain. I then studied hospitality
www.protel.net
13
A Savvy Combination of Talents
Creating the right balance of ideas comes from
acquiring the right partners, as demonstrated
by Serenissima Informatica SpA.
Serenissima Informatica SpA has been working to great effect with protel
since 2003. But just what makes the relationship successful? We asked
Serenissima’s Marketing Director, Alessandro Calligaris, what value
protel adds to the proposition offered by Serenissima.
protel helps us
to compete in
national and
international
markets (…)
Mike Kistner
CEO of Pegasus Solutions Inc.
We have been
impressed by the
flexibility protel
showed during the
development process
of the interface
“Like protel, Pegasus Solutions is
committed to bringing the latest
technology innovations to its clients.
We introduced the first suite of next
generation reservation solutions, based
on the award-winning RezView NG
central reservation system platform. This
two-way interface enables an automatic
Alessandro
Calligaris
Marketing Director,
Serenissima Informatica SpA
transfer of data to any third-party system,
such as a booking portal, as well as an
automatic transfer of reservations back
to the protel PMS. This in turn optimizes
daily business processes, since it is no
protel helps us to compete in national
experiences, aimed at continuously
and international markets at the highest
increasing the quality of the solutions and
level and to complete the portfolio of
services that we bring to the market. protel
availabilities and pricing structures. We
our products and services. This enables
has a great capacity for listening. They
have been impressed by the flexibility
us to propose a fully integrated hotel
have a real focus on clients’ needs and
protel showed during the development
management system. Add to this our
there is a great deal of flexibility with the
expertise as hosting and hardware
products. Their clever design allows us to
providers, as well as system integrators,
tailor solutions by ourselves based upon
and the result is a great value for the client:
each individual requirement, far beyond
explains Mike Kistner, CEO of Pegasus
a single provider for the whole software
what any other Property Management
Solutions Inc.
and services needed to run top class
System can do.
longer necessary to manually update
process of the interface and we are
looking forward to our partnership”,
hotels and chains.
Our relationship could be described
as a mutual exchange of stimuli and
14
cleverhotel.org
“Being First”
CAN Mean “Being Right”!
Conclusion by Gerard Lefebvre, President, Cleverdis
several occasions, led the field
hoteliers that one in five are still not using any
in this respect... but this is done,
form of hotel management software. Generally
I believe, in a wise fashion, as
relying on a “reservation book”, they still have
while new and innovative ideas
not made the jump into the past decade, let
are implemented, those who
alone the current one!
prefer to cling to the old ones are
It is true that in this industry in particular, being
still able to do so.
“first” with something does not necessarily
I believe the reason for protel’s
guarantee instant success. Many are those
success is not only due to this
who have tried new ideas and failed. On the
constant innovation, broadening
other hand, remaining steadfastly “stuck” to
the technical field of choice for
old traditions is, in this modern day and age,
hoteliers. It also comes down to
also tantamount to business suicide.
the company being big enough
It is no doubt for this reason that protel is meeting
to cater for all possible wants
with ever growing success in this business. It
and needs on a broad scale,
is a fact today that hotel management systems
while retaining, unlike some others, a truly
with a wide range of functionalities such as
human and personal dimension in its client
those offered by protel substantially support
relations.
hoteliers and staff in all areas of the hotel. This
As time goes on, many tail-enders may, we
in turn reduces everyone’s daily workload.
hope, catch up with the rest. They don’t have to
Consequently, hotel staff has more time to care
go with the absolute cutting edge ideas offered
for guests and hence will add to the guests’
by protel... but it’s nice knowing those ideas are
satisfaction.
not only out there, being implemented, but are
Despite the apparent danger of “being first”
also adding great value to those using them,
with technologies and ideas, protel has, on
and leading the way for the industry at large.
CONTACTS
I read in a recent survey of over 10,000 German
Headquarters
protel hotelsoftware GmbH
Europaplatz 8
44269 Dortmund, Germany
T: +49 231 915 93 0
F: +49 231 915 93 999
[email protected]
www.protel.net
Branch Office
DMCC Free Zone
Office 2902, Indigo Icon Tower
P.O.Box 309025
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
T: +971 4 453430 0
M: +971 50 225402 8
F: +971 4 453430 5
[email protected]
Gérard
Lefebvre
President, Cleverdis
To find an authorized protel
dealer in your country,
please look here:
protel.net/europe
Be social, follow us
protel.net/protel-social
®
www.protel.net
15

HOTEL SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

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