Hotel & Motel Management - August 2008 - (Page 139) www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition HotelMotel.com | H&MM August 2008 Technology 139 PROPERTY-MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS BY BRIAN ALBRIGHT, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR tech TALK Renaissance Las Vegas launched a new website (www.renaissancelasvegas. com). Created by Brulant, the site centralizes tools for meeting planners. An online marketing strategy is promoting the new site. its reach The Wynn Las Vegas Resort and Country Club implemented Rainmaker’s revolution Product Suite to maximize total customer profitability for its 2,716room property. Wynn Las Vegas also will implement revolution at its 2,034-room Encore resort scheduled to open this winter. GuestCentric launched an online marketing and distribution platform designed specifically for independent hotels. Using only a web browser, hotel owners can create a website, yield prices, accept and confirm pending reservations or create promotions with just a few clicks and in less than one hour. Destination Hotels & Resorts chose EZYield.com as its extranet channel management software partner. Property-management solutions are evolving to encompass a broader range of functionality while, at the same time, becoming more centralized. “What used to be a traditional [propertymanagement system] may now include a collection: central reservation, sales, catering and PMS functionality,” said Saeed Karim, chief technology officer for SoftBrands Hospitality. “The lines are getting blurred. At the same time, there is a clear trend to centralize the physical technology infrastructure.” “Today’s customers are looking for one system from one vendor, with integrated modules for spa, golf, restaurant and retail [point-of-sale], accounting, sales and catering,” said Theresa Burroughs, marketing manager at Agilysys. The PMS increasingly is looked at as a way to manage the entire guest experience while providing valuable data that can help drive marketing and guest retention. Northwind-Maestro’s ResWave Internet booking engine is fully integrated with Maestro PMS and allows guests to book a Grand Lodge Crested Butte (Colo.) Hotel is an independent hotel that uses the Northwind-Maestro Enterprise property-management suite. variety of services in addition to making reservations. The Agilysys Guest 360, its next-generation PMS, is designed to provide a more granular guest view, and its new LMS Guest Hub provides a centralized repository of guest profiles across multiple systems. “You need to be able to recognize customers on subsequent stays and address their specific requirements when they come back a second or third time,” said Victor Vesnaver, VP of independent hotel sales at Micros Systems. The PMS also can play a key role in helping hotels with channel management. “What a PMS provider can do is provide a single image inventory from which all channels can take whatever inventory they need,” Erik Weller, COO at Hotel Concepts. Hosted PMS solutions find home in hotels Deploying and supporting hotels don’t have the IT staff The Denver Magnolia Hotel uses new software as complex available to manage and Hotel Concepts’ IDPMS, including as a property-management support these systems,” IDPMS Front Office and IDPMS system can be a daunting said Victor Vesnaver, VP of Customer Web Interface. (and sometimes expensive) independent hotel sales at task. So, it’s no surprise Micros Systems. that a few hoteliers have “Our clients want opted out of managing these flexible solutions,” said applications on premises Warren Dehan, president of and are turning to hosted Northwind-Maestro PMS’ (sometimes referred to as North America operations. web-based or software-as“It’s still a relatively small a-service) solutions. percentage of the total Hosted solutions are ideal customer base that’s looking for hotels with limited internal for a hosted system, but technology resources and demand is growing.” can help reduce IT costs and Dehan said some minimize disruptions during customers manage multiple deployment or upgrades. properties from a central location, such as their “From the administration aspect, some smaller corporate headquarters or one hotel location. DENVER MAGNOLIA Quotable “ Inland American Lodging Corp. selected the Execuvue Business Intelligence system from Aptech Computer Systems to automate data gathering, analysis and performance management for its nearly 100 properties carrying Hilton, Marriott, IHG, Hyatt and Choice flags. Inland American Lodging expects to finalize its Execuvue implementation in the third quarter of 2008. Great Wolf Resorts implemented the EzRMS Internet Product Suite across its portfolio of resorts—interfacing to the existing Opera V 4.0 PMS. Compiled by Jason Q. Freed, jfreed@questex.com The biggest challenge in deploying a PMS is preparing the organization [before] installation. Hoteliers are good at running hotels, but not at managing PMS installations. That’s why, as a vendor, we’re there to assist.” WARREN DEHAN, president, NorthwindMaestro PMS Software certifications Hotel Technology Next Generation Trade association that facilitates development of next-generation technologies for the hotel industry. HTNG Certified products provide interoperability between vendor solutions. OpenTravel Alliance Travel industry trade group that develops specifications to ensure traveler and supplier information flows smoothly among entities. Cardholder Information Security Program Introduced by Visa USA in 2001, CISP protects cardholder data processed by Visa, merchants and suppliers. CISP requirements were incorporated into the industry-wide Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard in 2004, and compliance is required by processors. For more info Company Circle No. Agilysys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Hotel Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . 292 innRoad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Micros Systems . . . . . . . . . . 294 Multi-Systems . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Northwind-Maestro. . . . . . . . 296 Softbrands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 GRAND LODGE CRESTED BUTTE HOTEL expands Property management http://HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition http://www.renaissancelasvegas.com http://www.renaissancelasvegas.com http://EZYield.com
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