JUNE 28 - JULY 18, 2006
TOP O' THE NEWS
- Summer travel, and customer service
Ah, summer time, and the joys of vacation travel. After a great two-week trip to Europe visiting my family, the flight back to Seattle was a powerful reminder of how much we’ve all come to rely on computers, and of how easily an experience can go sour when management and staff just blame “a computer problem” and forget that they’re the ones who are actually responsible for providing customer service.
I won’t bore you with all the details, but basically a problem with the airline’s on-line check-in led me to call Customer Service. After twenty minutes of “Instead of waiting on hold, why not check-in on our Web site?” messages, the agent curtly said that she couldn’t help and I’d have to check-in at the airport. No explanation, no empathy, no help. No Customer Service.
At the terminal, which was packed, the security line took over an hour due to under-staffing; only two people were checking documents, and only three security gates (out of eight) were manned. PA announcements apologized and blamed the delays on “a computer failure”, but all terminals, displays and gates were working fine. There just weren’t enough staff on duty.
When we did get through, the flight’s departure time was shown as delayed one hour on the screens, but no further screen or PA updates were issued even after that had passed, although there were plenty of both for other flights. The only indication that the flight was boarding at all (two hours late) was a sign lighting up over the gate itself; no gate announcement, no apparent interest in the passengers.
Once we finally boarded, the captain apologized for the delay, which was “due to a computer failure.” Even if that were true, the real problem was more of an attitude failure, and computers make a convenient – and mute - scapegoat. Once we took off, the cabin crew did their usual excellent job, the frustrations of getting there fell away, and we had a good flight home.
Keeping customers happy doesn’t rely on computers. It relies on management training staff to think and take whatever customer-focused action is helpful. Simple steps and a friendly, honest and understanding approach can work wonders in soothing tense emotions. Shrugging shoulders, blaming it on the computer and just walking away from responsibilities are unforgivable.
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PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
- The Lodge at Woodloch selects ResortSuite
- WebRezPro PMS names Shift4 preferred electronic payment processing vendor
- Rica Hotels implementing protel’s centrally-hosted MPE at 52 hotels
The Lodge at Woodloch has selected ResortSuite to manage its 40,000 square foot spa, 58 guestrooms, memberships, dining, fitness classes, and activities. (www.thelodgeatwoodloch.com, www.resortsuite.com)
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World Web Technologies has designated Shift4 as the preferred electronic payment processing vendor for its WebRezPro web-based property management system. (www.webrezpro.com, www.shift4.com)
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Rica Hotels ASA is implementing protel’s MPE property management system at 52 of its 90+ hotels in Norway and Sweden, through System Partner International AS, protel’s regional dealer. The MPE system, which includes Banquet and Sales & Marketing modules and a two-way interface to GDS provider Supranational, will be centrally hosted in Rica’s new computer centre in Oslo in a Citrix metaframe environment. (www.rica.no, www.protel-net.com)
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RESERVATIONS
- Frankfurt Tourism Office selects MICROS to manage Website bookings for 250 hotels
- Boar's Head Inn selects iHotelier CRS
- Sheraton updates Website to encourage guests to post their feedback
- Cendant to sell Travelport unit to the Blackstone Group
- Expedia.com adds Fare Alert and Gas Station Locator tools to Website
Tourismus+Congress GmbH Frankfurt am Main (TCF), the official tourism office and destination management company for the city of Frankfurt, Germany, has selected MICROS's myfidelio.net to manage Website bookings for 250 hotels in Frankfurt and its surrounding areas. The system is hosted in the MICROS Data Center located in Frankfurt, Germany. (www.frankfurt-tourismus.de, www.micros.com)
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The 170-room Boar's Head Inn (Charlottesville, VA) has selected TravelCLICK's iHotelier central reservation system (CRS). The resort, owned and operated by the University of Virginia Foundation, includes a sports club, tennis, golf, spa and meeting/function rooms. (www.boarsheadinn.com, www.travelclick.net)
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Sheraton Hotels & Resorts has updated its Website to encourage guests to post their feedback. The site invites visitors to share stories, tips and photos about their travel finds, destination favorites and experiences. (www.sheraton.com)
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Cendant Corp has agreed to sell its Travelport unit to the Blackstone Group. Travelport, formerly known as Cendant Travel Distribution Services (TDS), owns Orbitz, Cheaptickets and other travel services. (www.cendant.com)
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Expedia.com has added Fare Alert and Gas Station Locator tools to its Website. Fare Alert automatically sends alerts to users when an airfare or flight+hotel vacation package falls within a user specified price range. Gas Station Locator displays, for any of 50 airports, up to five local gas stations (with the current price of regular unleaded gas at each) to help travelers returning rental cars. (www.expedia.com)
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MARKETING / MANAGEMENT
- Lanyon expands RFP Control Center corporate travel management application
- TIG Global signs three new Destination Marketing Organization clients
- SECURE-RES adds Webloyalty programs to its Internet marketing services
- Pegasus offers discounted ICE Portal rich media services through its Online Distribution Database
- TravelCLICK expands agreement with Travelport
- Hawaiian Hotels and Resorts installs Datavision at two properties
Lanyon has expanded its RFP Control Center corporate travel management application. Enhancements to support RFP bid processing include rating bids against key criteria to check conformity with corporate guidelines, corporate travel manager control of hotel and chain contact lists, customized file export capabilities, improved reporting, and renegotiation process control including bulk rate updates and pseudo city code validations. (www.lanyon.com)
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TIG Global has signed three new Destination Marketing Organization clients for its Internet marketing services: New England Inns and Resorts Association, Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, and Valley Forge Convention and Visitors Bureau. Services to be provided include website design and development, site hosting and maintenance, search engine optimization, pay-per-click marketing, strategic linking and online advertising, email marketing, website analytics, statistical reporting and analysis, and consultative account management. (www.tigglobal.com)
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SECURE-RES has added web-based loyalty programs from Webloyalty to its Internet marketing services. (www.secure-res.com)
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Pegasus Solutions has contracted with ICE Portal to offer hotels rich media content hosting, management and distribution at significant savings through the Pegasus Online Distribution Database (ODD). This follows its recent agreements with Leonardo Media to improve the quality and quantity of the still images in the ODD and with GIATA mbH for translation services. (www.pegs.com)
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TravelCLICK has expanded its agreement with Travelport to include exclusive sales rights for Galileo Headlines inventory in the hospitality industry. (www.travelclick.net)
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Hawaiian Hotels and Resorts has installed Datavision Technologies’ DVEnterprise application at the Royal Kona Resort, Hawaii and the Royal Lahaina Resort, Maui, to consolidate data from a on-property systems such as PMS, golf, spa, point-of-sale, sales & catering and payroll. (www.hawaiianhotelsandresorts.com, www.datavisiontech.com)
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REVENUE MANAGEMENT
- Venetian contracts with AnyRate Software for competitive rate intelligence data
- EZ-Yield partners with IDeaS to update channels with revenue-managed pricing
- EZ Yield.com reports more new clients in the first 6 months of 2006 than in all of 2005
- NH Hoteles implements EzRMS at nine properties in Amsterdam
The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino has contracted with AnyRate Software for its competitive rate intelligence data and reporting. (www.venetian.com, www.any-rate.com)
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EZ-Yield has partnered with IDeaS to enhance its S.P.I.D.E.R. platform for automatic updating of a hotel’s distribution channels with IDeaS revenue-managed pricing. The first company to take advantage of the joint solution is Singapore’s Pan Pacific Hotel.
EZ Yield.com has reported adding more new clients in the first 6 months of this year than in all of 2005, and currently supports over 1200 hotels worldwide.
(www.ezyield.com, www.ideas.com)
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NH Hoteles has implemented the EzRMS Internet Product Suite at nine properties in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, interfaced with NH’s in-house PMS & CRS systems. The implementation also includes Multi-Property Optimisation across all nine properties. NH Hoteles has 256 hotels in 19 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. (www.nh-hotels.com, www.ezrms.com)
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SALES & CATERING, MEETING PLANNING
- CARINO Collection upgrades its SalesConnect Space Management software
- Shangri-La implementing full range of Newmarket products in 30 properties
- Newmarket integrates, enhances products into Delphi Sales Advantage suite
- Newmarket releases enhancements for MeetingBroker
- Adam's Mark Hotels selects Passkey as online group reservation system
- Portola Plaza Hotel at Monterey Bay implements Passkey
Hotel representation company The CARINO Collection announced a web-based upgrade of its proprietary SalesConnect Space Management software. The centrally-hosted application allows on-property and national sales managers to share critical information such as real time client/ event data and call reports with integrated e-mail traces, and includes links to a number of PMS systems. (www.carinocollection.com)
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Shangri-La Hotel and Resorts is implementing a full complement of Newmarket International’s products, including Delphi Multi-Property Edition, Single Property Edition, Global Sales Edition, eProposal, Delphi Diagrams and MeetingBroker, in 30 properties. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2006.
Newmarket has combined Delphi 9.4, Delphi Diagrams 5.2, MeetingBroker and eProposal into its new Delphi Sales Advantage suite, with enhancements that include:
- Delphi 9.4 integration with Microsoft Outlook for account, contact and activities management,
- two-way integration with Delphi Diagrams for automatic updates of changes made to banquet event orders in Delphi or in Delphi Diagrams, plus new usability features in Delphi Diagrams
- improved reporting through integration with Meeting Broker, letting customers report on the lifecycle of a booking from RFP to pickup
- improved security through Windows Authentication that enables single sign-on with the user’s network credentials.
Newmarket also announced new features for its MeetingBroker lead-management application. Enhancements include full integration with Delphi, Account Matching to let users associate an RFP with a master account for better tracking, reporting, and account management, an improved reminder function for faster RFP response, web-based proposal writing, and new reports including RFP Tracking, Business Data Tracking, and Escalation Details
(www.shangri-la.com, www.newmarketinc.com)
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Adam's Mark Hotels has selected Passkey as its online group reservation system, for deployment at its locations in Denver, Indianapolis, Dallas, St. Louis, and Buffalo.
The 370-room Portola Plaza Hotel at Monterey Bay has implemented Passkey for online group reservations. The hotel includes a spa, fitness center and 20,000 sq. feet of meeting space.
(www.adamsmark.com, www.portolaplazahotel.com, www.passkey.com)
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F&B/POINT OF SALE
- ReServe Interactive releases nine interfaces for its event/dining reservations system
ReServe Interactive has released nine new interfaces for its event/dining reservations system, namely:
- POS System Interface with Aloha or MICROS for table status monitoring.
- Paging System Interface with JTECH and NTN pagers given to waiting guests.
- Caller ID Interface with CallerID.com's “Whozz Calling?” to match incoming calls to ReServe customer database records.
- Web booking interface via ReServeIT for guests to make real-time dining reservations or inquire about events over the Internet.
- Microsoft Outlook Interface to synchronize appointments, to-do lists and contact information.
- F&B Management System Interface with vendors such as FoodTrak and Computrition.
- Room Diagramming Interface with MeetingMatrix for event layout diagrams.
- Accounting Interface with QuickBooks for automatic invoice creation and payment recording based on ReServe activities.
- E-mail Scheduler to create and send graphically-enhanced e-mails for improved customer correspondence, marketing messages or reminders.
(www.reserveinteractive.com)
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SPA/GOLF/LEISURE
- Intellistrand launches GuestDesk Website for accommodation and golf course bookings
Intellistrand has launched its GuestDesk booking Website to offer accommodation and golf course bookings in the Myrtle Beach market online in a single screen format. GuestDesk operates on either an allocation or real-time basis depending on the interfaces available from the property management or central booking system used by each particular company. Additional tee-times are available through an interface to the T-links system, a central inventory network of Myrtle Beach golf courses. (www.intellistrand.com)
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GUEST SERVICES
- Kahala Hotel & Resort implements GoConcierge
- Carey International integrates with GT3 for GDS and Internet booking of its chauffeured transportation
- Thinix releases Version 2.73 of TS-890i WebConsole and HDTV-LINK guestroom workstations
- Marriott appoints TeleAdapt an approved vendor in EMEA
- Choice selects EthoStream for high-speed Internet access at Econo Lodge locations
- Kimpton implementing Eleven Wireless’ dual OS business center computers
- MGM Grand, InterContinental Chicago and Denihan Hospitality Group all implementing MTech’s HotSOS
The 345-room Kahala Hotel & Resort in Honolulu has implemented GoConcierge. (www.kahalaresort.com, www.goconcierge.net)
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Carey International has integrated its Global Reservation System with Ground Travel Technology Team (GT3) to allow its chauffeured transportation options to be booked through the GDSs and online travel portals, with instant confirmations. (www.carey.com, www.groundtravel.com)
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Thinix has released Version 2.73 of its TS-890i WebConsole and HDTV-LINK guestroom workstation systems. The WebConsole provides secure access to the Internet, e-mail, Instant Messaging and games, and can connect to office computers using Citrix GoToMyPC, Citrix ICA or Microsoft Terminal Services, includes a VoIP soft phone and an in-room advertising system for hotels called Thinix Promo. The HDTV-LINK provides the same features as the Web Console but uses the guestroom HDTV (with a SVGA input) for its display, with a button on the remote control to change from local programming to the Internet. (www.thinix.com)
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Marriott International has appointed TeleAdapt an approved vendor in the EMEA region for its consumer electronics and desktop Internet connectivity units. (www.teleadapt.com)
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Choice Hotels has selected EthoStream to implement high-speed Internet access to Econo Lodge franchise locations. (www.choicehotels.com, www.ethostream.com)
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Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants is implementing Eleven Wireless’ dual operating system business center computers in all 40 properties. The units run both Apple’s Mac OS X and Windows XP simultaneously on a single Apple iMac computer. (www.kimptonhotels.com, www.elevenwireless.com)
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The MGM Grand Hotel/Casino has installed MTech’s HotSOS Hotel Service Optimization System to manage guest requests from its 5,034 guest rooms and 30 private villas.
The InterContinental Chicago has migrated its guest-services and engineering maintenance data from MTech’s on-property Espresso! system to the Web-based HotSOS application. The property includes 792 guest rooms and more than 40,000 square feet of conference and banquet facilities.
New York’s DHG (Denihan Hospitality Group) is implementing MTech’s HotSOS in all of its properties, which include five Affinia Hotels and The Benjamin. Installation will be completed early in 2007.
(www.mgmgrand.com, www.ichotelsgroup.com, www.denihan.com, www.m-tech.com)
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BACK OFFICE
- Benchmark rolls out UltiPro Web-based HR, benefits, and payroll application
- Agilysys adds e-mail Archive module to its DataMagine document management application
Benchmark Hospitality International is rolling out Ultimate Software’s UltiPro Workforce Management Web-based HR, benefits, and payroll application. (www.benchmarkhospitality.com, www.ultimatesoftware.com)
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Agilysys is adding an e-mail Archive module to its DataMagine document management application. The new module captures incoming, outgoing and internal company e-mails for storage in a separate location and for a specified timeframe, and allows end users to search and retrieve e-mail records for internal or regulatory audits. (www.agilysys.com)
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ENGINEERING
- Loews Hotels installing WinTrack PM system in 18 properties
Loews Hotels is installing Mintek Mobile Data Solutions’ WinTrack PM system in 18 of its properties in the United States and Canada, starting with the Loews Don CeSar Beach Resort in St. Pete Beach, Fla.. The rollout will include Mintek’s Web-based Maintenance Portal to allow remote monitoring of each hotel’s PM progress, including outstanding work orders, completed and uncompleted rounds, and how long certain tasks took to accomplish. (www.loewshotels.com, www.mintek.com)
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COMMUNICATIONS
- Knowcross announces version 2.26 of TRITON IP Telephony Mobility module
Knowcross Solutions announced version 2.26 of its TRITON IP Telephony Mobility module, which now integrates with Alcatel’s Communication Platform Omni PCX Release 6.2 on Windows XP. Knowcross' clients can now choose among DECT phones, IP phones, pagers, mobiles, and PDAs for job allocation, job dispatch, job update and other messaging functionalities provided by Triton. (www.knowcross.com)
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SECURITY
- Onity opens new office in Shanghai
Onity (formerly TESA Entry Systems) has opened a new office in Shanghai, including a product demonstration gallery and a technical services facility. The new office will also house Onity’s expanded Sales and Service teams covering the Northern (Beijing), Eastern (Shanghai) and Western (Chongquing & Chengdu) regions of China. (www.onity.com)
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