Marcus Hotels & & Resorts is a nationally acknowledged hotel owner and management company and has an abundant history of success and amazing service.
NB: This is a post from Roomdex, among our Expert Partners
Starting in 1962 with the auction purchase of the Pfister Hotel, the companys portfolio has grown to 19 homes, making up of city-center conference hotels, upscale resorts and branded superior hotels. A core asset of the portfolio is the Grand Geneva Resort & & Spa, a 385 space, award-wining all-seasons resort set on 1,300 acres in the legendary southeastern Wisconsin neighborhood of Lake Geneva.
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Like the rest of the market, over the past 18 months the hotel has faced both short-term and long-run difficulties– from reductions in tenancy to irregular patterns of demand. While the shape of healing stays rather different internationally, it hasnt stopped Grand Geneva from purchasing new innovations. In the last 12 months they updated their PMS– and triggered ROOMDEX. We caught up with Tim Kayser, Area Director of Revenue Management at Grand Geneva Resort and Spa to learn how the combination of ROOMDEXs upgrade and upselling platform is working out as the industry continues to browse its method through the pandemic.
What was the initial motivation, decision, to select space ROOMDEX?
Our CTO, Marcus Hotels & & Resorts, Rajiv Castellino, was the person who truly led the effort. One of the primary motivations for picking ROOMDEX, was the reality that we knew it would incorporate effectively with Opera, which is the Property Management System (PMS) at the majority of our unbranded homes.
For how long have you have been working with ROOMDEX at your hotel?
We converted to a brand-new hosting service provider in August, given that April 2021 we have been utilizing ROOMDEX.
How has it been carrying out for you?
It carries out effectively. ROOMDEX is excellent at being able to go and examine for schedule and the algorithm costs things properly. Really, the greatest issue we had with upselling were COVID-related problems. We had the ability to resolve those problems with the ROOMDEX team to optimize our profits and offerings.
I presume that prior to ROOMDEX, you were running with, what we would call, basic, front desk upselling?
Its a little bit more in line with your standard income management practices.
As a profits supervisor, obviously yielding your rooms is how you play the game. Did you have any type of system for dynamic prices when you did upselling prior to ROOMDEX?
The front workplace and bookings departments were excellent at upselling and doing that type of thing. One of the primary things that I like about ROOMDEX is that its consistent. And now were rolling out ROOMDEXs brand-new visitor services and feature upselling, which I believe is going to be really popular at the resort.
It wasnt truly vibrant, it was more of a flat cost. ROOMDEX has actually permitted us to tier the early arrival and late departure demands. We can also manage the tiers based on business volume. It was a flat charge, not vibrant, and it did not increase when we understood there was extra demand– ROOMDEX does do a very great job at that. When we can, it is able to capture where the real need is and able to press the rate.
Lets speak about stay extensions– early arrival, late departure. Were you “monetizing” that prior to ROOMDEX?
No, not in addition to we are now. Thats another fantastic feature of ROOMDEX. Stay extensions are something that have actually constantly remained in need, but we didnt actually have an excellent lorry to be able to record that revenue or perhaps be able to keep an eye on the need we had for it. We understood numerous guests would request it, we get emails from OTA visitors requesting to check-in early and check out late. Now we have an excellent process to manage the requests.
Definitely– supply and demand.
Have you seen a market improvement in overall profits uptake over not utilizing anything?
Have you had the ability to state to the front desk, “Hey, do not stress over it– weve currently run upgrades” or are they likewise pressing upgrades?
Yes, they will press as well, and now they can see if a guest has currently accepted a ROOMDEX offer. They can definitely do it if theres someone who hasnt.
Yes. Like I stated, I think the reality that not only are we constant, the algorithms that ROOMDEXs products allows us to maximize on those numbers. Were running much greater upgrade charge and early-in and late-out charges than we ran prior to ROOMDEX.
How did configuration and after that set up go?
That was extremely smooth. Its actually a pretty easy system. Its terrific that the ROOMDEX group might enter and see what was in Opera. They see our rates, they see our space types, they see the functions– all of that. We simply had to go in there and specify– “this space has these functions and this room has those features”– that kind of thing, but it was all very easy for a 385 room home, it actually took a couple hours.
What about like ongoing effort and labor? How much do you need to go back in there and fine-tune or massage it?
As we operationally work through changes in our organization environment, it has actually been simple to work with ROOMDEX to adjust offerings based on our ability to provide top-level service and still accommodate demands. ROOMDEX automatically is limiting that for particular varieties or maybe its just on Saturdays, that type of thing.
From an income managers viewpoint, what is the important things you like finest about ROOMDEX?
ROOMDEX is able to capture need and anticipate demand better than any other item we checked out. And the other thing is the prices design for ROOMDEX is much better.
Are theres any strategies for more hotels to join the ROOMDEX family?
Yes, there is. We have ROOMDEX running in the Grand Geneva Resort and The Pfister Hotel, The Garland and The Saint Kate Hotel.
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It was a flat fee, not vibrant, and it did not increase when we knew there was extra need– ROOMDEX does do an extremely great task at that. ROOMDEX automatically is limiting that for particular ranges or possibly its just on Saturdays, that type of thing. ROOMDEX is able to record demand and expect demand better than any other item we checked out.
ROOMDEX is really good at being able to go and examine for availability and the algorithm rates things appropriately. We were able to work through those issues with the ROOMDEX team to optimize our revenues and offerings.
