Cape Town grand hotel, the ArabellaSheraton, uses the HEAT service management software from FrontRange to create the world`s first fully automated guest service tracking system - and give itself a unique selling point in the competitive hotel market in Cape Town.
Says Stuart Cowan, Arabella South Africa Holding director of information technology: "It`s been an Arabella South Africa Holding initiative for each of its new hotel developments to have one distinct differentiator. In the ArabellaSheraton Grand Hotel case, we focused on addressing the hotel industry`s most difficult problem - ensuring consistent guest service delivery, 24x7, across all the very different departments in a hotel.
"Normally a guest has to interact separately with each of the departments - with housekeeping if he wants laundry done, with room service if he wants a meal in his room, and with the concierge if he wants a round of golf. We centralised all those contacts in a call centre environment, so that the guest deals with only one person - who takes responsibility for managing the guest`s service requests to completion according to set operational thresholds. Integration of the various platforms within the hotel makes this a seamless process."
Working with HEAT consultants in the nine months before the hotel opened, ArabellaSheraton executives identified more than 70 tasks frequently requested by guests and broke them down into three phases - initiation, production and delivery.
They were then written into the software and linked, through the hotel`s telephony system, Nova, to the call centre. Within seconds of a guest checking into the hotel, his or her details are loaded into HEAT. Then, whenever the guest accesses the call centre using the unique e-Butler button on the room phone, HEAT automatically populates a task screen for the call centre agent, showing the guest`s details.
Once the agent logs the guest`s request, HEAT automatically forwards the request to the relevant departments for production and delivery. The software is able to escalate delays and other problems to progressively higher authority according to pre-programmed rules.
Call centre agents can track each task and proactively manage guest queries.
"The reaction to e-Butler from guests has been fantastic," says Cowan.
Although HEAT can be implemented in no more than two weeks, the ArabellaSheraton Grand Hotel`s special requirements necessitated a longer than usual design and integration process. "However, HEAT is so flexible that, once the tasks and steps had been defined, we could work very quickly," says Lesley-Anne Barker of Revelation Data, a FrontRange partner. "Also, it`s so easy to use that training the 60 hotel staff who work with it took us only two weeks."
Cowan agrees. "HEAT is a remarkable product. Its flexibility was what sold us on it, along with the quality of the HEAT consultants we`d be working with - and price."
Cowan and his colleagues have presented the e-Butler to other hotel chains internationally, generating considerable interest. "Most large hotels have some form of guest service tracking system in operation or under development," Cowan says. "But none of them is as fully automated and integrated across the board with all the other hotel systems and all departments as e-Butler."
FrontRange Solutions Africa MD, Tracey Newman, says the ArabellaSheraton`s e-Butler proves the worth of an incident tracking and management system such as HEAT, used in real-time and built to open standards that allow full integration with other systems. "It enables you to be proactive instead of reactive in customer service. And, therefore, it puts you ahead of the game."
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