We were looking to improve, at our hotels, the effectiveness of our management of our labor, the time management – making sure we had the right amount of people, the right shifts, making sure the minutes per room were being done, and something that effectively watched over that.
The previous tool that we had was costing us a lot more than it was intended, it was not a hotel-specific tool so that was costing us a lot more time and money.
We were using paper schedules and weren’t able to cost things out as effectively and we just didn’t have the ability to have an integrated system.
Well, with Hotel Effectiveness – when we had started – I think what became evident quickly to help us get over the past issues was the fact that you got a company that actually understood hospitality.
Their knowledge and experiences led to something that could be customizable in a portfolio setting – easily adoptable, not only to your limit service hotels but to your full service hotels as well.
I think Hotel Effectiveness helped us improve in regard to being consistent in our practice as number one.
It made it seamless – it took the headache out of us, it managed hours [of] our employees that had to clock in and clock out, and once the system was set up on the back end, it spit out the reports that we needed.
It’s very easy to use. It has good levels of security.
It’s got color coding, it’s easy to show where the numbers come from, and they can obviously learn these things pretty quickly. And at the end of the day, it means a lot more dollars for us over time.
One, it’s web-based. You can access it anywhere. It’s user-friendly. And it’s got some Excel background and we’re all Excel users so I like that. And the timeliness of the reports that we get in the morning – it’s right there.
The team that we’ve worked with at Hotel Effectiveness has really helped – listened to what we wanted, created some additional features.
So Hotel Effectiveness, it’s a superior product because it takes out all the manual calculations; any information that you have to look at, it gives you right at your fingertips.
One thing that we love about Hotel Effectiveness is the customizable strategies that can be in place.
The ease of its use over the years and the willingness from the team to actually help find different ways for us to use it has really also been something that sets it apart.
I would recommend Hotel Effectiveness to other hoteliers who think they’re managing their payroll and they’re really not because they don’t get the information real-time. So even if it’s a one-off hotelier running it, to get that information is great, and it makes you a better manager, a better owner.
You have to have the three P’s, for me – the people, the product, and the profit. That’s what I always focus on. And you guys certainly have the people – you’ve got the smarts, you’re approachable, I’m not dealing with someone behind a curtain that I’m emailing and hoping that I get emailed back.
