Taking a Futuristic View to Revenue and Occupancy
Lindner Hotels and Resorts forges a lasting relationship with IDeaS
With more than 32 hotels based in Germany, Spain and Switzerland, Lindner Hotels are a mix of prestigious business addresses, luxurious wellness oases and sophisticated golf and sport hotels. Variety is the spice of life as far as Lindner Hotels & Resorts and its guests are concerned. The service: hearty and pleasantly straightforward. The concepts: unusual and innovative, individual and personal. Often found in niche markets, Lindner generates their business from a mix of market segments including corporate, rack or transient, crew, and group bookings.
Optimizing Hotel Performance
Lindner Hotels AG has long been an industry leader when it comes to finding innovative and advanced solutions to address its business needs.
In 2002, the hotels were faced with a number of challenges. Firstly, the chain had been practicing an intensive program of manual yield management activities, and had concluded that no further improvement could be made manually. Simultaneously, the hotel chain was also suffering from decreasing rates, despite rising occupancies.
The Director of Operations and Central Project Manager for Linder Hotels, Gunnar von Hagen, wanted to optimize the hotel’s performance figures and looked for different ways to implement a Central Reservation Office that used a single inventory reservation system to reduce the challenges of working with a complex 2-way interface between the SynXis CRS (Central Reservation System) and the Fidelio PMS (Property Management System).
Combining these two issues together, von Hagen sought to find a revenue management solutions provider that could automate yield management for the hotel and upload restrictions directly into the new inventory reservation system. Following a thorough review of the technology offerings on the market by examining the usability, training, support, and measurement of results for each system, Lindner Hotels concluded that IDeaS V5i offered the most comprehensive solution.
Seamless Integration and Perfect Compatibility
One of the strongest arguments for Gunnar von Hagen to choose IDeaS was that V5i proposes decisions to the Revenue Manager, and then automatically loads it into various booking systems. “We can work very effortlessly with the data and learn much more from the figures with IDeaS V5i” said von Hagen. “I found the ease-of-use and the transparency of the system far superior to other systems. When I override a rate manually on IDeaS V5i, it is very easy for other users to see what I have done. With other systems, we could never be sure that the user was not working against the yield recommendations.”
"The complexity of our business mix of clients and distribution channels meant that it was very difficult for us to set the most optimal rates back when we were yielding on a manual basis. When the IDeaS V5i platform was first implemented, we had to get used to the system making the decisions for us" said von Hagen. "There are times when we are surprised that the system proposes a lower price, but we learned to trust the system to make the best decisions. We now know that it is worth it in the end, because IDeaS V5i is making the decision scientifically and accurately based on past data and figures for that particular property."
The IDeaS V5i system also proved invaluable when it came to setting prices and decision-making for individual Lindner properties. The business mix at Lindner Hotel & Sporting Club Wiesensee, for example, is dominated by business meetings and conferences during the week, and leisure guests traveling to play golf on weekends. "We are achieving very good value through IDeaS V5i, as the system is able to offer a variety of optimization opportunities across our different clientele" said von Hagen.
Von Hagen is pleased with the results, "lsince the first installation of IDeaS V5i in 2002, occupancy rates have been boosted by 5% and revenue increased by more than 5.5%. There are even some months when profit levels are up as high as 14.9%."
"The most interesting outcome that we experienced was the mental shift in our staff, at each individual hotel, to incorporate the system into their daily routines - especially as all of them already possess a high level of individual responsibility and training. After all, a decision system must be understood and lived with every day, and it must demonstrate its value with every reservation. The concerns our teams may have had were all managed proactively through the thorough initial training and follow-up sessions. Today, IDeaS V5i is an essential part of our revenue management culture. Every day we check the system activities, as well as our own user’s impressions, in regards to the recommended restrictions proposed by IDeaS V5i. This ensures we enhance our skills and our understanding and acceptance of IDeaS as our Revenue Optimization Partner. The biggest sign of success is that no one wants to go back to the old system!"
What's Next?
The system has thus far exceeded Lindner Hotel’s expectations, helping them achieve the ROI they were looking for by stabilizing eroding hotel rates and making life easier through IDeaS’ centralized control capabilities. Lindner Hotels are so pleased with the results that each new hotel to open will be fully equipped with IDeaS V5i fully installed before the doors are opened to the public.
"We continue to invest in optimizing our structures to operate at an even more professional level in our revenue management culture. In this process, IDeaS is our active accompanist and an important system partner to implement our projects successfully" said von Hagen.
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