InterContinental Vienna is a 5-star city center hotel and a part of the world-renowned hotel chain InterContinental Hotels Group, short IHG. The hotel has 458 comfortable guest rooms and offers a vast range of amenities to leisure and business travelers as well as conference guests. The ideal location, excellent service as well as the exquisite cuisine are tailored to meet and exceed guest expectations.
All the more reason for the collaboration between the departments needing to be seamless. The previous system used, could simply not keep up with the hotels demands. Hence, this software was replaced with the modern and user-friendly hotel optimization software hotelkit. Thanks to the excellent service and support by the hotelkit team, the transition went smoothly, as Director of Rooms Sandra Hösl explains in this interview.
hotelkit replaces Legacy Software
You were using another hotel optimization tool before the implementation of hotelkit. Why did you decide to switch? And what advantages does hotelkit offer?
The tool we previously used simply couldn’t meet the requirements that arose in our daily operation. It was possible to send work orders to employees via a pager but as soon as the length of the order exceeded a certain number of characters, the system was overwhelmed and froze. I don’t consider this “efficient” or “practical”.
Our goal was to ensure smooth, and transparent communication between the maintenance and housekeeping colleagues, and we also wanted a tool with a user-friendly interface which is why we were on the lookout for a new platform.
The renowned Sacher Hotels as well as some industry colleagues at AICR (International Association for Deputy Managers and Front Office Managers of Luxury Hotels) drew our attention to the collaboration platform hotelkit.
Smooth Implementation
How did the implementation of hotelkit go?
The roll-out and implementation of hotelkit was easy and pleasantly uneventful. We initially transferred all pending work orders into the new system. However, this turned out to be counterproductive. in hindsight, my recommendation to other hotels which start working with hotelkit: set-up, enter all the information and tasks into hotelkit correctly from scratch and use it consistently right from the beginning. It’s easy to do and will ultimately save you a lot of time and hassle.
Staff convinced by Simple Application
How did the colleagues receive the new software?
Understandably, long-service colleagues were not enthusiastic about the change. Especially our housekeeping team members, some of which never had to work with smart handhelds before.
The intuitive and user-friendly look and feel of hotelkit, managed to turn the initial skepsis into genuine enthusiasm.
Efficient and Effective Implementation of Hygiene Measures during the Pandemic
The pandemic had a tremendous impact on the hotel industry. How did hotelkit support you during the Covid-19 pandemic?
During the pandemic, there were two key factors that we paid special attention to. First and foremost, we were aware of the burden that this crisis put on our team and we as hotel leaders, therefore assumed responsibility for their wellbeing. In order to reduce pressure on colleagues, our hotelkit user accounts were reduced to only one per department for the time being. This allowed the many team members that were on highly reduced schedules to refocus and fully recharge while at home.
Secondly, many strict hygiene measures had to be implemented and hotelkit made this herculean task a lot easier for us: We modified the existing digital checklists for our housekeeping team with the heightened measures, put special emphasis on disinfection of surfaces in guest rooms and public areas and added all hygiene requirements mandated by IHG and the local legislation. This way, we also never faced any problems during audit inspections as we were always able to prove compliance.
Same workload, less stress: hotelkit makes it possible
Manning shortages are a major problem in the hospitality industry. How does hotelkit help to deliver a great guest experience when only limited staff is available?
The great advantage of working with hotelkit is that it reduces the stress that arises during the working day.
A telephone that never stops ringing, cluttered paper documentation and verbal communication are a thing of the past. Now, we have a unique tool that allows us to send information directly to the responsible colleague and enables the team to complete their to-dos in a focused and structured manner at their own pace. On the one hand, this increases efficiency, and, on the other hand, the colleague’s workload is reduced.
Management of Guest Requests and Complaints with hotelkit
What hotelkit tools do you consider most important in the daily work?
We particularly like working with the “Guest Requests” tool as it facilitates communication of guest requests to our housekeeping team. In addition, the “Complaints” tool plays an important role in our daily operations because it helps us to document and respond to service shortfalls quickly. This way, the colleagues on later shifts are looped in about the challenges and can follow-up further with relevant department to ensure a quick resolution and guest satisfaction.
