Peel Hotels
Peel Hotel is a chain of nine hotels in provincial UK locations. The chain places great emphasis on its service reputation and local support, investing in regular facility and service upgrades. Its key requirements included the need to improve customer interactions; to add compatibility for web booking functionality; and to improve management information. The company is quickly reaping the benefits of ClarityLive for Hospitality software.
- Faster customer reservation & check-in procedures
- Guest recognition boosts the service experience
- Accurate, automated food and beverage billing
- Time & cost savings across the business
- Effortless, real time management reporting & financial control both at hotel level and centrally
Client
The Peel Hotels estate spans nine properties, has an annual turnover of approximately £15m and employs around 500 staff. Established by majority owners Robert and Charles Peel in 1998, the group’s three and four star hotels are based in provincial cities and towns.
The company is driven by its stated goal of being the local people’s favourite hotel in each of its locations. It is committed to an ongoing investment programme to continually upgrade hotel facilities and overall service quality.
Brief
A number of factors led Peel Hotels to evaluate its IT provision, according to Gary Peacock, General Manager of the chain’s Midland Hotel. To achieve the group’s goal of establishing each hotel as the local people’s favourite, staff need IT tools that help them to optimise customer interactions, and to deliver a consistently outstanding guest experience.
The growing importance of the internet was another key issue for Peel Hotels. Real time online availability information and booking facilities were essential to capture opportunities and make life easy for customers. PCI compliance and the ability to interface to payment gateways were also key.
The company was seeking to maximise efficiency at every level, through tighter controls and reporting. These capabilities were required at each hotel site as well as centrally at head office. It sought a straightforward system that would help management to keep things simple and focus the entire team on service standards.
Solution
Peel Hotels evaluated several systems, and Clarity made an immediate impact, according to Gary Peacock. The chain selected Hotel Manager and EPOS from the ClarityLive for Hospitality software suite, incorporating a range of hotel-specific functionality and an integral point of sale component installed in its hotel bars and restaurants.
Each hotel has an on-site server running identical software. The central database is held at the group’s Leeds head office, and all sites are linked, supporting remote access and consolidated real-time reporting.
Clarity took a flexible approach to Peel Hotels’ reporting needs, adapting reports to be consistent with the operator’s historic data. Additional reports have also been created, and everything is delivered in a familiar format – helping users to quickly absorb and act on data.
The system was rolled-out to the group’s hotels one at a time, at approximately four week intervals. A comprehensive training and support package was integral to the implementation process. This included a week of on-site training prior to each go-live, plus a continued Clarity presence through the launch itself.
"Without a doubt, Clarity were always there to support us during the rollout,"
says Gary Peacock, continuing,
"We enjoy 24 hour support cover from Clarity, as in addition to their UK team, they also have hotel solutions experts based in New Zealand."
Results
ClarityLive provides practical tools that help Peel Hotels’ people to work smarter. This translates directly into enhanced customer interactions and experiences.
Day to day service is raised significantly. Reservations are completed more easily and quickly, and checking in and out times are reduced. The POS system automatically adds food and beverage spend to guests' room bills, so there are no unnecessary delays on guest departure. And online availability and booking facilities will further enhance customer convenience.
Memorable and personal service
By displaying guest histories, Hotel Manager enables staff to recognise customers and respond to them individually. And with less stressful front desk scenarios, everyone’s happier. It all contributes to greater customer satisfaction and a more memorable and personal experience.
New staff can be trained quickly and effectively – even if they’ve come straight from college or have limited experience of hotel operations.
Compelling management benefits
For Peel Hotels’ site and HQ based managers, the new system’s benefits are compelling. Improved customer experience drives greater spend and customer loyalty. And faster, more efficient service creates time and cost savings.
The ClarityLive solution gives Peel Hotels central as well as local visibility across all operations. With one centrally held database and one sales ledger, financial reporting and operational control are transformed. Gone are the days when HQ had to wait for all the site managers to submit their figures, and then consolidate nine sales ledgers into one.
Experienced people
Those with financial responsibility have their fingers on the pulse like never before: cash flow forecasts are now available on a minute by minute basis. And Peel Hotels runs a much tighter ship in terms of credit control and cash management, which sharpens up the entire business. The workload involved is greatly reduced too, freeing managers at all levels to focus on operational and strategic priorities.
Gary Peacock certainly believes that ClarityLive is helping Peel Hotels make real savings and improve service at every level of the organisation. He praises Clarity’s team as much as the software itself, saying,
"Clarity has some great people, both technically and professionally. They are very experienced and relate really well to us as a company."
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