Whether it’s celebrating an anniversary, receiving an award, earning a certification, debuting a new product or expanding the business, hotel companies and vendors achieve new milestones on a daily basis. Here’s a look at recent accomplishments:
Mumford Company completes sale of former Best Western Plus in Walker, LA
Mumford Company, a full-service hotel advisory firm since 1978, represented First Troy SPE LLC in the sale of the former Best Western Plus of Walker, LA, to Jay Ambe 2021 LLC. The purchaser is a regional hotel owner and operator and plans to reopen the hotel as a Best Western Plus after mainly cosmetic renovations. Mumford Company managing principals Ed James and Steve Kirby represented the seller in the transaction.
“This lender-owned hotel was brought to market in late January 2021 and immediately generated significant interest,” said James. “The transaction closed less than 90 days later demonstrating the very high demand that exists today for limited-service hotel assets as we exit the COVID-19 crisis.”
Rancho Bernardo Inn chooses Allbridge
The Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego has selected Allbridge, a provider of complete property technology solutions for hotels and senior living properties nationwide, to provide its cloud voice services at the resort. The cloud voice solution includes a new pricing model, significantly reducing capital expenditure and scaling operating costs to match the variable occupancy rate of the hotel.
The occupancy-based cloud voice option from Allbridge includes a variable monthly cost proportional to the occupancy rate of the property. This aligns property guestroom costs with guest revenues more closely, reducing financial risk for the hotel operator. The same premier level of service is maintained throughout the property, including all software assurance and call processing for the term of the agreement, eliminating the need for additional upgrades.
Allbridge cloud voice is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that is delivered from the cloud, eliminating traditional on-premise PBX equipment that routinely requires maintenance. There is minimal CapEx, reducing monthly operating expenses and circuit costs associated with traditional premise-based systems. The system delivers a robust feature set for a single, monthly subscription fee, and all software assurance and cloud maintenance are included for the term of the agreement.
Maine Comfort Inn & Suites wins Choice Gold award
The Comfort Inn & Suites Wilton, ME, has been recognized with a 2021 Gold Award from Choice Hotels International Inc., franchisor of the Comfort Inn brand.
The Gold Award designation goes only to the top 10% of hotels within the brand, representing a tremendous accomplishment. As one of the top-tier properties operating under the Comfort Inn flag, the hotel’s staff has demonstrated an exceptional focus on guest satisfaction and dedication to superior service. Award criteria are evaluated by Choice Hotels through its official property ranking reports.
“As a leading hotel franchisor, we count on our owners to make sure each guest that stays at each and every one of our hotels feels welcome, wanted and respected,” said Tim Tobin, VP, franchisee onboarding and learning, Choice Hotels. “Award-winning hotels like the Comfort Inn & Suites Wilton, ME, have demonstrated their commitment to delivering on this brand promise and more, and we are proud to honor their accomplishments as an example for others to follow.”
Arbor Lodging Management partnership with Aptech pays off
Prior to the 2020 pandemic, Arbor Lodging Management made a critical financial decision; the hotel management group operating Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and IHG brands partnered with Aptech. With 12 new hotels entering its system in January 2020, Aptech’s Execuvue business intelligence solution and Targetvue budgeting and forecasting system would help the multi-brand operator onboard these assets and assist its existing full-service, select-service and extended-stay properties with analyzing data, building reports, writing formulas, combining information from multiple sources and more.
When COVID-19 hit, the world shut down, but thanks in part to Aptech, Arbor Lodging Management and its hotels stayed open. The company used the time of low occupancy to train on Aptech systems and learn how to navigate the new normal using the robust forecasting, budgeting and expense tools within Targetvue, and leverage custom reporting and data gathering within Execuvue to make smarter business decisions using analytics to help manage budget more accurately for 2021.
Execuvue is Aptech’s IBM Cognos-based ASP business intelligence application. In 2020, Execuvue was redesigned to make the customized reporting and data gathering tool even more intuitive. It helps operators make smarter business decisions and answer questions on the fly using analytics. It features a new and improved Dashboard tool delivering images of financial and operational data to deliver actionable insights. The drag-and-drop environment with predictive analytics creates visualizations based on data entered.
Targetvue is Aptech’s hospitality-driven budgeting and forecasting solution. Aptech joined forces with PROPHIX to develop a totally new budgeting and forecasting application fully integrated with Execuvue. Targetvue eliminates the need to correct and recombine multiple spreadsheets for consolidating and reporting.
Maestro’s two-way CRS integration is making a difference
Ensuring a frictionless guest experience from booking to checkout and beyond is critical in today’s new normal. Maestro is one of only a few property-management system (PMS) providers with enhanced two-way integration to Pegasus CRS and other leading central reservation system providers. Built on Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG) standards, this joint technology initiative is making it easy for guests to book rooms and make changes to existing reservations on command—regardless of where the booking originated.
Maestro first embarked on the enhanced two-way integration project in 2018 with Pegasus. Elizabeth James, Pegasus solutions consultant, led the effort to develop a way to access all reservations in its CRS and those originating from Maestro. Pegasus does not have direct access into the PMS; Maestro’s booking engine instead pushes all reservations data to the CRS, creating a record of the transaction with full details transparent to the reservation’s agent.
Maestro’s PCI-certified and EMV-ready enterprise system offers 20+ integrated modules on a single database, including web, mobile and contact-free apps to increase profitability, drive direct bookings, centralize operations and enable operators to engage guests with a personalized and safe experience. Maestro’s Support Service provides unparalleled 24/7 North American based live phone and instant chat support and education services.
