NATIONAL REPORT—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:
McKibbon Hospitality Celebrates First CRME
Hotel management company McKibbon Hospitality has revealed that its tenured regional revenue manager, Erin Cerrato, has received Certified Revenue Manager Executive (CRME) certification from Hospitality Sales and Marketing International. Cerrato is the first member of McKibbon’s in-house revenue management team to receive this certification, elevating the team’s potential to maximize profits and drive market share across its management portfolio.
To receive CRME accreditation, applicants must participate in a two-part process, demonstrating their eligibility and passing a rigorous online exam covering the functions performed in revenue management. Cerrato scored a 94% on her CRME exam, cementing her expertise and thorough knowledge of the profession and best practices. To ensure continued competency and retain CRME accreditation, recertification is required every three years.
Cerrato has been an integral part of McKibbon’s revenue management team for nearly eight years, optimizing revenue across a portfolio of hotels by researching market conditions and implementing strategic hotel rates and packages.
InterMountain Looks Back at 2020
This year has been a challenging one in general, especially for the hospitality sector. While the hotel business is currently not for the faint of heart, the owner of InterMountain Hotels, Dewey Weaver, remains passionate about the industry he deemed would be his lifelong aspiration to be part of from the early age of 11 years old.
Even with the challenges posed over the past year, InterMountain has accomplishments to celebrate and be grateful for, including the expansion of its corporate operations to include a second office building to accommodate the growing team. It also added two existing hotels to its third-party managed portfolio and opened six newly built properties, two of which are InterMountain owned. The company welcomed The Estes Park Resort in Estes Park, CO, an independent upscale resort, to the managed portfolio at the start of the year. This was followed by opening TownePlace Suites El Paso East/I10 in Texas; Hilton Garden Inn Destin Miramar Beach in Florida; TownePlace Suites Panama City Beach Pier Park in Florida; Home2 Atascadero in California; TownePlace Suites Sacramento Airport Natomas in California; and SpringHill Suites Albuquerque University Area in New Mexico. InterMountain finished the year by taking over management of the established Staybridge Suites Omaha 80th & Dodge in Nebraska in the early fall.
There is still positivity about the future of hospitality and continued growth at InterMountain, with eight hotels currently under construction, six of them scheduled to open across the U.S. in 2021.
Maestro PMS Launches Training Initiatives
To help its clients better navigate the new normal, Maestro PMS has embarked on a training initiative that is helping hoteliers adapt to change and meet the demands of today’s vigilant travelers. The provider of cloud and on-premise property management systems to independent and luxury resorts, conference centers, vacation rentals and multi-property groups is offering a training services package that gives Maestro users the opportunity to experience the full power of its browser and Windows Version 5.5 PMS that rolled out across its portfolio in 2020.
Maestro Version 5.5 features the latest mobile and contactless software tools and offers security enhancements to better manage the challenges Maestro users are facing entering the new year. The enhanced solution features:
- A curbside check-in tool utilizing mobile tablet devices to streamline registration and socially distance staff from guests, and guests from each other
- A web/mobile/kiosk/iPad self-check-in module with mobile key integration, express mobile check-out, digital registration card with signature capture, mobile spa provider schedule, mobile intake and waiver forms and eSignature document management to limit staff interaction with guests and remove high-touch physical documents
- A mobile housekeeping app that protects staff by controlling the availability of rooms and setting a configurable 48-hour time gap between the time a guest departs and the next guest arrives
- Mobile payment integration
- Mobile task management
- A Guest Engagement Measurement (GEM) tool that provides access to relevant guest feedback, intelligence and insights to encourage operational excellence, meaningful differentiation and a sustainable competitive advantage.
IDeaS Named Best RMS at 2021 HotelTechAwards
IDeaS Revenue Solutions has once again been named the highest-rated revenue management system (RMS) by Hotel Tech Report, as well as a top-10 hotel-technology company in the Global Hotelier’s Choice Competition.
The HotelTechAwards winners have been selected from more than 200 of the top technology products around the world. The awards represent the best hotel software products across every category based primarily on customer feedback but also key data points including integration compatibility, organizational health, partner network strength and customer support quality.
Judging is based on time-tested ranking factors, publicly available data and crowd-sourced insights from verified hoteliers who have hands-on experience with each product.
RobertDouglas Opens New Office in Nashville
RobertDouglas has opened a new office in Nashville, TN. The office expands the company’s national geographic footprint, adding a location that is situated to complement its other offices in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“Prior to the industry slowdown that was caused by COVID, Nashville had become one of the fastest-growing markets for hotel development in the country,” said Evan Hurd, principal/managing director, who will manage the Nashville office. “As the industry recovers, we expect that trend to continue in Nashville and the greater region and, as a result, feel it is an ideal location for RobertDouglas to establish a presence. The Nashville location also bridges the gap between our offices in New York and California and allows us to have our feet on the ground and be closer to our clients and colleagues in the Midwest and southern U.S.”