Source: OpenWays

New concept Ciena has carefully selected technology solutions to improve hotel efficiency and profitability while giving customers what they want – convenience, options and greater control over their hotel interactions

Chicago
—August 21, 2012
When the newest hotel in Texas opens its doors in Cotulla in early 2013, staff and guests will marvel at a great showcase of the latest technology products under one hotel roof. Aside from offering market-leading amenities, such as a custom in-house movie theater, Dreamscape bedding, complimentary welcome snack and bottled water in every room, plus 24/7 fresh food-and-beverage options, the hotel aims to boost profitability in its competitive set by automating many mundane and labor-intensive procedures.

Bob Zachariah, president and CEO of HotelWorks, parent of Ciena Hotels & Suites, along with his team carefully selected all on-site technologies by focusing on best-of-breed vendors that offer something unique. Ciena Hotels & Suites intends to combine these unique solutions into an efficient and streamlined operation that has appeal to staff, guests and potential future franchisees of the brand. By combining unique technology services within a vibrant hotel atmosphere, Ciena is reducing mundane human operations for the benefit of staff and providing guests with exciting new options for obtaining the information and services they want – exactly how and when they want them. By harnessing greater efficiencies, Ciena's cost model is expected to have huge appeal to hoteliers seeking to increase profitability by embracing Ciena's business systems.

Ciena guests will naturally be able to book their room online. While this is not a huge departure from the current norm, guest interaction is expected to be much more mobile device biased than is typical. The Ciena hotel will offer Mobile Key by OpenWays that enables guests to bypass the traditional requirement to stop at the front desk to check-in and collect a room key.

"We believe, as technology evolves, one of these days traditional room keys used could be a thing of the past. For sure, the use of plastic keys will diminish as the years go by," Zachariah said. "By offering guests options and not forcing them to do thingsourway, they will enjoy a new found autonomy. This is what our research shows guests want. We also plan that our people will be able to spend more time with those guests thatdowant individual attention than our competitors will be able to, thereby increasing service at all levels."

Continuing with the self-service options and theme, Ciena has also selected the ICE (Interactive Customer Experience™) enterprise platform from Intelity. The implementation will include Intelity's ICE TV, ICE Mobile and ICE Lobby to allow Ciena guests to make requests and order services at the touch of a finger. Zachariah commented on the choice of Intelity: "We're looking at the hotel living concept with a fresh set of eyes. Our vision focuses on guest desires for control, content and convenience which will be delivered through Intelity's ICE fully integrated guest service platform."

A critical part of the technology jigsaw was the selection of the hotel's property-management system. A key component of the Ciena experience will be its guest-loyalty program, and therefore it was vital to choose a flexible PMS with great guest-loyalty capabilities. After a vigorous search of several leading PMS options, Ciena selected Infor HMS by Infor. The solution will be implemented as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based solution in order to benefit from the functionality, financial and scalability advantages offered through the cloud.

While it maybe not so evident initially to many guests staying at the property, a huge boon expected to streamline the lives of staff and therefore enable better service to guests was the selection of HotSOS (Hotel Service Optimization System) by MTech (part of Newmarket International). HotSOS automates the workflow of the hotel and tracks guest request, incidents and fulfillment through an integrated platform.

"Our choice of business solutions means that Ciena Hotels & Suites will offer the highest levels of guest service and interaction combined with choices in how guests receive their services," Zachariah said. "In redefining the guest experience, we will hold true to our belief that giving options to customers is the ultimate VIP service. Our brand promise is based on this research and customer understanding and we can't wait to open our doors to the area's most discerning guests. We know they will enjoy an outstanding experience from the minute they book with us through to walking straight to their room and using all the great services we offer!"

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About Ciena Hotels & Resorts

Ciena Hotels and Suites is owned by HotelWorks Development LLC. With visionary design and operational guidance from Bob Zachariah, the company is well funded with the institutional financial backing of one of the leading Texas banks. HotelWorks' international investors are diverse in background, with interests in the commercial and residential real estate development, energy sector, freight forwarding, high tech fields, medical, and international business, who together created a trailblazing hospitality idea factory dedicated to developing smart and unique global hospitality concepts. More information can be found be visiting www.hotelworksdev.com and www.cienahotels.com.

About OpenWays

OpenWays is a global solutions provider of mobile-based access-management and security solutions. With offices in Chicago, Las Vegas, Seoul and in Europe, OpenWays provides technology solutions allowing for the secure issuance and delivery of access rights and keys processed via any cell phone operating on any network. The OpenWays solution is truly unique as it is built on the concept of credential dematerialization. The OpenWays mobile room key solution works on ALL the 6.5 billion cell phones in service in the world today. For more information, please contact Andrew Sanders at (732) 707-1869 or email [email protected]. More information can be found by visiting www.OpenWays.com.

About Intelity

Intelity, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is the creator of the world's first fully integrated enterprise platform including an interactive guest services interface, ICE (Interactive Customer Experience™), with a full, real-time backend management tool that measures ROI and integrates with more than 25 hotel management systems from PMS (property management systems), POS (Point of Sale), Ticket, Spa, Restaurant, Room Controls and other management systems. Since beginning operations in 2007, the hospitality solutions company has grown exponentially and become a pioneer in hospitality technology with the deployment of ICE across four continents serving almost 500 hotels worldwide, including all major brands and many significant independents. The customizable interface allows guests to arrange services via an in-room touch screen tablet (ICE Touch); smartphone (ICE Mobile); TV (ICE TV); laptop (ICE Connect); or touch screen (ICE Lobby). The ICE platform has been recognized industry wide earning Intelity the industry's "Most Innovative Hospitality Technology" award in a vote by hoteliers and the Business Traveler Innovation Award for Best Travel Convenience & Efficiency Innovation. Become acquainted with ICE and learn what Intelity's hotel partners are saying on the Intelity website www.intelitycorp.com. For more information please call 1-888-RevPAR-1 (1-888-738-7271) or follow us on Twitter (@Intelity).

About M-Tech

Since 1993, MTech, has developed and installed solutions to help hotels work smarter — not harder. The company serves more than 2,000 hotels in over 40 countries. Focused on improving guest service by improving efficiency, MTech offers HotSOS, PMWorks, REX and Libra OnDemand. All MTech solutions today are enterprise level, SaaS solutions that offer maximum value with limited investment. MTech also provides consulting and training services to help customers achieve maximum value from their investments. It serves its customers from data centers in Miami, Virginia and Hong Kong, and its company headquarters are in Miami. For more information on the company, please visit www.m-tech.com. MTech is a division of Newmarket International, Inc. (www.newmarketinc.com).

About Infor

Infor is the world's third-largest supplier of enterprise applications and services, helping more than 70,000 large and mid-size companies improve operations and drive growth across numerous industry sectors. To learn more about Infor, please visit www.infor.com.

Barb Worcester (for OpenWays)
(440) 930-5770