Two successful hotel companies that operate different types of properties in various markets, and employ diverse growth strategies, enjoy similar success by expanding their portfolios with the help of centralized accounting software and standardized reporting.

Alabama-based PCH Hotels & Resorts, the resort division of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, manages eight upscale and upper-upscale resorts. The Marriott- and Renaissance-flagged destinations feature world-class golf, fine dining and European-style spas. All are owned by the employees’ Retirement Systems of Alabama.

Charter One Hotels & Resorts provides on-site management, turnaround services, development guidance, food and beverage consulting and sales and marketing for multiple ownership groups. The company’s portfolio includes Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, Radisson, Best Western and Ramada brands and two independents. About a third of its 11 properties across Florida and New York are full-service.

“A successful strategy for us is to focus on downtown and second-tier markets where our full-service hotel is the only full-service property in the area,” said Larry T. Tyner, corporate controller for Sarasota, Fla.-based Charter One.

While each company is unique, one thing both have in common is their long-time partnership with Aptech Computer Systems which provides the Profitvue enterprise financial reporting software solution used by each for centralized financial controls, cost accounting, data collection, information access and hotel management. Both Charter One and PCH have worked with Aptech for over five years utilizing Profitvue to support their rapid expansion.

“PCH has grown quickly from a single hotel to eight large resorts,” said Tony Davis, chief financial officer for PCH Hotels & Resorts. “We discovered the Profitvue back office system after we acquired a property that was using it. It worked so well we standardized on Profitvue as we expanded. It is a comprehensive hospitality financial planning software system that supports all our resorts centrally from PCH’s corporate headquarters.” Davis said PCH’s use of global chart of accounts makes the system ideal for a company with multiple properties. “Our relationship with Aptech is like a partnership. No one on my staff has to ask a support question twice because Aptech’s team knows the hotel business.”

Davis explained that Profitvue makes it a simple matter to add properties and ownership entities to its portfolio by applying PCH’s accounting formats, general ledger codes and reporting used by their other resorts. “Profitvue is a scaleable hotel computer system and supports all our hotels on one server. We utilize the same hardware platform for all our resorts, which is an efficient use of resources and saves us money.”

Charter One Hotels & Resorts also partners with Aptech to leverage centralized financial accounting technology that supports its growth strategy.

“We have been using Profitvue for eight years and developed an strong technology partnership with Aptech,” Tyner said. “Adding properties to Profitvue is effortless, principally because we created a standard chart of accounts that works for all our properties. We pooled resources with Aptech to develop hospitality reports and financials; their understanding of hospitality operations is an asset to our business.”

Tyner explained that Charter One maintains management control centrally by accessing individual property data daily in Profitvue and then running queries to monitor performance. “We compare similar propertys’ performance side by side in Profitvue, then go looking for metrics that are different between hotels. This kind of flexible reporting is great for problem solving. For example, when we recently compared utility costs at properties in the same market, we noticed the expense for electric utilities was very high at one property.” Tyner said his team discovered an onsite accounting employee was billing power to the wrong account. Correcting the error resulted in an improved bottom line. “We would not have caught that mistake if we were not comparing expenses for the two properties on one report. The beauty of Profitvue is that it offers consistent reporting that lets us analyze the numbers without going out of our way to do it.”

PCH’s Davis said his accounting staff prefers Profitvue because it is tailored to the hotel industry and easy to use. “Since it is designed for the hospitality companies, the system delivers many advantages that generic accounting systems lack. Getting performance information out of the Profitvue is simplified, and entering data over the Internet is effortless with Aptech’s Thin Client version of Profitvue. Data security is important to us and the system offers excellent protection from unauthorized access.”

Centralizing its multi-property accounting enabled PCH to become more efficient with its accounting staff as well. “Each time we add a hotel, we are gaining efficiencies in staff utilization,” Davis said. “We leverage centralized accounting for much greater efficiency. Profitvue’s flexibility is very helpful because we can oversee each hotel’s operations centrally via codes on one server so we can centralize the general ledger, corporate consolidations and other functions.”

About Charter One Hotels & Resorts

Headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, Charter One provides hotel management services to the hotel industry. The company offers on-site management, renovation, turnaround and development consulting, food and beverage consulting, and hotel sales and marketing services. Charter One is recognized as one of the top hotel management companies with proven tangible results. This philosophy is implemented through careful planning, employee training and motivation. Annual budgets and marketing plans are developed to combine current profitability with long term asset growth based on current and future market conditions. Management style is hands on with an emphasis on creative marketing, service excellence and operational efficiency.

About PCH Hotels & Resorts
PCH Hotels & Resorts, Inc. is a growth-oriented management company that currently manages three resort style properties, a downtown hotel and a Conference Center. The properties include:

• Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Golf Club & Spa - A 405 room resort in Point Clear, Alabama;
• The Auburn Marriott Opelika Hotel & Conference Center at Grand National - A 129 room Executive Conference Center in Opelika, Alabama, located on The Grand National Robert Trent Jones Golf Course;
• Montgomery Marriott Prattville Hotel & Conference Center at Capitol Hill - A 95 room Conference Center in Prattville, Alabama, located on the Capitol Hill Robert Trent Jones Golf Course;
• Marriott Shoals Hotel & Spa - A 200 room hotel in Florence, Alabama. Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa - A 258 room Golf Resort & Spa outside of Birmingham. Battle House, a historic 238-room Renaissance Hotel in Mobile, and Riverview Plaza Hotel - a 377 room hotel located next to the Mobile Convention Center.
• The Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center is scheduled to open in February 2008 and will feature 346 luxury guest rooms, a convention center and a performing arts center.

About Aptech Computer Systems

Aptech Computer Systems, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, leads the hospitality industry in leveraging change by valuing human relationships and applying technology to solve business problems for people.

Incorporated in 1970, Aptech is a financial and operations technology solutions and service company whose products include state-of-the-art back office, business intelligence and enterprise planning products: ProfitvueÒ, ExecuvueÒ and Targetvue. Over 1,100 users, including very large chains, multiple-property management companies and single site hotels, utilize Aptech solutions to understand their financial and operational data. By offering the hotel industry a solid resource of hospitality professionals, and through its proven ability to evolve technology offerings as the market dictates, Aptech is proud to have earned 100% customer loyalty. Execuvue and Profitvue are registered trademarks and MyExecuvueÒ is registered to Aptech Computer Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are owned by their respective holders.

Julie Keyser-Squires
CEO
+1-404-256-5512