MARKHAM, Ontario,NORTHWIND-Maestro PMS, provider of Maestro™ Enterprise Property Management hotel software and reservation software solutions for the hospitality industry, announced Columbia Hospitality will standardize property management automation on the Maestro ASP Multi-Property Management Suite for Columbia's portfolio of award winning conference centers, hotels, luxury resorts.

Columbia will roll out Maestro's ASP hotel software system at the luxury Kenwood Inn and Spa in Sonoma, California and the Talaris Conference Center in Seattle in 1Q '09. Readers of Condé Nast Traveler named Kenwood Inn and Spa "2009 Best Resort in the U.S." Columbia installed Maestro PMS and Sales and Catering in the Cedarbrook Conference Center, near Seattle, Washington in 2004 and plans to bring five more properties online in the future.

"Columbia selected Maestro after a comprehensive needs analysis that demonstrated the Maestro ASP Multi-Property Suite was the most flexible and effective system to manage operations centrally for all our properties," said Columbia's Corporate Director of Technology Brock Laing. "Maestro's in-depth ASP functionality is strong enough for our largest resorts, and flexible enough to support our smaller properties. Maestro's excellent Diamond Plus Support was an important part of our decision as was the NORTHWIND disaster recovery process." Prior to the Maestro standardization, Columbia was operating seven different PMSes across its portfolio.

Strong, flexible system meets Columbia's needs

Laing said the advantages Columbia receives from Maestro include:

  • Centralized management controls and oversight with all properties in one database
  • Multi-property daily revenue management maintained by corporate specialists to optimize rates and increase revenue for all properties
  • Centralized reservation management for greater occupancy from all channels
  • A single system enables standardized training and reports to optimize each property's performance.

Secure system protect guest data

"Maestro has done a great job at our Cedarbrook Conference Center property since we installed it in 2004," Laing reported. "NORTHWIND's Diamond Plus Service and training are excellent, they have a track record of responding quickly to operational issues and we have been very happy with the evolution of the product. Based on our personal experience, Maestro disaster recovery has worked well and is simple to manage as it is based on SQL technology that we have deployed for our Corporate accounting system. Maestro's data protection and encryption have proven itself, even for some of our financial clients whose government regulated Security policies are much more stringent than one would normally see in the hospitality industry." Laing also pointed out that revenue management is important for Columbia and that Maestro's yield management system is a straightforward, effective tool that saves on labor costs while optimizing revenue for its owners

About Columbia Hospitality | Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Columbia Hospitality, Inc., a leading hospitality management and consulting firm, was founded in 1995 by John Oppenheimer. Columbia Hospitality creates exceptional experiences for guests and employees while achieving phenomenal results for its property owners. Specializing in luxury hotel and resort management, Columbia Hospitality expertly transforms each vision for a unique property into an enduring and profitable business. The company additionally supports an active consulting division that has worked on more than 80 hospitality development projects in the western U.S. states and Canada. For more information on Columbia Hospitality, Inc., visit columbiahospitality.com.

Maestro Property Management Solution | Enhance guest service, improve efficiency and maximize online and offline revenue with Maestro PMS, the industry's most robust and flexible solution empowering leading full-service hotels, luxury resorts, multi-property groups, conference centers, condominiums and timeshare properties. Solutions include Front Office (PMS), Accounts Receivable, Analytics and Business Intelligence, Sales and Catering, Multi-Property Management, Condo & Timeshare Owner Management with Web Functionality, Spa and Activities, Web Booking Engine, Real-Time Yield Management, Dynamic Packaging Golf CRM, Guest Experience Measurement, CRO, GDS Two-Way XML Connectivity or Integration, Membership, Work Orders, Fine Dining and Retail POS, Online Table Reservations with Web Booking, Concierge and Guest Experience Measurement. The Maestro PMS is database independent (ODBC Compliant) and may be deployed via Windows, UNIX, Linux, Terminal Services, hosted and Web platforms.

About NORTHWIND | Maestro PMS

NORTHWIND is recognized in the hospitality industry for its "standard setting" Diamond Plus Service and robust integrated Maestro technology. With over 30 years of experience dedicated to developing technology solutions for the hospitality industry, NORTHWIND is a partner who understands that you need a scalable and flexible PMS that works the way you do. Maestro applications are engineered for operators who need to manage their enterprise in a real-time environment for the utmost operational efficiency, productivity, control and profitability.

Macarena Lorenzini
+ 1 888 667 8488