MOUNT PLEASANT, SC - Social distancing may be good for the country, but it is having a major impact on the hotel industry. With STR reporting occupancy down an average of 50 percent nationally operators are refocusing priorities and revising forecasts. This is new territory. Hotel companies and properties are stepping up to create new ways to lower expenses and operate with minimal staff. These challenges are also guiding hoteliers to weigh new management options and business practices.

Line staff are being furloughed and many managers are manning the front desk and room service positions. Others are working from home on cloud systems that let them remotely oversee property operations. Multi-property sales directors are managing chain sales and catering processes without their normal staff. Purchases based on early 2020 forecasts are being revised as more cost-effective options are evaluated. Looking ahead, with more cost-effective systems in place and trimmed expenses enacted, the industry is perfectly positioned for the coming travel re-start.

SalesAndCatering.com is helping their hotel and meeting venue clients cut costs on required sales tools necessary to manage sale operations. Their STS Cloud sales and catering solution is a great alternative to overpriced products and can be packaged with revenue generating features such as high-impact proposals, online menus, meeting space visuals, and more.

Affordable cloud sales system 'ideal' for Berkshire Hotels Group

Berkshire Hotels Group installed a multi-property enterprise cloud sales and catering system. "STS Cloud's multi-property mobility is a big advantage over other sales systems," said JP Galli, general manager of the Fairfield Inn by Marriott - Williamstown. "Our sales manager oversees both properties from one system. With STS Cloud she can work remotely to manage sales for either property and oversee her staff from her iPad. STS Cloud is a perfect fit for a fraction of the cost of other systems." STS Cloud is a flexible, enterprise Sales and Catering System that provides the functionality necessary to run sales and catering operations at one or more properties regardless of size. "We looked at other systems and there is no comparison. It is ideal for our hotel company," Galli said.

Cost-effective system supports remote sales at nine properties

Laurie Guidry Manning, director of sales and marketing at The J Collection, said, "We previously had a larger 'one-size-fits-all' sales and catering system. It was costly, not supported well, and not tailored to our business. We tested STS Cloud at one of our properties to see if it would handle the operation. It did a very good job of automating our processes, plus, it was more cost effective. We use SalesAndCatering.com's STS Cloud sales and catering system at nine properties now."

Cloud sales and catering system enables remote operations for 15 hotels

Shilo Inns also installed a low-cost enterprise cloud sales software system throughout all its properties with group business. Shilo Inns operates 15 properties in the Western United States. "All our hotels with high traffic group sales use STS Cloud sales and catering software from SalesAndCatering.com. Since STS Cloud is web-based, my team and I can remotely access our properties' sales activity to track goal attainment from my phone," said Jody Cadle director of sales and catering for Shilo Inns' Ocean Shores office. "STS Cloud transformed our catering and event processes and enables our team to close more business. We have large airport hotels and conference center properties and hotels with less meeting space. STS Cloud meets all the needs of each one."

Coakley & Williams moves seven hotels off legacy platform to 'affordable' cloud sales system

Michael W. Parent, CHDM, Coakley & Williams Sr. vice president/sales & marketing, said, "We have seven hotels on STS Cloud now and will convert all our non-Hiltons from our legacy sales and catering systems to STS Cloud. SalesAndCatering.com provides excellent service and professional support that is superior to our legacy system provider. STS Cloud is very user-friendly and affordable."

Parent noted that he became aware of STS Cloud when Coakley & Williams acquired several properties with the system. "From a corporate standpoint, I can login to my SalesAndCatering.com corporate dashboard and see my properties' operation in real time. The system is easy access and the reports are laid out well. This makes the system intuitive to use." Coakley & Williams is the preeminent provider of comprehensive hotel management services with a property portfolio that represents hotel brands such as Hilton, IHG, Best Western, Choice, and Wyndham in many of the nation's highest-performing hotel markets. SalesAndCatering.com's applications are the most affordable, full featured, sales and catering software systems in the hospitality market.

STS Cloud is flexible and provides all the functionality necessary to run sales and catering operations at one or more properties, regardless of size. Cadle said, "When I make sales calls it is easy to review a client's info before a meeting to refresh my memory. If a client asks about dates for a future event, I immediately verify the availability of meeting and sleeping rooms. This lets my team and I book business quickly with greater confidence."

About SalesAndCatering.com, LLC

SalesAndCatering.com provides the most affordable full-featured Sales and Catering systems for hospitality. Its STS Sales and Catering system is widely used and engineered to give property sales teams the sales tools that help them achieve their goals. SalesAndCatering.com's cloud and on-premise systems are developed and supported from the company's US-based offices. It is a trusted full-service sales and catering partner that delivers solutions via a software-as-a-service model that ensures greater client communication to streamline the sales process and maximize staff productivity. SalesAndCatering.com's systems help hotel companies meet revenue goals through anytime-anywhere data access and integration with multiple PMS systems. Available as a desktop or cloud-based solution, STS delivers unparalleled performance to help you thrive in today's competitive sales environment. For more information please visit https://salesandcatering.com.

Ryan Hamilton
Co-Founder
+1 847 488 0225