Whether it's 1870 or 2022, hospitality always has been about enhancing service to meet guests' needs.

Cloud PMS elevates guest service

As a five-star property that attracts international customers from all over the world, almost exclusively for leisure, Grand Hotel National Luzern needed to operate in the most-efficient manner possible. We're a small, privately owned hotel with 41 rooms and 22 apartments, ranging in size from 1 ½ to 6 ½ rooms for long-term rentals. We don't have a reservation department; our reception does everything. Our biggest challenges were lack of automation and an inability to connect all our systems and new technologies. If we could create less work for staff and improve communication across the entire hotel, we could focus more on our guests.

That's why we decided to start a major hospitality technology project two years ago; we wanted to change basically everything - including our website, customer relationship management (CRM), and revenue management. OPERA Cloud was the center of everything, because everything needed to connect to the hotel PMS. We couldn't stay with an on-premises solution because we had a lot of disruptions with our servers and interfaces, and it didn't make sense to connect our new systems to an obsolete one.

Integration is the key to innovation

We went live with OPERA Cloud in April 2021, and it has allowed us to do things that were not possible before. Its built-in Oracle Hospitality Integration Platform (OHIP), for example, is a self-service platform that made it possible for us to work independently and quickly with third-party providers from Oracle's immense partner network to integrate new products and services. That's how we introduced mobile check-in and checkout, and contactless payment.

OPERA Cloud has helped us achieve one of our top priorities - automate processes to make work easier for staff. In the past, we had interfaces so reservations came in automatically. But we had to edit the reservations and put in codes, for example. But with OPERA Cloud, we don't have to do anything anymore; no changes are required.

Simplicity is a major benefit of OPERA Cloud Sales and Event Management as well, which we also implemented. The sales and event management software is part of OPERA Cloud and allows us to manage events in one system - we don't have to check rooms or rates in another application. And we can access all the event data from a tablet or a phone. If we're busy at an event or out of the office, we can still access everything. Every individual user also can customize the dashboard, which easily lets you see just the information you really need to see.

Mobility is essential

Our appreciation for OPERA Cloud was even more magnified, because we switched to it right in the middle of the pandemic. We were a bit afraid because we had a lot of new systems and changes starting all at once, but the journey to cloud was a smooth process. And we realized its mobile benefits instantly. We didn't have to sit in the office anymore. We could enter OPERA Cloud from anywhere and still run the hotel. And so could other departments that didn't even have access to the hotel PMS before. Now, we can all view the guest data to give our customers the service they expect - and more.

For every hotelier, sooner or later, cloud PMS technology is going to become a "must-have."

Why wait?

About Oracle Hospitality

Oracle Hospitality brings more than 45 years of experience in providing technology solutions to independent hoteliers, global and regional chains, gaming, and cruise lines. Our hardware, software, and services enable customers to act on rich data insights that deliver personalized guest experiences, maximize profitability, and encourage loyalty. Cloud-based, mobile-enabled, with open APIs, Oracle's OPERA Cloud property management and distribution, Simphony point-of-sale, reporting and analytics, and Nor1 upsell solutions accelerate innovation, increase revenue, lower IT cost, and maximize operating efficiency. To learn more, please visit www.oracle.com/Hospitality.

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