AremisSoft Acquisition Creates PMS, POS, Sales & Catering Giant

NEW YORK— AremisSoft Corp. is continuing its acquisition strategy, with its latest purchase of Daylight Software giving the enterprise-wide software supplier an entry into the sales and catering technology arena. John Picardi, president of AremisSofts hospitality division, noted that the company started off primarily as a PMS provider, but added to its offerings in March when it completed the purchase of Rio Systems, a provider of Point of Sale (POS) technology. The Daylight Software purchase further provided a service the company had sought to provide, said Picardi, who was previously COO of PMS provider Eltrax, which AremisSoft acquired last year. “AremisSoft two years ago started down a strategy path where they were trying to build a product set that was all encompassing,” said Picardi. “We started the traditional route because we were a PMS vendor, among other things, so we built a single application that was both property management system and a central reservation system. “As we got into it we said, okay the next logical steps are we need to have a point of sale application (POS) but not just restaurant POS, and we need to have sales and catering because if you want to run a hotel of any scale you need POS for F&B outlets, you need POS for the retail outlets, you need sales and catering for the sales staff, you need convention software for the convention staff, and you need catering software for both the sales and convention staff.” Having identified this requirement, AremisSoft realized it didnt have knowledge of POS, so it went out seeking not only a product, but also a company that would bring in some expertise on the topic, said Picardi. The search resulted in the purchase of Rio, which brought in spa and scheduling activity software, retail POS, F&B POS, and “just a whole host of applications that run a whole sector of the resort industry that we didnt know anything about,” said Picardi. “So we had two of the three legs we felt were critical, but we still felt we needed to have sales and catering and really convention software and group software,” said Picardi. “We looked at the marketplace and felt Daylight had the best product. So we did due diligence, and fell in love with the software, which gives us the ability through our res center to do group reservations and book conventions. [In fact], we could actually go all the way through and book a golf tournament for the convention,” said Picardi. “Now you have a real management system for a resort, a group of resorts, a group of hotels, a management company and even a chain,” he said. Picardi noted that hotel companies already contracted with the company that might want to upgrade to the new combination of services will not have to buy new hardware since AremisSoft is ASP based. “So we can use a lot of the existing hardware that already exists. [Employees] will still have to get trained but you dont have to swap out your hardware,” he said. The company has 2,100 systems installed in Bass hotels, he noted, and also furnishes Accor with its product in the Asia/Pacific region. It also works with Great Southern Hotels in Ireland and U.K.-based Shire Inns, he noted. Daylight Software will retain its New Hampshire offices, said Picardi.