SILVER SPRINGS, MD HOTEL BUSINESS. has learned that Choice Hotels plans to expand its corporate extranet system, ChoiceCentral.com, to include franchisee surveys, convention registration forms, and bills, according to Gary Thomson, svp/CIO of Choice.
ChoiceCentral.com currently uses a satellite system to allow communication between the franchisees and the corporate headquarters. By using a new technology from Fourelle Systems, called Venturi, Choice franchisees are able to receive real-time statistics about their properties including financial information, quality scores, travel agent invoices, customer relations support, and performance and management reports.
However, Thomson noted the company soon plans to expand the extranet to allow the corporate office to also send surveys to franchisees that can be answered electronically, as well as create electronic franchise bills and digital conference registration forms.
The company s satellite system, which was created in 1997, previously had a latency problem that limited the amount of information Choice could send through the program. The Venturi product accelerates the content delivery platform, and creates a faster system that also “costs less,” said Thomson.
He added that previously, “Choice sent paper reports about the performance of properties once a month. But by the time the hotels received the information, it was the middle of next month, which was too late.” The new system will eliminate that process, sending electronic reports to the properties in a timely manner. (4/12/01) Diana M. Rodriguez