Many California Hotels Realize Significant Savings From PMS

NATIONAL REPORT— Many hoteliers up and down the California coast are touting the functionality of their property management systems, claiming it has helped them run more efficiently and garner greater profits. For the Best Western Sunrise at Redondo Beach Marina in Redondo Beach, CA, the new Windows-based software system by AutoClerk Inc. has made a huge difference in running the property. “From a managerial point of view, I like the yield management aspect it offers,” said Brian Fleming, gm of the 111-key Best Western Sunrise at Redondo Beach Marina in Redondo Beach, CA. “It gives me access to all our historical records, it helps me figure out the hotel’s yields and historical yields over time and by room type and rate. It basically tracks a gazillion things.” Specifically, Fleming pointed to the system’s functionality supporting many front desk-based actions, including checking in and checking out, as well as keeping track of accounting, maintenance, housekeeping and financial reports, among a myriad of other tasks. “There’s just no doubt about the time savings the system will give you,” added Laurenne Douglas, regional operations manager for Pacific Plaza Hotels in Alameda, CA, which has also deployed the PMS technology. “It’s also reasonable in cost and the company provides the best 24-hour support I’ve seen.” Fleming can also attest to Douglas’ claim regarding the excellent support. He once had his hotel’s computer system crash and soon after a customer support representative had his system up and running, he said. “It’s a lonely experience for the night auditor when something goes awry with your computer system,” Fleming said. Both Fleming and Douglas heap praise upon the system because they have been working with it since before they were managers, all the way back to when they were front desk clerks. But regardless of the title of the user, both said the system is extremely intuitive when it comes to training. For instance, Fleming said that “the learning curve is almost flat.” Meanwhile, Douglas maintained that the system is based on such common sense applications that it will practically train the user. It often takes a week or more to train employees on other systems she has worked with over the years, but with AutoClerk it takes about two days, Douglas said. Richard Myers, gm of the 97-room Best Western Lighthouse Hotel in Pacifica, CA, added that it took only one day to set up the new PMS at his property. Myers changed over to the new system last December because his hotel was having problems with its previous PMS system. For his part, Ruben Garza, gm at the 128-key Best Western Blue Sea Lodge in San Diego, said the decision to embrace AutoClerk revolved around efficiency and user friendliness, as well as cost. Myers said it cost $12,000 for the Best Western Lighthouse to install and start up the system. There is also a $400 monthly fee for customer support. Douglas of Pacific Plaza Hotels said it cost $11,000 for the installation at one of her properties last year. However, the return on the investment is tough to measure in exact numbers, the gm’s noted, but the PMS has had an impact. “Because we can control rates a lot easier with the system, in May, I raised my ADR by $7 by using the program,” said Myers. “The yield management function allows me to see how reservations are progressing, and I can, for instance, set a floor for rates to go down to that the front desk can see on a daily basis.” Douglas even uses the system for marketing purposes and for driving future reservations. “It’s improved over the years and is now tailored to market over the Internet,” she said. “In that regard, we have customers give us their e-mail addresses so we can market our hotels to them in the future.”