Ultra-Luxury Hotels and Residences

Enhancing Services and Operational Efficiencies to Ensure Luxury Accommodations

With a chain of ultra-luxury hotels and residences worldwide, a leading global developer and operator of destination resorts recently sought to enhance customer experiences and operational efficiencies by implementing a new technology system. They were looking for a real-time method to streamline reporting and supply requests as well as evaluate the profitability of virtually any service or sale.

A new vice president for financial planning and analysis joined the company's global corporate offices after spending nearly 20 years serving as senior management with other luxury hotel chains. She has focused on upgrading systems and procedures that not only enhance customer experiences, but also the efficiency of employee operations at each resort.

After researching numerous business management software platforms, the company chose Epicor iScala for a trial launch at one of the luxury chain's resorts. Since its introduction in 2014, the iScala system has been integrated into six additional locations with plans for its use at two additional soon-to-be-opened facilities.

“I became very familiar with Epicor while working at my other positions,” says the vice president for financial planning and analysis. “iScala is especially well suited for the hospitality environment. It meets multiple needs across numerous cost centers with little customization.”

“When we implemented the solution, it contained a whole series of built-in checks and balances that ensured the accuracy of each transaction. Plus, it cost nearly 20 percent less to implement than the alternatives, considering we were able to integrate iScala with existing interfaces and eliminate the need to buy auxiliary software. iScala accomplishes in one package what others can't do in more expensive bundles.”

The iScala system was designed by Epicor to capture critical business information and aid the decision-making of multinational corporations and large local or regional companies operating across multiple borders. Services include the ability to access global customer information quickly, streamline international supply chain activities, and compile in-depth analytical details that improve strategies and processes.

Streamlining processes

According to the vice president, each iScala installation took no more than one to two months to implement at each location. This included one to two weeks of training, which was performed by the hotel chain's internal staff.

Prior to adding the iScala solution, each hotel department ranging from accounts payable to engineering handled everything from supply requests to purchase orders manually. This was an extremely time-consuming process fraught with errors and multiple duplications. Since implementing the iScala system, the time spent on requisitions, from the submittal to requests to the actual receipt of goods, has been reduced by 85 percent with 100 percent accuracy.

Today, all requisition requests are handled at each location electronically through the iScala system. Department heads need only access the appropriate template, enter the product quantity and hit send. The iScala system automatically routes the requests for approval, even generating purchase orders once the necessary sign-offs are achieved.

Enhancing international profitability

“In addition to including everything we need on the requisition side in one system, iScala has provided the ability to capture departmental data and generate revenue reports on a daily basis,” adds the vice president. “We can now analyze the profit and loss of virtually any cost center. This includes drilling down to the transaction level and analyzing the profitability of any service or sales item.”

“Prior to iScala, such procedures took days with employees working into the night,” she adds. “Now, it's done at a moment's notice, enabling us to instantaneously revise, change, and/or implement new billing and sales strategies throughout the organization. This has not only fostered additional growth at our existing resorts, but positioned us with the information needed to increase our bottom line at other new and future worldwide locations.”