Hotel Online  Special Report


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Northwind - Forsys Maestro-SilverWare Collaboration 
Provides Unique Hotel - F&B Outlet Operating Efficiencies, 
Optimizes Guest Services and Customer Loyalty

 
True PMS-POS Integration

MARKHAM, ONTARIO -  May 14, 2001-  The difference between a point-of-sale interface and a true POS systems integration with a property-management system can be the difference between successful hotel operations and ones that lose revenue and miss guest service opportunities.

�As the business climate becomes increasingly competitive, the unique real-time integration of our Maestro PMS and enterprise solutions with the SilverWare POS are fast becoming critical differentiators for hotel food-and-beverage and retail outlets,� said Warren Dehan, director of research and development for Markham-based Northwind.

Dehan said Northwind�s PMS-POS systems integration collaboration with Forsys Corp., developer of the Windows-based SilverWare software/hardware solution, is helping hotels turn traditional operating challenges into significant and unique business opportunities.

�Our experienced implementation teams have created a truly seamless PMS-POS integration that caters specifically to industry and individual-specific needs,� Dehan said. �By fully integrating Forsys� extensive silverware POS functionality with the myriad unique operational features of our world-class Maestro solutions, we have helped numerous hotels best position themselves for today�s competitive environment.�

True integration enables the Maestro-SilverWare PMS-POS dynamic duo to provide properties with an array of critical competitive differentiators, including among others:

  • Interactive extended functionality that allows restaurant servers, retail-outlet operators and hotel staff to easily and immediately access, and post to the Maestro PMS, itemized SilverWare POS charges. �This unique integration feature bolsters operating efficiencies and helps hotels immediately resolve guests� payment issues�whether they be charged to the guestroom, or paid by cash or credit card,� Dehan said.
  • Real-time electronic safety nets that provide staff with instantaneous e-mails, should a property so desire, when a server or outlet operator has mistakenly accepted a charge back to the room after a guest has checked out or to a credit card that has exceeded its limit. �By integrating Maestro and SilverWare solutions, properties can eliminate headaches and liabilities associated with payment resolution issues,� said John Dowsett, Northwind�s Director of Sales.
  • A complete line-up of real-time general ledger capabilities, with all transactions immediately routed to Maestro PMS/enterprise solutions at the front desk, allowing for instantaneous customized POS reporting and tracking. �At one of our client�s properties, SilverWare tracks all of the activities for six remote outlets, optimizing front and back-office accounting and guest service operations and allowing the hotel to monitor by day, hour or minute, POS demand indicators and inventory-control needs,� Dehan said.
  • Through the Maestro-SilverWare collaboration, dissimilar PMS-POS systems traditionally limited by serial-cable links, can fully capitalize on Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol technologies. �With serial-cable links it can be rather difficult and costly to tie in remote POS systems to the front desk,� Dehan said. �With the TCP/IP capabilities of the Maestro-SilverWare duo, one seamless network is created, allowing hotel operations that are literally thousands of miles apart to be fully integrated in real time.�
  • A guest-messaging integration feature that allows servers and outlet operators to inform valued guests, if they so desire, when they have received messages in their rooms or at the front desk. �By fully leveraging all of the features of Maestro and SilverWare, we can let guests know the number of messages they have and if any of them are urgent,� Dowsett said. 
�Our unique Maestro-SilverWare PMS-POS combination is being embraced by operators across North America because  the one-stop IT solution provides true integration, not just interfaces, with Maestro�s full gamut of leading PMS, enterprisewide and Corporate Solutions,� Dehan said.

�PMS-POS systems integration does not have to be a hotels� Achilles� heel,� Dehan said. �With Maestro�s seamless tie-in to SilverWare, hotels can maximize employee productivity and guest satisfaction ? capturing significant operating cost efficiencies, while bolstering business and guest loyalty.�

Dowsett said the Maestro-Silverware PMS-POS integration collaboration was driven largely by real-time client needs unmet elsewhere in the hospitality technology marketplace.

�Many of our hotel customers expressed a real need for true PMS-POS integration, so we took it upon ourselves to work with Forsys to fully marry these leading-edge hospitality technology tools,� Dowsett said.

�When valued lodging clients such as the Muskoka Sands Resort & Conference Centre come to us with the significant challenges and opportunities of truly integrating Maestro with POS systems at six remote outlets, we viewed this not only as an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with them, but also to pioneer true PMS-POS integration for all in hospitality.� 

�The true PMS-POS integration doesn�t stop at development,� Dowsett said. �Our unique collaboration with Forsys brings a plethora of experienced players to the table who serve as the client�s complete PMS-POS systems support team long after a sale and installation is made.�

Markham, Ontario-based Northwind, Inc., is a leading global supplier of software and eCommerce solutions that satisfy the requirements of virtually any size hotel, resort, meeting/conference center or multi-property corporate headquarters. In addition to providing complete true integration with Forsys� SilverWare suite of POS tools, Northwind�s Maestro, Maestro Enterprise and ResEze products provide complete Web-enabled suites of PMS, Sales & Catering, Web Reservations and Corporate Solutions. Northwind�s Enterprise Solutions span the gamut, helping hotels optimize core operations in areas such as the front desk, accounts receivable, sales and catering, global on- and off-line reservations, club/spa and tee-time management, centralized operations, yield management, corporate booking facilities, point-of-sale systems, work order maintenance and back-office accounting, among others.

Recognized as the multi-platform (Windows/NT/Unix/Linux) solutions of choice for progressive and demanding organizations, Northwind�s full line-up enables the company to provide technology solutions that fit each client�s unique operating and management needs. Northwind�s commitment to leading-edge hospitality technology solutions and customer care have helped the company build a prestigious list of international clients supported by an expanding organization of dealers and distributors in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, South Africa and Europe. A total information management solutions provider with exceptional industry experience, Northwind is �Orchestrating the world�s greatest hotels� by coupling one-of-kind operational optimizers with superior training and support, and highly personalized services delivered in real time by hospitality technology experts.

 

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Contact:
 Audrey MacRae
Northwind, Inc.
Director of Marketing Communications
(905) 940-1923, Ext. 246
[email protected]
www.maestropms.com

Also See NORTHWIND Announces �ResEze� Real-time Web Reservation Facility & �Maestro Enterprise� Corporate Centralized Solution at HITEC 2000 / June 2000 


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