Thanks, in part, to the level of customer service that GuestWare enabled, the Hotel Monaco won 87 percent of the transient business in its competitive set in December 2001. That compared to 70 percent for its competitors, according to Brett Cunningham, Assistant Front Office Manager and Guest Loyalty Champion at the hotel.
 

Customer service always has been king at the 225-room property known for unique amenities such as �Guppy Love,� a program that allows guests to adopt, name and have goldfish in their rooms. But GuestWare has helped the hotel cater to its first-time and repeat guests like never before. That is critical in a city that attracts a steady business clientele as well as tourists to special events like the 2002 Winter Olympics. GuestWare guest response software was installed at the property in March 2001. It

Hotel Monaco Salt Lake City 15 West 200 South Salt Lake City, Utah

GuestWare�s Guest Recognition module enabled the hotel to automatically build and maintain a database of repeat guests using data from the property�s LANmark property management system. GuestWare�s matching process compares expected arrivals with past customers to identify each repeat guest. 

Cunningham said the Hotel Monaco welcomed 15,000 guests between March 2001 and January 2002. A little more than 4,100 of those are repeat guests logged into the GuestWare database. Each record includes not only contact information but also the guest�s preferences, visit history, how much they have spent during previous visits, as well as birthday and anniversary information.

Hotel Monaco staff typically ask first-time guests for preference information at check-out. That information is later added to the guest�s history. Staff also note any problems the guest may have had in the software�s �incidents� section. This data can later be used to �wow� a guest the next time they visit the hotel.

�That is one of the best things about GuestWare,� Cunningham said. �In the past, when a guest checked out and seemed less than happy, I would be nervous about asking them what went wrong. I could not really promise that it would not happen again. With GuestWare, we can track problems and make sure the guest�s stay is better the next time around.�

The Hotel Monaco uses Guest Recognition as a tool to treat its customers with care. Guests who make a reservation for a first-time return visit are pre-blocked into the best rooms, given an apple and bottle of water in their room and welcomed with a personalized, handwritten note.

�Every guest is grateful,� Cunningham said. �We had one woman write a note to our concierge to express how impressed she was that she had gotten a personalized note for coming back to the hotel.�

Incident Tracking takes off

GuestWare�s Incident Tracking module also helped the Hotel Monaco improve customer service. Incident Tracking enables the property to quickly log an incident, gauge the response time to it and track the amount of compensation used to satisfy the guest.

�We were one of the first Kimpton properties to use incident logging,� Cunningham said. �We log every incident. We are number two in Kimpton in number of incidents logged.�

Being number two in incidents logged certainly does not mean the Hotel Monaco has a lot of problems; it is more a reflection of employee commitment to perfecting the guest experience.

�It helps track what is happening in the hotel,� Cunningham said. �It allows us to be paperless. It helps the housekeeping manager. One can see the response time of staff, who is moving slow or not responding at all.�

Incident Tracking is a tool the hotel uses to print detailed daily reports.

�The software�s daily executive summary gives you a snapshot of what happened the previous day?the number of incidents logged, any incidents that happened more than three times and what department they fell under,� Cunningham said.

The Hotel Monaco was alerted about its towel quality thanks to Incident Tracking.

�We tracked a lot of complaints about our towels being too rough and that they smelled funny,� Cunningham said. �Our housekeeping manager contacted the laundry and got them to change the kinds of chemicals they use.�

Incident Tracking also helped the hotel solve its most common maintenance problem of door keys not working. Maintenance staff gave front-desk employees lock cleaners that solved many of the problems.

In their efforts to maximize the full potential of GuestWare software, Hotel Monaco sales staff have begun to mine the GuestWare database for company leads. That is one way the property intends to generate new business and keep satisfied customers coming back for more.