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Effective Preventive-Maintenance Programs are turning to PMWorks as their preferred preventive-maintenance tool |
MIAMI � MAY 8, 2006 � A clear trend is emerging
in the hospitality industry that is having a positive impact both on guest
satisfaction and hotels� bottom lines. It�s called preventive maintenance,
and nowhere is it being applied with more success than by hotel-management
companies that recognize this crucial component to successful operation�and
enhanced profitability.
Forward-thinking
management companies realize the importance of preventive maintenance to
successful hotel operations. They also understand that successfully applying
PM comes in knowing not only what work needs to be done and when, but ensuring
that the work does, indeed, get completed in a thorough and timely manner.
This is why an increasing number of hotel-management companies are turning
to M-Tech�s PMWorks preventive maintenance solution and having it installed
as part of their overall property-management solution.
�Owners are receiving a real wake-up call at sale time,� said M-Tech President Luis C. Segredo. �With the onslaught of hotel sales that are on the rise, operators who have skimped on PM are seeing depressed prices. As more and more management companies adopt PM-Works, they are simultaneously preserving and increasing asset value for owners.� �It has been proven that performing basic preventive maintenance helps to preserve the condition of a hotel�rather than fixing an item when it breaks, maintaining it before it deteriorates or fails saves engineers time, saves owners money and saves guests from having a potentially bad experience or adopting a false first impression of the hotel,� said M-Tech President Luis C. Segredo. �Consistency in providing preventive maintenance is critical to the process, and consistency also provides a better overall guest experience and prolongs the life of furnishings, fixtures and equipment.� �What many hotels may not realize is that an automated preventive-maintenance program also helps to organize the engineering department and helps individual engineers and maintenance workers to be better time managers,� he said. �This is why we developed PMWorks, and this is why more and more leading hotel-management companies are having it installed in their properties.� Milestone installation The 122-room Hampton Inn-Jacksonville (N.C.), managed by Raleigh, N.C.-based Alliance Hospitality, recently became the 750th hotel to install the PMWorks software. Alliance, which uses PMWorks in all 42 of the hotels it manages in 13 states, operates on a management philosophy of treating its client properties as if they were its own, and it focuses on preventive maintenance as one of the key factors that contribute to a property�s economic success. Toward that end, Alliance had the 750th install of PMWorks at the Hampton Inn-Jacksonville in February. �We know the PMWorks system to be a great tool for any hotel. It provides an excellent means by which to track problems with furniture, fixtures and equipment, and it also provides a hotel�s owners with a track record of how well we have taken care of their asset,� said Rae Salling, Alliance Hospitality�s Area Director. �The system provides details on each preventive maintenance task that is needed in a hotel, and this in turn results in better-working items for our guests in their rooms. For our staff, PMWorks sets them up for success as far as helping organize what requires attention and when it needs that attention, before the item needs repair.� Peter Hoffman is Vice President of Operations/Crossroads Division for Arlington, Va.-based management company Interstate Hotels & Resorts, which operates more than 300 hotels in 41 states. He said the 94 properties in his division turned to PMWorks in January. �One of our biggest responsibilities as a management company is to protect our owners� investment�this has been and is one of our top priorities,� Hoffman said. �PMWorks ensures that our owners� assets are being managed to the highest quality of maintenance, and the system has demonstrated significant savings in repair and replacement of everything from major mechanical equipment to guestroom HVAC units. �PMWorks gives our hotels the ability to manage the asset protection process more efficiently and gives us the ability to monitor should a hotel fall behind within the program,� he added. �All of our Chief Engineers speak very favorable of PMWorks. It�s basically a one-time set up with little or no changes after implementation. Once work orders are completed, the engineers can either call in the completed work order via the toll-free number or complete the work order with PMWorks on-line access. In short, PMWorks has helped improve productivity in our Crossroads Division hotels.� According to Beth Gleim, Vice President of Jiten Hotel Management in Brockton, Mass., preventive maintenance protects her company�s investment and significantly improves guest satisfaction. Jiten has set up PMWorks in 12 of the 20 hotels it owns and operates in New England and the New York City and Atlanta areas. �We have gone into so many potential hotel deals and have walked away from them because the maintenance and upkeep of the hotels has been so horrible,� she said. �Not only do we feel that preventive maintenance programs are important for our resale value, but they also minimize complaints. If we are doing PM on a proactive basis, we actually see the number of guest complaints diminish!� Bottom-line benefits �What I like about PMWorks it is that I know my rooms are being properly maintained, and what my GM's and engineers like about it is that it keeps them on track,� Gleim said. �Unfortunately, PM programs often take a back seat to other �crises,� and I don't see that happening as often now in our properties that have PMWorks installed. Most importantly, I think a good PM program encourages repeat guests�and that can only benefit the bottom line.� Jean M.Smith, Regional Director of Operation for Colwen Management Inc., agrees. Her Nashua, N.H.-based company develops and manages Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites and Homewood Suites properties across the northeastern United States�and all of them have PMWorks installed as part of their property-management system. "A well maintained property will always positively affect guest satisfaction, and we�ve found that PMWorks also has a positive effect on our employee satisfaction level,� Smith said. �PMWorks helps us track the regular preventative maintenance of each hotel with an easy-to-read �snapshot� that�s sent to me each week. Especially as our hotels age, we need to take care to extend the life of each area of the hotel thorough consistent, scheduled PM's. PMWorks has helped to keep the focus on preventative maintenance from the property level to the regional level and keeps everyone accountable.� As the Corporate Engineer for the Lodging Division of Minneapolis-based CSM Corp., it is Robb Gulner�s job to standardize, track and schedule all preventive maintenance while getting consistent updates from each of CSM�s 37 hotels across the country. He says PMWorks has allowed him and the property managers to hold all engineers and maintenance staff accountable for their work areas. �The weekly work lists that are sent to the property managers are priceless,� Gulner said. �Weekly service orders are thorough and have the 1-800 number on each ticket for fast, efficient reconciling when work is completed. The Monday property update reports allow me to follow up with properties that are out-of-state and to track their preventive maintenance at a glance via a color chart. PMWork�s straightforward Web site is simple to navigate for us �old school� engineers, and the technical support at M-Tech has been fantastic through all property set-ups�there have been few, if any, problems that weren�t solved quickly.� Lower labor costs, higher guest-satisfaction scores �Our properties that are currently on PM Works have shown labor savings, guest-service score increases, stable preventive rooms and equipment maintenance and higher brand-quality assurance scores,� Gulner said. �In addition, one of the most important items PMWorks tracks and schedules is the life-safety items in our facilities�the most imperative to our guests� safety and security. Another big impact has been on work orders�daily work orders have been cut in half after PMWorks was in place for three months. The work-order decrease is a welcome one, since work orders are generated by the guest most of the time, so it�s pretty clear where our higher guest-satisfaction scores are coming from.� Gulner said that more than half of CSM�s hotels currently have PMWorks installed, and that the others will be on line in the next few months. �We�re totally pleased with PMWorks on the corporate side,� Gulner said, �and on the property level, our people love it. Like one of my chief engineers said: �We all know what to do, but when to do it and where we left off are another thing! PM works takes care of that!� � About
M-Tech
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Clyde Edson
Barb Worcester
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