SMARTreport - Deuromedia

installer on site. A key practice involved
complete staging of hardware before it
was sent to the hotel to minimize the level
of effort on-site. The length of each
deployment averaged two and a half
days. Several weeks before the
installation, end-users were able to utilise
a customised e-learning tool developed
by Micros and Louvre Hotels to streamline
the training process. Following a week to
10-day specific Louvre Hotels solution
training period, a Micros representative
was available onsite for an additional two
days to help supervise the launch. Due to
effective communication and a positive
approach, Micros was able to tailor the
deployment speed for Louvre Hotels and
successfully deploy over 30 hotels
simultaneously per week, which provided
valuable time and costs savings.
Has the group been able to measure
Return on Investment?
Absolutely. By consolidating all Opera
applications to the Micros-Fidelio Data
Centre and including both support and
hardware on a “1 contract, 1 contact”
centralised solution, Micros has helped
Louvre Hotels to reduce its maintenance
support costs by 70%, which in-turn has
improved financial controls. IT
Management especially values its cost
savings from the simultaneous upgrade
process. Reservations in direct Internet
bookings have also increased by 300%
for the 500 hotels deployed. Interfacing
work with global portal partners is easier
to manage due to the direct link between
the portal partner and Louvre Hotels’
database and application. Productivity is
higher, now that the IT team is able to
redirect its focus to other IT projects.
You also recently announced the results (to
date) of Global Hotel Alliance’s state of
the art central reservations system,
GHA.net, launched in February 2007,
Kempinski Hotels, Leela Hotels and Pan
Pacific Hotels have been the first to
deploy your system... Tell us about this.
The GHA team has been working closely
with Micros-Fidelio to address the special
needs and requirements of the world’s
largest hotel alliance, and we are on
track to switch three of the four remaining
GHA members to this new distribution
technology throughout the remainder of
www.cleverdis.com
2007. There has been an immediate and
positive impact for each of the brands,
with enhanced productivity and customer
service giving measurable results in
inventory and rate integrity across all
distribution channels in a real-time
environment combined with reduced
operating expenses. Since the switch in
February, all three brands have seen their
combined voice, GDS and internet
revenues increase. Pan Pacific has
witnessed a staggering 50% increase,
with Kempinski growing 39% and Leela
26%.
So finally, how would you best describe
the key advantages of the Opera system?
RESERVATION SYSTEMS / GDS AND PMS
Firstly, and importantly, there are two
purchase models – full out-and-out
purchase, or transaction based. Secondly,
we offer complete administration with
everything based in our data centre in
Frankfurt, and engineers on hand 24
hours a day ensuring smooth operation...
and thirdly, we are able to roll-out systems
very rapidly. It’s possible to get a system
up and running in 500 hotels in just 6
months, whereas before, something like
this would have taken up to 3 years.
* Societé du Louvre is now owned by
Starwood Capital and covers brands like
Concorde, Campanile, Kyriad
© photo: Micros-Fidelio
Hotel SMARTreport October 2007 – April 2008 / 59