Hotel ZaZa - Micros

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Case Study
AT
a Glance
COMPANY:
Hotel ZaZa
www.hotelzaza.com
INDUSTRY:
Hotel and Resort
THE CHALLENGE:
Hotel ZaZa sought to find an
automated revenue management
system that would complement its
current revenue goals and
management strategy. It also
wanted a system that integrated
with its current technology
infrastructure.
SOLUTION:
The OPERA Revenue Management
System (ORMS) provided unique
capabilities and offered multiple
hospitality revenue management
tools , helping Hotel ZaZa to
strategically optimize yield.
THE BENEFITS:
�� Better revenue optimization
and modeling to assist all
departments of the hotel
�� Increased revenues and
decreased inefficiencies
�� Innovative forecasting and
pricing modules
�� An integrated
database of Hotel
ZaZa’s systems
provides a multi‐
site view of
revenue centers
Hotel ZaZa Optimizes Revenue and Profits
with OPERA Revenue Management System (ORMS)
Maximizing Hotel ZaZa’s bottom line with business
intelligence tools to ensure optimal pricing, RevPar,
and occupancy
Hotel ZaZa, part of the Preferred Hotel Group collection, boasts two popular
locations in both Dallas and Houston, Texas. Hotel ZaZa takes a modern twist on
luxury with a variety of themed and unique room types that are both funky and fun.
Its prime locations and unique personality have made it one of Preferred Hotel
Group’s top destinations and a leader in the regions five‐star hotel market.
Hotel ZaZa’s Dallas location, a hotspot in a fashionable Uptown neighborhood,
offers business and leisure travelers an inspiring hotel experience with extensive
perks. Its second location in Houston, situated in the heart of a vibrant Museum
District, world‐renowned Texas Medical Center and thriving downtown central
business district , is an unexpected feast for the senses.
As a property of Preferred Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Zaza is part of a collection of 185
luxury hotels and resorts located in some of the most desirable locations around
the world. All Preferred Hotels & Resorts properties embrace an award‐winning
Standards of Excellence, an extensive quality assurance program that has been
honored with the “Best Practices
Champion Award” by Cornell University.
Additionally, Preferred Hotels & Resorts
feature a loyalty program to guests,
Prefer Guest Benefit Program, featuring
benefits such as
early check‐in/
late check‐out,
space‐available
upgrades and
more.

Page 2
“We had a very good rela‐
tionship with MICROS
from the beginning, when
we chose OPERA PMS as
our property management
solution. When we began
looking for an automated
revenue management
tool, MICROS gave us an
in depth look into the
ORMS platform, model‐
ing and providing a demo
of its capabilities. We
were confident we made
the right choice.”
‐John Martin,
Revenue Manager, Hotel
ZaZa
“The hotel industry is
highly competitive and an
automated revenue man‐
agement tool is key in
staying ahead of the
curve in the hotel and
resort space. We are
thrilled to have Hotel Za‐
Za utilize OPERA Reve‐
nue Management in addi‐
tion to its existing MI‐
CROS technology infra‐
structure.”
‐Kelle Ballou,
Sales Executive, MICROS Sys‐
tems, Inc.
The Challenge
Hotel ZaZa set out to find an automated revenue
management system (RMS) that would
complement its current revenue goals and
management strategy. “We didn’t want to drop
from the leading pack in terms of revenue
performance. We are always looking to find
something to stay on top of our competitive set
or take us to the next level. Having an automated
revenue system that assists you in yield is the
perfect accessory,” said John Martin, Revenue
Manger , Hotel ZaZa.
John Martin has been working in the luxury hotel
industry for over 26 years, specifically in the
Dallas and Houston region. Mr. Martin has
experience with managing revenue of luxury
hotel businesses and knew exactly what Hotel
ZaZa required in terms of an automated revenue
management system. “There is a lot of product
junk out there claiming to account for specific
variables, but in reality delivering something far
from accurate. We required a system that could provide accurate business intelligence
and yield maximization. Not necessarily something that does the work for us, rather a
system that better guides us in the right direction to achieve optimal yield.”
Finding an intelligent revenue management tool that is reliable was a challenge faced
by Hotel ZaZa, and businesses alike. The revenue system needed to not only provide
business analytics based on aggregated data but, it also required an accurate
systematical process. Functional requirements for an automated revenue management
system included but were not limited to:
�� Demand forecasting based on historical data and current market performance
�� Aggregated data from multiple properties and revenue centers
�� Integrated hotel systems for a comprehensive and accurate view of operational
statistics
�� Competitor's pricing and real‐time data based on occupancy and market rates
�� Optimal yield and pricing analytics for each room type and booking window
Accurately extracting data regarding past demand, actual performance and future
demand from the hotel’s property management systems (PMS) or central reservation
system (CRS) is often the most complex aspect of an RMS implementation. A key
aspect in selecting an RMS for Hotel ZaZa was the reliability and stability of the data
extract process. It was critical that the systems worked well together.
Mr. Martin elaborated on this point, “Since our two properties are structured very
differently in terms of yield, room sizes available, and property size we required a RMS
system that accurately incorporated the individual variables of each property. We
needed a system that guides us, but also lets us maintain a hands on effort in how we
develop optimal revenue.”

The Solution
The OPERA Revenue Management System (ORMS) turned out be the ideal solution for
Hotel ZaZa, providing its management team with the tools and information needed to
enhance business. “We had a very good experience with MICROS solutions from the
beginning, when we chose OPERA PMS as our property management solution. When we
began looking for an automated revenue management tool, MICROS gave us an in depth
look into the ORMS platform, modeling and providing a demo of its capabilities. We were
confident that this was the best solution for Hotel ZaZa,” expressed Mr. Martin.
ORMS provided unique capabilities and offered multiple hospitality revenue management
tools guiding Hotel ZaZa to better yield management. In the dynamic and competitive
world of hotel reservations marketing, Hotel ZaZa desired to extend its revenue strategy
with an innovative revenue tool, giving it the ability to sell to the right customer at the
right time and for the right price.
ORMS was designed specifically as an embedded component of the OPERA Property
Management System and the OPERA Reservation System. This seamless solution
provides Hotel ZaZa with the most accurate and effective revenue management tools
available in today’s market. ORMS eliminates the data collection and configuration phases
typically required when deploying other hotel revenue management systems. Since Hotel
ZaZa’s OPERA PMS already contains all the data, necessary key components of ORMS
were easily set up and running in just one day.
“The installer was terrific and very knowledgeable making it very easy to learn how to set
up and use ORMS. He ensured the initial process of putting it all together went smoothly
without any disruptions to operational flow and that it incorporated both properties
seamlessly,” explained Mr. Martin about the instillation of ORMS.
The tools and features that ORMS provides includes:
�� Customized alerts facility that allow the revenue management team to keep constant
track of forecast risks, eliminating manual tracking
�� Customized evaluation of groups with different optimizing patterns are used based on
the behavior of the group
�� Automated optimization based on event and seasonal impact is derived through real
historical data
�� Distinct forecast models are used, for each optimization the most suitable model is
automatically selected
Analyzing demand and optimizing revenue based on ORMS’s intuitive results is critical for
Hotel ZaZa. “We are not a large scale hotel company, and we didn’t want to completely
relinquish our revenue objectives to an automated system. We wanted to still keep human
objective thinking in our revenue strategy. With ORMS we review current levels of
booking and forecasts, look at specific business opportunities, restrictions and rates by
market segment, and any exceptional circumstances influencing previous forecasts. Then
it’s back to the system to input the various adjustments and intuitively set pricing. All of
your main channels now look at the same availability and restrictions, but you do have to
understand the system before you can start manipulating these results,” said Mr. Martin.
Page 3
“When there is a good mar‐
riage between two different
businesses, both benefit
from talking about it,”
Expressed John Martin,
Revenue Manager Hotel
ZaZa about why he was
excited to have Hotel ZaZa
featured in a MICROS Case
Study about ORMS.
“The installer was terrific
and very knowledgeable
making it very easy to learn
how to set up and use ORMS.
He ensured the initial process
of putting it all together
went smoothly without any
disruptions to operational
flow and that it incorporated
both properties seamlessly.”
‐John Martin,
Revenue Manager, Hotel ZaZa

Page 4
“Using the ORMS fore‐
casting tool provides us
the ability to push out pro‐
motions and specials at
the right time.”
‐John Martin,
Revenue Manager, Hotel
ZaZa
The Result
The goal of any revenue management system is to maximize hotel revenue and profits
by ensuring optimal price of a room. Each individual property has unique requirements
and expectations as to what type of business intelligence will provide its optimal
RevPar. ORMS seamlessly integrates into Hotel ZaZa’s technology infrastructure and
provided positive results, from the get go. “ORMS makes decisions which can be
modified and interpreted. We consistently review the data and analytics it produces. If
ORMS matches what we objectively projected for revenue, we analyze how and why
it aligned. When they are in sync we feel a higher level of reassurance that we are
doing something right. If for example, our objectives do not align and there are
differences then we try to better understand why there are differences, and what we
could do to provide a better outcome for revenue. ORMS consistently makes us
reevaluate our revenue strategy to get it to where it optimally needs to be, every time.
ORMS gives us an update every 12 hours , and its exciting because it forces us to
reevaluate our objective every day,” observed Mr. Martin.
”Since we started utilizing ORMS we have seen an increase in revenue
which we can’t attribute to any anomalies. Every time you bring a new
tool to revenue management it makes you take deeper look into your
daily development of revenue and it forces you to look at what you
are doing right, wrong, and what you can do better. It is an un‐
objective third party. ORMS takes data and processes it in a scientific
manner and gives you a tool to develop your own revenue strategy. It
is intuitive as it suggests optimal decisions, which can be interpreted
and modified to best align with our human perspective on
operations,” declared Mr. Martin.
It has been a big year for Hotel ZaZa. “We never had so many specials
before and we needed them. The comp set varies on average
between $25‐$50.The competition in this market is cut‐throat which
in return keeps a certain level of balance in our competitive set. There
are not huge rate gaps in the market,” said Mr. Martin.
Hotel ZaZa differentiated itself from the competition not by
dramatically lowering rooms prices, but instead by increasing
reservations with value added packages and specials. These provided
food and beverages incentives, gift certificates, and even offer special
room and upgrade rates. “With ORMS we can use the forecasting
analytics to put together value added specials. For instance, we can
see that we have a window of 30 rooms per night for 21 days that we
need to fill to meet optimal revenue. Based on the data presented by
ORMS, we can better adjust our strategy by adding targeted
promotions,“ stated Mr. Martin.
Not only did ORMS elevate Hotel ZaZa’s revenue management strategy, but it also
proved to be a positive investment. “ORMS yielding strategies keep you on your toes,
so you can reach the best decisions. If you have all possible information at you finger
tips you know how to distribute the best price at the right time. For instance this
month our Houston location is nearing a record breaking month for March 2012, a
month after we launched ORMS. Now there is no anomaly, no event like the super
bowl or NASCAR or anything special. It has just been a popular month that

comparatively earned revenues close to
that of busy seasonal months and
months with huge events drawing
people into the city. As a result, we
added approximately $200,000 on top
of our projected revenue at our Houston
location and also saw an increase of
approximately $100,000 in revenue
compared to prior years result at our
Dallas location. ORMS was a part of the
success,” said Mr. Martin.
ORMS improved Hotel ZaZa’s
operations from the top level, down.
“Since utilizing ORMS, we decided to
add a morning meeting in addition to
our big weekly revenue meeting, so that
we can take a quick look in to what
ORMS has put together for the day. We
take the time to scan and discuss prior
days results, thus educating our whole team on revenue. We highlight how certain
events or improper operations affect our revenue, so that employees can understand
how it affects Hotel ZaZa as whole. This creates a positive ripple effect in to different
departments of the hotel,” stated Mr. Martin.
“A company would limit itself by not utilizing every available yielding tool for its
advantage. ORMS adds value, and provides every tool that you need to stay with and
ahead of the competition. To sum it up, ORMS is like our teacher, who is behind us,
always watching us, giving us the knowledge that we need to head in the right path,”
concluded Mr. Martin
ORMS Dashboard
Forecast Analysis Screen
Page 5
“To sum it up, ORMS is
like our teacher, who is
behind us, always watch‐
ing us, giving us the
knowledge we need to
head in the right path.”
‐John Martin,
Revenue Manager of Hotel ZaZa

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