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With its newest resort opening its doors in early 2010, the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa wanted to ensure that its new flagship property maintained and even exceeded its already high standards for guest satisfaction. Choosing MOTOTRBO over cellular push-to-talk technology, the hotel saved $14,000 per month in service fees, significantly improved response time to guest requests, and expects to achieve full return on investment within
18 months.
Situation: New flagship hotel property wanted to raise the bar in guest service
Located in the beautiful rolling countryside of Cibolo Canyons in south Texas, the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa is one of Marriott International’s newest properties. Celebrating its grand opening in March 2010,
the resort offers over 1,000 rooms, a conference center with 140,000 square feet of meeting space, a six-acre water park, 700-acre preserve, and a 36-hole TPC golf course.
Maintaining the Marriott’s legendary high standards for guest satisfaction requires tools that increase efficiency and enable the resort’s service employees to respond quickly to guest requests. So when Brian Sherman, vice president of S&P Communications, a local Motorola channel partner, called on the resort to learn of their communications needs, Steve McGuire, director of engineering for the resort, was ready to listen.
“We were looking for new technology that would increase the efficiency of the hotel’s staff,” says McGuire. “We wanted the ability to call all employees with the push of a button, as well as the security of having our own system without having to rely on cell phones or paying monthly service fees. And we wanted radios that would integrate with the software and technology we are using.”
Improving the productivity benefits of CRM
The resort uses Guestware®, a Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) software solution designed specifically for the hospitality industry. But while the software improved the productivity of its maintenance and housekeeping staff, it was still dependent on manual data input via a computer.
For example, whenever a guest called with a request, the Front Desk logged into the application, opened a work ticket, then picked up the Walkie Talkie or telephone and called Housekeeping, Engineering or Maintenance. Upon reaching the right person they would assign the job, open the application and update the record. Once the job was complete the Front Desk then had to rely upon the individual to call back and report (which didn’t always happen) in order for the ticket to be closed out. McGuire wanted a two-way radio that would allow them not only to continue using Guestware, but to make that software even more efficient.
Solution: MOTOTRBO digital radio system with Capacity Plus
Sherman recommended MOTOTRBO digital portable radios with a six-channel Capacity Plus system.
The MOTOTRBO radios offer enhanced features, increased capacity, integrated data applications, exceptional voice quality and extended battery performance. With the addition of Capacity Plus, a scalable, single-site digital trunking solution, MOTOTRBO capacity would be expanded even further, enabling over a thousand radio users to share voice and data communication quickly and
efficiently on the same system without adding new frequencies.
Four voice repeaters and two data repeaters dedicated to the Guestware application were also installed, as well as the Teldio Radio Branch Exchange™ (RBX) application, a telephone-to-radio interface that would enable employees or guests
to use land-line telephones to connect directly with radio users. The system was deployed in stages beginning in November, 2009, with two digital
MOTOTRBO repeaters. Two more MOTOTRBO voice repeaters, two MOTOTRBO data revert repeaters and 10 application dependent control stations were installed in early January, 2010, utilizing CapacityPlus. The final implementation for Guestware and Teldio RBX radio-to-telephone interface was completed in April, 2010.
Results: The bottom line – flawless customer service
It takes more than good intentions to provide guests with the level of excellence expected from a high-end resort that has built its reputation on flawless customer service. The right processes must be in place to react quickly to guest requests and speed response to the issue. And the right tools must be available to allow employees to collaborate easily and get the job done unobtrusively and well.
Today all operations, including guest services, housekeeping, convention services, audio visual, food and beverage, recreation, engineering, and security communicate seamlessly via the MOTOTRBO
radio system. Nearly 100 percent of the hotel and grounds have full two-way radio coverage, including the convention center, which is located on a hillside where three of its floors are below ground level.
Jeannine's bulletin board 