Archive for September, 2011
September 8, 2011 Posted by: admin
Hotelogix–Unleashing the Power of Virtualization With its Cloud Offering
Although server virtualization has always been around, its adoption by the hotel industry is a relatively new concept. Server virtualization works on the concept that a specialized software provides for effective allocation of resources on a single computer (server), its disk space, memory and computing power among different software applications, as if each one was running on its own dedicated server. This offers several advantages, including highly efficient usage of hardware. Since a large number of applications only use a small fraction of a dedicated server’s resources, such servers are usually found operating under 10% of their normal capacity. One single server normally has enough storage and power to deal with several applications at the same time. Hospitality businesses that earlier used to buy ten to twelve racks of equipment can now accommodate all their systems into just one or two, thereby decreasing the power, space and air conditioning expenses of the organization.
Virtualization also allows for on-the-fly reallocation of computing storage and/or power as required if load on a particular application increases all of a sudden. Furthermore, since backup copies are maintained on multiple machines, breakdown of one machine/server doesn’t affect the smooth operations of a hotel. In fact many vendors are of the opinion that their applications run more reliably and much faster in a virtual environment.
It for these reasons that more and more hotels are opting for cloud based property management systems. Hotelogix is rapidly being recognized as the best cloud based property management system with SaaS as a delivery model.
September 8, 2011 Posted by: admin
Hotelogix Delivers Peace of Mind for this Hotel
Data security has always been a critical issue for hotels of all sizes across the world. As technological advancements and market dynamics are changing the way hotels operate, information stored with hotels is becoming priceless, literally.
One of Hotelogix’s recent customers was facing regular problem of potential data theft in their hotel, wherein due to high attrition, the employees were fast changing and the hotel did not have complete faith in them. Some of the employees of the organization were found stealing critical customer data and passing it on to third parties. The problems of this hotel were compounded by the fact that they lost a lot of important data due to virus attacks as well. The hotel was facing several other operational issues too.
As the information value rises every day, so do the costs associated with loss of data. A hotel faces all kinds of threats to its information today, including data theft by third parties/employees, misuse of customer data, data loss due to hardware problems, natural disasters, computer viruses, corrupt files, hard disk crashes etc. Such data loss can lead to the following issues, as it had happened in the case of this client:
Direct financial burden: There are several expenses such as data recovery costs, possible legal expenditures like possible fines associated with consumer privacy laws, costs related to guest notifications etc. which could result from data loss.
Damage to the brand image: Brand development is a tiring process and takes a lot of resources and time. The brand equity built by an organization with its blood and sweat can be wiped away completely with a single incident of data theft/loss. The damage caused to a property’s reputation is incalculable and can lead to significant revenue erosion due to lower occupancy rates over a period of time.
This client was contemplating investing a huge amount in a traditional client server based on site property management system and IT security when they were recommended Hotelogix.
More and more hotel establishments are now opting for web based property management systems like Hotelogix to provide an additional data security layer. In case of Hotelogix, all critical data is stored in centrally hosted highly secured Amazon data centers that have strong audit capabilities to log data access from the server.
Although data security is a very sensitive issue, it can be cost prohibitive and impractical for hotel owners to be able to maintain the desired diligence level in this area. Hotelogix was designed to shift the burden of IT management away from the hotel owners and allowing them to do what they’re best at – running their hotels. Amazon’s EC2 environment which hosts Hotelogix employs state of the art, updated technology and security measures such as redundant power supply, data backup, data mirroring, backup air conditioning, multiple internet connections, 24 hour onsite maintenance and security staff, updated and advanced anti-virus protocols etc.
As the value of information continues to increase, the cost of recovering lost data will also increase in the coming times. Hotelogix offers a highly effective alternative to traditional client server based systems. Apart from all the important features and functionalities, the best investment advantage that it offers is peace of mind when it comes to data security.
September 8, 2011 Posted by: admin
Hotelogix – A step ahead in adapting to the changing face of Hotel Industry
Property management systems have always been an integral part of hotel operations all over the world. Their scope and functionality has increased significantly in the past one decade, adding more depth to their original areas of check-in, checkout, room availability, tracking bookings and folio charges. Owing to market’s needs, many PMS vendors have integrated sales and catering, revenue management, golf, spa and other modules into the existing systems.
Despite such adaptations, hotel complexity has reached a point where property management systems can no longer afford to remain focused on property based functions alone. The market nowadays demands PMSs with much wider range of capabilities such as distribution channel management, marketing, capturing all aspects of guests’ experiences (on and off the property), multi-property reservations and more.
Regardless of the functional expansions, there is another major change that property management systems are witnessing nowadays and that is – how such systems are made available to the hotels – by going up in the cloud.
Installing, running and managing onsite PMSs is becoming increasingly complex as more and more functionalities are being added to existing systems every now and then. This puts tremendous pressure on the hotel as it needs more computer room hardware and more complex support structure to handle and manage such additions. Small or mid size hotels cannot afford such expansions, however still need greater data storage space, reliability, security and audit ability. Furthermore, such expansions require increased power, space, energy and air-conditioning, running counter to global initiatives towards greener operations.
The answer to abovementioned issues lies in an efficient and cost- effective property management system – Hotelogix which is based on cloud computing, with SaaS as a delivery model.
September 8, 2011 Posted by: admin
Hotelogix Platform Helps a Non Franchise Budget Property Increase its Revenues
It is not only bigger establishments or hotel chains who choose web based property management systems for their speedy implementation; small independent budget hotels also have to come up to speed at the time of switching systems.
One such Hotelogix client is a small 50 room hotel. They were earlier planning to sign up with two different brands when they purchased this property last year, but later on decided to go solo. This meant doing away with the franchise system of the previous owner as soon as possible. However, at the same time they were not prepared to take on the burden of investing in, installing and maintaining an onsite property management system.
In the words of hotel’s owner, “The upfront cost involved was one of the major deterrents. We weighed three to four different web based property management systems and picked Hotelogix since it suited us the most and was referred to us by one of their highly satisfied clients. We were fully operational in a matter of less than a week.”
Hotelogix stuck to its commitment and the transition was smooth and quick. Additionally, the hotel could now get GDS connectivity and a comprehensive web site with internet booking. Now it receives most of its bookings through internet. The hotel started generating additional revenue in less than a couple of month’s time without having to spend extra time and resource to get this business. The hotel owner further adds, “Hotelogix’s reliability has been just outstanding! They have a comprehensive training and support system so it becomes very easy for us to bring new recruits up to speed.”
September 8, 2011 Posted by: admin
Do the Independent Hotel Clients of Hotelogix Receive Value for their Money?
Hotelogix is being increasingly talked about as one of the best web-based property management systems for multi-property hotels as they can significantly benefit from its data consistency, efficient comparative reporting and anytime anywhere access. But when it comes to independent small and mid size hotels, are they finding Hotelogix worth the monthly fee they have to pay? Here’s what we found out talking to one of Hotelogix’s independent hotel customers. In the words of their General Manager, “We were introduced to concept of web based property management systems by one of our suppliers who had first hand witnessed tremendous benefits of Hotelogix in case of one of our competitors. We got immediately impressed by the promise that Hotelogix offered and can say with great satisfaction now that it delivered what it promised.”
He further stated, “We picked Hotelogix through one of their channel partners in our region. The software has proved to be very effective and easy to learn for all our staff. We were earlier quite sceptical about such a system as our property is seasonal and we hire new staff every year. It was practically impossible for us to invest in a system wherein we’d have to incur additional training expenses every year. All our employees find Hotelogix extremely easy to operate and their ‘how to’ videos have been a great help in this regard.”
This client has also benefited greatly from Hotelogix’s reporting functions as they can now generate reports whenever required and use them to take critical management decisions. Besides training worries, they were also little apprehensive initially about their data being maintained on an offsite location. However, now, primarily owing to system’s efficiency, they feel safer about data security than ever before. As a contingency measure though, they download a copy of the night audit report daily and save it on their systems in pdf format.
They found Hotelogix very affordable too and opted for a monthly subscription plan, which costs them much less in comparison to what they were earlier spending on technical support, software, online training and hosting of their previous on-site property management system. As the system doesn’t require specialized workstations, whenever they need more terminals, they purchase very basic PCs with internet connectivity and it all falls in place really well for them. Since the cost involved is minimal, even if one PC breaks or runs into trouble, they just buy a new one and plug it in. This does away with the time they used to waste earlier trying to debug things under the front desk and/or other locations of the property.”
The IT Manager of the hotel adds, “The consistency of internet connectivity was a bit of a worry for us, but we have taken internet connections from two different vendors. Paying up a minimal additional monthly internet expense is far better in comparison to cost-effectiveness and ease of operations offered by Hotelogix. Honestly, it’s a very small price to pay.”
September 8, 2011 Posted by: admin
Hotelogix – Becoming a Hot Favourite of Small to Mid Size Properties Globally
Hotelogix has been developed and designed in a manner that it empowers small to mid size hotels and resorts by enabling them to manage their employees, guests and properties more effectively than any other web based solution targeted at that market. After all, regardless of the size of their properties, all hotel owners wish to spend less and less time worrying about operations and more on preparing and planning for future growth. Following are some reasons why more and more hoteliers are choosing Hotelogix:
Reservations can be centralized
With the help of Hotelogix you can centralize reservations for multiple properties into one online system which can be accessed anytime anywhere. This implies that all important information such as reservation status, rooms’ availability, rates etc. is readily accessible at all times, making it extremely easy for the hotel staff to manage reservations for all properties from a single screen.
With the help of Hotelogix you can centralize reservations for multiple properties into one online system which can be accessed anytime anywhere. This implies that all important information such as reservation status, rooms’ availability, rates etc. is readily accessible at all times, making it extremely easy for the hotel staff to manage reservations for all properties from a single screen.
Accomplish unbeatable results in minimum time and cost
Hotelogix does away with the risk of making huge capital investments in expensive on site property management solutions. A small size 50 room hotel can be up and running in less than a week’s time, with operating expenses less than $200 per month.
Hotelogix does away with the risk of making huge capital investments in expensive on site property management solutions. A small size 50 room hotel can be up and running in less than a week’s time, with operating expenses less than $200 per month.
Real time monitoring of business
Hotelogix provides real time and reliable access to reports related to inventory, yield and productivity, bringing an end to the worries associated with missing forecasts.
Hotelogix provides real time and reliable access to reports related to inventory, yield and productivity, bringing an end to the worries associated with missing forecasts.
Productivity enhancement
Since hotel staff will not have to deal with problems associated with multiple platforms, multiple software versions and other related complexities, the stress levels will take a dip and productivity will increase.
September 8, 2011 Posted by: admin
Hotelogix Empowers a Small Size Guesthouse
Under study is a busy 40 – room guest house which has near capacity bookings almost throughout the year, putting a lot of burden on its current infrastructure. It used to manage its bookings and operations through a paper based manual system, which rendered a lot of vulnerability to guesthouse’s service quality and resultantly, the profits. Double bookings, manual entry mistakes, cancellations not recorded etc. used to be a commonplace. Owing to the clientele of the guesthouse and the repeat business it receives from many of its patrons, it just could not afford to come up short on the customer care every now and then. Some of the major issues that cropped up regularly were:
- An invoice if requested by a guest needed to be manually created with the help of a spreadsheet.
- Any mid stay room changes would lead to many complications and tiring paperwork.
- The guesthouse had no automated option to effectively handle the state’s taxation system.
- In the absence of an effective online booking software, the reservations required exchange of a minimum of three emails. Last minute cancellations would often lead to rooms left unoccupied.
Hotelogix came into picture at this point. As expressed by the guesthouse owner, “Hotelogix came across as a very affordable yet effective solution for independent, budget hoteliers like us. It seamlessly integrates global distribution, bookings, property marketing and management, all on an easy to use and single platform. We were earlier planning to hire more people, but decided to opt for Hotelogix instead. So now instead of shelling out as much as $7,000 every month – the cost of 2 full time employees, we’re only paying less than $200 per month for the Hotelogix’s services.”
Being a cloud based property management system, with SaaS as a delivery model Hotelogix is run entirely over the internet. The guesthouse didn’t have to purchase any special equipment or software. The staff of the guesthouse now focuses more on quality interactions with the guests rather than worrying about the administrative tasks. Hotelogix has reduced the reservation making time by as much as 50%, and almost all of the rooms are now booked directly via Hotelogix. The guesthouse staff feels that the processes are cleaner now, efficiency has increased and they have far less work to do. In addition, the guest house increased bookings from its online channels, which are consistently generating an additional $2000 per month. The Hotelogix system operating expenditure being less than $200 per month, the ROI achieved is more than 1000% in less than 3 months of deployment.
Furthermore, since all the crucial data is stored offsite, the guesthouse no longer needs to worry about system security or crashes. The guesthouse owner further added, “Hotelogix empowers the budget hotels to compete in the global market. Since there are no up-front expenses on equipments, software or a computer professional, the transition becomes much more feasible. An average 50 room hotel can be up and ready for operations in a matter of less than a week’s time. What more, the system is quite comprehensive as it takes care of everything ranging from guest history, credit card processing to accounts management in the back room. Our main concern initially was whether Hotelogix would deliver at the cost it was on offer. Our answer is a bold ‘YES.’ In fact, it exceeded our expectations.”
September 8, 2011 Posted by: admin
Hotelogix Can Boost Operational Efficiency and Guest Satisfaction Levels of a Multiple-Property Chain
Customer service plays a highly critical role in the failure or success of any hospitality business. However, maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction becomes a big challenge if the customer service agents are most of the time occupied in either organizing reservations or trying to obtain access to the latest updated data across different properties. This is a critical problem which Hotelogix addresses seamlessly with its’ anytime anywhere information access.
Inhouse developed systems have their own limitations and fail to accommodate the changing needs of the industry. Since there can be significant lapses in flow of information across main office and individual properties, reservation information can often get doubled up, leading to confusion among staff and misunderstandings with guests. Furthermore, scheduling housekeeping and other staff can get extremely difficult as departure and arrival times remain unknown.
Further, in case of inhouse developed systems, the executives are often found left with no option but to minimize their interactions with guests as they have to communicate with multiple properties to avoid any reservation overlaps.
Hotelogix can come as a sigh of relief in this scenario as it can provide a fully equipped, web based property management system, capable of catering to the needs of both small and mid size independent properties as well as multi-property chains. Since Hotelogix can be accessed from anywhere via internet, the client is not required to install any hardware or software on site. Furthermore, the reasonable payment structure of Hotelogix makes it a very good business sense for any property chain.
Since Hotelogix is a web based system, even if the main office of a multiple property chain is not open, different properties of the chain can still manage reservations with ease. The property managers can view current room reservations, inventory status and schedule the activities of housekeeping and other staff effectively and efficiently. In fact Hotelogix is the only comprehensive solution which effectively caters to a multiple property set up without making it incur huge technology overheads.
In a traditional set up, property managers have to manually call up the head office to intimate them about the guest check-out. However with Hotelogix, at the time of guest check-out, the staff can simply generate a printable guest statement with the click of a button and free up the room. Once the guest room is freed, the Hotelogix system can automatically make that room available for sale and initiate the housekeeping procedure. The same executives and managers who earlier used to feel overburdened with reservations information can now focus all their energies towards enhancing the guests’ experience.
Besides directly impacting the guest satisfaction levels, Hotelogix improves the efficiency of back office operations as well by making various real-time reports readily available for the management. The same reports are generated manually in Excel in a traditional set up and hence are prone to errors. With Hotelogix, the accuracy levels and options in these reports improve drastically, directly impacting the hotel’s efficiency.
September 8, 2011 Posted by: admin
Hotelogix vs. Packaged Software – Resellers’ Perspective
As Hotelogix, a cloud based property management system is becoming extremely popular with every passing day, its prospective channel partners are realizing that reselling Hotelogix makes a lot of sense from a strategic standpoint. End customer demand for Hotelogix is sizeable, and as it gets increasingly sold through the channel, channel partners would like to be in the driving seat of this wave, developing new competencies at the same time. Besides this, there are several other incentives for Hotelogix’s channel partners. Some of them are as follows:
Move on from break-fix services to strategic services – Packaged software normally demands a lot of regular maintenance work, involving several visits on site. Since Hotelogix is a SaaS based solution, it requires no on site set up. Hotelogix addresses the main issues of its target market segment and has extensively customized its solution and services, so as to adapt well to this segment. Few initiatives in this regard are the manner in which Hotelogix introduces the system to the prospective client, the way it has structured its support system to make it very easy to use for a hotel or resort, the manner in which Hotelogix has devised its pricing module and most importantly, the simplicity behind the Hotelogix’s user interface, keeping the end user in mind. All these initiatives make it a no headache association for resellers.
Building recurring revenue stream – Since Hotelogix features a subscription payment model, channel partners stand to receive recurring revenues from the end customer, as long as customer remains associated with the company, rather than receiving only a one time commission as in the case of packaged software. Such model is cash flow friendly and results in higher aggregate revenue for as long as customer relationship exists.
Enter into a hot market without major investment – Since Hotelogix is based on a SaaS model, it doesn’t require resellers / channel partners to maintain consistent inventory, or servers. Resellers can enter into the red hot market of cloud based property management systems with almost zero capex costs.
Offer clients choice by bringing diversification in your offerings – Studies have found out that many small and mid size hotels and resorts opt for a hybrid model instead of a pure on-site IT infrastructure or pure cloud based technology. On the same lines, it makes a lot of sense for resellers / channel partners to diversify their product range to include both cloud based as well as packaged software.
Extensive support system – Unlike as in case of packaged software where the manufacturers are normally not able to do justice to regular maintenance requirements of a large base of clients, in case of Hotelogix, the company has set up a complete support system for resellers. This system helps the resellers in training their staff and sales & marketing team. The system has a very well structured resellers program which makes resellers market ready in no time.
Open vertical and horizontal cross selling opportunities – Since Hotelogix is based on cloud technology using SaaS as a delivery model, it can be used as an entry medium into organizations. The resellers can then leverage it to cross sell further cloud based services or solutions to end customers.
September 8, 2011 Posted by: admin
Become a Hotelogix Reseller and Tap into the Vast Potential in the Hospitality Market
Hotelogix is a cloud technology based property management system targeted at meeting the growing needs and challenges of mid and small size hospitality businesses. The small and mid size hospitality market has so far been unable to utilize the benefits provided by integrated platforms owing to several entry barriers. These include steep learning curves, IT infrastructure investment, capital costs involved and in some cases, incomplete solutions. Making use of cloud technology and SaaS as a delivery model, Hotelogix provides a comprehensive property management solution which does away with all the above mentioned entry barriers. Furthermore, the system is scalable, flexible, logical and well secured.
Owing to its various advantages over the traditional client server systems, quick return on investment and tremendous business value for its customers, Hotelogix possesses an extremely high sales appeal in the small and mid size hospitality market. The software is rapidly gaining wide popularity among the hoteliers based in United States, Far East, India, Europe, Africa, South America and Gulf nations.
By becoming a reseller of this highly successful property management system, you can expect special service benefits, extensive support cum training and recurring revenue commissions that are comparable with the best in the industry. Furthermore, HMS Infotech Pvt. Ltd., the creators of Hotelogix invest heavily in SMO, focused marketing and various SEO initiatives, thus generating a large number of qualified leads from all parts of the world. If you become a reseller in a particular region, all leads pertaining to your region will automatically be passed on to you, thereby providing you with excellent opportunities to increase your revenue.
So get associated with Hotelogix now and tap on to the vast potential in the hospitality market in your region.
