Hosting Happy Guests: Customized ERP Solution for the Hospitality Industry

Introduction

The hospitality industry bases itself on the guest experience. The guest, or the customer, is the main focus. It is about receiving and serving guests and providing service to their liking from the word go. And this experience begins with the first touchpoint in their journey — booking a space, whether it is a room or a table.

The hospitality industry provides essential services like lodging and food for travellers on move for necessity, leisure or luxury. For this customer-centric industry, the volume of information and the speed with which processes in the hospitality business should be handled is crucial to business success. And for this reason, ERP systems have particular relevance for the diversity of applications and specific systems for various functions, tailored for lodges, hotels and restaurants.

Phykon was approached by a business in the hospitality sector. They offer lodging and mini guest-restaurant services for travellers on move for a holiday or business trip.

Challenges Faced by the Business

The client was using legacy systems and they were maintaining separate files to store guest details, bills, inventory items, etc. They lacked a centralized database to access, update and retrieve data. And for this reason, searching for a record in the system was difficult and time consuming. To add to this, the system was inefficient and prone to errors. The predominance of legacy systems, difficulty in upgradation, maintenance and incompatibility, made data updation more complex. Mix-ups in booking, cancellations, kitchen orders and changes in room preferences used to mar the guest experience — and most often, these are weary travellers looking for a relaxing, restful visit.

The client required a customized ERP solution for efficient hospitality management and automated booking processes. They were not able to facilitate online room booking with their existing manual system. Bookkeeping and tracking the same also became difficult. Timely fulfilment of guest requirements proved difficult with the manual system. Room services bills and restaurant bills (internal & external) were not getting captured for data. They needed an ERP system to bind their entire operations together, to make booking quick and secure, for easier task completion and to efficiently process and manage guest requests.

Solution

Phykon offered the client an efficient ERP solution tailored to meet their specific requirements. We offered a cloud-based system to monitor, function and keep track of things and avoid any kind of unforeseen disaster. The system had an intuitive dashboard which displayed available and booked rooms, reserved tables, and orders made by guests for real-time decision making. The new automated system allowed the client to offer an online room booking. Further, keycard integration made it easy to track allotment. All charges levied on a particular room/visitor are maintained on a single dashboard which reduces losses due to missed charges. With our system, the client could automatically generate kitchen order tickets — what is being ordered, what is being served and to whom. The new system assisted in automatic bill generation too. The dashboard and centralized database allowed the client to send daily cleaning schedules to the housekeeping section based on real-time occupation and booking status of rooms, along with updated details of visitor’s stay.

Results

User-Friendly Dashboard: Our customized ERP solution offered a user-friendly dashboard as well as user-friendly functions. After logging in on the system, the user can get a quick view of all bookings, food orders from guests and room availability for the week ahead, manage check-ins and room allocation at the touch of a button.

Time Savings: Phykon’s ERP solution helped the client search and retrieve the required data in a flash. It saved time that was being spent on referring and updating manual files and records. The hotel staff were now less harried and could repurpose their saved time on better service, boosting customer satisfaction. Quick check ins and checkouts ensured a better experience, and a hassle-free experience.

Security: New system made data and information secure by providing user IDs and passwords in order to prevent unauthorized access.

Backup and restoring: Database backup helps protect the database from theft, physical damage, computer viruses and malware.

Email Reminder: For bookings, an e-mail reminder will be sent to the guest.

Kitchen Order Ticket system enabled seamless flow from point-of-sale module to invoice.

Our solution helped the client offer a made-to-order service. It allowed the guests/travellers to choose and book room type, meals and other required services even before they arrive.

Smooth, seamless guest experience: Guests at the lodging began experiencing a swifter, smoother experience from the point of booking to checkout. They began seeing guests returning for their next stay and positive reviews from happy guests.

Conclusion

Customised ERP systems are a way to automate repetitive, manual processes and provide managers with a global vision and real-time view of all operations, solving the problems of disintegration and fragmentation of information. With regard to the specific processes of hotel units, primarily front office, for example, reservations, stock and supply, F&B (Food & Beverage), or point of sale management (POS – Point of Sales), specific solutions can be adopted.

ERP Systems can be used strategically since they allow connectivity between departments. Tailored modules can be added to the system based on the unique needs of each business, making it truly flexible. Owners can view their business in its totality and with clear visibility into every stage of each process.