Rezlynx & Roomlynx Replaces Legacy System At Choice Hotels
Choice Hotels is an independent group of five properties based in Blackpool and The Lake District.
Cliffs Hotel Blackpool – an imposing early century building that comprises 160 en suite rooms, leisure centre and conference facilities. The property is located on the Queens Promenade.
Claremont Hotel Blackpool – located minutes from Blackpool’s North Pier, the Claremont has 150 rooms, leisure facilities with an indoor pool, spa and sauna and a diverse range of bars and restaurants.
Viking Hotel Blackpool - only a few minutes walk from the South Pier and world famous Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The Viking boasts 100 en-suite rooms, a sea view restaurant and the renowned ‘Talk of the Coast’ cabaret club.
Keswick Country House – is an elegant Victorian building with 74 rooms and set in 4 acres of landscaped gardens. Keswick Country House is an ideal base for exploring the delights of the Lake District and surrounding area.
Patterdale Hotel – located at the head of Ullswater, this 61 room hotel is a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts looking to explore the scenic locations of Keswick, Ambleside and Penrith.
As part of Choice Hotels operations they also have a Head Office located in Blackpool that is responsible for reservations, rate management and all financial functions. The Central Reservations Office is staffed by a team of 17 and enquiries for all hotels within the group are dealt with by the CRO team, leaving the individual properties to be totally focused on customer service.
For a number of years Choice Hotels had used an industry standard property management system (PMS), utilizing a VPN connection to link the Central Reservation Office to each hotels individual server at site.
In late 2008, Choice Hotels were informed by their PMS vendor that support for the current system was being withdrawn in 2009. This decision meant that the group either had to upgrade to the latest system from their existing supplier or investigate alternative solutions.
Rather than progress down the automatic upgrade route, Choice Hotels took the opportunity to investigate what other systems and innovations were available in the marketplace.
The Challenge
Any new system implemented by the group needed to incorporate a centralised property management solution, full central reservations office capabilities, real-time head office management reporting, seamless cross-property bookings and accommodate live online reservations through the Choice Hotels website and online channels.
A core requirement of the project was that any replacement system must be a totally hosted solution, eliminating the need for Choice Hotels to invest in expensive new hardware.
The Solution
After careful consideration Choice Hotels took the decision to install Guestline’s web based PMS, Rezlynx. This was combined with Roomlynx, for online channel management and PCILynx to provide full PCI-DSS compliance.
Rezlynx is a 100% internet based property management system designed around a single, centrally located data source, which can be accessed from anywhere in the world via a standard secure web browser.
Rezlynx incorporates full PMS functionality, including front of house, reservations, conference & banqueting, back office, sales ledger, business analysis reporting, and an extremely powerful sales & marketing tool.
The fundamental principle behind Rezlynx is that the software is not installed locally at the hotel. Instead, it is hosted remotely on Guestline’s dedicated servers and Guestline are responsible for the security and backup of the hotel’s data, as well as the resilience of the hardware on which the software and data is stored.
Choice Hotels requirement for the automatic processing of online bookings from their own website or major online booking agents will be handled by Roomlynx, Guestline’s channel management and distribution solution.
Roomlynx streamlines the online channel management process by actively connecting the groups hotels to the leading online travel agencies, such as LateRooms, Bookings.com and Expedia.
This powerful two way interface will enable Choice Hotels to manage its online rates, inventory and availability directly from their Rezlynx PMS. It will also facilitate the seamless delivery of reservations from all online sales channels directly into Rezlynx, without the need for manual data entry.
The implementation of PCILynx will ensure that the group fully complies with the latest PCI DSS payment card security standard.
PCILynx provides solutions to the key problem areas of the standard, such as wireless security scans, external vulnerability scans, personal firewall & virus protection audits and creating policies and procedures. PCILynx integrates Rezlynx PMS with the card acquiring services to provide a secure method of card data storage.
Business Benefits
Rezlynx offers a wide range of benefits when compared to a traditional locally installed PMS.
- Lower Cost Of Ownership - There is no need for the group to purchase expensive new computer equipment to run the system.
- No Specialist IT Skills Required At The Hotel - The remote servers are maintained by qualified technicians and constantly monitored to ensure there is little or no down time.
- Security Of Business Critical Data - The confidential hotel database is subject to comprehensive backup and security procedures.
- Remote Access From Anywhere In The World - Proprietors and the management team can access the system and the live data from anywhere in the world.
- Multi Property Capabilities - Group properties can take advantage of Rezlynx’ single data source, by checking live availability for all hotels and making cross property reservations. The client database, guest history and ledger details can be shared easily across all hotels.
Due to Rezlynx centralised nature, the Central Reservation Office are now able to make reservations for any hotel in the group, process payments securely via PCILynx and send email confirmations to the customer, all from a single screen. This has streamlined the booking process and led to improved levels of customer service at the CRO.
Rate management is also much simpler with Rezlynx, as all rates are managed from a single location and then exposed automatically to the CRO, Choice’s own website and the online travel agents via Roomlynx. This not only saves time, as updating rates and availability on an individual channel is no longer necessary, but rate parity is also easily achieved.
“Guestlines’ ability to offer a fully integrated, hosted solution that incorporates channel management, was a key factor in our decision to select them as our preferred supplier” Sally Carpenito, Director Choice Hotels