Messages like these work as long as they don’t get lost on screen. Hotel employees logging into a PMS at the front desk or elsewhere don’t have time to navigate complicated software. “If the whole purpose of working at the front desk is to make the guest feel welcome, we need to make the process quick, easy, and intuitive,” says Leutwyler. He adds that his team’s approach to design is to keep people working heads up, not heads down. “We don’t try to push a bunch of data in front of them. We want them to have what they need, when they need it.”
Leutwyler says that both the ChoiceAdvantage and SkyTouch Hotel OS software platforms are distinct and separate. “SkyTouch is operating on a separate logical infrastructure than ChoiceAdvantage because we’ve kept the Choice customers in their own dedicated data center and the SkyTouch customers located in a private cloud environment that can grow dynamically as we need it.”
The teams work in separate buildings and have separate contracts. A lot of this is due to larger policies the company has in place to protect confidential information. He says that both software platforms meet the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) as part of their new data center environments. This standard lays out the requirements for online sites to take credit card information and outline how customer’s personal data is stored and who has access to it.
As an example of how the two platforms differ, Leutwyler points to the extensions that his team has created for SkyTouch Hotel OS. “We developed an interface to the Pegasus central reservation system (CRS) because that’s what many of our potential customers use.” He says more of these sorts of enhancements will come about in the near future as his division adapts the PMS software to other hotel loyalty and revenue management programs.
Like many PMS platforms, SkyTouch Hotel OS and ChoiceAdvantage also have a built-in Web-based revenue management system (RMS) called Rate Center that helps franchisees who can’t afford to hire a revenue manager to set optimal rates and inventory. Choice rolled out this RMS with a number of hotels back in 2010. “It’s not something that’s for everyone in the system,” says Pacious. “But hotels in competitive markets get a huge benefit from using predictive analytics to set their rates.” The software operates like many RMS packages by sending alerts to GMs when their hotels aren’t optimizing their pricing strategy. For example, if the hotel has a high occupancy but hasn’t adjusted its rate upward, the GM will get an alert suggesting a rate change.
“There’s so much you can do with technology these days,” says Leutwyler. “But if you can’t use it to create a competitive advantage for the company or your customers then it really isn’t all that worthwhile.” As with everything else, Leutwyler says the key to creating a truly useful software and getting his startup off the ground lies in how his products continue to be executed. “We’re making sure you can do everything you need from the same interface,” he says. “If you know how to use one piece you know how to use all of them.” When it comes to creating useful technology, the best approach is often the simplest one.
Pacious echoed this sentiment in his speech at the annual Choice Convention in Los Angeles last June, urging franchisees to take advantage of his company’s technology platforms. “Our success depends on your ability to embrace the tools we’re developing. Not just dabble with them but truly learn them and make them work for you. If you’re not using all we have to offer, your competitor is going to leave you in the dust.”
