Hospitality industry case studies

Hotel 1000
Hotel improves guest experience and sales potential with multitouch computing
Seattle’s Hotel 1000 constantly seeks to differentiate itself through leading-edge technology and a personalized guest experience. This helps increase on-property spending and repeat visits for both business and leisure travelers. One of the ways that the hotel achieves its goal is through unique technologies, including one of the first customized installations of the Microsoft Surface software and computing platform. Using this multitouch, multiuser device, guests can access a virtual concierge, share photos and videos, and view hotel offerings. Guests gather and become friends around Microsoft Surface for a truly interactive, collaborative, and enjoyable experience that nurtures guest loyalty.

Hard Rock International
Hard Rock creates unique rock ’n’ roll experience online
Begun as an authentic American diner in London in 1971, Hard Rock International today owns restaurants, hotels, casinos, and live venues throughout the world, as well as an unparalleled collection of rock ’n’ roll memorabilia. Hard Rock wanted to reinforce its authentic brand and role as custodian to rock ’n’ roll history by sharing its collection of memorabilia with fans. Working with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Vertigo and design and advertising agency Duncan/Channon, Hard Rock used Microsoft Silverlight 2 to create a unique Web site that serves as a shrine to all things rock. Visitors use intuitive zoom technology to navigate the collection, investigate the stories behind each piece and share their discoveries with friends. Using Microsoft products and technologies, Vertigo built a content management system and infrastructure for the site in just 30 days.

Marriott
Digital concierge helps hotel improve guest experience and satisfaction by 10 percent
Courtyard by Marriott is designed to meet the needs of business travelers. To achieve its mission of providing services and amenities that improve the guest experience, Courtyard redesigned its hotel lobbies. A central element of the redesign is the GoBoard, a large-format touch screen based on Microsoft products and technologies. The GoBoard gives guests convenient, real-time access to news, weather, and travel information and features interactive maps that help guests find their way to local points of interest. Since completing the lobby redesign and deploying the GoBoard, Courtyard has found that hotel staff interacts with guests more easily and reports a 10 percent rise in guest satisfaction scores and a 27 percent increase in intent-to-return scores. The comprehensive redesign, including the GoBoard, has helped Courtyard increase market share by 7.5 percent since deployment.

Vail Resorts
Resort Streamlines Skier Check-In, Improves Data Collection with RF Technology
Aging handheld scanners at Vail Resorts required line-of-sight access to skiers' season passes, slowing down lift check-ins. The system also provided no guest activity data, making customer segmentation difficult. Vail Resorts switched to season passes embedded with radio frequency tags that can be scanned through a skier’s jacket, streamlining the pass-holder authentication process. The company also placed RF scanners on upper-mountain lifts to capture lift access data that helps sharpen targeted marketing.

Sheraton
Hotel Creates Experience for Guests to Connect Digital Work and Social Lifestyles
To help differentiate Sheraton Hotels & Resorts from its competitors, Sheraton developed a new initiative for its guests and then teamed up with Microsoft to enhance the experience. The "Link@Sheraton experienced with Microsoft" transforms underused lobby space into a destination within Sheraton hotels, a digitally connected, social gathering spot where guests can work, relax, and connect with others while traveling alone. Associated food and beverage sales are expected to drive revenue.

Sheraton University City Hotel
Hotel improves guest experience and revenue through innovative use of technology
Sheraton realized that its in-room technology, which was limited to Internet access, did not match its other high-end services. The hotel wanted to be more competitive with better IT service. Sheraton implemented a SuiteLinq solution, built on Microsoft technologies, which delivers reliable Internet access, media content, and productivity applications to thin-client devices in hotel rooms.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Company upgrades IT environment for increased security and user productivity
With more than 64,500 employees worldwide, Enterprise Rent-A-Car always looks for new methods to keep its team supplied with tools that enhance efficiency and customer service. To that end, the company is making adjustments to several portions of its IT infrastructure, including the implementation of a new intranet portal based on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, an operating system upgrade to Windows Vista, and a messaging system upgrade to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, to increase collaboration and the overall manageability of the knowledge-worker computing environment. These IT improvements add another layer of security and increase system manageability while, at the same time, furthering the company's service commitment to its employees and customers.

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa
Resort enhances guest experience with right information to employees at the right time
When Borgata planned the first hotel to be built in Atlantic City in 13 years, executives envisioned industry-leading technology for customized, up-to-date information exchanges with every employee. After an initial experience with PeopleSoft portal technology, Borgata built a role-based portal using Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 that gave users personalized views into the information they needed to do their jobs. (An upgrade to Office SharePoint Server 2007 is under way.) As a result, executives have seen the value of IT in driving business success. For example, Borgata's budget and forecasting process is accomplished 33 percent faster than before the portal. Employee adoption of the portal is up from 50 to 80 percent and, with that, so is employee satisfaction. More motivated, informed employees in turn are enhancing the guest experience.

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hotel improves decision making and guest satisfaction with in-house portal
The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas is an immensely popular location in one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world. The hotel wanted to give employees the right information at the right time to enhance guest service and make better decisions, but printed newsletters and overfull e-mail inboxes were problematic. So the hotel created an intranet portal using out-of-the-box components from Microsoft software that the hotel owned, and without the help of outside consultants.

Expedia
Travel company boosts relationships and traffic with customer alerts
Expedia aims to make the experience of researching, planning, and purchasing their trips as convenient and enjoyable as possible. With this in mind, Expedia worked with Microsoft and Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Ascentium to build a gadget for Windows Sidebar. The new Expedia Fare Alert gadget takes advantage of the capabilities in the Windows Vista operating system to deliver real-time alerts to the desktop when prices for three designated flights reach predetermined levels.

Habtoor Hospitality
Middle Eastern hotel group increases employee efficiency with automated system
Middle Eastern hotel group Habtoor Hospitality used disparate systems to manage reservations and generate accounts. Employees using these systems had to input a substantial amount of data manually. Working with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner AGIS, now known as Columbus IT, the group deployed Microsoft Dynamics NAV 3.7 business management software to automate accounts, integrate with the hospitality management system, and save finance employees hours every day.

Hilton Hotels
Hilton Hotels sets the table for increases in catering revenue with new database solution
Hilton Hotels needed to develop a forecasting system to improve its business analysis process by establishing more accurate pricing and financial planning. It first created its OnQ Forecast Management System built using Microsoft SQL Server 2000 to help forecast guestroom business. However, Hilton Hotels decided to expand the system's functionality to include demand-based pricing and forecasting for group, catering, and public-space sales to help focus on revenue per group and optimization of meeting space. To extend the existing application, Hilton Hotels built a solution based on the Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 using the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 development system.

Carnival Cruise Lines cuts software update time by 80 percent and boosts effectiveness by 20 percent
Carnival Cruise Lines needs to deploy software and updates as effectively as possible to ships and offices worldwide, so it's adopting Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007. The solution cuts update distribution time by 80 percent while boosting the effectiveness of distributions by 20 percent and increasing availability by up to 10 percent. And System Center Configuration Manager is crucial to Carnival's planned deployment of Windows Vista.
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Choice Hotels International

Hotel group rolls out next-generation property management system to 1,500 of its properties
Choice Hotels rolled out its next generation property management system -- choiceADVANTAGE. choiceADVANTAGE enables a higher level of service to franchisees and guests. It captures guest preferences, tracks arrival and checkout information, and makes sure the guest is charged appropriately with no surprises. With over 1,500 installations now in place, choiceADVANTAGE is one of the largest property management systems operating anywhere in the world.
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Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 at Choice Hotels
Learn how Scandinavia's largest hotel chain uses Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0, together with other Microsoft stack technology, to run its business from reservations and check-in to conferences, fitness centre and spas, restaurants, and more to drive increased revenues.
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Hilton sets the table for increases in catering revenue with new database solution
Hilton Hotels needed to develop a forecasting system to improve its business analysis process by establishing more accurate pricing and financial planning. It first created its OnQ Forecast Management System built using Microsoft SQL Server 2000 to help forecast guestroom business. However, Hilton Hotels decided to expand the system's functionality to include demand-based pricing and forecasting for group, catering, and public-space sales to help focus on revenue per group and optimization of meeting space.
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Holland America Line Digital Workshops powered by Windows
Even social media novices are being given the chance to sharpen their digital media management skills, at Holland America Line Digital Workshops powered by Windows. The Microsoft-trained “techspert” on these cruise ships demonstrates how to take better vacation photos, make movies, edit pictures, create scrapbooks, and share it all via pages and blogs. The workshops are powered by Windows 7 which makes the PC simpler to use every day with less waiting, fewer clicks, and less complexity. With less of what is not needed, Windows 7 helps guest do more.
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InterContinental Hotels Group: Wireless Solution improves guest experience and drives increased revenues for Holiday Inn
To deliver a new level of customer convenience, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) developed a wireless solution for its Holiday Inn brand that lets guests take control. Developed in four months with the help of Ameranth Wireless, the E-Host and E-Menu solutions are accessed using Tablet PCs running Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Guests can order food in the restaurant or to their room, find weather updates, read the latest news, shop online, check flight status, and send documents to a printer in the hotel's lobby.
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Microsoft Surface at Rio iBar provides guests with innovative and immersive entertainment experiences
Harrah’s was the first company to deploy a suite of customized applications for Microsoft Surface and to install it in an entertainment venue, providing guests with uniquely personalized and engaging social experiences with the Surface units. With the unique interaction that Microsoft Surface enables, Harrah’s has created an innovative suite of custom applications to provide guests with hip new ways to create their very own ultimate entertainment experience in an ultra-lounge venue.
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Sheraton Hotels and Resorts partners with Microsoft to keep guests connected on the road
Microsoft products and services will keep guests connected at Sheraton's newly branded signature communications hub: "Link at Sheraton experienced with Microsoft".
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