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Published on: 4/19/2002
Last Visited: 11/5/2007
General Manager Beverly McCay was looking for a way to take the edge off her competition, which is mainly large flag franchises on the Gulf Coast's outer islands.With her background at Stouffer and Westin Hotels, McCay wanted to "elevate the standard" so that The Dunes could stand above the fray.Her solution was to install the ResEze(tm) Internet booking system and Maestro Property Management System with its yield management function, both from NORTHWIND.McCay claims the software gives The Dunes an opportunity to manage its availability and yield the way larger chains have done for years.
"This is the third month we've had the system and we have received Internet reservations each day since the beginning of the installation," said McCay, who also noted the drive-in "Gulf and Golf" resort property has had occupancy rates higher than the previous year's in every month since September 11th except for October, 2001.The sought-after Dunes was the number one Web-booking property of all of NORTHWIND's clients for the month of February, 2002."Before, an online booking system may have been affordable but it was not real time," which resulted in lost or locked-up rooms.The system also seamlessly integrates with yield management."If I put restrictions on arrivals or minimum night stays," McCay continued, "that is automatically picked up through ResEze," which also allows guest services to override the rack rate, if necessary.
A case in point: When the Blue Angel Air Show was moved from Pensacola NAS to Pensacola Beach because of security concerns in November, 2001, McCay wanted to increase the winter rates just for the dates of the show."In our old system without yield management, we would have had to go into the rate module and literally change the rate for each of our 13 room types, which is time consuming and costly.In Maestro, we do it in four keystrokes without ever having to change our rack rate.We can also set a percentage in the computer to close date-of-arrival when rooms get to 75% occupancy, for example."McCay added that "prior to having a yield management system we were putting post-it-notes and typed pieces of paper in front of ourreservations people.Our yield management system was verbal."
Occupancy rates become important during the winter months when golfers from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio drive down Interstate 65 to stay at The Dunes, and take advantage of the property's golf packages with ten area PGA courses."When the Midwestern golf courses are closed, ours are beautiful," said McCay.She believes their online, real time reservation booking engine puts The Dunes on the same footing as big golf destinations such as Myrtle Beach and Scottsdale."The challenge of an independent hotel is getting more visibility and, for this, our Web site is important.Prior to ResEze it was more like a brochure; now, it's a tool to generate revenue and make us more visible," said McCay.
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After conducting demos for her staff both ways - with and without using a mouse - McCay said the difference between maintaining eye contact versus following the on-screen cursor made a big impression on her team."You are not being processed at our hotel.You are being greeted and accommodated.We do not take our eyes off the guest."By training her staff in this way McCay finds they are not hostage to the mouse and only use it to check things without looking away from the guest.
McCay is not hostage to escalating support costs either.While she was looking for a Windows-based product, she likes the fact that her PMS system is also written for NT 2000, UNIX, and Linux with a Windows look and feel.
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