SUPPLIERS &

The Rocco Forte Collection Technology to improve Quality

167 Villa Kennedy, Frankfurt, DOMANI november 2010 SUPPLIERS & HOTELS

An analysis of the needs and choices done by one of the most prestigious deluxe hotels group, done together with the Corporate IT Director and Serenissima Informatica. The complete data centralization to know the customer from St. Petersburg to Marrakech via Milan

Hotel de Russie, Rome,

n 2004 The Rocco Forte local interfaces, a local database on guest profi le at Group level, without Collection started a local servers, and many duplicated guest any duplication. Reporting was also a process to renew its IT profi les. Guest history was diffi cult to major issue, we needed to be able to infrastructure, starting have accurately as a group: the best have effective centralized reporting on from the Property VIP guest of The Balmoral could have statistics and on guest analyses. All the Management System walked in at the De Russie and the mobile workforce needed to have access Iand related hardware platform. local GM had no way to be aware of from remote to all applications and to all Emmanuel Clavé, Corporate his VIP status”. The renewal of the IT the data they are allowed to see, easily, IT Director of the Rocco Forte had to meet a series of goals in terms of at any location they may be. And, as Collection, recalls the process. economy of scale, marketing advantages we were – and still are – in a growth “I joined The Rocco Forte Collection in for the Company, improvement of the period, we needed an effi cient solution 2003 as UK IT Director coming from processes and workfl ows for the human in easily adding new hotels, even if not Hilton and, facing the need to renew resources, data security and innovation. opened already”. Although one of the our IT infrastructure I set up a 5 year “We wanted to be able to turn a hotel’s best well known brands in the luxury strategy at group level. In 2004 every VIP guest into a Group’s VIP Guest, and segment, The Rocco Forte Collection hotel had a stand-alone system, with to do so we needed to have one single is a relatively small company in

168 HOTEL DOMANI november 2010 The Balmoral, Edinburgh,

comparison to other international hotel process started with the selection of the had the luck to be involved since the chains. “Given our size, attitude and PMS system. Following a research on beginning in the selection process and development plans, we were looking for the international market, two companies in coordinating the international protel a supplier that was fl exible and willing were shortlisted and demonstration and partners involved in the project, both to really work with us in improving training for the system was requested for being truly formative experiences. We services and software products and a key selection of employees (Reception, did our best to demonstrate our devotion in listening the users requests. Good Reservation, Revenue Management, to customer service and the potentialities customer care and the ability to resolve Accounting, Housekeeping, IT, Sales of the system”. The Rocco Forte problems quickly and effi ciently was & marketing, Banqueting) and a use Collection had decided that the new a must. Also, we wanted a partner of the system for 3 weeks thereafter. PMS had to run on a single centralized specialized on software and hardware, Companies were requested to provide data centre, so in parallel with the able to provide support on both. We a hosted solution with full software software selection also the service didn’t want to deal with a rigid supplier, and hardware, and a company was provider was under assessment. “At deciding for us what to have and what identifi ed for the VPN connectivity”. the end of the trial phase the provider to do”. Selecting such a supplier and Alessandro Calligaris, Marketing selected was a mix of user feedback, a software within a fi ve years strategy Manager in Serenissima Informatica, fl exibility of the company and product, requires accurate planning and a recalls the situation from the suppliers and fi nancial offer. From the start of Hotel Astoria, selection process based on a detailed point of view: “As Marketing Manager implementation of the Server Farm St. Petersburg, RFP, but this is not suffi cient. “The of our Hospitality Business Unit I managed by Serenissima Informatica

169 HOTEL DOMANI novembre 2010 SUPPLIERS & HOTELS

The Rocco Forte Hotel Abu Dhabi

into a Data Centre of Telecom management much easier than Italia in Milan, it was realized The Rocco Forte Collection the previous installation. One that all main central application Hotel Amigo, Brussels, of the main benefi t, especially could be deployed over there. Hotel Savoy, Florence, Italy in the past 18 months has Once the initial fear of remote Le Richemond, Ginevra, been the addition of the protel access passes, confi dence builds Brown’s Hotel, London, United Kingdom Business Intelligence tool, and it becomes natural to move The Augustin, Prague, which gave us instant reporting any core application in the data The Verdura Golf & Spa Resort, Sciacca (AG), Italy with almost any combination centre due to its reliability and Hotel de Rome, Berlin, Germany available” says Emmanuel data security. A planning was The Balmoral, Edinburgh, United Kingdom Clavé, and it’s not fi nished: done within a 12 months period Villa Kennedy, Frankfurt, Germany “We are currently in the pre- to convert one hotel a month Hotel, , United Kingdom opening in Abu Dhabi, and to protel PMS and integrate it The Charles Hotel, Munich, Germany are planning openings in into the data centre. Later the Hotel de Russie, Rome, Italy Cairo, Marrakesh, and various same was applied for Microsoft Hotel Astoria, St. Petersburg, Russia location in the Middle East. Dynamics NAV as Back Offi ce All would be linked to our system and Quadranet for the current infrastructure. We are restaurant bookings”. Managing Next openings also looking at deploying more a such wide and complex project The Rocco Forte Hotel Abu Dhabi – 2011 centralized applications”. at international level implies Jeddah – 2012 The Rocco Forte Collection to face and solve diffi culties Assoufi d Golf & Spa Resort, Marrakech – 2013 is characterized not only for of many kinds: “The main The Shepheard, Cairo – 2013 the design and the quality challenges are always due to of service, but also for the fi scal laws and legal internet access. centralized platform”. “We are extremely technological choices to serve the We need to identify all tax and fi scal proud of this project, which we manage customers, from the building automation laws to be compliant with the PMS and in cooperation with the Head Quarter for the centralized management of Accounting system, which is worked out of protel and the UK protel dealer, the active and passive security of by protel Head Offi ce and Serenissima XN Hotels” says Michele Ferramola, the buildings, to the general plant who identify a local partner for the the GM of Serenissima Informatica. engineering and key encoding systems, accounting system to clarify set up, as “We hold a central role as providers of to the energy savings. For example, well as the legality of accessing Data the protel services for Italy and of the through the centralized building over a MPLS or VPN connection in a hosting services, of the Back Offi ce automation system each hotel can remote country must be cleared. Also, system and of the Spa Management manage the air conditioning of the rooms internet availability is key and solid and system for the whole group and, through from remote, assuring to the customer stable bandwidth is required. So far, the commitment of our professionals the optimal temperature before he enters we are probably the one and only hotel we do our best to support Rocco Forte the room. company running a Data centre in Italy Collection 24/7 and help them to focus with all hotels, from Russia to Middle on their business”. It looks like this Serenissima Informatica Spa East connected to it and running PMS, actually has a positive impact on Rocco Tel. +39 049 8291111 Accounting, Spa, Restaurant booking Forte Collection: “Having centralized www.serinf.it and other applications on a single all system made the support and [email protected]

170 HOTEL DOMANI november 2010