MMI Hospitality Uses Cloud-Based Software to Keep Moving Forward

FLOWOOD, MS—Hotel management company MMI Hospitality Group deserted its old accounting system in favor of an API-rich platform rooted in the cloud to significantly improve business insight and boost revenue at its more than 50 hotels across the Southeast.

During his 38-year tenure, CEO Gaines Sturdivant has experienced numerous economic cycles and technological shifts that have forced the business to adapt.

“Previously, MMI relied solely on a mainframe minicomputer to run all of its accounting and enterprise resource planning on a single server. Not only was the system bulky and expensive to maintain, but it required constant bug fixes and hardware updates that resulted in a labor-intensive and inefficient accounting process,” said Sturdivant. “Without the convenience of a responsive, on-demand IT staff, the teams were unable to maintain a consistent back-office workflow, much less extract data in a meaningful way to maximize profits.”

Seeking to keep pace with competitors and the evolving needs of guests, Sturdivant searched for an agile, user-friendly solution.

“We knew we had to adopt a new approach to streamline our accounting services over the long haul,” said Sturdivant. “But we couldn’t find an option on the market with the right price-point and multi-property capabilities we were looking for.”

It was during a hotel conference that Sturdivant learned about cloud-based accounting. Sturdivant worked with M3 to test the product at a few of MMI’s properties in Mississippi, and within weeks, he saw results.

“When we’re juggling roughly 11 properties in different states throughout the Southeast, it becomes impossible to keep everyone on the same page,” said Sturdivant. “M3’s remote reporting feature has been a game-changer by allowing us to see how each hotel is performing on a daily, monthly and yearly basis so we can make quicker, smarter decisions on the road.”

Since adopting the solution, Sturdivant has witnessed growth in both the size and sophistication of MMI’s portfolio. Now, Sturdivant and his team are able to gain invaluable insight into the day-to-day operations of MMI’s properties, apply key performance metrics and cut—otherwise unseen—costs in order to boost return on investment.

Sturdivant and his team are still discovering the software’s untapped capabilities, including the system’s proprietary hotel benchmarking index, which captures data from thousands of properties, to show hoteliers where their business stacks up against competitors.

“To have all the data we need to make decisions readily accessible at our fingertips is something we never imagined would be possible,” he said. “While the old system was always lagging behind, M3 is quick to adapt and flex based on the size and sophistication of our portfolio.”