NATIONAL REPORT—Whether it’s celebrating an anniversary, receiving an award, earning a certification, debuting a new product or expanding the business, hotel companies and vendors achieve new milestones on a daily basis. Here’s a look at recent accomplishments:
Hilton Chicago Donates 100 TVs To Chicago Furniture Bank
Hilton Chicago has donated 100 brand-new televisions to the Chicago Furniture Bank to help support Chicagoans in need. The Chicago Furniture Bank is a non-profit organization that provides furniture for people moving from shelters into permanent housing.
Having first opened its doors in 1927 and a member of Historic Hotels of America, Hilton Chicago has served as one of the city’s most cherished establishments for over 90 years. While the hotel is temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the property was able to organize a donation of 100 extra unused television sets for deserving families and plans to donate other furnishings in the future as inventory becomes available for charitable contribution.
Since the start of the pandemic, Hilton Chicago has lent support to those facing challenging times. The property donated care kits to Catholic charities to help those in need and created a weekly initiative called Thankful Tuesdays along with sister properties Palmer House and The Drake, where Hilton partners connected virtually to share challenges and successes within their respective industries. The addition of the partnership with Chicago Furniture Bank emphasizes the ongoing commitment by the Hiltons of Chicago to supporting its community and partners.
Hotel Kansas City Taps Knowland
Knowland, the leader in group hospitality analytics for hotels, convention and visitor bureaus, conference centers and other meeting venues, was selected by the newly opened Hotel Kansas City, part of The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, to help increase group business for its 20,000 sq. ft. of flexible event space.
Located next to the Power and Light District, Hotel Kansas City is a 144-room boutique hotel in the city’s Central Business District. By implementing the Knowland platform following its grand opening earlier this month, the hotel gains the advantage of tapping into local group business opportunities. Hotel Kansas City plans to use unlimited access to Knowland’s historical data to find accounts both in their market and in competitive markets to build relationships and drive new business. Through Knowland’s SmartSearch Tool, the hotel is also proactively searching for highly relevant prospects that fit the property to help prioritize the most-likely-to-convert leads.
Maestro PMS Adds Frontline User Focused Native Tablet Version
Maestro is expanding its property management system (PMS) solutions with a tablet-based version, which was developed from the ground up as a frontline user-focused native tablet application that leverages responsive design for use on any mobile or desktop device. Maestro can now be deployed in any combination of windows, browser and tablet—and in a wide choice of platforms—while providing a centralized and cohesive view of the guest from check-in to checkout and everything in between.
Giving operators a choice in how they deploy Maestro is all part of the company’s “Power to Choose” philosophy. It begins with giving operators a say in which platform is best for their property: self-hosted, private cloud, on-premise (all which offer the options of Windows based, Web browser based, or a hybrid of both) or a cloud-hosted solution featuring Web browser access deployed in a dedicated environment. Choice also comes with the option to choose which UI brings people into the system. Back-office staff may choose to access Maestro via Windows, while managers can opt to access the PMS via the Web and front office staff may leverage the mobile flexibility of the tablet.
El Conquistador Resort Selects Agilysys’ Golf Solution
El Conquistador Resort in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, has expanded its existing relationship with Agilysys, Inc. through the addition of its innovative, on-premise version of Agilysys Golf for course and player management at its championship Arthur Hills-designed 18-hole course.
Agilysys Golf will help El Conquistador streamline all golf operations with a single integrated solution to provide a 360-degree view of players while optimizing pro shop operations. Seamless integration between Agilysys Golf, Visual One PMS and InfoGenesis shares data across the enterprise, accessing player data including personal preferences, play histories and handicaps, as well as providing valuable insights about the total guest experience.
ProfitSword Partners With Event Temple
ProfitSword has formed a strategic partnership with Event Temple, a leading provider of hotel and venue sales and catering software, to provide hoteliers with seamless and complete visibility over group, catering and event sales performance activity. Through the integration of Event Temple’s hotel and venue management platforms with ProfitSword’s suite of business intelligence solutions, hospitality professionals can obtain an in-depth, accurate analysis of current sales efforts to optimize revenue performance across an entire organization, or quickly re-evaluate and change sales strategies in fluctuating market conditions.
Designed to streamline the availability of data from a single accurate source, the ProfitSword and Event Temple integration automatically combines valuable group- and event-related performance metrics and KPIs in real-time within the ProfitSword user interface with operational and financial results for instant and hassle-free access whenever needed. Able to compile and organize data by department, property, group of properties or for a portfolio as a whole, the Event Temple integration with ProfitSword’s dashboard allows a company to quickly disseminate actionable data across the entire organization to improve forecasting and budgeting accuracy, fiscal accountability, communication and overall performance.
