The Client
Arora Hotels Ltd operates luxury hotels, under the Arora International Hotels brand and ACCOR franchised Sofitel and Mercure.
The newest addition to the group is a 605 bedroom Sofitel linked to Heathrow Terminal 5.
Business Challenge
Servebase had already supplied 3 of the group’s hotels with an integrated front desk payment processing solution. Next they wanted to process credit card charges quickly and efficiently whilst taking guest’s details within their busy central reservation centres at Gatwick and Heathrow.
The solution had to be cost effective, user friendly, require the minimum training and fit with the other hotel management systems. They wanted the guest’s booking experience to be quick and smooth.
“Our guests were confused as they were booking promotional pre-paid rates but their credit cards were not charged” said Damien Daupeyroux, the Groups System Manager, “When some of them came to check in they thought they were being charged twice.”
Business Solution
The solution was a virtual terminal allowing the hotels reservation department to accept card payments for orders received over the phone.
The implementation took just two weeks and there was no training required. Servebase provided clear documentation that covered the installation process and the user experience.
Damien explains: “The web portal is opened behind the reservation screen. When our agents take a reservation, they switch between the two and as they gather the guest’s details, they fill the relevant application.”
Results
“The overall deployment was fast and smooth; it has quickly become an important part of our reservation offices procedure”, said Damien.
“We have now reduced these complaints dramatically. The pre-paid rates payments are worth over £130,000 of business at any given time and they are now reaching us straight away. Cost wise we are saving 1-2% of the pre-paid rates business and we are now receiving interests on these payments. As well as this the system has saved us approx 2hrs of work hours per hotel per day.”
Richard Renwick-Forster, Business Development Manager for Servebase said; “Getting it right first time has been paramount to the success of our relationship with the group and the recent implementation of our virtual point of sale service at the prestigious Sofitel London Heathrow, has proved our ability to deliver solutions of the highest quality”.
