Press Press Releases - 2005 PROTEA BRING INDUSTRY IN LINE WITH WORLD SYSTEMS - 01 March 2005
PROTEA BRING INDUSTRY IN LINE WITH WORLD SYSTEMS - 01 March 2005 |
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Protea Hotels' announcement that they will be implementing Micro Fidelio's Opera Front Office System across the board, will help to bring South Africa's hospitality industry in line with world markets and international service standards, as well as ensuring that properties that form part of this group can maximize on revenue. "This is a long-term investment for our group, but we are positive that the hotels that form part of Protea are going to benefit enormously and profit from this decision," said Arnold Cloete, Group Financial Director for Protea Hotels. This system will enhance Protea's long-term vision of establishing and increasing the life time value (LTV) of its GUESTS. This will be achieved through centralized GUEST profiling, allowing the group to become more GUEST-focused and therefore practice true Customer Relationship Marketing. In addition, inventory (rooms) will be centralized, enabling the correct product to be formulated for individual delivery to each GUEST. "This will, in essence, enhance room management and of course aid in optimizing revenue," explained Bryan Mulliner, Group Revenue Manager. Furthermore, it is the company's belief that the industry is currently very product-focused, this being borne out by the fact that performance measurement is generally based on revenue per available room (REVPAR) and should be moving to a more GUEST-focused Revenue Per Available Customer (REVPAC). The agreement, which was signed between Protea Hospitality Corporation (Pty) Ltd. and MICROS Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRS), a leading provider of information technology solutions for the hospitality industry, was the culmination of months of research and investigation, conducted by a committee devised by Protea. Kaweh Niroomand, President of MICROS' Europe, Africa & Middle East explained, "In addition to the selection of pre-eminent technology solutions, Protea Hotels were seeking a relationship with an established global organization." "MICROS has sales and service offices all over the world and offers responsive support in all major business centers and resort locations. Our systems are being tested in a number of Protea properties and we look forward to the full roll-out," continued Niroomand. Nine vendors were initially short-listed against key selection criteria, including various aspects of Property Management Systems functionality. The criteria included scalability, ease of use and availability, supplier footprint, B.E.E., pricing options and flexibility, project management capability and experience, service delivery capability and quality, references etc., before final agreement was reached in early February 2005. It is important to consider that not all properties with the group offer the same services or attract the same markets, meaning that additional modules have been negotiated by Protea. The following Protea Hotels have been selected to pilot the implementation process: Protea Hotels Waterfront, Protea Hotels Midrand, Protea Hotels Victoria Junction, Protea Hotels Sea Point, Protea Hotels Kruger Gate, Protea Hotels Edward Durban, Protea Hotels Wanderers and Melrose Arch Hotel. "We expect to implement this new system within the majority of our properties by end 2006" added Mulliner. About MICROS Systems, Inc. :
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