The hotel group has cut its communications CapEx and OpEx by 30% while enabling guests to take advantage of immediate customer service via channels of their choice.
Customer service, a hallmark of the hospitality industry, has been elevated significantly at all TIME Hotels properties thanks to the recent upgrade of the group’s communications and contact centre systems.
Thanks to communications and collaboration solutions from Avaya Holdings Corp, guests can now expect minimised holding times while contacting hotel support, through the channel of their choice.
The new Avaya platform helps make it possible for the group to automate key guest services including wake-up calls, reservation reminders, and requests for information on hotel services and local attractions.
TIME Hotels operates four brands, with eight properties currently under management across the region, and seven projects expected to open within the next 12 months. Explaining the group’s decision to upgrade its communications infrastructure, Joseph Fayad, corporate director IT, TIME Hotels, said: “Connectivity today is a critical aspect of the hospitality industry. It is essential to have proper infrastructure to provide the reliable services our guests need.”
He added: “IT’s role is to make the business run more efficiently. An efficient communication system takes this role further by making the business dynamic enough to adapt to future technology evolution.”
To achieve this goal, TIME Hotels selected the Avaya IX Digital Workplace and Avaya IX Digital Contact Center solutions. In mid-sized properties such as those under TIME Hotels’ management, these solutions can help reduce CapEx and OpEx by up to 30%.
Thanks to the upgrade, TIME Hotels’ guests can take advantage of immediate, multi-channel support via the telephone, email, fax and web chat, which is expected to have a dramatically positive impact on customer satisfaction levels and the group’s reputation.
In parallel, with the help of Avaya technology, employees can now utilise their own mobile phones as desktop extensions wherever they are. As a result, staff can provide ‘on the go’ customer service and respond to guest requests even while away from their desks. This has eliminated the need for the group to provide employees with corporate mobile devices, driving down operational costs.
“We have 100% wireless coverage in all the facilities, so the ability to use the app inside the hotels among employees as a mobile extension has saved us a lot of money on hardware,” Fayed said.
The telephony systems overhaul is part of a wider technology upgrade at the hotel group. To simplify licensing, improve availability, and reduce hardware costs and admin intervention, Fayad and his IT team next intend to migrate their contact centre to the cloud with Avaya.
Also, in the pipeline are plans for a mobile app for guests as a logical extension to the mobile and online check-in services already offered.
“We are looking to incorporate the app and using guest mobiles to communicate with the hotel when they are on the hotel premises,” said Fayad.
TIME Hotels is on track to undertake the management of dozens of properties in the next few years. With Avaya’s communications platform offering the ability to scale up to 3,000 users across 150 locations, and its contact centre solution capable of supporting up to 250 agents, Fayad and his team are confident that they can continue to innovate and enhance guest experiences for years to come.
