Nantucket Island Resorts Relies on Maestro Multi-Property Suite

Five premier hotels on Nantucket implement single-image database to streamline operations

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. October 14, 2008

FEBRUARY 13, 2007. Some guests stay at Nantucket Island Resorts for the privacy, acclaimed service and stunning view of both the Atlantic Ocean and Nantucket Bay. Others come to be seen socializing with the well-connected residents of Nantucket Island on a terraced harbor side bar. Many families vacation in the cozy seaside Cottages to relax in the down-home New England village atmosphere. In winter, when northern gales blow across Nantucket Island, there are always guests gathered in the cozy library at the Resort's Jared Coffin House, a lovingly restored ship captain's home, now a historic inn.

Nantucket Island Resorts (NIR) is a collection of five distinctive premier hotels and a private boat basin 30 miles off the Massachusetts coast. The company's properties include The Wauwinet, White Elephant, Harbor House Village, Jared Coffin House, The Cottages and Nantucket Boat Basin; and each offers its own unique appeal for vacations, group events, weddings and conferences. Both The Wauwinet and The White Elephant are Conde' Nast Gold List properties.

Nantucket Island Resorts efficiently anticipates and meets the needs of its guests thanks to the NORTHWIND Maestro Multi-Property Suite hotel software. NIR's Maestro Multi-Property platform includes PMS, Yield Management, Sales & Catering, and ResEze Internet booking engine for all five hotels on a single database. The result is better service and greater efficiency because staff at any of the properties is able to check availability, book reservations, view guest records and even post charges to any of the chain's properties without picking up the phone. The Wauwinet will also install the Maestro Spa Management system: reservation software to reserve and track its guests' bookings at the resort's Spa by The Sea, scheduled to open in May 2007.

"Nantucket Island Resorts partners with NORTHWIND to leverage the most advanced technology in order to provide better service and run a more efficient operation," said Jeff Palmer, CFO for Nantucket Island Resorts. "Our goal is to expand our business as much as possible, and NORTHWIND provides the tools and service to enable us to achieve that objective. We will expand our relationship with NORTHWIND in the future to utilize additional Maestro modules to further integrate and automate our processes across the chain. "

The five diverse properties and year-round 240-slip marina offer a wide range of accommodations and view options so NIR's reservations staff is responsible for selling over 50 room types - many more than most lodging companies. But NIR's team handles this complex booking challenge with much greater ease since it installed the Maestro PMS Suite last year.

"We have 267 rooms in five unique properties and with Maestro Multi-Property we are able to use one screen from any location to yield-manage rates and control how the properties are being sold," said Carol Andersson, director of revenue and reservations for Nantucket Island Resorts. "Our sales team and front desk staff have real-time visibility across all five properties to instantly check availability when a guest calls. Each hotel's occupancy and forecast may be viewed from any property for better service and faster response to guest inquiries. This also allows us to easily cross-sell the properties to up-sell and keep guests at NIR if one property is sold out. The single-image database ensures our occupancy numbers are reported accurately throughout the chain."

NIR's distinctive White Elephant hotel, alone, has 15 different room types, many with harbor views. Andersson continued, "At The Cottages we have another 15 room types, some with two levels and a variety of sleeping options. We use Maestro Yield Management to set up length of stay restrictions and other controls that let Nantucket Island Resorts maximize revenue for every different room type it offers." Andersson explained that when pre-determined occupancy benchmarks are reached at any property, the system automatically adjusts rates to implement management selling strategies. NIR's management team also relies on Maestro reporting to instantly analyze the effectiveness of past sales strategies. "In high season we frequently sell 50 rooms in one day, so it is critical that I get this data instantly and it is accurate."

Maestro Multi-Property does much more than simply put guests in the right rooms at their favorite property at the optimal price. It also has a CRM module that tracks guest stays and preferences for all NIR properties on one, easily accessible database that simplifies guest marketing and reservations. Maestro records all past stay preferences in each guest's continuous record so when a guest calls in to make a reservation, the system displays his or her past amenity and room preferences for instant recognition and more personal service.

"We have many repeat guests who come here three or four times a season," Andersson said. "Maestro tracks each guest's likes and dislikes. It's nice to be able to pull up a guest profile and know their favorite room and if they prefer a harbor view or a secluded suite. Most guests have been coming here for many years and they expect us to know them." Due to the number of properties operated by NIR and the numerous front office staff members, this level of personalized service and recognition was not possible before Maestro Multi-Property.

Additionally, Nantucket Island Resorts now offers online reservations from the websites of three properties with Maestro ResEze Internet booking engine. "Our properties were not online until we implemented Maestro ResEze," Andersson said. "Since three of our properties have gone online, we have seen a great improvement with bookings . Guests shop online to check rates and then call for more information. I am getting many inquiries on the phone from people who found us online and we are attracting guests who did not know about us before."

Nantucket Island Resorts also launched its Maestro Sales and Catering system in December 2006, and is using it to book group rooms and meeting space for all properties. Since the Sales and Catering system also utilizes NORTHWIND's single image database, the property smoothly coordinates group guests and meeting space without using interfaces between two separate systems.

"I am enjoying a huge time savings in collecting data for our performance reports," Andersson said. "With Maestro's custom reporting I quickly mine NIR's single-image database, which supports all the data for our five properties, in only two hours. It used to take me a day and a half to create NIR's consolidated and hotel-specific management reports. Before Maestro, I was pulling information from multiple systems and formatting it by hand. Maestro eliminated any human error and I am finding valuable new reports I can use."

Fortunately for NIR's staff, the Maestro Multi-Property Suite is easy to learn and use, according to Andersson. "Even though we are running a five-property collection, it is easy to maneuver in Maestro. We have a training module on our system and use it to give hands-on instruction to new hires. Maestro offers great on-site training, and free webinars for ongoing systems education so my staff can develop confidence quickly and focus on our guests. Maestro Multi-Property is proving to be an excellent automation tool for our resort chain."