Sandia Bets on HotSOS to Ensure Guest Satisfaction
JANUARY 15, 2007. New Mexico's Indian Gaming property chooses MTech's Hotel Service Optimization System to help staff respond quickly to guest concerns and track recurring problems. A year before Sandia Casino's grand opening of it's new Resort expansion, management knew it needed a quality automated service-management/guest-response solution to ensure that once it opened its doors to guests and patrons, they'd want to return.
MTech's Internet-based Hotel Service Optimization System (HotSOS, pronounced "hot sauce") was Sandia's No. 1 choice. HotSOS wirelessly connects service staff to each other, guests, groups and meeting planners-thus streamlining guest-services work flow and maximizing guest satisfaction.
Located in Albuquerque, N.M, the Sandia Resort and Casino, an Indian gaming operation, opened for business in December 2005. The property boasts 110,000 square feet of gaming space, 228 plush guest rooms, six food-and-beverage outlets, and spa, golf, convention and entertainment facilities. Since 1993, Miami-based MTech has been in the business of developing and installing solutions to help hotels work smarter, not harder, and has become an industry leader in that area.
According to Sandia Resort and Casino MIS Specialist George De La O, the property's search for a top-of-the-line guest-response solution started in late 2004, about a year before its scheduled Grand Opening. "The search initially focused on our Casino's need for a maintenance/facility work-order tracking system, and MIS Manager Joe Roybal brought HotSOS to the forefront of the solution options because HotSOS interfaced with Springer Miller, the property-management system to be put into place for the hotel/tesort," De La O said. "HotSOS was chosen for many reasons, chief among them being that it provided an excellent fit with our new hotel/resort expansion. It could be readily implemented without the need for added hardware and tech support, we could expand as we needed, and the HotSOS-To-Go application, unlimited licenses and ability to generate work orders using any house phone all led to the clear choice preference-HotSOS."
He said HotSOS has been rolled out to the property's housekeeping, PBX central call desk and the facilities department. "Guest calls come into the PBX operators, who then enter the calls into HotSOS," De La O said. "Business rules then are used to dispatch to the general maintenance team, the electrician or housekeeping. Housekeeping calls go to a status board attendant, who then assigns and updates the work order via radio."
In addition to enabling staff to respond instantly to guest concerns, HotSOS provides an excellent work-order tracking mechanism, he said, and allows for pinpointing recurring service inconsistencies. "The data-analysis reports provide an excellent means of identifying problem areas and resolving guest issues in a timely fashion," De La O said. "We are looking to expand HotSOS thorough out the entire resort. We are only scratching the surface of what HotSOS can do for us."
The bonus to all this has been the excellent working relationship that's been developed between the Sandia Resort and Casino and MTech staff and representatives.
"They've been incredibly supportive," De La O said. "I cannot say enough good things about Leslie Turner, who was our installer. She spent numerous hours working to input areas, locations and equipment, and she provided excellent training. We are looking forward to her return for a second phase of training. As for tech support, they have been very responsive," he added. "We place a call and within an hour we have someone either resolving or working on a solution for our problem."
"More gratifying than having such a fine hotel as a customer is the fact that they are getting such excellent value from their investment in HotSOS," said Luis Segredo, President and Co-Founder of Miami-based MTech. "Selling a 'solution' is easy. Creating a satisfied customer is the challenge. HotSOS' capabilities and our years of experience make it possible for us to satisfy demanding customers like Sandia. The bottom line," Segredo said, "is that HotSOS creates the ability for any hotel to offer world-class guest service quickly, thanks to smarter management decisions that are based on up-to-the-minute, enterprise-wide business intelligence."
For more information on HotSOS, visit the MTech Web site at www.m-tech.com.
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