Making your lodgings as efficient as possible

VANCOUVER — The Cottages on Salt Spring Island, which opened June 1, have the most efficient staffing solution ever, just one guest services person and housekeeping staff, says Steve Bowers of Intuitive Hospitality.

“Guests don't have to engage with guest services unless they want to. The guest goes to the website to book online. Our company provides technical support via WebRezPro for CRS and PMS. The policy requires a 50 per cent deposit, which will be refunded in full up to three days before the guest arrives. There's a gate code, since it's a gated community, and a lock code for the unit. The guest just has to push buttons on a digital lock. The day they arrive, they are charged the balance and sent a receipt.

“It's super efficient, easy for the guest to deal with, and low cost to the management,” said Bowers, whose company has been providing integrated solutions to the hospitality industry since 2010. “The guest services representative is there to manage the housekeeping staff, and take care of guest requests for the paddle boards, or directions to nearby restaurants.

There are 25 cottages open to the public, and another 25 available for sale.

Intuitive Hospitality provides management consulting, asset management, accounting, operations and technology support to the hospitality industry. Their objective is to assist companies with identifying opportunities for process improvement to save time and maximize profits. They use standard industry technology, which is already in place, and ensure it is optimized for a particular business.

Bowers' LinkedIn profile includes almost 18,000 followers, and his background includes positions as director of finance or controller with Wedgwood Hotel, Westmont Hospitality and Marriott. Intuitive Hospitality has a broad range of clients including Canadian hotels from the west coast of Vancouver Island to P.E.I., to the Seattle Seahawks and New York Mets. The past year has been a good one, as they signed six or seven major clients, and now have half their revenue coming from the U.S.

But while clients like the Seahawks or the Mets provide instant name recognition, Bowers says Intuitive Hospitality continues to cater to small companies. “We're trying to turn the industry around. “A lot of the technology is already out there, but hotels don't always know how to fully leverage it.” For example, they may have CRS and PMS solutions, but they don't interface with GDS and OTAs…,” meaning lots of manual input for accounting.

Bowers says he is currently working with a number of hotels that are converting from brands to independents.