An interview with Astrid, General Manager
Lumen Hotel & Events in Zwolle receives 20+ group requests every week. In a hotel where overnight stays, meetings and events come together, that requires a well-organized process.
As General Manager, Astrid oversees the entire process. She has been working at Lumen Hotel & Events for fifteen years and grew from receptionist to her current position. As a result, she knows the group process inside out. "When you work here that long, you see a lot of change," Astrid says. "Teams change, processes change and you're always looking at how things can be smarter."
For years, processing group requests was simply the existing way of working. It ran, the team knew how to handle it, and guests didn't notice much of anything. Until it became clear how much time, manual work and internal coordination actually went into it.
Before the advent of Groupz, group requests were largely handled through e-mail, loose mailboxes and manually prepared quotes. For years, that was the normal way of working. "This was the process as you knew it," says Astrid. "Of course you run into things, but you get used to that way of working."
Within the hotel was a separate group mailbox, which required a lot of attention daily. "That mailbox actually flooded every day. And then if one person on the team wasn't there for part of the day, you knew you had to catch up later."
The process consisted of many separate steps: answering requests, typing in prices, preparing quotes, following up, requesting name lists and checking that everything was complete. A time-consuming process. "You were actually constantly keeping track of things. Following up on quotes, checking something else, chasing something. That was just part of it," says Astrid.
Additional solutions were also built internally to keep a grip. "We worked with folders in Outlook, labels, transfers and notes in calendars. Then you build your own structure to keep an overview." Only later did it become clear how much time was wasted unnecessarily on this.
Because Lumen Hotel & Events offers both hotel rooms and meetings and events, multiple departments are involved in group requests. This sometimes made the process more intensive than it needed to be.
The Banquet sales department had contact with the guest, checked availability with the hotel and fed information back. This often created an extra link between hotel and booker. "Then you get a kind of ping-pong between hotel, sales and guest," Astrid explains.
That worked fine in itself, but took extra switching moments and internal coordination. "Hospitality is a high priority here. We want to provide customized services and maintain personal contact. But that's precisely why you don't want employees to waste their time on loose administration."
Within Lumen Hotel & Events, ways to set up processes smarter had already been looked at for some time. Additional structures had already been built with agendas, handovers and task lists, but they remained symptomatic. "You're often just in a workflow," says Astrid. "You do your work, get rid of your mailbox and keep going. Until you think: surely there must be a more practical way to do this?"
That moment came when Groupz came up for discussion within the management team. "Patrick, our director, came to ask if we were getting a lot of group requests. He knew Niek from the hotel industry and had heard something about Groupz. Then we actually immediately said: please let it come quickly."
After the initial conversations, things moved quickly. "We presented our practical examples: where do we lose time, where do we get stuck. That was immediately addressed well."
When Astrid first started talking to Groupz, it was especially striking how quickly Lumen Hotel & Events' practice was recognized. Little needed to be explained. The challenges around group requests, internal coordination and wasted time were immediately clear. "When talking to Jenneke and Niek, we immediately noticed that they recognized our situation. That gave confidence. You felt that these are not software developers who came up with a commercial idea. They really think from guest, employee and hotel."
For Astrid, it was important to also be involved in the training and implementation herself. "If my employees have to work with it, I myself have to know how it works and whether it is practical. You can't put something in place that you yourself have no feeling for."
Within each team, change is received differently. Astrid noticed the same during the transition. "Some are open to something new, others prefer to stick with how things have always been."
That's why the focus was on keeping talking, explaining benefits and actively including employees in the process. "I always try to show the positive side. What does it benefit the guest? What does it provide for yourself?"
Involvement from Groupz also helped. "Jenneke was right on top of it. Regular contact, answering questions, staying in touch. That helps tremendously in such a change process."
A good example was the Banquet sales department, which initially feared losing the overview. A view-only account was eventually set up for that purpose. "They can now just look into the status of groups. That shows how important it is to listen to your team."
"Where group bookings previously required a lot of capacity, it now runs much more efficiently. We save roughly a half to full FTE and at the same time have more peace and overview in the process."- Astrid, General Manager |
Since the switch, Astrid notices a difference especially in the daily calm within the team. "There is more peace in the heads," she says. "And as a result, there is more time for hospitality."
Whereas previously employees had to remember or monitor many things themselves, tasks are now visible and information is centrally available. "The mental tabs are much more closed. You really notice that. As a result, employees can switch more easily between administration and guest contact." Previously, it frequently happened that employees were in the middle of an offer or group review when a guest appeared at the front desk. "Then a guest came in and it actually came out 'just not right.' Now tasks are clearly assigned and information is centrally available. This makes it easier to take a break from your task and focus on the guest because you know everything is secured."
That also creates less work pressure. "Less pressure in your head. Less loose ends. It just saves a lot of time."
Organizationally, too, Astrid sees clear gains. Where previously a lot of capacity was needed for group reservations, the process now runs much more efficiently. "We previously had a Front Office Manager here who was full on this, together with our Supervisors. Right now, we no longer have a Front Office Manager. Our two Supervisors are now picking it up together and doing so very strongly. They even experience more peace and space to be able to focus even more on hospitality." According to Astrid, this saves roughly between half and a full FTE.
Curious about the experiences of Supervisors Jessey and Shiva?
Read their story.
In addition, many requests now come in directly through the website. "Guests can now easily request a quote themselves through Groupz. That happens a lot." With 20+ group requests per week, that makes a big difference in workload and speed.
In the beginning, the team still noticed some reluctance from some guests. Especially for people who were used to mail contact, it took some getting used to. "It also depends a bit on the type of guest," says Astrid.
But now she sees mostly positive reactions. "Now you notice that guests actually find it more pleasant. They have their own overview, it goes faster and that is appreciated."
According to Astrid, about 85% of the reactions are immediately positive. "For some it's just a threshold they have to cross."
If Astrid could give other hotels one piece of advice about digitizing group reservations, she doesn't have to think long. "I would always just do it." According to her, change is often made bigger than it needs to be. "There's always a way back. You're not immediately stuck with something for 10 years. Why not try it?"
Moreover, she sees digitalization as something guests increasingly take for granted. "People make haircutting appointments online, book travel online and arrange everything digitally. Certainly younger generations expect speed and convenience." Hotels that go along with this, she says, are actually taking profits. "Society demands speed and digital convenience. Then, as a hotel, you have to go along with that."
Many hotels recognize the situation Lumen Hotel & Events was in before: group requests scattered over e-mail, loose documents and different departments. This creates unnecessary busyness, error-prone processes and unrest in the team.
With Groupz, the entire group process - from request to quote, communication and follow-up - is brought together in one easy-to-use platform.
That's why you can try Groupz for 4 to 8 weeks for free through the Proof of Value Pilot. This way, your hotel with real group requests can experience how much time, peace and overview it delivers.
Discover without risk whether Groupz also provides more grip on groups and more time for hospitality in your hotel.