Interview with Shiva & Jessey - Front Office Supervisors
In a hotel where group requests come in daily, overview is essential. At Lumen Hotel & Events in Zwolle, Shiva and Jessey, as Front Office Supervisors, are responsible for processing these requests on a daily basis.
Together they are the point of contact for the front office team and deal with everything around group reservations: quotes, changes, name lists and communication with guests and other departments. With an average of about 15 group requests per week, and sometimes more, that means constantly switching between requests, changes and deadlines.
Until recently, this process was largely done via e-mail, notes in Opera and manual review in mailbox folders. This worked, but was time-consuming and regularly caused unnecessary communication and extra work. Since the switch to Groupz, that process has completely changed: there is more overview, less work pressure and more peace in the daily work.
Lots of loose communication and unnecessary switching
Before the arrival of Groupz, group requests were almost entirely handled by e-mail. Quotations were prepared and sent manually, often followed by a long e-mail exchange with the booker. Much of the work, according to Shiva and Jessey, was in the communication between different departments. In addition to direct requests, reservations came in through the BanquetSales department, for example. "Then you emailed with a colleague who had to forward it back to the guest. Or vice versa," Jessey explains. "There was always someone in between. That took a lot of time."
In addition, changes from guests were often time-consuming to process. "If guests had changes, you first had to adjust it in Opera and then email it back," says Jessey. "You were basically communicating all the time. For example, emails came in with a modified list of names, but without explanation of what exactly had been modified. As a result, we had to go through entire lists, sometimes with more than 100 guests on them, again to figure out where the change was."
To keep track, emails were pinned, notes were made in Opera and mailbox folders were created for different groups. Still, it remained difficult to quickly see the status of a request or which tasks were still open. "The information was kind of scattered everywhere," Jessey says. "If you wanted to know if something was already taken care of, sometimes you had to go through entire email conversations." That didn't cause immediate stress, but it did create a constant pressure at work. "You really had moments when you were surrounded by work and thought, where do I start?" says Jessey.
The switch to Groupz
When LUMEN Hotel & Events decided to work with Groupz, Shiva and Jessey were involved in the implementation from the beginning. The transition went faster and smoother than previously expected. "We actually liked it right away," says Jessey. "When something new comes along, you want to start using it right away. Renewal is nice. Within one day we had all the groups transferred over and were able to get started with Groupz."
During the implementation, they received support from Jenneke in setting up the platform. "We were able to set everything up ourselves and tailor it to our internal way of working: rooms, extras and tasks," says Jessey. "Jenneke helped us very well with that. And now if we have a question, we usually get an answer within a day. That works very nicely."
The first request through Groupz was exciting for a while. "We thought: okay ... and now?" recounts Shiva. "But we just started using it. And it actually worked right away."
Other departments within the organization also had to get used to the new way of working at first. "Sales found it exciting at first," says Jessey. "All of us at Lumen are strong on personal contact with our guests, and it started out for them as if they had to let go of that bit of control a bit." They have since found a good way to do that: Sales has been given their own account that allows them to see all bookings in Groupz. "They can now just look along in Groupz, but not make adjustments," Shiva adds. "This allows them to keep an overview without unnecessarily interrupting the process."
Peace and overview in daily work
Since the switch, Shiva and Jessey notice a difference especially in the calmness within their workday. "Unconsciously, it just became much calmer," Jessey says. "You only notice in retrospect how much of a difference it makes."
One big difference is in how group requests come in and are finalized these days. "Before, guests would often send an email with all kinds of different dates they wanted to make a group reservation," Jessey says. "That took you a very long time to figure out what was possible. Now bookers can send in their desired dates directly when they make the request. That saves a tremendous amount of research." The moment at which a reservation becomes final has also become clearer. "For me personally, the biggest difference is that a group becomes final as soon as the offer is accepted," says Jessey. "Before, options were sometimes open for a very long time and it was all less clear."
Where previously a lot of time was spent in communication and searching for information, now the process is much clearer. Tasks are visible, the status of a group is immediately clear and all communication is in one place. Shiva: "I really like the tasks we get within Groupz. If something has been done, or just needs to be done, you see it immediately. That reduces the chance of mistakes." It also creates more clarity within the team. Jessey: "We hardly have to ask each other: do you know anything about this? Everything is just in Groupz."
Less mail and more control for guests
The new way of working also has benefits for guests. The first group that worked through Groupz immediately responded enthusiastically. "That group comes back every year and used to mail a lot," Jesseysays . "Now they could adjust things themselves, such as name changes or cancellations. They actually liked that much better."
According to Shiva, guests especially appreciate the overview. "They can see for themselves who a room is reserved for and for how many nights. Guests like being able to check that everything is correct." This also prevents mistakes that used to sometimes occur due to misinterpreted e-mails. "In the past, things sometimes went wrong because an e-mail was misread," Shivasays . "That doesn't happen anymore."
In addition, the new way of working is also generating new requests. "Since we have Groupz on our website, we have been getting a lot more requests through the website," she says. "Even from people who probably wouldn't book through email so quickly."
More peace of mind in daily work
When Shiva and Jessey look back on the change, what stands out most is the calmness in their daily work. The time gain is difficult to measure exactly, but according to them the difference is clearly noticeable. "It actually went very unconsciously," Jesseysays . "But looking back now, it just saves a lot of time."
Having less loose communication and manual work creates space for other tasks. Mailbox crowding has also decreased significantly. Shiva: "In the past, when a transfer was made, you sometimes had to say to your colleague: sorry, the mailbox is still full. This is no longer the case. In fact, there are even days when we think: what are we going to do now? Because all the mailboxes are empty."
Recommended for other hotels
Looking back on the change, Shiva and Jessey don't have to think long about their advice to other hotels still working with e-mail, Excel or separate systems. "Just move over and do it!" they say laughing at the same time.
According to Shiva , the biggest gain is in the peace of mind and overview the system brings. "It just takes a lot less time and everything is in one place. As a result, you work in a much clearer way."
Jessey also especially sees the difference in clarity, both for the hotel and the guest. "The system is very logical. Everyone can actually work with it right away. And because everything is clear, you also prevent mistakes."
That ultimately affects the guest experience as well. "If you spend less time on administration, you keep more time for the guest," says Jessey. "And that's what a hotel is ultimately all about."
Experience for yourself what Groupz can do?
Many hotels recognize the situation Lumen Hotel & Events was in before: group requests scattered over e-mail, loose documents and different systems. This often creates unnecessary communication, error-prone processes and workloads that are greater than necessary.
With Groupz, the entire group process - from request to name list and communication - is brought together in one clear platform. To let hotels experience the benefits for themselves, you can tryGroupz for free for 4 to 8 weeks with our Proof of Value Pilot. During this pilot, your hotel can use Groupz in practice with real group requests, so you can immediately see how much time and overview it brings to your team. This way, you can discover without risk whether Groupz also creates more overview, less workload and more time for the guestin your hotel .
