Salamander Hotels & Resorts Sees Record Portfolio Performance with IDeaS

REVENUE MANAGEMENT

Founded by entrepreneur Sheila Johnson in 2005, Salamander Hotels & Resorts delivers comfortable luxury through signature, immersive guest experiences. The company is based in Middleburg, VA, and has a small-but-mighty destination-resort portfolio featuring the flagship Forbes Five-Star Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg; Half Moon, an iconic luxury resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica; the grand Hotel Bennett in Charleston, SC; Innisbrook Resort in Tampa Bay, an annual PGA TOUR stop; and The Henderson, a sweeping beach resort in Destin, FL.

Why it matters: When he was hired, Brian Covington, Salamander’s Vice President of Revenue Optimization, had a goal to automate revenue management for this maturing brand. He involved key stakeholders from every discipline, from Finance to IT, in an evaluation process to determine the best revenue management system (RMS) partner for the growing portfolio of destination properties.

“IDeaS has the most robust solution,” said Covington. “G3 RMS enables a more holistic approach to revenue management, allowing us to not only optimize rooms, but also groups, F&B, conferences, and golf—all in one solution at the rate-class level.”

Top 3 Core Objectives: Since implementation, G3 RMS has become an integral part of Salamander’s day-to-day processes, proving itself to be a versatile, reliable, and easy-to-use tool for a variety of job roles across the organization.

Automate revenue management tasks: Needed an RMS that helped The Salamander achieve full potential.
Pricing precision: The Salamander needed a revenue management system to help navigate the waters of their unique market and enhance their dynamic, competitive pricing strategy.
Align job roles: The entire sales team uses the Group Pricing Evaluation feature. The At-a-Glance screen is used in weekly leadership meetings to better understand forecasts and make decisions.

Innovators Mentioned

Salamander Hotels & Resorts

IDeaS

Brian Covington

Vice President, Revenue Growth & Optimization

Salamander Hotels & Resorts

"We’ve seen an average growth of at least 40 percent on an annual basis across our portfolio, said Covington. It’s been a high-water mark in terms of performance that I would totally attribute that to our well-positioned business from a leisure perspective, our excellent teams, and last, but certainly not least, IDeaS G3 RMS."

Brian Covington

Vice President, Revenue Growth & Optimization

👍 Vice President, Revenue Growth & Optimization Brian Covington said that The Salamander has experienced high performance thanks in part with partnership with IDeaS G3 RMS.:

"We’ve seen an average growth of at least 40 percent on an annual basis across our portfolio, said Covington. It’s been a high-water mark in terms of performance that I would totally attribute that to our well-positioned business from a leisure perspective, our excellent teams, and last, but certainly not least, IDeaS G3 RMS."

⚖️ The selection process: During their research process, Brian Covington evaluated IDeaS's product differentiators, customer support, and holistic value as a strategic partner and ultimately decided that IDeaS was the best fit solution:

Vice President, Revenue Growth & Optimization Brian Covington said, about their decision: "I’m in the system multiple times a day looking at various optimizations, business reviews for groups, and usage across the portfolio to be sure we’re driving adoption, said Covington. It’s enabled us to support a more integrated, proactive strategy and make faster, smarter decisions."

📈 The results: IDeaS gave us greater confidence in our dynamic pricing strategy,” said Stephanie Waples, Director of Revenue Management for both Salamander Resort & Spa and Half Moon. “We’ve seen amazing results in terms of ADR, and being able to price and forecast by room class has been huge—not only for transient/leisure but from a group evaluation standpoint as well."