"Located on Australia’s Gold Coast in Surfer’s Paradise, the 41-story Rhapsody Resort combines the unparalleled convenience of apartment-style accommodations with the luxury of a modern beachside resort. Opened in 2016, the upscale resort boasts a selection of stunning studio, one and two-bedroom modern luxury apartments with scenic ocean and city views just a moment’s walk from the pristine white sands of Surfer’s Paradise Beach. The Challenge Upon opening more than three years ago, Rhapsody was manually managing all of the resort’s operations resulting in costly inefficiencies and extra work. More than 90% of the resort’s communications were managed through phone calls and radio calls. Over time, the team collectively recognized that in order to deliver exceptional guest experiences, it was necessary to update some of their operational procedures. They knew they needed to create more efficiencies to help increase their productivity, reduce costs and keep their guests happy, but they weren’t sure how to do it. The housekeeping team at Rhapsody was particularly struggling to maintain a consistent “cost per occupied room” (CPOR), and keep it aligned with their operating budget. The inefficient productivity was hindering the gross operating profit for the housekeeping department, and they were committed to correcting this. Housekeeping was also having a hard time keeping track of the room attendants’ “moving around time” (MAT) data. The MAT time is equivalent to the time that the room attendant spends in non-cleaning activities, or less productive time. The Solution The team at Rhapsody heard about the Optii platform from an existing Optii customer, and were keenly interested in implementing the housekeeping optimization platform. After a thorough review, Optii addressed the resort’s primary inefficiency of manual and outdated communications with the Optii Chat platform. Through Optii Chat, the resort was able to quickly and seamlessly connect every employee via desktop or mobile app so they could regularly communicate, share updates, and be engaged at all times. This single change eliminated the need for the resort’s reliance on phone or radio, and has greatly promoted accountability and encouraged teamwork, according to the Rhapsody team. Optii’s Housekeeping Optimization platform addressed the inconsistent CPOR issue by tracking cleaning times by room type during the year. The intuitive platform features AI predicted cleaning times by guests, allowing for more efficient and accurate planning and monitoring. This tool allows the housekeeping manager to identify inefficiencies and to follow up on unproductive periods. The Optii platform also solved the resort’s MAT data tracking challenge by helping the Rhapsody team clearly identify what their true MAT was, and then reducing the GAP to the minimum. With this change, the resort was able to significantly limit the amount of time spent on less productive activities. The Results Improved Financials – Rhapsody saved approximately 30% in housekeeping wages year-over-year. Individual Ownership/Accountability – Room attendants, supervisors, houseman, and public area managers are now accountable and responsible for each of their tasks. Before Optii, they relied on verbal team communication, and used a piece of paper to indicate the completion of a task. Now managers can monitor the status of each cleaning and non-cleaning task, including the time of creation, and the end time of the task with images. They now have more complete insight into each individual or staff assigned to the department. Accurate reporting – Through the Optii platform, the Rhapsody team can now access reports to monitor and track the performance of the department and individuals. This data allows managers to provide specific training based on the unique needs of the department/individuals. Optii assisted the resort in creating personalized training plans. A streamlined housekeeping structure – The housekeeping team was able to reduce the number of required supervision hours and restructure the management team to respond to the needs of the productivity and quality of the department. Department organization – With their reports and data all centralized in one place, the team better organized the department to more effectively align to the new structure. Better planning – With Optii, the team can track the room attendants, and supervisors, all in one view to monitor and better manage the productivity, but also to respond faster to guests’ request. “We’ve been using Optii since 2017, and I have to say that it has transformed the way we manage our operations, enabling us to focus on our guest experience and provide a memorable stay. All of which are contributing factors to maintaining our #1 position on TripAdvisor in Surfer Paradise over the last two years. Thanks to Optii, we were able to save approximately 30% in housekeeping wages against the prior year. We have been using Optii for three years now, and I would highly recommend it to everyone!”"

"The Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley is a luxury resort located in the heart of Australia’s oldest wine-growing region. With lush vineyards and scenic golf course greens at the doorstep, the 318-room resort features a mix of hotel rooms and two- to three bedroom apartment villas spread out over 40 acres, nestled amongst the groomed greens of a championship golf course. The Challenge Effectively managing room attendants, who work behind closed doors and are spread out across multiple floors, is a challenge in any hotel. In a resort where housekeeping staff are traveling across vast differences in golf buggies, this challenge is amplified. “Communicating with room attendants and supervisors is challenging to say the least because one is unaware of the staff’s whereabouts, and it is difficult to coordinate their movements. We know this results in a considerable amount of lost time every day. Not only is our ability to turn-around clean rooms compromised, but our productivity, a key aspect in a high-wage country like Australia, is not at a level where it could be”, says Ben Nesbitt, Rooms Division Manager of the resort. “We cannot change the distances our staff have to travel from room to room, but we can help them minimize the travel - we know that technology can help to deliver efficient processes that will have a direct impact on our ability to service our guests and raise our productivity at the same time.” The Solution Optii's housekeeping optimization solution was selected for the results already achieved in other IHG hotels in Australia. “Features such as Optii housekeeping managed cleaning schedule have delivered impressive operational results in our sister hotels and it has been no secret in the group that these would be amplified in a resort situation”, says Mr Nesbitt. Another key reason the hotel selected Optii is due to the cloud-based technology platform. “A hotel is not an ideal environment to run a complicated system and we are focused on minimizing the technology footprint on property,” says Greg Dicks, Director for Finance and Business Support. “We not only save money on hardware and maintenance, but achieve a higher overall quality of service to our hotel- based users.” The Results “Our return on investment is measured by the positive benefits we have reaped from Optii,” says Mr Dicks. “Having the ability to supervise room attendants from a central location and essentially ‘remote control’ their movements in real time, had a considerable impact on our department’s productivity which already more than paid for the solution itself.” Another contributing factor to productivity management is communication: “Overall, Optii Housekeeping eliminates about 95% of cases where staff have to pick up a phone or supervisors need to travel across floors and sections to find a room attendant, resulting in considerable productivity improvements in itself,” says Dianne Vidler, Executive Housekeeper. “Optii’s Client Service Managers have been in regular contact with us since the installation, which has greatly helped in maximizing the use of the system. Working directly with a person that has a housekeeping background has been of immense help.” By using Optii Housekeeping, the hotel has been able to streamline a number of processes based on a new set of metrics that were not previously available. “We can now measure net cleaning times, time spent outside rooms and turnaround times of rooms - Optii helps us identify bottlenecks and provides a detailed foundation for the training and performance management of staff,” adds Ben Nesbitt. “We are now also able to recognize our staff by a monthly incentive that is based on the quality of cleaning, as well as the speed at which they clean - further contributing to our productivity results. Overall, we can now manage housekeeping towards clearly defined goals, which was not previously possible.” Mr Dicks summarizes: “All inclusive, we recorded a 21% productivity improvement against last year’s productivity results in the first three months.”"

"With Optii, we have been able to find productivity savings at the beginning and end of each day. With a paper system there is no knowing when the first room is started or the last room is completed. We can now see these habits and train to eliminate them, resulting in labor savings and efficiencies gained! We were able to shave off wasted time at the beginning and end of each day. Being able to see the team’s progress with a glance at a computer or mobile device is a game changer. If we need to make changes to assignments during the day, no one has to search for a particular inspector or housekeeper. We are also able to manage room waits much more effectively and they now occur with less frequency. I love knowing where our associates are at a given moment. Also, being able to manage room waits easily. Also, Optii's customer service coaching and support is the best!"