The Great Southern Hotel taps OPERA Cloud PMS to boost occupancy and discovers its future

OPERATIONS

The Great Southern Hotel in Australia embraced the pandemic as an opportunity to test cloud as a platform for a new business model. We went live with OPERA Cloud property management system, and it didn’t just pass with flying colors -- it showed us our future.

Why it matters: Our plan is to move back-office operations at each of our properties, shifting more than 40 percent of our total workforce and reducing labor cost by 30 percent. The reorganization wouldn’t be possible without OPERA Cloud, which not only is allowing us to consolidate our business but get a better understanding of what’s happening within it. Our employees can now access business-critical data in real time, share information with each other, and execute day-to-day activities at our hotels – without being present on site.

“This in reality is a state-of-the-art innovation for Great Southern Group which enables smoother hotel operations, whereby managing and monitoring day-to-day operations are more productive,” said Arith Ratnawibhushana, general manager of The Great Southern Hotel in Perth. The directors of Acostay viewed OPERA Cloud as “opening doors to our grander vision.” With the efficiencies and centralized control achievable with OPERA Cloud, we intend to transform The Great Southern Hotel into a hotel management company for budget hotels, whether they’re independents or franchisees. We’re confident that what we’ve achieved at our properties, we can do for others. We have a model to increase profitability, and we know it works because we witnessed its performance during the pandemic.

Top 3 Core Objectives: The Great Southern Hotel is the owner and operator of four, limited-services properties on the continent with locations in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, and Brisbane, and Colombo, Sri Lanka. This portfolio was transitioning to OPERA Cloud for all the usual reasons, including reduced costs with the elimination of on-premises servers, faster innovation with continuous software updates, and centralized data that can be accessed from anywhere with mobile devices. Such benefits helped us immediately tackle short-term concerns.

Reduce Operating Costs: Cloud-hosted technology means eliminating the need for on-premise servers and installation
Innovate Faster: Continuous software updates, including leveraging AI for automated room assignments, means faster time to market with the latest technology improvements
Access Anywhere: Centralized data means being able to access data anywhere from a mobile device

"Labor is the biggest cost for any hotelier, and we addressed it by moving many of our departments – for example, reservations, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and finance – to an offshore setup, where the cost of doing business is much lower than in Australia"

Nabeel Ghaffar

Owner

Innovators Mentioned

Great Southern Hotels

Oracle Hospitality

Nabeel Ghaffar

Owner

Great Southern Hotels

Nabeel Ghaffar

Owner

Great Southern Hotels

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👍 Owner Nabeel Ghaffar said that Cloud-based technology helps reduce labor costs by making data available anywhere from a mobile device:

"Labor is the biggest cost for any hotelier, and we addressed it by moving many of our departments – for example, reservations, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and finance – to an offshore setup, where the cost of doing business is much lower than in Australia"

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

Owner Nabeel Ghaffar said, about their decision: "Innovation is the key and the formula for future expansion of the group. The way we conduct business using technology will eventually define success for hotel management and future acquisitions. By simplifying work and eliminating mundane tasks, OPERA Cloud PMS lets our hotel staff do so much more and increases our profitability. Which is why it’ll ultimately determine what The Great Southern Hotel model will become."

📈 The results: “I am glad that this change in technology has shown how effective this model has worked,” said Abdul Ghaffar, owner of The Great Southern Hotel Group.

When COVID-19 hit, we were slammed by a loss of income. While many hotel operators chose to shut down their hotels, we managed to fill more than 100 rooms every night, mostly by providing healthcare workers a safe place to stay. We operated efficiently and took care of our guests’ needs because our employees could access their relevant information on OPERA Cloud PMS remotely.
There’s a shift occurring within our industry, from prioritizing physical infrastructure to looking at technology as an enabler of change. This trend is not limited to luxury hotels. By capitalizing on that movement, there’s significant opportunity for budget hotels to take service up and increase revenue. That’s our focus.
Acostay Hotel Group has already integrated self-service kiosks with OPERA Cloud PMS to make check-in and checkout faster and easier for our guests. In our next phase, we’ll integrate mobile keys, giving our guests even greater autonomy. Integration is the key to innovation, and we’ll continue to rely upon it to improve and expand our hotel offerings. It’s the only way to remain relevant and meet guests’ changing needs.

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