Independent French Hotel Chooses Multifunctional RMS from IDeaS

REVENUE MANAGEMENT

SBM (Société des Bains de Mer) is a casino and luxury hotel group with more than 150 years of history in Monaco encompassing four properties that include four and five-star hotels. For more than 12 years, Benjamin Caprini has been the revenue manager for the hotel group. The hotels using IDeaS today include The Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, The Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo, and The Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort.

Why it matters: The changes in management structure are becoming a common occurrence as hotels begin the journey through recovery. Combining the group’s revenue management and overall innovation as it relates to technology is paramount. When the hotel group was looking at revenue management solutions a few years ago, there were discussions about a number of solutions among the different hotels.

In 2017, a new director joined the group and made the decision to move forward with significant new technology changes, and Caprini began investigating various revenue solutions with the help of a consultant. A shortlist was compiled – it contained four of the top international RMS (revenue management system) vendors, including IDeaS. To ensure they all were judged fairly, Caprini and his team created a scorecard with different key elements for the systems, including reporting, forecast pricing, room type optimization, and other elements that mattered to each property.

Top 3 Core Objectives: Managing Change in an Ever-Changing Post-Pandemic Environment

Drive incremental revenue: Relying on automation to forecast and make pricing decisions.
Increase ADR: Find ways to increase average daily rate, especially in the high season.
Better optimize revenue strategy: Needed an RMS that considered reporting, forecast pricing, room type optimization and other elements for portfolio's revenue strategy considerations.

Innovators Mentioned

Société des Bains de Mer

IDeaS

Benjamin Caprini

Revenue Manager at Société des Bains de Mer

Société des Bains de Mer

"At the end of the day, we knew that IDeaS was the best,” said Caprini. “One critical factor was the technical implementation of the software. We needed to consider how the system would affect our current architecture and the future scalability of the tech stack. IDeaS came up as the leader for seamless integration with the rest of the stack – now and in the future, regardless of changes that would need to be made as the business grows."

Benjamin Caprini

Revenue Manager at Société des Bains de Mer

👍 Revenue Manager at Société des Bains de Mer Benjamin Caprini said that The group implemented a fully transparent RFP (request for proposal) process that included a shortlist of all the required elements. They provided a two-month window that allowed each competitor to provide presentations and conduct meetings with their group. The competitor that was able to do the best would be the winner.:

"At the end of the day, we knew that IDeaS was the best,” said Caprini. “One critical factor was the technical implementation of the software. We needed to consider how the system would affect our current architecture and the future scalability of the tech stack. IDeaS came up as the leader for seamless integration with the rest of the stack – now and in the future, regardless of changes that would need to be made as the business grows."

⚖️ The selection process: During their research process, Benjamin Caprini also researched , and ultimately decided IDeaS was the best fit for them.

Revenue Manager at Société des Bains de Mer Benjamin Caprini said, about their decision: "It’s really important to have an RMS, and it’s a common misconception that only big chains use it – on the contrary, independent hotels can greatly benefit from it."

📈 The results: As the team implemented IDeaS G3 RMS, they began to see ongoing results. While the system (and the team) continues to learn, there is an opportunity to watch, trust and then verify.