Hilton Hotels Corporation: In a bid to raise productivity and maximize yield, this major hospitality company is implementing a powerful sales and catering solution based on Microsoft® BackOffice® technologies and state-of-the-art products from Newmarket Software Systems, a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider. By providing up-to-the-minute inventory and rate information, the new system is empowering Hilton salespeople to provide better, faster service than ever before. Solution Overview Company Profile With $5.3 billion a year in sales, Hilton Hotels Corporation is one of the world's leading hospitality companies. Hilton develops, owns, manages, or franchises hotel-casino, resort, vacation ownership, and hotel properties. Situation Group sales and meetings account for a full 34 percent of Hilton's revenues. But the people responsible for generating this crucial business were running outdated, custom-written sales management software that was expensive to maintain. In a bid to raise productivity, improve communication, and maximize yield, Hilton decided to implement a state-of-the-art sales and catering solution. Business Solution Hilton chose to equip its U.S. properties with Delphi and Breeze for Windows, sophisticated products from Newmarket Software Systems, a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider. Running under Microsoft BackOffice technologies, both applications interface with a hotel's property management system to display the latest inventory and rate figures. Delphi and Breeze for Windows also come with sophisticated appointment scheduling and contact management features, and even automate such time-consuming tasks as preparing Banquet Event Orders and sales reports. Benefits By delivering up-to-the-minute inventory, rate, and account information, Delphi and Breeze for Windows are empowering Hilton's sales force to work more productively and provide better, faster service. That, in turn, is translating into happier customers, more sales, and higher revenues. What's more, Hilton's Newmarket solution is helping its properties improve yield and average check spend by ensuring that bookings are always reserved at optimal levels. The pace of business has never been faster than it is today. To succeed, sales organizations must move as fast as their customers -- or risk losing them. With that need for speed in mind, Hilton Hotels Corporation is now equipping its U.S. sales force with a powerful sales and catering solution based on the Microsoft BackOffice family of server applications and state-of-the-art products from Newmarket Software Systems, Inc., a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider. By delivering up-to-the-minute inventory, rate, and account information, the new solution is empowering Hilton's sales professionals to provide faster, more responsive service. Taking It to the Next Level As Vice President of Sales Brian Stevens explains, Hilton's previous sales technologies had been overdue for an upgrade. "We had a proprietary system called Insight, which is basically an automated function book," says Stevens. "It was only being used by Hilton and was very expensive to maintain." Moreover, Hilton's previous system couldn't show salespeople the latest availability and pricing information. "We are a $5.3 billion company in sales, and 34% of that comes from group business," observes Bob Dirks, Senior Vice President of Marketing. "It's very important for us to have what we know is the state-of-the-art sales and catering system in the business." Accordingly, early in 1997, Hilton launched a major initiative aimed, in Dirks's words, at taking Hilton's sales and catering technology "to the next level." Vendor of Choice According to Dirks, Hilton briefly considered building new sales systems itself before deciding that it would be far more cost-effective to buy an off-the-shelf product and customize it to the company's needs. "Building software systems is not the core business that Hilton should be in," notes Dirks. "We knew that there were some very good companies in the market that had systems that we could buy and adapt." Hilton formed a 24-person user group and began evaluating leading sales and catering solutions. Impressed by the comprehensive functionality, ease of use, and flexibility of Newmarket's products, the group soon decided to make Newmarket its sales and catering vendor of choice. "We went through an exhaustive search," recalls Dirks, "and looked at a number of companies. It was a clear decision without any hesitation by the entire company that Newmarket had the software systems that would take us into the next century." To serve as the platform technologies for its Newmarket solution, Hilton chose Microsoft Windows NT® Server and Microsoft SQL Server™. Explaining that decision, Joe Durocher, Hilton's CIO, says, "with its reputation for product excellence, we feel that the Microsoft BackOffice family is the best platform available for delivering real-time inventory data across system-wide hotels reliably and economically." At the desktop, the solution will run under the Microsoft Windows® 95 operating system. Sell It, Book It, Report It Hilton's integrated solution makes use of two 32-bit Newmarket products. All 62 of the company's owned and managed hotels and most of its 178 franchise properties will ultimately run either Delphi® or Breeze™ for Windows. The latter system is designed for smaller properties, such as Hilton's mid-priced Hilton Garden Inn® product. The former is oriented to the needs of larger hotels with more complex requirements. Both products feature a Group Rooms Control Log and Function Diary that interface with a hotel's property management system to display the latest inventory and yielded rate figures. Users can then book the most profitable rooms available with a few clicks of their mouse. Delphi and Breeze for Windows also come with sophisticated appointment scheduling and contact management features, and even automate such time-consuming tasks as preparing Banquet Event Orders and sales reports. Optimal Selling Dirks expects Hilton's BackOffice-based Newmarket sales and catering solution to benefit properties in a variety of ways. "The payback on Delphi and Breeze for Windows comes in several forms," he says, "including increasing revenues through providing greater efficiency with immediate responses to customers, improving yield by staying on top of decision due and space release dates, and improving customer relationships. But the big story is the ability to have access to property inventory and rates for proper and optimal selling." By enabling properties to set minimums for food, beverage, room rental, and other charges, Delphi and Breeze for Windows also will help properties boost average check spend. And through their remote access features, the two applications will free Hilton salespeople from their desks, enabling them to work from home or the road as effectively as they can at the office. Stevens notes as well that the Newmarket solution's powerful reporting functionality and Microsoft SQL Server database will give Hilton access to valuable information that was difficult to collect before. "We are going to have the opportunity in the future to do a better job negotiating with customers based upon their total spend with Hilton, which has been very arduous to put our arms around in the past," Stevens predicts. Competitive Edge There's more technology change ahead for Hilton. The company is planning to upgrade its property management and central reservations software, and is considering a move to equip its national sales offices with Newmarket's Global SFA product. Through network and Internet links to properties, Global SFA enables salespeople at national offices to check availability and book rooms directly. Those same connections enable salespeople at properties and national offices alike to share leads and account information. In addition, Hilton is evaluating Newmarket's E-Lead module, which allows properties to receive leads from a Web site electronically. That system is based on Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) architecture, and runs under Microsoft Internet Information Server, the Web server component of Microsoft Windows NT Server. In the meantime, Dirks is excited about the competitive edge its new sales and catering solution delivers. "Hilton's use of Newmarket software will enable our hotel salespeople to work with a broader base of information literally at their fingertips. With this type of sales management platform, our salespeople will be better equipped to exceed customer expectations." For more information About Microsoft Call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (800) 563-9048. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft office. Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA About Newmarket Newmarket Software Systems, Inc. 135 Commerce Way Portsmouth, NH 03801 Tel.: 603-436-7500 Fax: 603-436-1826 E-mail: salesinfo@newsoft.com Web site: Founded in 1985, Newmarket Software Systems is a world leader in hospitality sales, marketing, and catering software, with more than 2,000 sites and 35,000 users worldwide. Newmarket's flagship product is Delphi, a sales, marketing, and catering solution that helps hospitality industry companies maximize profitability. Microsoft Products Used Microsoft Windows NT Server Microsoft Windows 95 Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Companies, names, and/or data used in screens are fictitious, unless otherwise noted. Microsoft, BackOffice, the BackOffice logo, Windows, and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other product and company names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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