Strand Country Inn Suites Beaufort West SC
February 17, 2014 – "Strand Development prides itself on providing its owners with
effective and accurate financial reporting on a timely basis - there is no room for error,
no room for tardiness," says John Johnson, Strand's CFO. "We know that our continued
relationship is contingent on delivering solid bottom line results. This is our top priority."
With 56 properties and multiple ownership entities, Strand relies on its corporate
business intelligence system to automate the complex data gathering and analysis
process that drives property performance reporting.
"We work for many
ownership groups. Some are small private companies, others are publicly traded. Most
have different reporting requirements, so we need to provide property data in different
ways," Johnson said. "When we had fewer properties, the job of collecting daily hotel
metrics and creating custom performance reports was time consuming, but possible.
When we reached 20 properties, we realized we needed to automate the process."
"Execuvue allowed us to grow"
In 2004, Strand
implemented the IBM Cognos-based Execuvue® business
intelligence (BI) system from Aptech
Computer Systems. "We turned to Aptech to help us collect, analyze, and report
property performance to our ownership groups," Johnson said. "An important feature of
Execuvue is its ability to tie to any database or data source. Gathering data with
Execuvue is faster and much easier than our earlier processes. We combine that
information with metrics from STR, accounting, and payroll systems for analysis and
flexible daily reports. We tie our STR data to our financial data and Aptech is working
with Marriott and other companies to bring in guest comment data. The Execuvue BI
allowed us to grow. We employ less staff than we would have. We could not have grown
without Aptech's support."
Strand's success and growth are based on
delivering solid property results to its ownership groups. Accurate, comprehensive daily
reporting is how Strand measures property performance. "The information we get from
Execuvue is the lifeblood of our properties," Johnson said. Strand sends reports to its
GMs that compare current RevPAR and other hotel performance metrics with the same
period last year. "We also compile STAR reports rolled up by region to measure week to
week performance. We recently upgraded to the latest Execuvue Cognos platform
that enables us to automate specific report distribution to designated managers in any
format they prefer, such as PDF or Excel. The reports are also mobile compatible. Our
intranet portal can deliver them to tablets for added convenience."
Strand
also provides automated forecast reporting. "We used to manually create forecasts for
our properties; it was a huge task," Johnson said. "Now the GMs have an input sheet,
which goes into our Execuvue BI seamlessly for 6-month pro forma. We also provide
balanced scorecards that combine 9 metrics in one report. This works with financial and
non-financial information. It helps us rank properties on many factors, such as STAR,
cleanliness, and financial results. All our executives get these reports via email, some
on tablet. Sometimes peer pressure instills a friendly competition between properties."
Accurate forecasting helps Strand properties create a better financial future.
"We make decisions every day that impact the future of our operations," Johnson said.
"Cash flow management is clearly aided by accurately forecasting what our staff needs
will be. Execuvue delivers the data to help us make more accurate financial decisions.
Our profitability is stronger because of it."
Originally Strand wanted to own
the property data in its BI system. "As time passed we learned our initial feelings were
not founded," Johnson said. "Today we use Aptech's ASP hosting services. Our data is
on their servers so we do not have to maintain the hardware. This is more cost
effective."
About Strand Development Company LLC
With headquarters shared between Charlotte and Myrtle Beach, NC, Strand also
has operations in Atlanta. Founded more than 40 years ago, the company began as a
developer/owner of full-service Holiday Inns, gradually moving into third-party
management. Today, with more than 50 hotels in its management portfolio, the
company is one of the few major operators that focuses entirely on third-party
management. The company specializes in the two- to four-star hotel segments and is
approved to operate properties under all the leading hotel brand families, including
Marriott, Hilton, Starwood, Wyndham, Choice, and InterContinental Hotel Group.
Aptech Computer Systems
Aptech Computer Systems,
Inc., based in Pittsburgh, PA, leads the hospitality industry in leveraging change by
valuing human relationships and applying technology to solve business problems for
people. The company is renowned for introducing business intelligence into the hotel
industry, and offers a solid resource of hospitality professionals. Aptech is an IBM
Software Value Plus partner and Premier Solution Provider.
Incorporated in
1970, Aptech is a hospitality financial and operations technology solutions and service
company. Aptech's state-of-the-art back office, business intelligence, and enterprise
planning products include Profitvue®, Execuvue®, Webvue®, and Targetvue. Clients
comprise more than 3,000 properties, including large chains, multiple-property
management companies, and single-site hotels. Aptech's solutions help customers
understand their financial and operational data to lower expenses or increase
profitability. Execuvue and Profitvue are registered to Aptech Computer Systems, Inc. All
other trademarks are owned by their respective holders. For more information please
visit www.aptech-inc.com.
Contact
Cam Troutman
Vice President
Phone: 800-245-0720
Email: vueinfo@aptech-inc.com
Organization
Aptech Computer Systems Inc
https://www.aptech-inc.com/
135 Delta Dr.
USA
- Pittsburgh, PA 15238-2805
Tollfree: 800.245.0720
Phone: 412.963.7440
Email: vueinfo@aptech-inc.com
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