GRT Hotels & Resorts Increases Productivity by 25%, Improves Customer Service and Resource Allocation with Centralized CRM System
 
 

GRT Hotels & Resorts Increases Productivity by 25%, Improves Customer Service and Resource Allocation with Centralized CRM System

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GRT Hotels & Resorts is a leading hotel group in South India with 10 hotels, including GRT Grand and Radisson Hotels in Chennai; Radisson Resort Temple Bay in Mamallapuram; The Sunway GRT Grand in Pondicherry; GRT Regency Hotels in Madurai, Kanchipuram, and Tuticorin; GRT Nature Trails in Yercaud; GRT Grand Estancia in Salem; and GRT Regency Vellore in Tuticorin. The organization is part of G. R. Thanga Maligai, a South Indian jeweler established in 1964 by Mr. G. Rajendran.

 
 

 
 

Challenges

A word from GRT Hotels & Resorts

  • “With Oracle CRM On Demand, GRT Hotels & Resorts can now accurately forecast revenue for the whole group, which helps us decide where to allocate staff and marketing resources to increase sales and protect profitability.” – Ravi Balakrishnan, IT Director, GRT Hotels & Resorts

  • Improve customer service by deploying a centralized customer relationship management (CRM) system that allows all hotels in the group to share customer data, such as room and rate preferences
  • Manage one set of hotel room rates and create unified marketing programs to eliminate unnecessary price competition between the company’s hotels
  • Create a clear, application-driven process of storing customer data, so it can be accessed securely by staff at all hotels in the group
  • More easily forecast revenue for coming years, enabling management to quickly decide where to allocate staff and marketing resources
  • Reduce the risk that hotel staff will take confidential information with them when they leave the organization

Solutions

Oracle Product and Services

  • Streamlined the management and sharing of customer data—such as personal details, room types, rates, and past accommodation preferences—between hotels in the group
  • Increased productivity by approximately 25%, with ease of forecasting sales based on customer behavior data—such as the most popular hotels and rates—and creating more targeted marketing campaigns
  • Reduced costs associated with purchasing and maintaining the CRM application by 65%, by selecting a hosted service with a monthly service fee
  • Allowed managers to access revenue data from each hotel instantly, compared to taking one week previously, enabling quicker decisions about where to focus marketing resources
  • Enhanced customer service levels by storing customer feedback about hotel experiences in a central repository for analysis, allowing managers to respond quickly to customer issues
  • Ensured, by deploying a centralized, secure Web-based CRM application, that confidential data, such as promotional plans, could not be removed by employees when they left the organization
  • Improved staff performance at each hotel by allowing managers to monitor the number of customer calls that employees answer each month related to bookings and general information, and take corrective action for underperformance
  • Expected to implement Siebel Lead Management, which will reduce the time it takes to convert potential customer leads by providing staff with information about a customer’s past or existing bookings, for cross-selling new services, for example

Why Oracle

GRT Hotels & Resorts was already using Oracle Database 11g to store financial information so it made sense to continue using Oracle solutions.

“We looked at a few CRM applications and felt that Oracle CRM On Demand best suited our requirements,” said Ravi Balakrishnan, IT director, GRT Hotels & Resorts.

“The Web-based system also gives us peace of mind that our confidential data is stored in one of Oracle’s highly secure data centers and is always available.”

Implementation Process

In November 2008, GRT Hotels & Resorts engaged SYSTIME to set up and deploy Oracle CRM On Demand. SYSTIME worked with the organization’s IT team to ensure the application worked well. The implementation was completed in one month.

Partner

SYSTIME’s technical staff help GRT Hotels & Resorts customize the application to ensure it met the organization’s requirements.

“SYSTIME also provided training to a group of users, ensuring they were familiar with how the application worked. This meant they could start using it immediately, and assist other staff who needed to be familiar with the system,” said Balakrishnan.