CASE STUDY. Holiday Inn Unlocks the Door to Consistent Operations Using Digital Red Book. Challenges. Solutions and Benefits.

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1 CASE STUDY Holiday Inn Unlocks the Door to Consistent Operations Using Digital Red Book Kemmons Wilson had a vision when building the first Holiday Inn outside Memphis, Tennessee in He wanted it to be standardized, clean, predictable, family friendly and readily accessible to road travelers. It was of course a hit, and the chain now 3,300 locations worldwide has since become a favorite among travelers looking for familiar features, facilities and amenities. Today, the InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) owns the Holiday Inn brand, and the chain welcomes approximately 120 million guests each year. Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Nashua is one of those chains. Located in the heart of New England, just off the Everett Turnpike in central New Hampshire, the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Nashua provides guests the familiar home away from home experience that the Holiday Inn brand is known for. General Manager Antonio Coelho oversees the dayto-day operations of the hotel along with Assistant General Manager Pam LaPierre and Housekeeping Manager Mary Anne Arpz who also help manage the staff and hotel operations. Challenges Managers were stuck in the back office writing down information and troubleshooting problems. It was difficult for employees to communicate and keep track of tasks. Archived print files were not being used to analyze opportunities for improvement or forecast potential property needs. Solutions and Benefits DIGITAL RED BOOK Digital Red Book makes it simple to check-off daily tasks, follow shift instructions, communicate in real-time and record important information about each shift from a mobile device. Employees handled guest-related issues in realtime, even when managers are off-site. Management and maintenance have streamlined communications and handle problems faster, increasing inspection ratings. Early Birds From guest experience to room cleanliness and facility maintenance, Coelho has always run the hotel with an eye on efficient processes and operations. He also invests a lot of energy into cultivating a staff that feels empowered to uphold the brand s well-known standards, something he believes can be done with the right technology in place.

2 CASE STUDY Holiday Inn & Suites Nashua Page 2 I m first and foremost a digital guy, Coelho says. Having been in the hospitality industry for over 20 years, it was only a matter of time before technology caught up with shift management and best practices for the multi-unit consistency IHG mandates. And when it did, Coelho was among the first to take his hotel s operations into the cloud with Red Book Connect s Digital Red Book. When we found out that there was an online shift management solution that was completely customizable for our hotel, we jumped at the opportunity to become early adopters of Digital Red Book, he said. The transition from back-office pen and paper to shiftmanagement through their mobile devices was seamless, Coelho explained. He was pleased with how open his employees were to moving onto the digital platform. Even Edie, one of our most tenured employees, loved it, he said. Assistant General Manager Pam LaPierre agreed. The fact that the staff can communicate issues or the status of a task in real-time helped her feel confident that the job was getting done. Digitally Noted While consistency and standardization are key touch points of the Holiday Inn Brand, the fact is no two hotels are ever exactly the same. Location, property size, layout and, to some extent, amenities can fluctuate. The challenge for Coelho was to maintain brand standards and implement technology that could be customized for his staff. Digital Red Book did just that, giving Coelho a cloudbased platform that his staff could use to check-off daily tasks, follow shift instructions, communicate in real-time and record important information about each shift. Coelho and his managers also use it to make sure operations run smoothly, standards are in place and performance is high. When we found out that there was an online shift management solution that was completely customizable for our hotel, we jumped at the opportunity. Antonio Coelho General Manager With Digital Red Book, we were able to create customized task lists for the morning and evening shifts, Coelho explained. The first thing his staff does when they log in is read through the notes. We made it a part of our checklist for both shifts. It s a great way to make sure everyone knows what happened during the earlier shift or anything else that s important to ensure our guests have a great stay at our hotel, said Coelho. Housekeeping Manager Mary Anne Arpz is happy with the way the mobile app has streamlined her team s day-to-day duties. We re in there all day long, checking off our daily tasks and making notes about our shift as we move around the facilities, she said. The mobility is huge for Coelho as well, especially when he s making his daily travel path around the property. QUESTIONS? Contact us at or redbookconnect.com

3 CASE STUDY Holiday Inn & Suites Nashua Page 3 Our employees feel empowered to address (guest issues) right then and there. Or they can send a communication to the team in Digital Red Book right from their computer or mobile device. The maintenance log is such a big time saver with Digital Red Book, he said. As soon as I see an issue, I take a picture and assign the task right there. Once maintenance receives the task which is instantaneous they are able to assess the problem before they get on-site. When they get out there, they re more likely to have the right tools and the right background information about the problem, Coelho added. All of those maintenance logs are also stored in the cloud, reducing the cost to archive paper documents. Shift information, notes, communication and safety instructions are accessible by anyone in the future, which makes it easier, for instance, to identify when something hasn t been fixed, when it has, and how many times something has broken down or been upgraded. Our inspection ratings have absolutely gone up since we got Digital Red Book. We re essentially doing a practice inspection every day with Digital Red Book, explained Coelho. Inn the Know For the most part, managing the guest experience rides on the training and professionalism of the staff. With Digital Red Book, Coelho knows his team is prepared to answer guests questions or concerns because they re competent and in-the-know about important information whether it s basic or something that just came up. The notes section is particularly helpful because it keeps a digital log of common guest questions, he said. They are able to capture the emotions and general pulse of their guests and then find ways to wow them. It s the simple things that really make the guests feel like their being taken care of, Coelho explained. Our employees feel empowered to address it right then and there. Or they can send a communication to the team in Digital Red Book right from their computer or mobile device. Either one of the managers or I will respond with a suggestion on how to handle it. Those notes come in handy year after year, too. New England is full of funny weather-related issues. In the summertime, for instance, there s a lot of tree sap and it can drip on cars in their parking lot. Guests used to get upset and still do to some extent, explained Coelho. But now, we re able to get in front of the issue because we use shift notes to share instructions on why it happens, how it can be cleaned off their cars and where they might be able to park to avoid it. The whole staff is empowered to share that message with guests because they can access that information right there from their mobile device. On-the-Go Accountability Like most hotel managers, Coelho travels a lot visiting QUESTIONS? Contact us at or redbookconnect.com

4 CASE STUDY Holiday Inn Page 4 other properties, attending conferences and working from home. Of course, while he s away, he needs a way to make sure his team stays on top of their tasks, which he can do completely through Digital Red Book. I was in Brazil in March and was putting in notes from thousands of miles away and then checking to make sure the right people had read them, he said. It gives me a sense of comfort knowing that everything is okay when our staff is using Digital Red Book. La Pierre is a fan of the fact that she doesn t have to constantly bounce between the back office computer, staff and guests to keep operations running smoothly. We are able to hold people accountable to things they didn t do, added LaPierre. Usually it s because they didn t read the notes section or didn t know about a particular issue. Which is an easy fix because everything can now be found in Digital Red Book. Room to Grow Now that operations are more streamlined and everyone is confidently communicating across the property, the team has more time to focus on bigger things like helping guests see the value in the hotels membership program. It s so cool to see the progress our team is making before I even come into work, said Coelho. I m seeing that we checked 30 guests in and that Pam got 15 of them to sign up as members. So I come in and recognize her for her effort. There s even some healthy competition among the team which makes it fun. Coelho is looking forward to rolling out Digital Red Book to his bartenders and kitchen staff. It s been great for our team. Everyone feels involved and part of the solution. Running a Restaurant Just Got Easier. Red Book Connect provides mobile solutions for managing restaurants. From hiring, training and scheduling to communicating, forecasting and more we give it all to managers in realtime. Our tools are game-changing. Our mission is to help increase revenue, streamline operations and make life easier for everyone in the restaurant world. Get started now redbookconnect.com HIRE TRAIN SCHEDULE SHIFT MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS AND INVENTORY BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE GOHIRE SCHOOX HOTSCHEDULES DIGITAL RED BOOK MANAGER S RED BOOK MACROMATIX This case study is for informational purposes only. Red Book Connect makes no warranties, express or implied, in this case study Red Book Connect All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Red Book Connect is strictly forbidden.

5 CASE STUDY Holiday Inn Page 5 Running a Restaurant Just Got Easier. Red Book Connect provides mobile solutions for managing restaurants. From hiring, training and scheduling to communicating, forecasting and more we give it all to managers in realtime. Our tools are game-changing. Our mission is to help increase revenue, streamline operations and make life easier for everyone in the restaurant world. Get started now redbookconnect.com HIRE TRAIN SCHEDULE SHIFT MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS AND INVENTORY BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE GOHIRE SCHOOX HOTSCHEDULES DIGITAL RED BOOK MANAGER S RED BOOK MACROMATIX This case study is for informational purposes only. Red Book Connect makes no warranties, express or implied, in this case study Red Book Connect All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Red Book Connect is strictly forbidden.