Queensway Group Benefits from Revenue Management at Scale with IDeaS Optix for G3 RMS

The Story

Queensway Group, a prominent London-based hospitality provider, has carved out a niche in the industry with its operation of ten budget-friendly boutique hotels spread across the United Kingdom and Ireland. Post-COVID, Queensway Hotels intensified their focus on strategically capitalizing on revenue opportunities in a dynamic market. A pivotal element in this transformative journey has been the adoption of IDeaS Optix for G3 RMS, which played a key role in augmenting their revenue management strategies. Nicholas Pilbeam, Commercial Director at Queensway Hotels shares that their criteria for selecting business intelligence tools are rooted in maximizing value, ensuring seamless integration, and prioritizing the quality and support of the product. Explore how the Queensway Group tackled challenges and effectively utilized IDeaS Optix for G3 RMS to elevate their revenue management strategies.

Why Optix?

In the process of selecting business intelligence software, Queensway Hotels emphasized three critical factors for selection: value for money, quality of integration, and the overall effectiveness of the product, including support.

While they had the raw data needed for revenue management decisions, it took significant time and effort to manually build reports at the estate level. Queensway naturally wanted to spend their time on adding value to the business, not on the manual, repetitive tasks of putting spreadsheets together.

“There was a risk that we were leaving money on the table,” noted Pilbeam.

With a large volume of hotel data, Queensway needed a business information dashboard to easily investigate trends in data to determine their revenue strategy to continue moving the business forward. The combination of G3 RMS and Optix proved to be the perfect combination, pairing the automated analytical power of G3 with Optix’ convenient functionality for revenue management at scale.

“They simply open Optix and go through all of the data. As a result, hotel teams are more engaged than ever in the revenue side of things which is a win. Optix identifies the risks and opportunities quite quickly across an estate with a lot of rooms and data. So it has quickened our time in dealing with our risks and opportunities quite easily.”

Starting to Use Optix

Queensway was an early adopter of Optix and Pilbeam was quickly impressed with how sophisticated and polished the system was.

There wasn’t a significant amount of training needed to start getting actionable insights with the Optix dashboards. They could easily look at portfolio performance in new and different ways to compare current performance metrics to historical and future performance projections.

“Our eyes were opened, there was a real epiphany. Initially it was used more for leadership and finance teams to look at a wider view of our data. But now our revenue managers use Optix to look at performance,” shared Pilbeam. “It is very much an operational system and it has been embraced wholly across many roles in the business.”

Optix in Action

Optix’s dashboards offers a macro view of the entire estate’s Average Daily Rate (ADR) and occupancy for the month. This feature allowed the Queensway team to drill down into specific areas, identifying both successful and distressed periods. The system’s ability to swiftly pinpoint risks and opportunities across a vast estate with numerous rooms and data accelerated decision-making, providing the organization with a competitive edge in a dynamic market.

In the words of Pilbeam, “Optix has not only revolutionized how we manage our revenue but has also united our teams and streamlined our processes. It’s a game-changer for us, enabling us to navigate through challenges with agility and precision.”

Optix Saves the Day

Queensway saw several positive outcomes as a result of implementing Optix for G3 RMS including increase operational efficiency, measurable revenue uplift, and enhanced stakeholder understanding.

A significant transformation in operational efficiency occurred after integrating Optix into Queensway’s revenue management strategies. It enabled the revenue team to shift from spending 30-40% of their time on analytics and strategy to 80%, allowing a more focused approach to revenue management.

“They simply open Optix and go through all of the data. As a result, hotel teams are more engaged than ever in the revenue side of things which is a win,” said Pilbeam. “Optix identifies the risks and opportunities quite quickly across an estate with a lot of rooms and data. So it has quickened our time in dealing with our risks and opportunities quite easily.”

Despite operating in challenging economic headwinds, the system contributed to incremental revenue, in turn driving bottom-line results.

Optix’s dashboards facilitated better communication with investors, providing clear insights into revenue management intricacies providing stakeholders with a comprehensive understanding of revenue nuances – all achieved effortlessly with the click of a button.

Optix: Driving Revenue Results at a Glance

Optix’ intuitive interface sets it apart, allowing users to quickly grasp its functionalities and witness its effectiveness in streamlining revenue management processes.

“You only need to spend half an hour looking at your data with this tool to see the impact,” Pilbeam says. “Once we did, we instantly knew what we’ve been missing for so long.”

His recommendation highlights the solution’s user-friendly design, allowing general managers, revenue managers and commercial managers alike to make an immediate impact.