Case Study: Sun International deploys IDeaS V5i, ROI sooner

With 36 resorts, hotels and casinos in some of the most spectacular locations in Southern Africa, Sun International is a globally recognised leisure group offering superior hotel experiences. With a specific focus on development, operation and management of hotels, resorts and casinos, Sun International strives to achieve a strong market position benefiting from its use of innovative technologies and depth of personnel experience.

Traditionally, Sun International relied heavily on a manual revenue management system assisting them in setting their rates, overbooking levels & length of stay restrictions. Increasingly complex booking behaviors from their guests, changes in demand and advanced system developments created the need for Sun International to find an automated revenue management solution that could focus on controlling rate decisions across the company. To automate their revenue management system, Sun International chose IDeaS Revenue Optimization.

Sun International deployed IDeaS V5i with Best Available Rate (BAR) and Group Pricing Modules in 2008 in five of its key properties; four hotels at the Sun City Resort and Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town totalling 1600 rooms.

A System Giving Business Direction

IDeaS Best Available Rate (BAR) sets the best rate for unqualified customers based on availability and demand. The module standardized and automated forecasting and pricing decisions, the simplicity and effectiveness of the BAR module provided the perfect solution for both the organisation and the consumer, while the group pricing module ensures that revenue opportunities are maximized for one of Sun International’s most important client markets.

“We are receiving a positive return on the system. IDeaS is really vetted to make us more efficient and more effective as we spend significantly less time on manual interventions and subsequently more time making effective decisions,” said Anton van Wyk, Central Inventory and Revenue Manager, Sun International. “That’s a win-win situation: the system is empowering for the consumers because they get one set rate regardless of their length of stay and at the same time it gives the reservations agents the ability to sell with confidence because they know that the rates they’re selling are actually the best available rates.

As South Africa is often a long-haul destination, group bookings are very important, and IDeaS Group Pricing Module has given us confidence in knowing that we are simultaneously looking after this market as well.”

IDeaS V5i technology has enabled Sun International to better understand how to expand and manage its business, especially in the current economic climate, allowing the hotel group to create a dynamic strategy. We benefit from global best practice and benchmarking; “Thanks to IDeaS we can have access to and draw upon the very vast knowledge of key industry players.  That is an amazing benefit because it really enabled our business direction,” said van Wyk.

Quick and Outstanding Results

Despite the current market conditions, IDeaS V5i solution provides evidence of a noticeable growth in revenues. Within eight months of implementation, Sun International witnessed a real  increase in revenues from Best Available Rate module on its budgeted revenue.

“We’ve definitely seen a return on the capital we invested.” said van Wyk. “We expected to return most of it over a period of 12 months, but we’ve actually achieved that within about eight months time. That was quite a pleasant surprise!”

What’s Next?

The success Sun City and Table Bay Resort experienced as a result of installing IDeaS V5i led the company to implement the solution in properties based in more remote territories like Swaziland and Zambia, Sun International is confident that together with IDeaS we will continue to see revenue growth.

FAST FACTS

Hotel
Sun International

Geography
South Africa

Solution- IDeaS V5iTM
• Group Pricing Module
• Best Available Rate (BAR) Module

Challenges Faced
• Integrate seamless adoption of an automated revenue management system within a hotel group who has traditionally relied on a manual based yielding system
• Streamline and automate strategic forecasting and rate quotation
• Focus more on tactical management of demand and improve process efficiency

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