The strength of a business partnership lies in the ability to adapt, innovate, and evolve together. Such is the case for High Hotels, a Lancaster, Penn.-based hotel management company that has been working alongside asset management and service optimization software company OpsTechPro for more than five years to automate its back-of-house workforce communications. Initially, High Hotels deployed OTP to streamline its maintenance and engineering processes. Today, the vendor/client relationship has evolved, and all 13 hotels in the company’s portfolio are leveraging the dynamic and scalable operations platform to manage and track additional workforce services, from housekeeping inspections, front desk requests, and lost and found inventory, to cash counts, push reports, capital expenses and more.
“Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing towards what will be,” said OpsTechPro Founder and President Jay Visnjic. “To us, that means the sale is not over and the job is not done on the day a client makes a purchase. Rather, it requires a strategic approach that involves a full commitment of both the vendor’s and client’s corporate teams. To deploy our preventive maintenance platform in a meaningful way, we engaged with High Hotels’ executive team, and over the course of several planning sessions, we determined the steps required to engage every employee and maximize asset value. Only when members of both teams understand how important their devotion and contribution is to the success of the company can they be truly productive.”
The goal of High Hotels is to increase workforce performance by hundreds of percentage points across the entire portfolio – and within three to five months. Both partners will monitor the progress on a weekly basis and adjust strategies to maximize engagement at each hotel.
“As the High Hotels enterprise grew, so did the functionality of OTP,” said Adam Marotta, area chief engineer/special projects for High Hotels. “That’s because Jay is deeply entrenched in the hotel business. He understands the importance of continually enhancing the product and is always adding on new modules to do things we never thought possible. Better yet, he is completely hands on. Whether loading property data into the system as new hotels join our system, transitioning from a previous vendor to OTP, conducting training sessions for new hires, or retraining existing staff who may not be leveraging the technology to its full potential, Jay does it all and he knows what we need – sometimes even before we know it ourselves. The platform is easy to deploy, simple to navigate, and quick to customize. In a word, it’s ‘magnificent.’”
Feedback from High Hotels users – including engineers, housekeepers, front desk associates, and management teams – shows they are comfortable using the all-in-one solution. Likewise, management is equally as adept when it comes to using the platform.
“Gauging return on investment for technology can be challenging,” Marotta said. “But OTP keeps track of all equipment spending – including the costs to replace or repair items. The system not only tracks these expenses, but it notifies us when vendor contracts are up for renewal. And corporate can access the system from anywhere to check that guest requests are being satisfied and that work orders are being completed. They can also compare service optimization levels at each hotel daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly to ensure peak performance. OTP is by far the most user friendly workforce management tool on the market, and the company’s customer service is second to none. Jay and his team are always there for us on demand. They keep up with technology so we can keep up with guests.”
Driving Loyalty via Seamless Service Delivery
According to the 2024 Lodging Technology Study, driving guest loyalty tops the priority list for today’s hotel operators. The report cites “personalized guest experiences and seamless service delivery” as ways to build lasting guest relationships. One way to ensure loyalty is to put solutions like OTP in place that will greatly improve employee productivity, streamline daily operations, facilitate better communication, and empower staff.
“OpsTechPro is a comprehensive operational-excellence solution,” Visnjic said. “We customized the platform to reflect each hotel company’s style of management, brand requirements, and standard operating procedures. Asset management and service optimization tools are effective only when they are being used effectively – like in the case of High Hotels. That’s why we customize our modules on demand and provide ongoing training and consulting. Because of this, companies like High Hotels are not just managing their assets, but they are maximizing the long-term value of their hotels.
“We are delighted that the operators of these select-service and extended-stay properties are having such tremendous success with OTP,” he said. “While they are still taking baby steps to adopt all that our platform has to offer, they already have the critical procedures in place that will place their hotels lightyears ahead of their competition in regard to operational efficiency, guest service, and loyalty. We look forward to maintaining the High Hotels portfolio for years to come and we are committed to enhancing our technology as demand dictates. As Adam and his team will attest, the smart technology investment is with OTP.”
