micros

Case Study

AT
aGlance
COMPANY:
TheLeelaPalacesHotels&
Resorts
www.theleela.com
No.ofrooms
2,300roomsacross8
properties

TheMICROSteamweregreat
atteachingusbestpractice.
TheyknewhowGDSswork,
andtheyknewwhatwe
neededtodotogetthebest
results...Itwasaverywell
handledtransition,andoneof
thebestIveexperiencedwith
anybusinesspartnerinmy
career.
MerwinDawson,Group
RevenueManager,TheLeela
PalacesHotels&Resort

MICROShelpsTheLeelaPalacesreachtheworld

Luxurybrandexpandsonlinechannelpresenceand

increasesbookingswithMICROSmyfidelio.net

The Leela Palaces Hotels & Resorts is one of the finest hotel groups in
India. When the Leela Palaces Chennai opens in mid2012, the group will
be managing four businessbased and four leisurebased hotels across
Indiawithatotalcapacityofmorethan2,300rooms.
Merwin Dawson is the Group Revenue Manager at The Leela Palaces
Hotels&Resorts.AfterfirstjoiningLeelain2001,heisnowresponsiblefor
setting the groups topline budgets and ensuring each of the hotels is
achievingtheirrevenuetargets.
An important part of Mr
Dawsons role is managing the
groups relationships with
preferred
online
business
partners one of which is
MICROSmyfidelio.net.
Itsmyjobtobethesinglepoint
ofcontactforthesixteenonline
partnersweworkwith,soIhave
to manage all of these
relationships,Mr.Dawsonsays.
Im also one of the team
members responsible for helping
our business take our online
technologytothenextlevel.And
atLeelawereundergoingahuge
technology shift from where we
were to where were going to be
insixmonths.
A significant part of Leelas
online strategy has been the
introductionofanewchaincode
LRforTheLeelaPalacesHotels
& Resorts in Global Distribution
Systems (GDSs). These are the
systems used by the majority of

Page 2

travel agents worldwide such as Amadeus,

Worldspan, Galileo and Sabre that typically
generatearound19%ofLeelastotalbookings.
Previously in GDSs, the Leela groups hotels were
located by travel agents under the KI chain code,
due to their aliation with global luxury chain
Kempinski.
While Mr. Dawson says the group retains its
aliation with Kempinski, they also wanted to
stand on their own two feet on GDS platform so
thattravelagentscouldstartassociatingtheirchain
codewiththeirbrandLRacrossallGDSchannels.
The only way for travel agents to find us before
was to search under the KI chain code. But we
wanted to generate better awareness of our own
brand,andthatinvolvedgettingourownGDSchain
code.

To help them achieve that goal, Leela began a GDS optimization process
underanewLRchaincodewiththehelpofMICROSandmyfidelio.net.

TheImportanceofStayingVisible
A change in GDS chain code represents a major
challengeforanyhotel,asthereisarisktravelagents
wont know or recognize the new code potentially
leadingtoareductioninthenumberofbookingsfrom
thischannel.
Its similar to changing your address, Mr. Dawson
says.IfpeopleareusedtosearchingforLondonand
wesuddenlychangeouraddress toNewYork,those
Londonsearcheswontfindusanymore.
We had to be very smart about how we made the
transitionithadtorunsmoothly.
Mr. Dawson believes one of the key advantages of
using myfidelio.net was MICROS ability to help
hotels optimize their presence on the GDS. This is
turn helped Leela minimize the impact of the chain
codechange.
Your hotel and the hotel content on GDS are viewed by every single
travelagentaroundtheworld,soitscriticaltoconveytherightmessage
in3040secondssoyoucanmakethebestuseofyourspaces.
Mr.DawsonsaystheMICROSteamhelpedLeelaclearlydefinewhatthey
shouldbesaying,andhowtheyshouldbesayingit,includingthebasics

Page 3

likeroomdescriptionsandratedescriptions.
TheMICROSteamweregreatatteachingusbestpractice.Theyknewhow
GDSswork,andtheyknewwhatweneededtodotogetthebestresults.
Theyalsotrainedeachpersonsoeveryoneunderstoodtheprocess.Itwas
a very wellhandled transition, and one of the best Ive experienced with
anybusinesspartnerinmycareer.
AsaresultofthesmoothtransitiontotheLRcode,Mr.Dawsonsaysthat
bookings from the GDSs showed no signs of slowing over the critical
December/Januaryholidayperiod.
Intheory,whenyouchangechaincodesyouwouldnormallyexpecttosee
a dropo in business, as travel agents might take some time to get to
knowyournewcode.Butwedidnotloseanybusinessafterthechangeover
ourflowofbookingsremainedthesameasitwasbefore.Weveevenhad
somenewagenciesthathavestartedproducing.

Justasimportantlyforus,travelagentsarenowsearchingforTheLeela
PalacesHotels&ResortsundertheLRchaincode,andthatkindofrecall
isextremelyimportantforourbrand.

IntegrationwithOPERAPMS
A user of MICROS OPERA Property
Management System for a number of years,
Leela Palaces has since adopted a number of
other MICROS systems, including OPERA Web
Services, OPERA Reservation Suite and Sales
ForceAutomation.
Mr. Dawson believes the integration between
the MICROS systems is one of the key reasons
theirsystemsareoperatingsoeciently.
I think its very important to have one single
platform for online technology. We couldve
chosen to use another partner, but there are
advantages in selecting the same company and
having one platform from PMS to GDS it
makesthingslesscomplicated.
Another aspect of the partnership Mr. Dawson
appreciates is the customer support he can get
fromMICROS.
Their turnaround time is amazing. They promise 24 hours but they often
beatthat.Evenwiththetimedierenceitdoesntmatter.
The beauty is theyre available for a call if you need to talk to someone,
which doesnt always happen with other partners. Its great customer
support.

micros

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Oce
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Fax:+(54)(11)41191151

Find out more about what MICROS

can do for you
For more information contact us at info@micros.com
Phone: 866.287.4736 (US and Canada)

About MICROS
Serving the hospitality and specialty retail industries, we are the worlds
leading developer of enterprise applications. Our global presence and local
support have helped us build a long list of references hotels, restaurants,
conference centers, retail, stadiums, theme parks, casinos and cruise
ships. We maintain an intense dialogue with colleagues throughout these
industries. The result is a wide range of integrated software, hardware and
business technology solutions and services. These help to optimize your
operation and increase profits by providing your guests with a personalized
service.

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2012 MICROS Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted without the express prior
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