Hyatt Unveils Single Image Inventory

<B> Hyatt Unveils Single Image Inventory</B>

By Maria P. Vallejo

Hyatt Hotels Corp. rolled out a $2.5 million single image inventory program late last quarter that has streamlined procedures for corporate bookings and group reservation confirmations while maintaining the chain's inventory and rate integrity in all distribution channels.

SII is designed to strip away the complexity of matching on-property hotel data with information stored in Hyatt's central reservations system, global distribution systems and the Internet. The system, which Hyatt has been developing for more than three years, allows all distribution channels to work off the same information system and receive identical and simultaneously updated data screens.

"This will be important because of the ease of reservation," said travel management consultant Ralph Brown, president of R.D. Brown Co. in South Elgin, Ill. "If it's easier and faster for agents to book reservations this way, they will do it."

Agents may push travelers toward booking Hyatt hotel rooms because it will reduce the time it takes for each reservation by about 20 seconds, Brown said. At the same time, travel buyers may begin to choose the hotel company for its improved customer service.

"It was our responsibility to provide for travelers an easy access for booking into the hotels," said Katie Hay, director of reservation services. "They can now call whomever they feel comfortable with and get all the same information."

The $2.5 million project is expected to capture some of the potentially lost revenue caused by Hyatt's past disparate hotel inventory systems. Hyatt lost about $50 million in 1995 because agents and reservationists mistakenly turned away potential guests when hotel rooms were still available because of discrepancies in inventory availability displayed in different booking channels, said Joan Lowell, vice president of individual travel sales.

With the new program installed in all Hyatt properties last March, buyers may experience quicker telephone reservation services when booking hotel suites through travel agents and the central reservation system in Omaha, Neb. Before the installation of single image inventory, travelers only could book suite rooms directly through a property. Other distribution channels did not have the capabilities to separately book the two-suite sections--the bedroom chamber and parlor section--during periods of low demand for suites and high demand for bedrooms. Guests were deferred to individual property sales staff for suite bookings. Now, SII creates a broad access standard for all room-type bookings from any booking center.

"It certainly is a much quicker transaction," Hay said. "It's better service to have this information handy for the customer."

<B>Suite, Group Access Opens</B>

Since the rollout of single image inventory, travel buyers have been able to book suites and confirm group reservations through distribution channels other than on-property reservation sites. Before the single system was installed, distribution channels used different pools of data for the same hotel properties. Some channels, such as the GDSs and central reservation systems, could not access complete inventory and rate information available at the property level. Therefore, customer representatives and agents often placed potential guests on hold to send and receive information requests directly with the hotel property. Guests were unaware these requests were not accessible at their distribution channel of choice.

Guests attending meetings also will experience improved service because SII allows them to confirm their hotel group reservations and room rate charges through any distribution channel. Before, the GDSs and the Internet could not access specific guest room information for group bookings, such as discounted group rates and room blocks. Travel agents and sales representatives at the central reservation system confirmed guest bookings by sending reservation confirmation request messages through their computers to on-property agents while keeping the customer on hold. All distribution channel representatives currently can access guest room and rate information at their terminals.

"It was a really great plus," said Norm Canfield, vice president of Hyatt's rooms division. "The front desk enjoyed getting that consistency as well. They were constantly running back and forth checking that everything was correct. The system really eliminated that and human error."

The original beta test, which began in late 1996, took place in San Francisco, Beaver Creek, Colo., Baltimore and Atlanta. A full-speed rollout began in 1997 after several unexpected occurrences slowed down the project.

Later that year, Hyatt maxed out its processors, bringing the project to a temporary halt. The large number of hotel properties linked into the processors created an updating lag of more than the maximum two seconds. Now processors located in Oak Brook, Ill., update available rate and room information within two seconds of a transaction.

In the past, booking channels followed a chain of command for updating inventory and rate information. Individual hotels, which worked off their property management systems, input revised data into the central reservation system in Omaha, which in turn relayed it to the global distribution systems. Disparities in room and rate availability occurred during the four hours it took to pass the hotel data from one computer system to another.

"This was something that plagued the industry for a while," Canfield said. "It was a problem for staff and customer. We wanted to make sure the hotels in our central reservation center, in addition to all other distribution channels that sell Hyatt, were looking at one single image inventory."

Hyatt cut that four-hour interim down to a two-minute maximum for information updates. Like room inventory, rates also were stabilized because the single image standard simplified special and rack rate offerings. "This was also a desire for hotel industry to give the same answer at the same time, and not have pockets of inventory wasted," Lowell said.

Travel and reservation agents often created their own discounting strategies, allowing for differences in selling rates. "If you didn't do a good job with your selling strategies," Hay said, "you could continue selling discounts when they weren't necessary. SII took away all the guesswork.