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June 28, 2019 Integration Updates

Integration Stabilization Update | June 2019

As communicated last month, we are continuing to focus on delivering on the financial and ease-of-business benefits of our Owner & Franchise Value Proposition. Since our last update, we have implemented a number of solutions to address the challenges identified by guests, hotels, owners and management companies related to integration stabilization. Following is an update on key progress areas:

One Yield

We recognize some hotel teams have found adoption of One Yield and the Marriott pricing philosophy to be challenging. In March, we re-converted SPG properties to One Yield to absorb refreshed MRDW data. This ensured One Yield had the most accurate historical SPG data on which to base forecasts. We have facilitated workshops for SPG revenue managers and strategy team members and have planned twice-monthly webinars to help associates build their skills with revenue management tools. The One Yield team is also developing materials to enable hotels to perform a One Yield self-audit to help identify the top issues impacting their usage of One Yield.

Furthermore, in response to hotel feedback about premium room revenue not meeting expectations, a proof of concept (POC) has launched with ERS hotels. The purpose of this POC is to test adjustments to the automation in One Yield to 1) ensure more premium rooms are kept on the shelf for sale and 2) optimize the amount of standard rooms that are authorized to sell so that premium rooms are available when demand is there. The first phase of the POC, which launched in April, included 18 hotels in the Americas and APAC. We have received positive feedback from participating hotels, including greater satisfaction with premium room authorizations within One Yield. Based on these results, we are advancing to the Beta phase with 50 additional hotels in order to collect more feedback and meet the increasing demand for participation. Recognizing that this is a widely-requested capability in One Yield, we are simultaneously working with iT to plan the steps necessary for global implementation to all ERS hotels in 2019. The timeline will be shared as details become available.

Enhanced Reservation Solution (ERS)

From March 2018 through April 2019, the first 222 hotels to go live on ERS have generated more than $32.8M in revenue related to room attributes, of which approximately $10.5M is incremental (retail and member rates only).

While FSPMS hotels that have completed ERS Photography and Bed Type Conversion will continue with their planned ERS Activation in 2019, the ERS Activation deployment for SPG hotels not already on ERS will shift to the first half of 2020. This change will allow those hotels to continue to focus on stabilization this year. In addition, we are making a critical system improvement based on feedback we heard from hotels already on ERS: giving hotels the ability to add and change room types. This capability is expected to be available to Opera PMS hotels in the third quarter and to LightSpeed PMS hotels in the fourth quarter. Marriott believes ERS will continue to deliver positive results for hotels once they are live on the system, and this adjustment in timeline will ensure all hotels have the opportunity to gain maximum benefit.

Marriott Bonvoy
We have continued to make progress in resolving member account-related issues and have cleared a backlog of approximately 1,700 complicated requests associated with integration (e.g., Lifetime status, incorrect conversion of points).

Stabilization efforts are currently focused on:

  • Resolving members’ missing stay requests, including ensuring ongoing requests are addressed within the three-day service level agreement
  • Investigating additional process changes/enhancements to expedite resolution of both member and owner inquiries in the Customer Engagement Centers (CECs)
  • Implementing further fixes to prevent future issues with Suite Night Award requests (systematic issues identified have been resolved)
  • Ensuring consistent reservation/ redemption certificate attachment

Marriott Bonvoy Escapes

The first wave of Marriott Bonvoy Escapes launched in the U.S. & Canada on May 8 with 346 hotels and the second wave of Marriott Bonvoy Escapes launched on May 23 with 758 hotels. As a reminder, hotels that have been centrally determined to have distressed inventory are solicited to participate, and – beginning with the second wave – franchise management company contacts received notification of which hotels in their portfolio are able to participate. We are analyzing the results and will make adjustments to the program as needed.

Europe and APAC are expected to launch Marriott Bonvoy Escapes in July and MEA in October.

LightSpeed PMS

Some hotels have been experiencing challenges with LightSpeed. Earlier this month, we deployed a new release which addresses many issues related to group blocks and inventory balancing. We will deploy subsequent releases to address remaining LightSpeed issues, including share with reservations, rate management, and additional group block items. An enhancement to simplify the process of inventory balancing is under development and targeted to launch in the fourth quarter. The team also continues to work on improving ServiceNow ticket handling/responses. 

Opera PMS

We know some hotels have had a difficult time adjusting to the way Opera PMS functions in the Marriott ecosystem. We anticipate addressing many of these pain points with the next release of Opera, which we expect to begin rolling out to all Opera PMS hotels in 2020. This release will be similar to the version of Opera that was connected to Starwood systems and will include these key features:

  • Enhanced integration with MARSHA, Loyalty, CTAC, and financial systems (BTR hotels);
  • Rate Code Download, so you won’t have to build rate codes in three places;
  • Enhanced PMS-integrated guest mobile capabilities, such as check-in, room ready alerts, and check-out;
  • A balancing tool that will make balancing easier and require less time; and
  • Groups/blocks that only need to be created in one system (MARSHA or Opera PMS).

EMPOWER Reservations

Major improvements have been made to the EMPOWER Reservations application since the Reservations Platform cutovers. These include recent fixes to the credit card grid and a more intuitive arrival/departure calendar, as well as the ability to find group rates using one click and add guests to an email confirmation. In June, we are also addressing speed issues. A complete list of both current and resolved issues is available on the EMPOWER Reservations Known Issues and Workarounds Log on MGS.

EMPOWER: Guest Experiences (GXP)

A June 24 release of EMPOWER: GXP introduced a new look and feel with easier navigation and simplified reporting, as well as some new features, including access to personalized information for Select Brand hotels, the addition of photos and comments to Inspections, Redemption Stay indicators, and limiting the visibility for sensitive Customer Care cases. In August, VIP reports and arriving guests with past incidents will be available; we are also planning to make enhancements to features such as proactive chat/service recovery and Notable Persons. In November, we expect to introduce improved profile matching, and based on hotel feedback, several additional features are being evaluated to be added to GXP. Additional resources are available on the EMPOWER: GXP MGS POST page.

Service Now

The Service Desk continues to identify enhancements to improve hotel teams’ experience with the ServiceNow (SNOW) support tool. Recent updates include the implementation of chat for LightSpeed support and “smart” forms to collect key information to help solve problems faster. We are also in the process of rolling out additional language translation capabilities.

Customer Engagement Centers (CECs)

CECs’ Average Speed of Answer (ASA) improved to 38 seconds across all regions and knowledge groups in May, a 29-second improvement compared to April. On average, the team begins open cases within 24 hours of receipt and closes them out within 72 hours. Initial results show a reduction in average handle time for North American associates by more than 10% (46 seconds) since March.

May was the best month thus far in 2019 for call volume, call handling, and ASA for Loyalty Program Services Property Support – thanks in part to the addition of task force staffing.  Call Handling rose to 93.8%, up from a low of 74.6% in April. ASA improved to 129.5 seconds, primarily driven by the Americas.

We will continue to keep you informed of our progress moving forward. As always, should you have any questions or feedback on these or other areas of stabilization, please let us know.