Five-Star Service at the Point of Sale

“The Broadmoor has everything you need, so you don’t ever have to leave,” says John Miller, the resort’s director of IT. “We pride ourselves in offering guests a unique, custom-tailored experience.”

Not an easy task, considering The Broad­moor was initially designed for large groups. The 744-room hotel comfortably hosts 1,400 guests, thanks to its generous convention space. As a result, the resort’s popular coffee shops can easily hit 800 transactions in less than an hour during the morning rush. It’s criti­cal that the property has flexible and reliable IT systems in place, particularly at the point-of-sale, to handle this sort of volume.

“We need rapid transaction support, wheth­er it’s at one of our coffee shops in the morn­ing or at a s’mores campfire at night,” says Miller. “Having a five-star, five-diamond restau­rant also means we need ‘white-glove service’ that not only produces rapid transactions de­pendably but also handles the intricate timing required for certain social situations.”

 WORKHORSE BACKBONE

The Broadmoor uses the Agilysys InfoGen­esis™ POS software solution (www.agilysys.com) running on Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions POS hardware (www.toshibagcs. com) to handle the property’s diverse point-of-sale operations, which range from golf course beverage carts and poolside service to casual and high-end dining.

The system is designed to process transactions in the highest volume environments without any loss of performance. In a harsh weather cli­mate, The Broadmoor benefits from the InfoGenesis solution’s rare offline capabilities, which keep terminals running during intermittent network out­ages and synchronize data as soon as the connection is reestablished. “There’s no downtime, and there are no system glitch­es,” says Miller. “InfoGenesis is a real work­horse, and that’s exactly what we need.”

The Toshiba SurePOS 500 series han­dles the elements well, and touch screen displays are completely sealed to avoid damage by liquids. “We wanted POS hard­ware that was bulletproof, stable and well-rounded for F&B,” says Miller.

FRONT-END SERVICE

Using technology that runs seamlessly in the background enables The Broadmoor to focus on delivering superior customer ser­vice and exceeding guest expectations. In a high-end resort, it’s important to ensure that guests are well cared for and have a memorable stay, Miller notes.

“The InfoGenesis POS system gives our staff the tools they need to treat every cus­tomer  as if they were our only customer,” says Miller. “We couldn’t offer that level of service with a less powerful point-of-sale so­lution.” He also notes that the software is in­tuitive and easy to learn, so that training time is minimal. Other features he appreciates are the system’s openness, accessible user interface and real-time reporting capabilities.

When searching for a technology vendor that could meet The Broadmoor’s needs, Miller notes there were a lot of popular names in the industry to consider — especial­ly when it came to POS. While many support a specific niche or offer standard restaurant POS systems, Miller says The Broadmoor needed the best of everything, including speed, agility, mobility, reporting and durable hardware. “Our initial approach was to look at multiple solutions, because it’s so hard to find a company that does everything well.”

Miller said he’s worked with many technol­ogy vendors over the years and feels Agilysys and Toshiba have taken a unique approach with The Broadmoor. From constantly check­ing in to ensure that everything is working properly to consistently bringing new ideas to the table, it’s a partnership.

“I don’t feel like we’re just another client; I feel like Agilysys and Toshiba have a stake in our property as well,” he concludes. “They are just as concerned about our satisfaction and level of guest service as we are.”