LANI KAI ISLAND RESORT CASE STUDY
The Lani Kai Island Resort is located on Fort Meyers Beach, Florida on a stretch of the Gulf Coast known for its beautiful sandy beaches and its enthusiastic spring-break-party-goers. The hotel has been owned and managed by the same family for forty years. Bob Conidaris, the owner, comes down to the hotel daily and chats with the staff, visits with customers and reinforces the stability and consistency that continues to make the Lani Kai Island Resort one of the most popular destinations for beach-going vacationers.
Late last year, management of the Lani Kai Island Resort became increasingly unhappy with their existing Property Management System (PMS). Support from the vendor was dismal and the Lani Kai Island Resort faced problems with their OTA (Online Travel Agencies that allow third party agents to book rooms at hotels). The hotel decided it needed a better solution. Skyware Hospitality Solutions was chosen. According to Danno Thompson, CFO, “We wanted a vendor that had excellent functionality and would provide us with the best customer service. We researched every major provider and chose Skyware because they received outstanding reviews from their users.”
With over 100 gulf-front rooms in its main hotel, and another property located on the back bay, management wanted a multi-property solution to handle its two properties properly. In addition, the Lani Kai Island Resort has four restaurants, seven bars, with daily and nightly entertainment which they needed to accommodate. Skyware’s flexible modules was the perfect choice allowing the Lani Kai Island Resort to automate all of the reservation and booking tasks, billing, room charges, and seamless integration with the third party OTA transactions.
The installation and training of the new system was flawless. Says Thompson, “Skyware gave us plenty of hands in training and because the system is so user friendly, we quickly adopted the new system”. Productivity increased dramatically due to the many functions the system offers. Integrating Skyware Hospitality Systems’ new third-party booking engine was a seamless transition which also resulted in significant fee savings for the resort.
Now, the Lani Kai Island Resort goes through their busy season with a modern, robust, fully automated Property Management System the entire hotel staff enjoys.
