The J Collection switches from a legacy PMS to gain efficiency with Cloudbeds

Given the importance the city of New Orleans places on preserving its historical charm and nature – making hotel upgrades can be challenging. One of the best ways to do so, therefore, is through the use of technologies that help streamline operations.

However, the team found that many legacy PMS solutions had become too complicated, making something as simple as training new staff on how to use them unnecessarily cumbersome. They often had staff not know how to use their previous systems, even after a week of dedicated training.

Always looking for new ways to streamline operations and keep up with the needs of the modern traveler, the team at J Collection chose Cloudbeds and found the transition from their previous PMS to be a seamless, pain-free process – thanks, in large part, to Cloudbeds’ unrivaled support. 

As Chris puts it,

The biggest thing is the transition from PMS to PMS and having the hand-holding that the Cloudbeds agents have done. It has been really helpful. Whenever I bring any issues up, I get calls right away. You just don’t get that anymore.

Chris Curry, Director of Revenue Management at J Collection Hotels

Since then, J Collection has noticed a significant improvement in efficiency, productivity, communication, and the overall guest experience. “I really love the fact that the distribution is just one click. What used to take me a day to build, an OTA, takes me 15 minutes to do. That is huge,” explains Chris.

Speaking to the J Collection’s renewed productivity, Chris continues,

The speed of building rate codes in the system, checking guests in, has just made it a lot easier. The connectivity with all the door locks where we can start doing mobile key has been very helpful in not having as much staff at the front desk. All around it’s really helped us from a productivity side.

Chris Curry, Director of Revenue Management at J Collection Hotels

On top of an intuitive and user-friendly interface, Cloudbeds’ Knowledge Base has also proved incredibly beneficial for the team. Any questions or inquiries are quickly addressed thanks to a library of easily searchable and up-to-date information.

Overall, Chris rejoices “Everyone we’ve reacted with has been on the money, responsive, and they’ve followed through on everything we’ve asked them to do. So it’s just a breath of fresh air coming from a big PMS system to Cloudbeds.”

Driving the very noticeable improvement in communication between hotels and guests, and within the J Collection group, has been Whistle for Cloudbeds – an award-winning guest experience software that helps properties deliver seamless guest engagement from discovery to post-stay. As Chris puts it,

Whistle for Cloudbeds has really helped us out with communicating with employees throughout the hotels and having the GMs able to use their phones to communicate with guests rather than be at the hotel. That’s allowed us to save by clustering GMs up into different hotels.

Chris Curry, Director of Revenue Management at J Collection Hotels

Whistle for Cloudbeds has also made guest check-ins significantly easier. By enabling touchless interactions and mobile accessibility, the software allows J Collection to offer its guests the convenience of a mobile key option – which further helps to reduce the amount of staff required at the front desk.

Believing that the guest experience is going to become increasingly touchless, Chris sees Whistle for Cloudbeds as the perfect tool to accommodate this evolution. As he puts it, “you’re always going to need somebody at the front desk so I think it’s just going to make business better. You’re accommodating the people that don’t want to speak to anybody and you’re accommodating the people that do want to speak to somebody, so all in all you’re just making every guest happy.” 

When it comes to relying on Cloudbeds as a partner, Chris shares,

To have somebody that listens to the hotelier say you can do this and that better, it just really helps out. Not just with workflows, but with confidence that Cloudbeds is willing to support the hotel in its efforts.

Chris Curry, Director of Revenue Management at J Collection Hotels

Besides facilitating easy transition from other PMSs, Chris highlights Cloudbeds’ ease-of-use, system speed, diverse offering, and continued innovation in making it a valuable option for all hoteliers. “I love Cloudbeds because of efficiency – it makes my life easier,” he concludes.