Case Study: Software, AI Helps Australian Resort Saves Almost 30% in Housekeeping Wages
Located on Australia’s Gold Coast in Surfer’s Paradise, the 41-story Rhapsody Resort combines the unparalleled convenience of apartment-style accommodations with the luxury of a modern beachside resort. Opened in 2016, the upscale resort boasts a selection of stunning studio, one and two-bedroom modern luxury apartments with scenic ocean and city views just a moment’s walk from the pristine white sands of Surfer’s Paradise Beach.
The Challenge
Upon opening more than three years ago, Rhapsody was manually managing all of the resort’s operations resulting in costly inefficiencies and extra work. More than 90% of the resort’s communications were managed through phone calls and radio calls. Over time, the team collectively recognized that in order to deliver exceptional guest experiences, it was necessary to update some of their operational procedures. They knew they needed to create more efficiencies to help increase their productivity, reduce costs and keep their guests happy, but they weren’t sure how to do it.
The housekeeping team at Rhapsody was particularly struggling to maintain a consistent “cost per occupied room” (CPOR), and keep it aligned with their operating budget. The inefficient productivity was hindering the gross operating profit for the housekeeping department, and they were committed to correcting this.
Housekeeping was also having a hard time keeping track of the room attendants’ “moving around time” (MAT) data. The MAT time is equivalent to the time that the room attendant spends in non-cleaning activities, or less productive time.
The Solution
The team at Rhapsody heard about the Optii platform from an existing Optii customer, and were keenly interested in implementing the housekeeping optimization platform.
After a thorough review, Optii addressed the resort’s primary inefficiency of manual and outdated communications with the Optii Chat platform. Through Optii Chat, the resort was able to quickly and seamlessly connect every employee via desktop or mobile app so they could regularly communicate, share updates, and be engaged at all times. This single change eliminated the need for the resort’s reliance on phone or radio, and has greatly promoted accountability and encouraged teamwork, according to the Rhapsody team.
Optii’s Housekeeping Optimization platform addressed the inconsistent CPOR issue by tracking cleaning times by room type during the year. The intuitive platform features AI predicted cleaning times by guests, allowing for more efficient and accurate planning and monitoring. This tool allows the housekeeping manager to identify inefficiencies and to follow up on unproductive periods.
The Optii platform also solved the resort’s MAT data tracking challenge by helping the Rhapsody team clearly identify what their true MAT was, and then reducing the GAP to the minimum. With this change, the resort was able to significantly limit the amount of time spent on less productive activities.
The Results
- Improved Financials – Rhapsody saved approximately 30% in housekeeping wages year-over-year.
- Individual Ownership/Accountability – Room attendants, supervisors, houseman, and public area managers are now accountable and responsible for each of their tasks. Before Optii, they relied on verbal team communication, and used a piece of paper to indicate the completion of a task. Now managers can monitor the status of each cleaning and non-cleaning task, including the time of creation, and the end time of the task with images. They now have more complete insight into each individual or staff assigned to the department.
- Accurate reporting – Through the Optii platform, the Rhapsody team can now access reports to monitor and track the performance of the department and individuals. This data allows managers to provide specific training based on the unique needs of the department/individuals. Optii assisted the resort in creating personalized training plans.
- A streamlined housekeeping structure – The housekeeping team was able to reduce the number of required supervision hours and restructure the management team to respond to the needs of the productivity and quality of the department.
- Department organization – With their reports and data all centralized in one place, the team better organized the department to more effectively align to the new structure.
- Better planning – With Optii, the team can track the room attendants, and supervisors, all in one view to monitor and better manage the productivity, but also to respond faster to guests’ request.
“We’ve been using Optii since 2017, and I have to say that it has transformed the way we manage our operations, enabling us to focus on our guest experience and provide a memorable stay. All of which are contributing factors to maintaining our #1 position on TripAdvisor in Surfer Paradise over the last two years. Thanks to Optii, we were able to save approximately 30% in housekeeping wages against the prior year. We have been using Optii for three years now, and I would highly recommend it to everyone!”
-Neil Munro, General Manager, The Rhapsody Resort