Nordotel and SIHOT

Nordotel is a brand, of the TUI group portfolio. The hotel group is focused on the leisure market and offers family friendly, adult-only, or spa & fitness hotels to its customers. Nordotel properties are located in touristic areas in Spain, Portugal, and France.

Nordotel and SIHOT are partners for 15 years. During their partnership, the companies had to face many challenges together. Three of those challenges and their solutions are demonstrated in the following part of this case study.

1. Immediate change of PMS due to a former PMS provider that was threatening business continuation

Challenge:
Initially, the partnership between Nordotel and SIHOT was a result of a major problem Nordotel was facing with its PMS provider at that time. After a sales pitch, Nordotel agreed to implement the software in its hotels but the features presented were never delivered. In addition, the servers of the PMS constantly failed, which resulted in data loss. As the PMS was even threatening the business continuation, the hotel group had to find an immediate, fast, and trustworthy solution.

“Our goal was to survive and get a solid PMS with real data as fast as possible”

Jorge Keim, IT Manager Nordotel

Solution:
SIHOT was selected as a replacement for Nordotels PMS. They ensured a fast and professional implementation with on-site support for the brand. The customer centred focus on relationship building, helped Nordotel to build trust for a PMS again after their bad experience.

“What did you worship most after starting to work with SIHOT?
The PMS is trustworthy and solid. You can just trust that the data is never lost. It Is more secure and stable than other software solutions. Another feature we really appreciated was the configuration with Tour Operator contracts. SIHOT was able to automize and implement even the most complex contracts. As a leisure focused hotel group with many different special agreements that really helped us doing our daily job much faster.”

Jorge Keim, IT Manager Nordotel

2. Adaptations to local and regional regulations

Challenge:
As Nordotel is present in different countries and regions it must comply to local regulations on a country and regional level. Therefore, the company needs a PMS partner that can support those requirements to improve automation and ultimately save time and costs.

Solution:
SIHOT adapted the PMS and its additional modules to two major local regulations, which affected the Nordotel hotels in Mallorca and Portugal. In Mallorca, a local tax was introduced and in Portugal the government introduced a special certification process for point of sales software systems. “I have tested and worked with many PMS solutions in my life and especially when it comes to regulations, SIHOT outperforms other hotel software companies. In Portugal for example, SIHOT was ready before the Portuguese government introduced new regulations for point of sales systems, whereas other providers are still not compliant with the regulations. In the Baleares, we had a similar case with the local tax introduction. SIHOT acted immediately and was able to offer a solution much faster than other PMS providers.” Jorge Keim, IT Manager Nordotel

“Another important factor when new regulations are introduced is the support a partner provides.  SIHOT has a local 24/7 support in Spain and Portugal, whereas other providers outsource their support or only are available during the week. However, tourism and hosting guests are no 9 to 5 jobs, so we depend on constant issue solving”

Jorge Keim, IT Manager Nordotel

3. Custom interfaces to internal systems 

Challenge:
Nordotel works with various internal systems and needs the PMS to adapt to those systems and interfaces. With more common software programs, developing an interface is most of the times unproblematic, however for internally developed or less recognized programs the development of an interface can be challenging. In the case of Nordotel, their internal accounting system is especially important. A seamless integration is the base for accurate reporting and ultimately strong decision making of the group’s management.

Solution:
SIHOT custom developed an interface for the internally used accounting program of Nordotel. The interface ensures that the two systems exchange data seamlessly.

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