Comtrol® Builds Value for IQWARE as Interface Specialist

Challenge

The IQWARE Global Property Management System is a fully featured suite of hospitality applications, designed to optimize RevPAR and satisfy the unique software requirements of small to large hotels, condo-hotels, timeshares, resorts and multiproperty operations. Since 1984, they become known as one of the world’s leading providers of property management system technology to the hospitality market. The company’s road to success, however, has not been without its share of challenges.

A few years ago, for instance, as IQWARE was making the necessary transition from their older DOS format to a new multitiered Windows framework, a major discussion was under way at their corporate headquarters. Should they spend hundreds, maybe thousands of hours of staff time and associated capital needed to develop their own proprietary interfaces, or was there a way to speed up the development process? Fortunately, they discovered Comtrol®.

Technology Solution

A world leader in connectivity, Comtrol has developed an impressive inventory of pre-packaged interfaces for the most popular guest service systems in the hospitality industry, including PBX, voice mail, call accounting, in-room Internet access, point-of-sale, in-room movie, keyless entry, mini bar, and energy management systems. Known as Lodging Link®, these interfaces eliminate the need for property management system (PMS) companies to develop their own interfaces. Therefore, PMS providers can focus on their core product, and allocate more money, time and manpower to building the operational solutions needed to meet the changing needs of their hospitality clients. With Lodging Link’s built-in modular interfaces, PMS vendors and their client properties no longer need to invest large amounts of capital and staff training time to insure complete integration for hundreds of guest service system interfaces. The installation and ramp-up timeframe in also significantly shortened, making system changes much more efficient for the properties. 

For IQWARE, Comtrol has added value to their system, by allowing them to pass through to the properties a lower interface cost and quicker turnaround time for installation.

“In order to target the markets we wanted, our software must have the ability to interface with disparate systems,” commented François Greffard, vice president of operations for IQWARE Inc. “Our clients come to us and ask, ‘Can you interface with this?’ and since we have Comtrol, 99.9% of the time the answer is ‘Yes!’”

For example, April Holley, director of information technology for The Resort Collection of Panama City Beach, uses the IQWARE PMS system with Comtrol interfaces in the properties she manages for the Collection. The Collection consists of 1007 rooms on six properties in the Panama City Beach area of the Florida Panhandle.

In early 2006, Holley was hired to implement a new accounting and complete PMS network for the properties under the Collection’s umbrella. By the end of 2006, she had the infrastructure set up, and needed to interface the PMS system with their disparate guest service systems.

“Comtrol provides all of our interfaces,” stated Holley. “I love what Comtrol brings to our properties; it’s hands off for me. The integration of our POS, locking, accounting, telephone and additional interfaces amazed me with the ease Comtrol provides. While all this was going on, we also began implementing a new phone system and interface issues arose. I placed a call to Comtrol myself and their ability to provide great customer service and solve my problem quickly, at a time I really needed it, cemented my belief in their interfaces. As we adopt new technology to provide the best guest experience possible, I will continue to turn to Comtrol’s interfaces to fit our needs.”

As the hospitality industry’s interface specialist, Comtrol has a unique focus on the lodging market and understands their clients’ specific operational needs. For example, hotel systems must be fully functional 24 hours a day, so downtime is unacceptable. For that reason, Comtrol’s Lodging Link is engineered so that, even if the PMS server goes offline, it will continue to buffer important data until reconnected.

For hotel properties, the challenge of implementing guest service systems is a part of the business, and problems tend to occur at the most inconvenient times, such as during a full house. Maintaining these systems are paramount to guest experience, and being able to record captured data for future use and billing is paramount to the bottom-line. Lodging Link provides the support to make sure nothing is overlooked.

PMS vendors need credible assurance the interfaces they choose from third party developers will work seamlessly, and Comtrol’s Lodging Link interfaces have been time tested and proven to do just that. With a library of over 460 interfaces currently available to meet the needs of IQWARE and other leading property management system providers, Comtrol continues to understand their clients’ challenges, and to implement efficient,  cost-effective solutions.