Analysis

Sheraton Times Square is one of many hotels in the hotel chain known as Starwood. They are one of the more well-known hotels located in Times Square. They also make sure that they are up to date with all the newest technology. In 2013 they completed a $180 million renovation and transformation on the hotel to make it feel more like a home away from home for their guests. Sheraton’s goal is to protect guests’ information and make sure to exceed guests’ expectation with their stay. Sheraton accommodates each guest depending on the information provided and to ensure that the guests’ needs are meet. The MIS manager at Sheraton Times Square is Joe O'Connor. 

Collaboration

Collaboration is a group of people who provide feedback and iteration to complete a common goal. The Synchronous collaboration tools we are using to communicate during our project are GroupMe, OneDrive, Gantt Chart (SmartSheets), and the Asynchronous tools we use are e-mails.

GroupMe is a group texting application where everyone in the group can communicate at the same time.  This allows the group to communicate instantly through text messages. It is a free application owned by Microsoft.

OneDrive is a free online storage accessed through your Microsoft account. OneDrive allows the group to store documents in the cloud for content sharing. OneDrive provides version management and allows the group to track changes to documents.  With one drive everyone has access to the same document and we can go back to earlier versions if necessary.

Gantt Chart is a project management and collaboration tool.  We are using SmartSheets to create and develop our Gantt Chart. The Gantt Chart allows us to keep track of the project through task-management.  It provides a calendar of planned activities and completion dates.  The Gantt Chart allows us to have control of the project to ensure it is completed by the established due date.  This is also a free application. Periodically we use e-mail to share a file.  However, e-mail is not very productive for our project because it has no controls.  It does not provide a tracking system or the ability for version management.

Blogger.com is what we are using to create the blog where we will post our project tabs describing our project on the Sheraton Hotel and Resorts.  This is also a free tool offered by Google. We also are a group that uses cooperation, which is all of us working essentially on the same work, to accomplish a job. We work as a group and share our ideas with each other to ensure that everyone is on the same track and is working towards the same goal. We also gave each other different sections for each individual to work on and once completed, we would look it over as a team. This allows us to complete each task in a timely manner.

Just like Sheraton Times Square everyone works as a team in order to get things done. They make sure to communicate with front desk and to housekeeping and then to the managers if anything goes wrong. They all collaborate and cooperate with each other in order to keep their guests happy and making sure that all their needs are attended to.  Typically, the night shift workers inform the day shift staff regarding anything that has taken place or that may need attention, to ensure they are updated on all activities.  This allows for the continued smooth operations of the hotel.

Information Silos

Information silos is when data is not shared throughout all departments of a company. Sheraton Times Square does have information silos that happens around 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. This is the time when they shut down the systems that the front desk uses to do their reports. For example, when the systems go down, the staff at the front desk is not able to use their computers to access or add information.   As a result, they are given paperwork to keep track of rooms that guests check into, are vacant or to keep track of guests who check out. Sometimes the front desk and housekeeping are not able to keep track of the changes, and rooms get bounced because they double-book guests into them.  When the system comes back on, the information from the paperwork should be entered into the system, however, they often do not input the correct information, which creates problems with the guests.

Information System Components:

Software

The software Sheraton Times Square uses for the guest log is Lightspeed system. They changed to Lightspeed because it provides more security for the guests’ personal information, and provides the hotel with special information about each guest, for example, a birthday, or an anniversary.  It helps the hotel to make the guest feel more at home and cared for.  The information gathered by this system, allows the hotel to provide better service and to maintain high customer satisfaction.

Hardware

The hardware is all of the physical tools that are used for the information systems. Some of the hardware is in the form of computers used by the staff at the front desk, the manager’s and accountant’s offices. They also have cameras for their security system to ensure the safety of everyone in the hotel. They use cellphones to help communicate with each department.   The housekeeping staff receives text alerts when guests request special services. There are also phones in each room to provide guests with room service. There are printers in the offices and filing cabinets for employees’ information and they store guest information in the computers. 

Data

Data is important to Sheraton Times Square because they need it in order to know about the guests and when they are checking in and out. It also shows how many people are checking into one room and which room belongs to what guest. The information needs to be up to date and held in private to ensure that no one gets their hands on the guests’ information. The main system used for this is Lightspeed since it can hold credit card information up to anniversary dates of the guests.

Procedures

Due to the nature of the hotel business, there are many daily procedures and operations used at Sheraton Times Square. For example, the procedure for booking a room begins with a guest speaking with someone at the front desk and is followed by the front desk telling housekeeping to make sure the room is clean. After the guest checks into their room, they are provided with room service by the kitchen and housekeeping staff.  If there are any problems, managers are there to help out.  Then the guests check out at the front desk, followed by the front desk notifying housekeeping to clean the room for the next guest. If the guest is in the Starwood Preferred Guest program, they get points added to their account for their stay at the hotel.

People

Sheraton Times Square employees are a big part in making the hotel successful and ensuring that guests come back and even recommend them to others. They are the ones who interact with the guests and make sure that their stay is basically a home away from home. Front desk and housekeeping are the vital part to making the stay of a guest the best, since they are the ones who book rooms and make sure that the rooms are the cleanest. Since New York City has a bedbug problem Sheraton is one of the best when it comes to cleaning out a room that has been affected by them. They completely strip and remove everything in the room and clean it out before they replace it all and allow people to stay in it. Then management comes in to talk to the guest, and reward them with a free stay or free room service. So every department works hand-in-hand with each other when it comes to the guest at the hotel. This is why they are one of the three largest and more well-known hotels in New York City.

Social Media

Sheraton Times Square uses a variety of social media providers like Facebook and Twitter.  These sites, our dynamic processes, allow Sheraton to communicate with customers who were not able to give feedback during their stay.  Feedback from the guests allows the hotel to make improvements based on the customer’s feedback. This also can help them to improve their staff if they see that guests weren’t happy because someone in front desk or other employees treated them disrespectfully. If that’s the case Sheraton will make sure that it won’t happen again by ensuring the employee gets the proper training.  It also helps to get the word out about the hotel and show people how great the services are and how well guests are treated. It also shows pictures of the rooms to the guests so they can see how big or what they will be getting before they book their stay. The gym, lobby, restaurant, and other locations are also viewable on these social media sites so guests can get a visual tour of what they can expect to see at the hotel. Guests also use Instagram to post pictures of their room and view while staying with us, but Sheraton Times Square doesn’t have an Instagram account of their own. 

Customer Relationship Management

The activity that we are analyzing is customer relationship management and how Sheraton Times Square keeps track of their guests and ensure that they are happy with their stay at the hotel. Sheraton keeps to their mission in wanting to exceed the expectation of the guests by providing them with a cake and wine for their birthdays. They also give gift baskets for the children of guests, if it’s their birthday. This keeps the customer relationship strong with the Sheraton and helps to keep their guests loyal to them. They also have the Starwood Preferred Guest program that awards the members with different statuses depending on how often they stay at the hotel. The higher you are in the status, the more services are opened to you, and you are provided with special care like complimentary foods and drinks already in your room awaiting your arrival. 

The structured process that the Sheraton Times Square goes through with CRM is in marketing and use of their social media sites to get customers, as well as advertising around the city.  Once the actual sale of the room to a guest takes place, relationship management begins.  Relationship management is key to keeping the guest loyal and wanting to come back to the hotel. This is where you can get them to either stay longer, comeback, or recommend the Sheraton to family and friends. They also can write reviews on our social media sites to show others that we are better than our competitors. Lastly is the “loss/churn" which is when we lose customers due to bad services which can happen due to housekeeping not cleaning a room properly or the guest being treated disrespectfully at the front desk. Guests can be won back by them being awarded a free stay, free room service, or even paying less than what the room is priced for. High Value guests to the Sheraton are people who are involved with the Clinton Global that is held there and the United Nations where they have honor students stay there for two weeks. They make sure that these guests are happy so they will return and have their future events at the Sheraton.

Social Capital

Social Capital is the investment in social relations with the expectation of returns in the marketplace. This means that a company can use social media to increase their presence with previous and new customers. They use it to build their brand and make sure to stand out more from their competitors. The value that this adds is information, influence, social credentials, and personal reinforcement. With obtaining information this opens up doors of opportunities, access to problems, and gives data to the business.  Next is influencing the employers and members who make decisions in the business. For the Sheraton that is the group meetings they have to make sure everyone knows what to do when there’s a fire, active shooter, or handling upset guests. Then there’s social credentials which is when people believe that critical personnel are standing with you and will most likely want to support you.  Lastly there’s personal reinforcements which is having a strong social network that can help to reinforce professional identity, image, and position in an organization. Sheraton’s social capital is medium since they use a Facebook page to connect with guests and to see their reviews on their stays at the hotel.  This helps to connect guests that aren’t located in New York City and are located around the world to talk about their stay with us or if they want to stay with us when they plan their vacations to New York City.

When it comes to social media policy there is only one person who can control the website and address the reviews on it. This allows more control to what is written on the sites and to ensure that guests’ problems are addressed properly.  Only people who are followers can write reviews on the page to prevent unwanted and inappropriate comments or reviews from being posted on the page. Every review is responded to in a professional manner and addressed properly according to the subject matter.