Less than two year into their existence, two Alabama hotels in the Marriott International brand family have managed to rocket toward the top of Marriott's guest satisfaction rankings.

    Non coincidentally, they are owned by the same organization, the Retirement System of Alabama, and operated by RSA's own hotel management company, Birmingham, AL based PCH Hotel&Resort. PCH has, not so inadvertently, deployed customer relationship management systems at the two full-service hotels just after their respective premiers.

    Such a maneuver has resulted in RSA's Marriott Shoals Hotel & Spa in Florence, AL, recently becoming the seventh-ranked full-service Marriott in terms of guest satisfaction. Simultaneously, RSA's Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort&Spa in Birmingham has achieved the number one ranking in overall guest satisfaction among all Renaissance hotels in North America.

    These achievements are not surprising to PCH Hotels' systems manager, partly because of the management firm's intense focus on CRM."CRM is our number one priority, especially with Marriott properties and their tough guest satisfaction surveys, which are such a driving factor."

    With such motivation in hand, Diversified Computer Corp's GuestWare CRM System was installed at both properites, which opened in the summer of 2005. Furthermore, the GuestWare CRM systems were enhanced with the deployment of SpectraLink NetLink wireless telephones that were designed to increase the speed at which guests'issues could be taken care of at the hotels.

    "GuestWare is a great way to trach problems and their results, and using it with the SpectraLink phones is really combining two great things in one in solving guests' problems and fulfilling requests."

    "You also realize with the system what problems and issues are going on and it allows you to ceate a guest database. It also allows you to be more proactive, so you learn which guests like foam pillows, for instance. You can make note of their likes and dislikes. GuestWare also interfaces with the property management system and shows who's checking in and what they have requested during prior stays."

    The hotels' CRM systems begin their work at the two properties' respective in-house call centers that handle all guest requests. At the Renaissance the center is known as the Delight To Serve call center and, at the Marriott, it's known as the At Your Servece call center. All calls received at the centers are logged into the GuestWare system, which then sends out a page to the appropriate person that can handle the guest request, whether it is a bellman, a housekeeper, an engineer or a security guard.