How Integrated Property Management System Can Help Hotels in Sri Lanka to Boost Profitability

It is the most conducive time for Sri Lankan hotel industry as the sub-continent’s tourism sector is witnessing a promising growth in recent years. The rise in smart yet affordable hospitality technology has enabled many hotels to access them to improve hotel operations. With several options at hand, it is quite exciting to see that hotels in Sri Lanka, across segments are implementing innovative technological platforms to boost revenues and profitability while serving guests better.

In Sri Lanka, hotels of all sizes and star-category are increasingly moving forward to deploy cutting-edge hospitality technology to stay ahead of their competitions. Several studies have indicated that technology can help hotels attract new guests while retaining loyalty of existing customers. It also helps a hotel improve operational efficiency.

However, hotels need to be extra careful while selecting a hotel property management system as every product available in the market may not help in producing the desired result. Apart from considering the financial aspect of the property management system, hotels also need to check the number of modules that are integrated with the property management system. Read more

Published in: srilanka.idsnext.com

Grow Your Restaurant Business with Smart Restaurant Management Software

In the last couple of years Sri Lanka has been witnessing a sharp increase in the number of restaurants in the country. This exciting trend has the potential to boost to restaurant and food and beverage industry. Taking into account that the island nation is currently one of the top tourist destinations, the restaurant industry in the country is also getting ready to grab its share of business.

With competition increasingly, restaurants are redefining themselves to not only serve food but provide guests a whole new dining experience. Given that today’s diners are expecting more from restaurant than just top quality food, restaurants across Sri Lanka have taken a step forward to integrate technology into their operations.

Why restaurants need to adopt technology?

Competition in the restaurant business is fierce and every restaurant is looking for a differentiator. In this context, software such as a customer engagement solution provides the much needed edge to deliver personalized services and to keep guests entertained. It’s now time for restaurants to integrate such technologies in an attempt to enhance their guests’ dining experience and build loyalty. Read more

Published in: srilanka.idsnext.com

Looking for an Ideal PMS for Your Budget Hotel Business? Review PAX Xotels!

Irrespective of size or business volumes, having a proper Property Management System is crucial for every hotel entity. There are numerous property management systems designed to help automate the operation process at large hotels, but we can't really use those property management systems to streamline daily operations at small and budget hotels as most of the features will be redundant and it also involves heavy pricing aspects.
Do small and budget hotels really need a Property Management System?
The answer to this question is 'Yes'. While a big hotel can go for a robust property management system to take care of operational aspects including guest bookings, online reservations, food and beverage costing, accounting, report generation, sales and marketing, HR and payroll, maintenance management and quality management, a small hotel needs to find out a PMS which would help automate some basic operations core to its day to day business. Read more

Published in: Go Articles

Drive Direct & Increased Booking to Your Hotel with Web Booking Engine

In today’s time, when a sizeable percentage of hotel reservations are done online, your hotel cannot ignore its website which is unique and exclusive to you. Your website has all the information about your facilities and is just what your potential guests need to make a booking. And if recent statistics are to be believed, your website has to potential to cost-effectively generate a significant amount of room bookings for your hotel.
Despite being an important channel for generating room bookings, hotel websites still fall short on getting the visibility they need and rely heavily on third party booking agents to get room bookings. As the market gets more competitive, is it time for hotels to go back to basic and relook at how they can leverage their website as a revenue channel. A smart web booking could hold the answer.

What is a Web Booking Engine and how does it work?

A Web Booking Engine (WBE) is an application embedded in a hotel website that allows potential guests to view availability of rooms and make booking. Besides facilitating guests to make hassle free bookings, the biggest benefit of a web booking engine is that it enables a hotel to accept bookings for as much as a year in advance. Due to its ability to generate revenue for a hotel, a web booking engine is considered the single most powerful and important element in a hotels website. Read more

Published in: IDS NEXT Blog

IDS NEXT Helps Lords Hotels & Resorts To Increase Operational Efficiency

Today, when hotels face extreme competition, right technology adoption can enable them to stay ahead of their competitions in the long run. And technology implementation becomes inevitable when a hotel group is on a rapid expansion mode. It is mostly because of the fact that a hotel or hotel group needs to have all required technology platforms to streamline and automate all its operational aspects. So that it can free up its personnel from mundane tasks and engage them with guests to serve them better and witness enhanced guest satisfaction which is core to its success.

Here is an example on how Lords Hotels & Resorts witnessed a higher guest satisfaction by increasing its employee productivity and operational efficiency across its 19 properties by implementing IDS NEXT Software. Read more



Published in: Voyagers World

Today, when hotels face extreme competition, right technology adoption can enable them to stay ahead of their competitions in the long run. And technology implementation becomes inevitable when a hotel group is on a rapid expansion mode. It is mostly because of the fact that a hotel or hotel group needs to have all required technology platforms to streamline and automate all its operational aspects. So that it can free up its personnel from mundane tasks and engage them with guests to serve them better and witness enhanced guest satisfaction which is core to its success.
Here is an example on how Lords Hotels & Resorts witnessed a higher guest satisfaction by increasing its employee productivity and operational efficiency across its 19 properties by implementing IDS NEXT Software.
- See more at: http://voyagersworld.in/article/ids-next-helps-lords-hotels-resorts-increase-operational-efficiency#sthash.wN28PgQ5.dpuf

Today, when hotels face extreme competition, right technology adoption can enable them to stay ahead of their competitions in the long run. And technology implementation becomes inevitable when a hotel group is on a rapid expansion mode. It is mostly because of the fact that a hotel or hotel group needs to have all required technology platforms to streamline and automate all its operational aspects. So that it can free up its personnel from mundane tasks and engage them with guests to serve them better and witness enhanced guest satisfaction which is core to its success.
Here is an example on how Lords Hotels & Resorts witnessed a higher guest satisfaction by increasing its employee productivity and operational efficiency across its 19 properties by implementing IDS NEXT Software.
- See more at: http://voyagersworld.in/article/ids-next-helps-lords-hotels-resorts-increase-operational-efficiency#sthash.wN28PgQ5.dpuf

Today, when hotels face extreme competition, right technology adoption can enable them to stay ahead of their competitions in the long run. And technology implementation becomes inevitable when a hotel group is on a rapid expansion mode. It is mostly because of the fact that a hotel or hotel group needs to have all required technology platforms to streamline and automate all its operational aspects. So that it can free up its personnel from mundane tasks and engage them with guests to serve them better and witness enhanced guest satisfaction which is core to its success.
Here is an example on how Lords Hotels & Resorts witnessed a higher guest satisfaction by increasing its employee productivity and operational efficiency across its 19 properties by implementing IDS NEXT Software.
- See more at: http://voyagersworld.in/article/ids-next-helps-lords-hotels-resorts-increase-operational-efficiency#sthash.wN28PgQ5.dpuf

Today, when hotels face extreme competition, right technology adoption can enable them to stay ahead of their competitions in the long run. And technology implementation becomes inevitable when a hotel group is on a rapid expansion mode. It is mostly because of the fact that a hotel or hotel group needs to have all required technology platforms to streamline and automate all its operational aspects. So that it can free up its personnel from mundane tasks and engage them with guests to serve them better and witness enhanced guest satisfaction which is core to its success.
Here is an example on how Lords Hotels & Resorts witnessed a higher guest satisfaction by increasing its employee productivity and operational efficiency across its 19 properties by implementing IDS NEXT Software.
- See more at: http://voyagersworld.in/article/ids-next-helps-lords-hotels-resorts-increase-operational-efficiency#sthash.wN28PgQ5.dpufv

Today, when hotels face extreme competition, right technology adoption can enable them to stay ahead of their competitions in the long run. And technology implementation becomes inevitable when a hotel group is on a rapid expansion mode. It is mostly because of the fact that a hotel or hotel group needs to have all required technology platforms to streamline and automate all its operational aspects. So that it can free up its personnel from mundane tasks and engage them with guests to serve them better and witness enhanced guest satisfaction which is core to its success.
Here is an example on how Lords Hotels & Resorts witnessed a higher guest satisfaction by increasing its employee productivity and operational efficiency across its 19 properties by implementing IDS NEXT Software.
- See more at: http://voyagersworld.in/article/ids-next-helps-lords-hotels-resorts-increase-operational-efficiency#sthash.wN28PgQ5.dpuf

Today, when hotels face extreme competition, right technology adoption can enable them to stay ahead of their competitions in the long run. And technology implementation becomes inevitable when a hotel group is on a rapid expansion mode. It is mostly because of the fact that a hotel or hotel group needs to have all required technology platforms to streamline and automate all its operational aspects. So that it can free up its personnel from mundane tasks and engage them with guests to serve them better and witness enhanced guest satisfaction which is core to its success.
Here is an example on how Lords Hotels & Resorts witnessed a higher guest satisfaction by increasing its employee productivity and operational efficiency across its 19 properties by implementing IDS NEXT Software.
- See more at: http://voyagersworld.in/article/ids-next-helps-lords-hotels-resorts-increase-operational-efficiency#sthash.wN28PgQ5.dpufv

Today, when hotels face extreme competition, right technology adoption can enable them to stay ahead of their competitions in the long run. And technology implementation becomes inevitable when a hotel group is on a rapid expansion mode. It is mostly because of the fact that a hotel or hotel group needs to have all required technology platforms to streamline and automate all its operational aspects. So that it can free up its personnel from mundane tasks and engage them with guests to serve them better and witness enhanced guest satisfaction which is core to its success.
Here is an example on how Lords Hotels & Resorts witnessed a higher guest satisfaction by increasing its employee productivity and operational efficiency across its 19 properties by implementing IDS NEXT Software.
- See more at: http://voyagersworld.in/article/ids-next-helps-lords-hotels-resorts-increase-operational-efficiency#sthash.wN28PgQ5.dpuf

Today, when hotels face extreme competition, right technology adoption can enable them to stay ahead of their competitions in the long run. And technology implementation becomes inevitable when a hotel group is on a rapid expansion mode. It is mostly because of the fact that a hotel or hotel group needs to have all required technology platforms to streamline and automate all its operational aspects. So that it can free up its personnel from mundane tasks and engage them with guests to serve them better and witness enhanced guest satisfaction which is core to its success.
Here is an example on how Lords Hotels & Resorts witnessed a higher guest satisfaction by increasing its employee productivity and operational efficiency across its 19 properties by implementing IDS NEXT Software.
- See more at: http://voyagersworld.in/article/ids-next-helps-lords-hotels-resorts-increase-operational-efficiency#sthash.wN28PgQ5.dpuf

Today, when hotels face extreme competition, right technology adoption can enable them to stay ahead of their competitions in the long run. And technology implementation becomes inevitable when a hotel group is on a rapid expansion mode. It is mostly because of the fact that a hotel or hotel group needs to have all required technology platforms to streamline and automate all its operational aspects. So that it can free up its personnel from mundane tasks and engage them with guests to serve them better and witness enhanced guest satisfaction which is core to its success.
Here is an example on how Lords Hotels & Resorts witnessed a higher guest satisfaction by increasing its employee productivity and operational efficiency across its 19 properties by implementing IDS NEXT Software.
- See more at: http://voyagersworld.in/article/ids-next-helps-lords-hotels-resorts-increase-operational-efficiency#sthash.wN28PgQ5.dpuf

Industry must ally with academia

Ronnie Sarkar, Senior Vice President, Sales, IDS NEXT Business Solutions Pvt Ltd, talks about the need to strengthen the hotel management education in the best interests of the industry.
Growth and future of hotel management education in India
The future of hotel management education looks quite bright and promising and there are several factors behind it playing big roles. The Government policy aiming to boost the level of technical education is one of the main reasons as hotel management education falls under this category.
Additionally, another main reason is that tourism in India is poised to grow and as per the World Trade Organization, India is set to receive 25 million foreign tourists by 2015. In proportion to this, the country is also gearing up to have more hotels to accommodate the growing number of tourists. It has been observed that many more hotel brands are coming to India to tap the vast market and they will all need skilled manpower who can add value to their operations. This is where exactly the need for quality hotel management education draws attention.
Besides, the good news is that property management system is now a part of the curriculum and hoteliers; the market leaders, especially, want people trained on property management software as they get a ready resource.Read more

Published in: Voyagers World

Previous IDS NEXT: Redefining the Hotel Management Education in India

Tourism in India is set to grow and as per the World Travel Organization, the country is getting ready to receive 125 million tourists by 2015. In proportionate to this, India is also gearing up to have more hotels at all categories to accommodate the ever growing number of tourists.

Take a look at the below mentioned statistics:

• India has over 200,000 hotels rooms across categories and is expected to have more 114,000 hotel rooms in next five years.

Now, the next big question is – Does the ever growing Indian Hotel Industry have access to extremely talented pool of personnel to run the show at various levels? No doubt, the growth in tourism and hotel hospitality business has led to a sharp increase in the number of institutions providing quality education in the field of hotel management.

Some of the reputed institutions are always a step ahead than their competitors in terms of introducing several new elements to their curriculum. Apart from teaching the regular stuff, some of them have also introduced technical education in order to provide their students a high class training session. The motive – these institutions take every possible step to make sure that their students get recruited by big hotels as soon as they finish their course. Read more


Published in: IDS NEXT Blog

By: Ronnie Sarkar

Press Release - Binu Mathews takes over as Chief Executive Officer of IDS NEXT Business Solutions

Binu Mathews, Promoted to the post of CEO OF IDS NEXT Business Solutions

Bangalore, August 2, 2013 - IDS NEXT, global leader in ERP and total technology solutions for the hospitality and leisure industries, announces the promotion of Binu Mathews to Chief Executive Officer of IDS NEXT. This promotion comes after his three year stint with IDS NEXT where he led the effort to significantly grow the company’s revenue, steered the business to newer geographies, and deepen its presence in existing markets. IDS NEXT has also grown significantly in employee strength, and product offering.

Some of the major achievements of Binu Mathews leading up to his promotion have been his active role leadership in helping launch start-ups RezNext and RoomsTonite. He also leveraged his decades of experience to forge a host of strategic partnerships with international players like, global cloud computing company- Salesforce, revenue management software provider for the hospitality industry - Maxim, online reputation Management Company - TrustYou, and the single largest processor of electronic hotel transactions - Pegasus Solutions, and leader in innovative Business Intelligence solutions - arcplan. Read more

Published in: http://www.idsnext.com

Right Property Management System is Key to Your Hotel’s Success.

Exclusive Feature: Ask any hotelier and they will all agree that a hotel management system plays a key role in their hotel’s success. 

 Good hotel software enables its users to store information about guests, retrieve it to personalize the guest experience, and on the whole, ensure the guest has a wonderful stay.

At the back-end, hotel software is even more important. The front office module, point of sale, accounts receivable, banquets and conferences, restaurant module, housekeeping, inventory, HR and Payroll, along with a host of other modules and apps in a hotel software must work in an interconnected and smooth manner.

Information stored in these modules helps the management of a hotel generate important reports that facilitate planning and decision-making. Read More

Published in: http://www.4hoteliers.com

By: Jacob K.I

IDS NEXT, India's #1 Hospitality Technology Company - Hotelier India, Product Finder 2013

IDS NEXT Advantage Academy Trains Brigade Hospitality Personnel on FortuneNEXT 6i Enterprise Property Management System

IDS NEXT, global leader in ERP and total technology solutions for the hospitality and leisure industries announce the successful completion of a customized training program for personnel of Brigade Hospitality Services Ltd.

The training was organized by IDS NEXT Advantage Academy and was designed to focus on features introduced in the newest version of the enterprise class solution, FortuneNEXT 6i.

The software training was organized at IDS NEXT’s global headquarters in Bangalore and offered instruction on FortuneNEXT 6i Enterprise, with focus on Membership module and MIS Reports. Product experts from IDS NEXT walked participants through the features of each module, how these features can be used, report generation, short cuts, tip and tricks of extracting information, navigation and more.  Over 50 staff of Brigade Hospitality attended the training, which was followed by an online test, evaluation and certification.

Speaking on the training program, Varadharajan Athmanathan, Vice President, Global Customer Engagement Group of IDS NEXT Business Solutions said, “The Brigade Group likes to be ahead of the competitive curve, and we were delighted to train their staff to optimally use IDS NEXT Software. Our comprehensive and large ERP offers numerous opportunities to automate processes, store information in an accessible manner, ensure greater visibility into hotel functioning and thus enhance top management planning. This training program for the hospitality team of Brigade Group was geared to do all this and more.”

“The week long training on IDS NEXT Software was a good learning for us. We now know how we can leverage numerous reports the software offers to access a drilled down view of the club functioning. We learnt how to access over 50 reports and we can already see the difference in faster decision-making” said Gurmeet Singh, General Manager – Banquets, Brigade Hospitality. 

Said Charu Ramaiah, Woodrose Club Manager, “I found the training on the membership module most interesting, as the membership module is feature rich and allows us to better connect with our guests. We are now using a host of features that we were unaware of, and this has enhanced member satisfaction”.

IDS NEXT’S Advantage Academy was set up in 2011 as part of our Customer Engagement initiative. “We are a market leader in Hotel ERP and empowering hotel/club staff to efficiently use every feature of our range of enterprise class software is our aim. We plan to continue training our customers to ensure, we have highly equipped software users, who leverage the software to the maximum and deliver value to both the hotel and guests.” said Mr Athmanathan.

About IDS NEXT

IDS NEXT, is a global leader in providing ERP and total technology solutions for the Hospitality and Leisure industries. With a track record that spans 25+ years, we has earned the trust of

over 3200 customers globally, and have with a strong presence in 40 countries across South Asia, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa. IDS NEXT’s clients include Ramada Hotels, ETA Star, Ramee, Choice Hotels International, Swissôtel, Aitkens Spence, John Keells Group, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, ITC Fortune Group, Royal Orchid Hotels, Pride Hotels, and many more.

Our portfolio of  capabilities include, Software Development, Mobility Solutions, Total Technology Solutions and a range of next generation software products that  address every segment of the hospitality industry, including independent hotels, chain hotels, business hotels, resorts, clubs, service apartments, limited service, spas, cruise liners and restaurants.

For more information about us visit http://idsnext.com/

About Brigade Hospitality

Brigade Hospitality Services Limited (BHSL) is a subsidiary of Brigade Group. It was established in June 2004 to focus on the hospitality industry. BHSL’s range of operations currently encompass professionally managed serviced residences, clubs, convention centres, hotels & resorts

Brigade Homestead Serviced Residences are located in prime locations across Bangalore city offering "a home away from home" experience with fully furnished service apartments. The lifestyle clubs - Woodrose, Regent, Galaxy and Augusta - are part of large residential enclaves, created to provide relaxing and rejuvenating facilities for all its members. The MLR Convention Centres, located in J.P. Nagar and Whitefield are ideal venues to host corporate, social and cultural events. The Grand Mercure and Sheraton brands have been launched in India for the first time by the Brigade Group. The company has also tied up with other world-class international hotel operators for its business hotels, luxury resorts and spas.

For more information, visit http://www.brigadehospitality.com/index.html

For Media Contact

Lillian D’Costa

Manager, Marketing

Email: easy@idsfortune.com

Can a Guest Identity Management Solution, Enhance Your Hotel’s Security?

Manually maintaining a guest’s identity is both cumbersome and time consuming. It also results in a longer check-in time for a weary guest who has in all likelihood spent many long hours traveling.

Here is a way to reduce your guest’s check-in time and welcome them into your hotel faster. Discover the many benefits of an identity management solution that works through an id or passport scanner. A small, neat device placed unobtrusively on your front desk can enable your staff to work faster, simpler and error free.It also enhances guest service and experience.


IDS NEXT Network Grouphas partnered with TTI Technologies to introduce the identity management solution in India. With 19 years in the industry, TTI Technologies is a veteran in identity management and their id solution is cost-effective and certified by major property management systems from around the world. Read more

Published in: http://www.idsnext.com

IDS NEXT Technical Support Center Celebrates 2 Years of Unmatched Customer Support

Hotel operations are often mission critical – guests check-in and out at all times of the day and night, services are constantly requested and management frequently needs quick access to a host of customized reports for planning. An enterprise class hospitality management system is vast and new hotel staff keeps coming aboard. What does staff do when they are new to the software at the hotel and do not know where to find a feature or how to customize a report? Connect with the software provider of course. But if you happen to be an IDS NEXT client, you truly have the luxury of calling up a technical support number and that too, 24/7.

This April, IDS NEXT technical support center completes 2 years of operation.The team has grown from 5 to 23, and it has extended its services from its 2000+ customers in India, to include its 1000+ international customers spread over 40 countries.

Heading this high pressure, critical service team is the ever smiling Deepali Aley.

As Senior Manager, Deepali explains how IDS NEXT TSC as it is popularly known plans to meet the ever growing clients’ needs, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Read full interview>>

Restaurant Management Solution: Engine of Your Growth

Restaurants have been a mite slow to adopt technology. After all, many restaurants are small, in a single location, and owners were happy to oversee operations personally. But things are changing rapidly. Today, numerous foreign chains have entered the market, strategically grabbing a significant chunk of the growing market. Indians restaurants too are thinking big, putting together expansion plans, moving towards multi location, multi geography, and multi-cuisine restaurants.  

Recently however, has seen a changing clientele, growth in usage of mobile phones and other smart devices by customers has made restaurants relook at restaurant technology and its ability to engage guest.

According to the 2013 Restaurant Technology Study, a robust restaurant technology platform has become essential to a restaurant’s overall growth. The study also reveals that a majority of restaurants are getting ready to invest in futuristic technology to stay ahead of the competition curve. About 54 percent of restaurants are exploring various options to invest more resources in consumer facing technology. In short, restaurants have now realized the influence of such mediums and they are getting ready to enhance their guest experience by introducing cutting edge technology.

Key Highlights of 2013 Restaurant Technology Study

Here are some key points of the Restaurant Technology Study which clearly suggest that migrating to an efficient restaurant management solution can lead to a higher growth in revenue.

·        With a proper restaurant management solution, a restaurant can increase its overall efficiency by 35.7 percent

·        It can also enhance guest satisfaction by 31.3 percent

·        Employee productivity can also go up by 30.4 percent

·        Security compliance, which is also a major aspect to a restaurant’s functioning can be rated up by 29.5 percent

·        technology can help restaurants to save cost by up to 26.8 percent

·        A whopping 73 percent of restaurants agree that mobile point of sale technology serves guest more quickly and efficiently

·        66 percent of restaurants thinks that the mobile point of sale can help in increasing guest satisfaction

Choosing the right Restaurant Management Software

Locating the right restaurant solution can be a challenge. With a larger number of vendors in the market, each highlighting the many benefits of their software, arriving at the right chose of a restaurant solution can be dicey.

If you are looking for a restaurant software that is user-friendly, easy to maintain, robust and also promises 24/7 technical support, few other names come forth as prominently as IDS NEXT Software.

We have two restaurant management software’s designed for the niche need of the industry, namely,  FortuneNEXT 6i R&B for standalone restaurants and FortuneNEXT 6i R&B Central designed for restaurant chains.

Benefits of FortuneNEXT 6i R&B!

• Unified management of multiple restaurant, pub or club outlets
• Easy maintenance of records through a single application
• User friendly interface with in-built intelligence
• Centralized management of outlets
• One-point support system
• Reduced delays
• Increased accuracy and efficiency
• Reduced revenue leakage

Our FortuneNEXT 6i R&B software are designed to improve efficiency and productivity at all levels of your restaurant by streamlining operations right from taking orders to handling accounts. Our solutions also you to deliver personalized service, as the comprehensive capabilities free your staff from mundane tasks, enabling them to give more personalized service to diners.

Software Modules in FortuneNEXT 6i R&B

·        Point of Sale

·        Accounts Receivable

·        Materials Management

·        Food & Beverage Costing

Out restaurant software also interfaces to with Fortune iAlert an SMS Alert Engine which helps you stay connected with your patrons, and personalize your service, Guest Dynamix our cool new Feedback & Loyalty Management Solution on the cloud and our attractive, feature rich E-menu application, Envy Dine.

What sets IDS NEXT’s FortuneNEXT 6i R&B software apart from competitors is that it not only leverages our 25 years of domain expertise to develop a world class product, but also that the software is PA DSS compliant, this means data confidential financial data collected from your diners is safely encrypted. Our product is highly in demand and over 600 restaurants and clubs of all sizes use the software across the country.

To request for the FortuneNEXT 6i R&B brochure, email us at easy@idsfortune.com