Abstract:
A system and method of managing promotions of different goods or services at lodging establishments which is directed to reducing distressed inventories of a variety of different goods or services offered at the lodging establishments. An example method includes connecting to different property systems which manage sales of goods or services, obtaining reservation data and guest data from the different property systems, comparing the reservation data to predetermined thresholds to determine distressed inventories of the goods or services of the property systems, obtaining promotions directed to the distressed inventories, determining customers to receive the promotions of the distressed inventories, and sending the promotions to the customers.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to promotions and managing inventory at lodging establishments and more specifically to a system and method of managing promotions of different goods or services at lodging establishments. 
         [0002]    Lodging establishments and chains of lodging establishments often have available inventory, which may include available room reservations and room upgrades. In addition to distressed or underutilized inventory, lodging establishments often oversell rooms and need to relocate guests to alternate hotels. 
         [0003]    Besides rooms, lodging establishments may offer other goods and services which may also be undersold or underutilized by guests or customers. For example, lodging establishments may have available inventory in restaurant reservations, golf reservations, spa reservations, and other available reservations for services. Lodging establishments may have gift shops and other stores which are underutilized by guests. 
         [0004]    Management of available inventory is often handled by separate systems. For example, rooms and room reservations are often management by a Property Management System. Restaurant services and reservations are often managed by a Restaurant Management System. Golf services and reservations are often managed by a Golf Management System. Spa services and reservations are often managed by a Spa Management System. Gift shops and other stores are often managed by separate Point of Sale systems. 
         [0005]    Currently, lodging establishments rely on front desk personnel to offer upgrades and other incentives when guests arrive at the lodging establishments; however, front desk personnel often forget to promote goods or services or skip promotions when they are busy in order to more quickly check-in guests. In addition, front desk personnel are usually not aware of additional “up sell” opportunities beyond room upgrades or up sell opportunities outside of their hotel. Therefore, guests never receive promotions for these goods or services. 
         [0006]    Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method of managing promotions of different goods or services at lodging establishments which overcomes these problems. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0007]    In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a system and method of managing promotions of different goods or services at lodging establishments is provided. 
         [0008]    An example method includes connecting to different property systems which manage sales of goods or services, obtaining reservation data and guest data from the different property systems, comparing the reservation data to predetermined thresholds to determine distressed inventories of the goods or services of the property systems, obtaining promotions directed to the distressed inventories, determining customers to receive the promotions of the distressed inventories, and sending the promotions to the customers. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a network of systems associated with a lodging establishment; and 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of an inventory management method for a lodging establishment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0011]    Turning now to  FIG. 1 , system  10  primarily includes inventory control system  12  and property systems  14 . 
         [0012]    Inventory control system  12  identifies distressed inventory and determines to whom promotions should be made. Distress may be based upon a variety of factors which may vary. For example, distress may be based upon numbers or percentages of available inventory, time inventory has been available, type of inventory, and other factors. 
         [0013]    Inventory control system  12  aggregates promotion delivery for room and other services to guests, as opposed to guests receiving promotions solely directly from any one of property systems  14 . Inventory control system  12  may aggregate promotions at a property level for a particular lodging establishment, or at a regional, national, or global level for a plurality of lodging establishments, such as a chain of lodging establishments. 
         [0014]    Example property systems  14  include property management system  30 , restaurant management system  32 , golf management system  34 , and spa management system  36 . Other property systems  14  are also envisioned. 
         [0015]    Each of property systems  14  separately maintain guest reservation data and guest data. Example guest reservation data may include rooms reserved, length of stay, room rate, group or company discount code, loyalty or other status, or other information. Example guest data may include guest profile information or guest preferences, guest loyalty status, guest reservation histories, and guest purchase histories. 
         [0016]    Guest data may also include other information, such as when guests interact with property systems  14 , what communication channels the guests use to interact with property systems  14 , inputs from property systems  14 , and data entered manually. 
         [0017]    In one example embodiment, property management systems  14  may each include web servers with addresses for web sites for delivering web pages. Guests may download web pages for establishing and logging into accounts for making or cancelling reservations, checking loyalty status, and setting or changing preferences. 
         [0018]    Property management system  30  manages guest services including room reservations at the lodging establishment. Property management system  30  includes a property management tool  40  that provides reservation information, guest information, and inventory information to inventory management system  12 . 
         [0019]    Restaurant management system  32  manages restaurant services including restaurant reservations at a restaurant adjacent to or co-located with the lodging establishment. Restaurant management system  32  includes a restaurant management tool  42  that provides reservation information, customer information, and inventory information to inventory management system  12 . 
         [0020]    Golf management system  34  manages golf services including tee time reservations at a golf course adjacent to or co-located with the lodging establishment. Golf management system  34  includes a golf management tool  44  that provides reservation information, customer information, and inventory information to inventory management system  12 . 
         [0021]    Spa management system  36  manages spa services including spa appointments at a spa adjacent to or co-located with the lodging establishment. Spa management system  36  includes a spa management tool  46  that provides reservation information, customer information, and inventory information to inventory management system  12 . 
         [0022]    Inventory control system  12  provides reservation data and guest data to consumer relationship management system  50 . Inventory control system  12  may provide these data after determining that available inventory levels have reached predetermined distress thresholds. 
         [0023]    Consumer relationship management system  50  generates promotions based upon the reservation data and the guest data. Consumer relationship management system  50  applies promotion rules against the reservation data and the guest data to identify guests for promotion delivery. Consumer relationship management system  50  may define guest circumstances or combinations of circumstances that would lead to promotions. 
         [0024]    Example lodging promotions may include room upgrades to a present property, such as upgrade to a “club” or special membership level room from a standard room, and room upgrades to another property, such as when a present property is in an oversold situation. 
         [0025]    Example restaurant promotions may include restaurant reservations and restaurant and lounge discounts. 
         [0026]    Example golf promotions may include tee time reservations and golf discounts. 
         [0027]    Example spa promotions may include spa reservations and spa discounts. 
         [0028]    For example, consumer relationship management system  50  may provide inventory control system  12  with a room upgrade promotion to a guest staying only one night and paying a room rate greater than a predetermined amount when the lodging establishment is oversold on standard rooms and only has club rooms available. The promotion may solicit an upgrade fee in return for the upgrade, resulting in additional incremental revenue which otherwise may have been given away for free if the hotel ran out of standard rooms. 
         [0029]    By soliciting guests for upgrades earlier, for example, up to twenty-four hours prior to arrival or whenever on-line check-in is allowed to start, the lodging establishment can solicit a larger number of guests, up until the point that all upgrades have been sold. This has the added benefit of freeing up hotel staff from making upgrade decisions, thus allowing them to focus on serving guests. 
         [0030]    As another example, consumer relationship management system  50  may provide inventory control system  12  with a room upgrade promotion at another lodging establishment in the chain to a guest at the guest&#39;s reserved rate when the reserved lodging establishment is sold out. The promotion may require delivery be conditioned on the guest checking-in remotely, for example, via personal computer  14  or mobile communication device  16 . 
         [0031]    By offering this upgrade promotion to a guest in advance of arriving at the reserved lodging establishment, the guest is more likely to accept the offer and adjust travel plans accordingly, thus allowing the chain of lodging establishments to resolve the overbooked situation and earn revenue from both relocated guests and guests who would otherwise be without a room. 
         [0032]    As another example, consumer relationship management system  50  may provide inventory control system  12  with promotions for other types of distressed or underutilized inventory at the same or at another lodging establishment in the chain besides vacant rooms. For example, consumer relationship management system  50  may provide promotions for spa appointments, golf tee times, and/or restaurant meals. 
         [0033]    In addition to property systems  14 , inventory control system  12  couples to and receives information from a preference management tool  52 , a central reservation system  54 , and a regional or global management system  56 . 
         [0034]    Preference management tool  52  provides inventory management system  12  with rules and thresholds for identifying available or distressed inventory and for determining when promotions should be delivered to guests to reduce the amount of available or distressed inventory. 
         [0035]    Central reservation system  54  provides inventory management system  12  with new reservation information from prospective guests. 
         [0036]    Regional or global management system  56  provides inventory management system  12  with reservation information and inventory levels from other properties. 
         [0037]    Inventory control system  12  may include a processor, memory, and program and data storage. Inventory control system  12  may execute an operating system such as a Microsoft operating system. Inventory control system  12  may execute other computer software that may be stored in a computer readable medium, such as a memory. Inventory control system  12  may include one or more computers. 
         [0038]    Inventory control system  12  further include graphics circuitry for connecting to a display, network circuitry for connecting to network  24 , and other circuitry for connecting to other peripherals. 
         [0039]    Network  24  may include any combination of wireless or wired networks, including a global communication network, also known as the Internet. In an example embodiment, inventory control system  12  connects with any of property systems  14  at a particular facility via secure network connection, such as an portal connection using a combination of the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) with secure socket layer (SSL)/transport layer security (TLS) protocol to provide encrypted communication, or a virtual private network (VPN) connection. Alternatively, inventory control system  12  may be part of a local or wide area network managed at a local property level, regional level, or global level. 
         [0040]    Promotions may be obtained using personal computer  14 , mobile communication device  16  (such as a smart phone), kiosk  18 , and by interacting with an agent having an agent computer  20  that receives the promotions. 
         [0041]    Personal computer  14 , mobile communication device  16 , kiosk  18 , and agent computer  20  each include a processor, memory, and program and data storage. Each may execute an operating system such as a Microsoft operating system. Each may execute other computer software that may be stored in a computer readable medium, such as a memory. 
         [0042]    Each of personal computer  14 , mobile communication device  16 , kiosk  18 , and agent computer  20  may execute web browser software to display information in a format established by the World Wide Web (WWW or “web”). Web browser software may include commercially available web browser software, such as Microsoft® Internet Explorer web browser software. Each of personal computer  14 , mobile communication device  16 , kiosk  18 , and agent computer  20  may connect to web servers of any of property systems  14  to changed preferences and make or cancel reservations. 
         [0043]    Example ways in which guests may receive promotions include electronic mail (e-mail), simple message service or “text” message, multimedia message service (MMS), or other means. 
         [0044]    Guests may also connect to property systems  14  to login to guest accounts and download promotions made available to these accounts by inventory management system  12 . 
         [0045]    Turning now to  FIG. 2 , an example promotion method is illustrated in detail beginning with step  60 . 
         [0046]    In step  60 , inventory control system  12  connects to one or more of property systems  14 . 
         [0047]    In step  62 , inventory control system  12  obtains reservation data and guest data from property systems  14 . 
         [0048]    In step  64 , inventory control system  12  compares reservation data to predetermined thresholds to determine whether any inventory of any of property systems  14  is distressed. If so, operation proceeds to step  66 . Otherwise, operation ends at  74 . 
         [0049]    In step  66 , inventory control system  12  sends the reservation data and the guest data to consumer relationship management system  50  to determine one or more promotions for the distressed inventory and to determine to whom to send them. 
         [0050]    In step  68 , inventory control system  12  receives the one or more promotions and identification of customers to receive them from consumer relationship management system  50 . 
         [0051]    In step  70 , inventory control system  12  determines contact information for the customers to receive the one or more promotions from the guest data. 
         [0052]    In step  72 , inventory control system  12  sends the one or more promotions to the customers using the contact information. 
         [0053]    Advantageously, inventory control system  12  manages promotion of distressed inventory of various types throughout a lodging establishment or group of lodging establishments. Inventory control system  12  has access to all property systems  14  and to property systems  14  of other properties. 
         [0054]    Although the present invention has been described with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, variations and modifications of the present invention can be effected within the spirit and scope of the following claims.