APS Case Study: Naples Bay Resort

Naples Bay Resort & Marina: An APS Case Study

Located in the heart of one of Florida’s most exclusive beach city destinations on the Southwest coast, the tropical luxury resort, Naples Bay Resort & Marina, is like no other. The sprawling, award-winning property is the only hotel in Southwest Florida with its own fully operational yacht club and marina with direct access to the Gulf of Mexico. Guests can expect to enjoy an expansive variety of luxury amenities, as well as a variety of golf courses, the beautiful natural habitats of the Florida Everglades, and incredible shopping, dining, and culture.

Since the June 2020 implementation of the Above Property (APS) Hotel In A Box™, the resort has enhanced its operational efficiency, increased revenue, and enhanced its exceptional service offering. The partnership has proven to be a resounding success, empowering the resort to streamline and scale its operations at a low cost while driving new guest service and revenue opportunities.

NAPLES BAY RESORT + APS:

1. A Centralized, Vertically Integrated Solution

Naples Bay Resort & Marina selected APS (Above Property) as their preferred technology partner to replace eight systems in their tech stack by implementing the vertically integrated microservices Hotel In A Box™ solution, including:

– Property Management System (PMS)

– Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

– Revenue Management System (RMS) – Website Booking Engine – Call Center Outsource

– New Functionality

  • Store POS
  • Marina operations
  • Guest communications (emails, text messaging, pre/post-stay surveys, etc.)
  • Maintenance (including Workflow)
  • Housekeeping (including guest requests, assignments, and scheduling)
  • Vacation Rental inventory
  • Owner Accounting

Directly connects to:

  • Google HotelAds
  • Book on Google
  • Expedia ARI and Product
  • Booking.com ARI and Product API
  • Sabre and TravelPort GDS
  • Several tour operator/wholesaler directs are in progress

Implemented on-property interfaces into:

  • Door locks
  • Credit card processing (including chip and pin)
  • Movie System
  • Restaurant POS

The successful replacement of so many systems using a single platform is, simply put, unprecedented in the industry. “We got so much more, for less,” says Reilly. “The vertical integration is wonderful, and everything is interconnected.”

2. A Fully Customizable Tech Stack

Other property management systems on the market offer limited customization, which simply wasn’t a viable option for Naples Bay Resort & Marina.

“We needed something that was totally mobile and customizable,” explains John Reilly, GM at the Naples Bay Resort & Marina. ‘It was incredibly refreshing to work with one vendor and get everything we needed, versus working with multiple vendors to try and make their solutions work for us, even though they weren’t designed to offer what we were looking for.”

From a convenience and an efficiency standpoint, using the APS platform frees up time for leaders to focus on other tasks and make decisions quickly and effectively. “Any and all information we need can be accessed in seconds, versus a more cumbersome approach or platform,” shares Reilly.

3. Affordable Flexibility + Ease of Implementation

“With APS, there is very little upfront investment required, and the transition was quick and incredibly seamless,” shares Reilly. “That was a key determining factor, along with cost savings and unparalleled flexibility.”

With previous vendors, implementation fees alone cost Naples Bay Resort & Marina upwards of $10,000. This, combined with annual membership fees, could amount to $30,000+/year in upfront costs, in addition to monthly fees for interfaces and, in some cases, marketing funds. On the other hand, APS does not charge users any of these additional fees, making the Hotel In A Box system incredibly affordable.

Moreover, the platform is incredibly user-friendly, which has ensured staff adoption and enhanced productivity. “It’s a very stable system, so we’ve had little to no system-wide issues. The user experience has been incredibly positive,” explains Reilly.

As a General Manager, Reilly notes that before their partnership with APS, he often had to go hunting for the information he needed. This is a common crux of legacy technology.

4. Enhanced Revenue Management

Despite the obvious challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Naples Bay Resort & Marina finds itself at the forefront of hospitality’s recovery. In fact, Naples Bay Resort has rebounded very quickly, and booking demand has been incredibly strong. On the hotel side alone, Reilly notes that the enhanced convenience and revenue management offered by APS has saved Naples Bay Resort & Marina approximately $150,000. “Even that feels conservative,” Reilly explains. “I would estimate that working with APS has provided an overall benefit to the business of at least 10%, which is huge for us.”

Hotel In A Box Revenue Management has also dramatically increased boat rentals at the property, Reilly reveals. “After going from static to dynamic pricing in year one, we saw a 15% increase in business for boat rentals.”

The hotel uses the APS Hotel In A Box solution to yield rates and effectively replace lost customers with higher-yielding customers. “We have seen tremendous demand for the Christmas season, and we were ready for it,” shares Reilly. “The pace going into the first quarter of next year is way ahead of where it’s been historically, and we are incredibly excited about that.”

5. Decreased Acquisition Costs

Before partnering with APS, Reilly noted that Naples Bay Resort & Marina was frequently losing revenue to OTA’s due to high acquisition costs and booking discrepancies. “By cutting out the middleman and leveraging the APS revenue management module, OTA costs are now a quarter of what they were, and we haven’t seen any reduction of top-line revenue,” shares Reilly. “Competitor platforms simply don’t offer this. You can get down to a much more granular level.”

Naples Bay Resort & Marina is on an exciting trajectory, and APS looks forward to continuing and evolving our partnership with their exceptional brand.