Challenge
A growing family-oriented resort brand with more than 20 locations and multiple restaurant outlets was looking to expand its mobile guest experience through a streamlined food ordering process. The company had already developed a branded mobile app with ordering capabilities for the 5-8 restaurant options offered at each resort.
However, the in-app ordering system could not fully integrate with their POS, creating a cumbersome process where the kitchen would receive a ticket from the app and a team member would then have to manually enter the order into the POS.
Menu management in the ordering system was also an issue, as the company did not have the ability to easily update master menus across resort locations.
Solution
We deployed CardFree digital ordering for hotels at select F&B outlets across resort locations. With integration into the resort’s PMS, we enabled charge-to-room and order-to-room, allowing guests to order room service or place an order for pickup from their mobile device. Additionally, we deployed order ahead self-service kiosks, allowing guests to skip the line, order, and pay or charge-to-room through a branded interactive menu.
Our mobile ordering system was integrated into the resort’s existing app and POS, ensuring the ordering process flowed seamlessly with the app’s branding and UI, while POS integration eliminated the inefficient manual order entry process.
“CardFree has been a tremendous partner from the get go. We knew there were going to be challenges integrating into the older version of our POS, but with the help of the CardFree team, we’ve been able to test out different scenarios and solve some complex problems. That was one of the big factors of why we chose CardFree–other vendors had thrown their hands up, saying that these issues were too complex and would take too much work–but the CardFree team was very knowledgeable and they have proven that repeatedly.”
– VP of Digital
Results
Improved Operational Efficiency
- Menu management–the resort can upload a master menu to be distributed across locations. The master menu can be updated individually at each location and duplicated at new locations.
- Streamlined ordering with POS integration–CardFree digital ordering for hotels eliminates the time-consuming extra step of manually entering orders placed online.
Increased Revenue
- CardFree online orders show an increase of over 40% in average check value compared to walk up orders.