JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa
“With the simple and seamless ordering platform, in-room sales and average check size have soared by 40%!”
Hotel Overview
A transformative stay awaits at the newly revitalized AAA 4-Diamond JW Marriott® Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa. With 950 bedrooms and 7 restaurants and al fresco bars, the luxury resort is immersed in the vibrant serenity of the Sonoran Desert with awe-inspiring vistas, bespoke service, state-of-the-art facilities and extraordinary amenities. Whether visiting Phoenix for an unforgettable family vacation, business meeting, romantic getaway or special event, exceptional moments await.
“It’s such a cool platform, giving us many options to maximise revenue across our resort and enhance the guest experience.
With the simple and seamless ordering platform, in-room sales and average check size have soared by 40% and the return on investment is significant - every hotel should have the IRIS app!
With new features being released regularly, we’re learning all the time, it’s amazing how the app is fully integrated and seamlessly connects to everything.”
Hotel Requirements
The hotel wanted to maximise F&B opportunities across the resort and drive revenue by increasing sales and boosting guest spend.
They needed to do this in an efficient way that minimised staff’s time and didn’t impact resources.
The app worked especially well and proved its worth during Covid so they want to expand it to other areas of the hotel.
Solutions Installed
Guest web (Spa Bistro and in-room dining)
Benefits
40% increase in guest spending
Average check size has skyrocketed 40% year on year. Many of their guests feel more comfortable ordering online [compared to phoning through an order] and tend to order more per transaction as it’s ‘guilt-free’ ordering and eliminates judgement!
The digital menus provide a wider choice of items (than the previous in-room menus), and with guests having more time to peruse the menus, they’re often tempted to order more and as such, revenue has increased.
Quicker service and reduced lead times
As all orders go straight through to the kitchen, it saves time and effort - previously, guests would have to flag down a waiter who would then have to type the order manually into the EPOS. Now the chef receives the order directly and starts prepping the dish straight away. As such, guests receive their orders quickly, and lead times are reduced. With reduced waiting times, guest satisfaction is enhanced.
Runners who take the meals up to the guest’s rooms take a few orders per wing at a time, so it’s more efficient, and fewer servers are required.
Up-to-date, easily modified information
The platform is easy to use and manage – it’s simple to upload new items and create new categories so new staff members can start using it from day one. it’s simple to change the menu or add specials, all of which syncs live across the app.
User friendly
Guests have stated that it’s a convenient way of ordering for them. Anybody can use it, regardless of age, and they feel it’s simple to use it if they haven’t used it before.
The hotel state it’s the perfect way to meet the needs of younger travellers and families, where app usage is synonymous with other areas of their lives.
Controlled pace of orders
The hotel had 40 tickets through the app at the same time at a New Year’s Eve event - they’d never seen orders numbers like it before!
However, if they are too busy or if an item is unavailable, the hotel can turn off ordering on the app. They can control the number of orders coming into the kitchen at any given time to reflect staffing levels or add delivery times to the app to ease congestion in the kitchen and prevent order throttling.
Scalable Platform
Following its success with in-room dining, the hotel wants to expand the platform to the Spa bistro and the pool areas. By offering online ordering to over 1000 sun loungers and cabanas at the pool areas, the opportunities to maximise sales from additional outlets are huge.
Enhanced guest stay
The hotel gets a lot of corporate groups staying (delegates attending conferences, events etc) who prefer to order online and dine alone in their rooms – after a long, tiring day, its more relaxing for them to enjoy in-room dining in the privacy of their room.
Reduced costs and sustainable operations
With the QR codes in all the bedrooms, it eliminates the need to print off and distribute 950 laminated menus for each room. Unlike paper directories, when changes are made, the digital menus are updated automatically online - you only have to print the QR code once and it never needs updating!
Not only does this reduce costs, but it’s also environmentally friendlier and saves trees - and prevents housekeeping from having to manually update the paper version room-by-room.
