Hotel Cateys 2019: Best Use of Technology Award

Winner 2019: Exclusive Collection

Sponsored by Hoist

Throughout 2017/2018 Exclusive Hotels set out to develop a new brand and build a corporate culture centred around a desire to ‘Create happiness in amazing places’. The communication of this project to its 12,000-strong team across six sites was of paramount importance.

Exclusive needed to communicate its new core values and encourage feedback and participation from its frontline teams.

As part of Exclusive’s rebranding initiative, the team conducted an audit of its current communication efforts and found that using email or noticeboards was no longer effective in reaching the entire team. So it brought in the Beekeeper workplace app.

Through Beekeeper, Exclusive now reaches every employee, regardless of location, language or job title. It has become a secure and safe space for the entire team to openly engage with their colleagues and company leadership.

Since implementing Beekeeper, over 90% of the team have used the tool to showcase the company’s core values, share ideas and best practice, and communicate more efficiently.

Each day, some 40 posts are created on the platform, with topics ranging from employee recognition to operational updates. More than 600 messages between colleagues are sent every day, and every manager at Exclusive uses it to communicate with their teams, sending out rotas, shift updates, and policies and procedures. Employee engagement has exceeded the initial target of 70%-80% activation.

Since launching Beekeeper, staff turnover has dropped almost 20% and overall employee satisfaction risen by 11%. Though the project wasn’t based on a return on investment, Exclusive has been able to demonstrate that it has provided quantifiable benefits to the business. Employees are better engaged and, as a result, are more productive, with less absenteeism.

Exclusive staff now share ideas and successes with other teams across all the hotel group’s locations, which has led to improvements in productivity and customer service.

For Exclusive, the main objective of implementing Beekeeper was to communicate its new values, but the benefits of the platform have rippled down to the customer experience, making the implementation of this technology something worth celebrating.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

“In the current environment, where it is difficult to retain and recruit employees, to have reduced turnover by 20% and saved so much money is amazing.”

Amy Ayers, conference, events and reservations revenue manager, Holiday Inn Winchester

“Given the current pressure on recruitment, implementing an app focused on improving the employee experience seems like a wise decision.”

*Jane Pendlebury, chief executive, HOSPA *

“This initiative was focused on employees and provided impressive results in retaining staff.”

*Sarah Glanville, revenue manager, Red Carnation hotels *

THE SHORTLIST

• Cairn Group
• Exclusive Collection
• The Lowry hotel Manchester

BEST USE OF TECHNOLOGY AWARD IS NEW FOR 2019