50 Smartest Companies of the Year 2020
The Silicon Review
For a hotel or any hospitality business to sustain itself in a competitive market, it should have an online presence, a place where customers can easily make a reservation. Automating administrative tasks and daily operations play an integral part in achieving customer satisfaction. It helps the business provide quality and reliable service consistently. Guests should be able to see which units are available on certain dates, what amenities they can expect, and any policies they must follow during their stay. Automating these processes ensures each guest receives quality, consistent service and frees up staff to better meet the individual needs of guests currently at the hotel. A hotel is a complex system of various departments that must work in unison to be effective. To accomplish this, hoteliers have used paper forms, spreadsheets, and more recently, property management systems. A property management system (PMS) is a tool used to automate administrative tasks, manage reservations, and even handle financial transactions all in one system.
There are dozens of property management systems on the market today, but ResNexus stands out as an industry leader. Whether you’re opening your first hotel or your twentieth, their PMS is designed to make managing and operating your business easy. It is a seamless solution, meaning you don’t have to log in and manage several different accounts; everything is done through ResNexus. ResNexus also offers ADA compliant websites, marketing services, integration with Online Travel Agencies (Expedia, Airbnb, Booking.com, etc.), Wi-Fi door locks, credit card processing, card abandonment, text messaging, yield management, and more conveniently in one place. Services that cost your business thousands of dollars individually are available together with ResNexus, meaning you save money. ResNexus is more than just a software company. They also provide exceptional customer service with some of the highest customer satisfaction rates in the hospitality industry.
ResNexus was founded in 2004 and is based in Salem, Utah.
In conversation with James Mayfield, President of ResNexus
Q. Can you tell us about yourself?
I started as a software consultant for a boutique hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah, building a custom online reservation system that doubled their revenue within a year. This success inspired me to start ResNexus in 2004, driving me to make something not just great—but revolutionary. I’m proud to say that ResNexus was one of the first cloud-based booking engines. Before anyone even knew what a cloud was, ResNexus was there. This innovation allowed our customers and their guests to connect with each other 24/7, all without making a single phone call and without ever losing data from a computer crash.
Q. ResNexus gathers information about guests when they book online and gives property owners a number of different reports to help them better understand their business. How do you use this data to improve the customer experience?
One of the unique things about ResNexus is that we use permission-based marketing, which means the customer opts in to the marketing messages. Additionally, we collect birthday and anniversary dates. We find that about 70-80% of the time, the online shopper provides that information. The great thing about that is that ResNexus has built-in automatic marketing, which sends the guest promotions on those dates. Hoteliers love that this increases their guest return rate, and the online shopper loves getting a deal or thoughtful message on their special occasion. It’s a win/win.
Q. Instant response is an added advantage that shows the importance of having a good online booking system. How do you keep the guests engaged and informed throughout their journey?
Our interactions continue to move online. And now more than ever, they happen through mobile devices. Because we know how important the shopping experience is to guest satisfaction, we treat your online booking software as your store. We keep guests engaged by providing a visually appealing shopping experience. Your room pictures are large and have a 3-month calendar that allows your guests to shop availability easily. Unlike most booking engines, we don’t hide inventory, meaning your guest doesn’t have to answer a bunch of questions before they can see what they are looking for—your rooms or units. This small difference dramatically enhances the online shopping experience. Besides, we allow the hoteliers to display upsells or retail items. We have hundreds of properties that make thousands of dollars in additional revenue as a result. And the guest enhances their experience as well. Next, our policies page allows you to highlight the most important information so that it doesn’t get lost. It also requires the guest to click “I agree” before moving to the payment information. Lastly, if the online shopper gets distracted or interrupted before they finish their purchase, ResNexus has built-in cart abandonment that automatically sends an email to remind them to finish.
Q. What do you enjoy most about what you do?
As I watch customers go from surviving to thriving, they find joy again, and I love that! It’s the best part of the job, and it resonates with me as a small business owner myself. I am passionate about helping customers take pride in what their business can do. Now, rather than it running them, they run it. When we focus on improving that one single business, and then another, the end result is elevating an entire industry. Over the years, ResNexus has elevated multiple industries with a one-by-one approach — that is, core. Because at ResNexus, our mission is to, “Elevate industries, one business at a time, through service, innovation, and education.”
Q. How do you market your services?
We have a talented full-time sales force, and we attend national conferences. We also do what we call “Road Trips” and visit different areas of the country in-person to assist our current clients and provide free drone videos of their properties. Email marketing is also a regular part of our strategy. We advertise on Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp. Another successful component is providing bi-monthly educational Webinars for the entire hospitality industry.
Q. Do you have any new services ready to be launched?
We are constantly innovating. Just this year, we have launched a built-in text messaging and marketing feature, new housekeeping tools, Group Reservations, website content writing, SEO services, and more. We just released our integration with the Restaurant POS LightSpeed and are close to releasing our integration with Google Hotels.