Sydney 22 June 2016 – McLaren Technologies has crafted a customised Internet solution for one of Australia’s largest private investor hospitality entities, the Schwartz Family Company (Schwartz).
Schwartz owns more than a dozen hotels in key destinations across Australia from regional spots such as the Hunter Valley and Blue Mountains to central CBD addresses in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.
“In hospitality today, connectivity and customisation underpin any great guest experience,” said Dr Jerry Schwartz, principal of Schwartz.
“Our challenge for McLaren was to unite the hotel division of our business online from a reporting and management perspective. We also wanted a tailored high-speed Internet access (HSIA) guest portal that would offer a customized approach, regardless of a particular hotel’s geography, brand or loyalty club association.”
Matthew Watson, Chief Operating Officer of McLaren Technologies, explained that in engineering a solution, his team chose to harness the capabilities of Google Cloud Hosting, supported by the Nomadix internet gateways and McLaren's own fluide web portal.
“McLaren devised a solution that would provide maximum flexibility for hotels while operating under one centralised platform to service the broader Schwartz hospitality portfolio,” he said.
“Using a Google Cloud Platform is ideal for a scenario like this when working across multiple locations. A cloud platform offers the flexibility to build and host tailored applications and websites, store and analyze data on a scalable infrastructure for our clients on a case by case basis.”
“When it comes to public access networks, Nomadix is the innovator. We chose the Nomadix Service Engine™ (NSE) and the NITO Internet Traffic Optimizer to maximize the use of existing bandwidth,” said Mr. Watson.
He added that with accurate reporting a key motivation for uniting Schwartz HSIA infrastructure, McLaren’s fluide approach further incorporates a customised web-based management and reporting platform to help collate and synthesise graphical and numerical data analysis across multiple hotel locations.
“In addition, fluide cleverly integrates with each hotel’s Opera PMS, supporting two different loyalty programs under the AccorHotels and IHG banners,” he said.
The result – a centralised administration and simplified reporting structure for staff across all properties.
Mr. Watson further explained to say, “Given the many different hotels we were working with, designing a user-friendly, Staff Management Portal was the simple answer. The centralised portal empowers every hotel in the network to manage and maintain its own instance which reflects the individual look, feel, location and brand of each property. Administrators can also adjust guest usage plans per hotel as required.”
For the Schwartz project, McLaren ensured a variety of plan preferences are supported, including free and charged access and with capabilities to limit access by time or data volume. Catering to both iOS and Android devices equally, the solution is also dynamic enough to support all screen preferences from desktop through to tablet and mobile options.
McLaren Technologies has a broad experience with sophisticated HSIA portals that integrate with client’s existing infrastructure and leverage surrounding technology solutions such as PMS.
In summarising the project, Mr. Watson said, “Working with the Schwartz Family Company provided an exciting opportunity for our team to put our knowledge to the test, while demonstrating that geography and a variety of brands in no way hinder a truly fluide HSIA solution.”
