BOWLING GREEN, OHIO—As a preferred vendor of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., Systems Associates Inc. has been selected by Starwood Vacation Ownership Inc. (SVO) to implement its SynergyMMS maintenance management solution at all villa resort properties. This initiative was recently rolled out in Hawaii at The Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas on the island of Maui and The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas on Kauai. Sixteen resorts—with a total of 7,000 villas—will be equipped with SynergyMMS by November. The remaining six mixed-use resorts—consisting of 500 villas—in the SVO portfolio are company-owned and already have SynergyMMS as part of Starwood’s preventive maintenance program.
Systems Associates is a developer of software and hardware solutions for maintenance and energy management in the hospitality, education, government, commercial real estate and retail markets. SynergyMMS is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution designed exclusively for hospitality to enhance asset life and longevity by creating “synergy”” between front office, engineering and housekeeping staff for enhanced workflow and communications. Starwood Vacation Ownership offers flexible vacation options from spacious villa accommodations in the best locations in the most sought-after destinations to distinctive experiences around the world—all through Starwood Vacation Network.
“Our goals, through this asset management and preventive maintenance initiative, are to extend the lifecycle of equipment, reduce energy consumption, minimize equipment downtime, and reduce guest-reported maintenance requests,” said CJ Khan, senior project manager for SynergyMMS in the SVO Facilities Management department. “In the vacation ownership environment, there are a number of additional electronics and appliances in villas that need to be maintained, from ovens, refrigerators and microwaves to entertainment systems. This is quite different from the usual hotel environment. As part of Starwood Vacation Ownership’s Maintenance Week program, each villa is taken out of inventory for a week once a year and every piece of equipment is checked. By tracking workflow in SynergyMMS for the maintenance of these assets, the tasks are completed efficiently. This also aids in establishing the equipment’s useful life, prolonging replacement cycles for equipment, and reducing energy and water consumption.
“In addition to improving the lifecycle of equipment, SynergyMMS also adds accountability for our engineering teams,” Khan said. “SynergyMMS not only helps identify what work needs to be done and when—both in the villas and across the entire property—but the system tracks exactly when work is completed. SynergyMMS provides another tool for our engineering leaders to monitor productivity and efficiency of the preventive maintenance program.”
Upon completion of the rollout, SVO will equip its maintenance teams with iPhones to leverage the mobile communication benefits of SynergyMMS. In 2014, SVO will phase in SynergyMMS Inventory for even more efficient operations.
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