Hotel Case

The Royal Hotel Case Study describes a situation where a junior consultant has architected a hotel maintenance management and issue tracking solution for a boutique hotel client. Blake, the consultant, identified a hotel maintenance management package which included a Rapid Response issue logging module, Preventative Maintenance module and the Reporting Module. Blake left the engagement prior to the completion of the change and has been called back because the system has been month balled a few weeks after go live. The hotel GM and Blake’s boss are extremely unhappy.

The Cast of characters
Blake Cantera > An MBA student with two weeks consulting training. The architect of the solution on his first engagement
Royal Hotel GM > A no nonsense, old school hotelier, running a boutique business hotel in New York. The GM wants to eliminate situations where guests discover maintenance issues.
Director of Housekeeping > Not a champion for the system and does not take ownership for the maintenance issues at the hotel
Director of Maintenance > Roll has a natural conflict with housekeeping – did housekeeping report the issues and maintenance lose it, or did housekeeping just not report it?
Director IT
Espresso Vendor > Potentially oversold the solution as a panacea
Jack Scarso > A colleague of Blake’s with similar experience, who is held in low esteem. Jack was assigned to implement the solution when Blake was transferred off. Jack received virtually no handover.
Fancy Consultants Boss > The kind of boss who provides little support and mountains of expectation and appears to take little or no responsibility for the issues.
Issues with the solution and approach
The implementation of the Espresso system would classify as a second order change which impacts Technology, Process and People and requires careful planning on how to overcome the End Users resistance to change which could dramatically impact the adoption of the system.
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