Sales & Catering Systems

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Market Summary

Market Overview

Sales and Catering Solutions (S&C) come in many forms. The functionality they offer is available from chains, brands, software companies, consultants, agencies and service providers and in nearly any combination of these. The solutions are usually sold as a grouping of software and services from vendors and hotel or restaurant companies. As a result, venues have multiple options to choose from and this may cause the need to review other important decisions connected to a chosen Sales and Catering Solution. Affiliating with a brand or franchisor, signing a contract with a management company or franchisee, or even selecting a core system vendor may each influence or define the S&C solution a property will have. As a result, venues may need to become familiar with a marketplace that contains more than 49 prospective software solutions to do proper due diligence on a purchase in this category.

Sales and Catering solutions were created many years ago to facilitate the needs of a venue’s sales team. When coordinating with numerous potential groups as they propagate from a lead to a confirmed event group, a systematic approach and a customer data repository are beneficial. As a venue’s sales resources discuss the needs of each group, including the many complexities associated with what the group may need while at the property, it becomes imperative to track the corresponding information. When considering the vast array of group types, the range of needs and the various participants in the booking of group business, it is apparent that today’s software and service-based solutions need to cover a comprehensive set of functionality to meet the needs of the overall marketplace.

The introduction of Internet and cloud capabilities are two key changes that have positively affected the solutions in the marketplace. As cloud-based solutions mature, they continue to offer more and deeper capabilities for the benefit of all constituents. Distribution across the web has enabled all of the participants within this channel to communicate with each other and transact electronically. Venues are able to better distribute their inventory, pricing and availability. Planners are able to research and find suitable venues. Attendees are able to register or book within a room block if needed.

Marketplace Context

Sales & Catering Solutions play an important role in the software and technology infrastructure of a venue. In fact, the industry historically considered them the original CRM of the business. While this functionality focused on the group business as opposed to guests from general consumer segments, it was the hotel industry’s first foray into tracking customers with CRM-like features. More importantly, it helps a venue to manage a crucial business segment – group events and activity. As a result, interfacing it with other systems can be essential when building or modifying a solution map, as shown in the hotel example in the following chart. Further to this, Sales & Catering Solutions and the Services that may accompany them can include numerous capabilities in today’s marketplace.

A desired set of software functionality may be purchased from one multifaceted Solution Provider or a combination of interfaced solutions. These systems also require people to make them work well together and thus are often packaged as a fully functional service that encompasses a set of sales and marketing capabilities extending well beyond the limits of any software. These combinations of services and capabilities may be offered by software vendors, management companies, brands or service-based companies specializing in hotel, restaurant or country club sales and marketing. If multiple systems are purchased, the sophistication of integration across these systems becomes a consideration when determining the needs your organization has today. Planning for the future is critical regardless of what solutions are selected to be part of a capability roadmap at any point in time.

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About this Report

This document details a review of the marketing information and capabilities associated with this category’s solutions and the surrounding technology ecosystem. It contains original content written by Capsolve to provide a perspective of current trends affecting one or more of the hotel, restaurant and golf & country clubs industries. The analysis covers a statistically significant portion of the previously defined category marketplace.