Westin5Star
TUG Member
In my call today with Suzanne Clark, she informed me of some changes that are coming for Starwood's reservation system. I took notes on this and so it should be fairly accurate although I'm sure there are a few things that could be off a little or could change. About 2-3 years ago, Starwood started working on this project and they are releasing it in modules. Suzanne agreed that the current system is labor intensive and was built sometime in the 1980s.
The first module is the ICS (inventory control system). This currently allows Starwood reps to view what is available in the inventory. It sounds as if right now the people answering the phones are toggling between this and the old reservation system.
The next phase that is currently being developed is the "rules system". There are alot of different policies that Starwood must code into this new system including things such as ownership weeks, lock offs, elite status, StarPoints, StarOptions, II, etc. No timeframe was given for the completion of this phase but it should save the phone answerers a lot of time when completed. It sounded as if this "rules system" will be tied in directly to the ICS.
The 3rd phase will be the online reservations system for your home resort. I believe that this phase will be released to us although no timeframe was given. When this happens, I would imagine that Starwood will be able to cut their phone answering staff significantly. Again, this phase should be tied in directly to the previous two phases.
The final phase will be the reservation system for exceptions. This should include SPG, SO conversions, and II and will again be tied into the above systems.
The bottom line is that Starwood is aware of the problem and they are fixing it. I don't think that it will be too long (1-2 years maybe) before 90% of us will be making and viewing all of our reservations through a real time automated reservations system; I sure hope so!
The first module is the ICS (inventory control system). This currently allows Starwood reps to view what is available in the inventory. It sounds as if right now the people answering the phones are toggling between this and the old reservation system.
The next phase that is currently being developed is the "rules system". There are alot of different policies that Starwood must code into this new system including things such as ownership weeks, lock offs, elite status, StarPoints, StarOptions, II, etc. No timeframe was given for the completion of this phase but it should save the phone answerers a lot of time when completed. It sounded as if this "rules system" will be tied in directly to the ICS.
The 3rd phase will be the online reservations system for your home resort. I believe that this phase will be released to us although no timeframe was given. When this happens, I would imagine that Starwood will be able to cut their phone answering staff significantly. Again, this phase should be tied in directly to the previous two phases.
The final phase will be the reservation system for exceptions. This should include SPG, SO conversions, and II and will again be tied into the above systems.
The bottom line is that Starwood is aware of the problem and they are fixing it. I don't think that it will be too long (1-2 years maybe) before 90% of us will be making and viewing all of our reservations through a real time automated reservations system; I sure hope so!