The Challenge
- A long list of needs to make life easier
- Existing system was difficult to use
- Time was being wasted on daily tasks and minutiae
The Approach
- Implementation of Book4Time
- Online booking
- Guest Intake
The Results
- More than a full workday per week in time saved
- Easy reporting
- Happier team
Complex needs for an award-winning resort with an impressive spa
The Willow Stream Spa at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa is a large and lovely space sprawling over 40,000 square feet, located in the Boyes Springs area of Sonoma, California. The resort itself dates back to the early 1900s but the original building was destroyed by fire in 1923. It was reconstructed a few years later and the beautiful spot has been a favourite for travelers and the local community for decades. It has changed hands more than once and was eventually acquired by Fairmont in 2002. Today, the traditional mission-style spa features 28 treatment rooms, a hair salon, a nail salon, and two fantastic outdoor pools fed by the local geothermal mineral spring. There is also an indoor bathing ritual and bath house, a mineral pool, and a steam sauna.
Willow Stream Spa Manager, Jane Fellows, says that, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the spa would typically see around 125 treatments a day on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. At the time we spoke, they were operating at reduced capacity, operating only Thursday – Monday, and providing outside massage services.
A long wish list of hopes and dreams for a software system
Operating a busy spa requires a lot of planning, organization, and attention to detail. Excess time and energy was being spent on the minutiae of daily tasks. The Willow Stream Spa team needed something that would save time and be accessible for staff at all levels, including management and service providers.
Fortunately, Fellows knew there was a better way. She had worked with Book4Time at another Accor property, Willow Stream at the Fairmont Southampton, Bermuda.
“I had installed Book4Time at Southampton,” Fellows explained. “It was a project that started from our corporate office level. They wanted a software that was up to date and cloud based. Corporate office went out to lots of different companies and said ‘Tell us what you can deliver,’ and Book4Time was definitely able to deliver on the most requirements.”
So, when she moved to Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, Fellows knew that Book4Time was the software the spa needed to fix the issues they were having and elevate operations to the next level.
Among the features she liked were the drag and drop interface and the comprehensive reporting dashboard.
“With what we were using prior, you couldn’t drag and drop. When you were working on a day where you might have had 26 rooms going, it was very difficult. You had to cut and paste everything. And we were looking for a system with really great and detailed reports. Our previous software allowed us to create reports but they were very difficult to use.”
Moreover, she said, “We needed the ability to efficiently manage other activities and program offerings. We rent our facility in different forms and we needed something to manage things like hikes and yoga classes. That was very difficult with our previous software and Book4Time has definitely been an improvement.”
Fellows also needed a good online booking system because the online booking that she was using “was very difficult and also very expensive,” and because “most people now book online.”
This has become even more important since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, because the resort does not have its reservations team back in place, said Fellows, “We’re now encouraging as many people as possible to book online.”
Fellows installed Book4Time software and went live with it in May of 2019. The spa uses Elavon CC interface, FIAS PMS Interface, Givex Gift Card interface, Online Booking, and Guest Intake. And there was a great improvement.
“I would absolutely recommend Book4Time. I’m a big fan. It definitely makes things much easier.“
Willow Stream Spa Manager
A full workday a week saved!
“For me, the most important feature was Guest Intake,” Fellows told us. “We were having the guests fill out paper medical questionnaires on site. Because we are a busy spa, we could have 20 guests arriving at the same time, and finding clipboards for everybody to fill these things in was always a nightmare. Then, at the end of the day, we would have to scan them all into the system and file them all away. It was a huge amount of work.”
And the information is now stored in the system, making it easier to access when needed. “I love the fact that it’s there for whichever provider is going to deal with the guest the next time and that they still have access to it.”
Fellows says that is “definitely” her favorite part of the system. In fact, she said, the team was “probably spending about an hour a day” just filing away the paper copies. So that functionality alone has saved the spa seven hours, or an entire workday, per week.
Accessible from anywhere at any time
Fellows also loves the fact that the software is cloud based. “I can see it from home,” she said. “Someone can ask me a question and I can say, ‘Hang on, give me a second,’ and get my phone out, and I know the answer!”
Another plus is that team members can now see their schedules online. “We used to have a call-in line that providers would call and it would tell them what time they had to be in for their first treatment,” said Fellows. “We don’t need that anymore.”
And the reporting dashboard has improved and saved time, said Fellows. “We have a reporting tool that the corporate office asks us to fill out on a daily basis and this information is very accessible with Book4Time.” She says the functionality has saved about 20 minutes a day, or more than two hours a week.
The Willow Stream team, she said, enjoys the interface. “I think the thing that I hear from most of the team is that they like the ease of actually reading the diary and the interface itself. If you’ve got a busy day, it’s easy to look at the screen and you can see the provider, the guest, the treatment, the room that will be used. It’s very straightforward. They don’t have to dig into anything to find any information. And I like the recent updates to the icons. They’re even better now. I like the way Guest Intake is presented. It’s very simple and easy to read. I run a report and it’s got what I need.”
She adds that whenever there is an issue or question, “the support team has been amazing.”
All in all, Book4Time has been great for Willow Stream Spa at Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, and Fellows and her team are very happy.
She said, “I would absolutely recommend Book4Time. I’m a big fan. It definitely makes things much easier.”
“We needed the ability to efficiently manage other activities and program offerings. We rent our facility in different forms and we needed something to manage things like hikes and yoga classes. That was very difficult with our previous software and Book4Time has definitely been an improvement.”
Jane Fellows
Willow Stream Spa Manager
