Challenge

With over 40,000 square feet of event space, the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Jonesboro, Arkansas serves as both a busy hotel and an ideal spot for hosting meetings and events. The hotel faced a challenging task in managing over 20 sets of keys among team members. Keys were managed by hand using a two-person witness system, which tied up valuable team member time and created extra expense for the hotel. The extra layer of complexity aggravated the staff, preventing full buy-in for key security, and the lack of proper key management meant the hotel staff were unable to operate as effectively as possible.

In an attempt to address this issue, the Assistant General Manager, Justin Martin, began searching for alternative solutions. However, he found that most companies offering key management solutions had a high upfront cost and software with poor user-friendliness, making them unsuitable for their organizational needs. This led Martin to seek out other options that would be more cost-effective and user-friendly.

Solution

Martin discovered Keycafe through a Google search. He quickly realized that Keycafe would produce results from the start. “The software and the ease of use were far more advanced than anything I could find in my research and easier to keep track of than the paper and pen method,” he says.

Martin’s initial impressions of Keycafe’s solutions were on point. The intuitive features and user-friendly design have allowed Embassy Suites and its team to simplify their key management processes and ensure that keys are properly accounted for at all times.

Thanks to the real-time tracking capabilities, their SmartBoxes have become an integral part of their daily routine. “Our team uses Keycafe services on a daily basis for turning in keys at the end of the day and checking out at the start of the work day,” Martin says. “We also use it for audits based on the needs of the business.”

Result

Martin and his team now rely heavily on the platform for the hotel’s key management needs.

According to Martin, working with Keycafe has yielded unexpected benefits for the hotel, particularly in terms of increasing staff buy-in and engagement with the key security process. Since implementing Keycafe, says Martin, “The team finds it so easy and user-friendly they all use it.”

He goes on to say, “This has resulted in greater adoption and compliance. Keycafe has also helped the hotel save time and money by eliminating the need for multiple team members to be present during the key exchange process. Keycafe is the best way to manage keys for an entire team. I give Keycafe five stars for its efficiency and affordability.”