Striving for excellent service in hospitality

For this hotel in the southeastern US, staff must be in constant communication to provide excellent customer experiences. The ten-story hotel and conference center is part of a major hotel chain, and staff work around the clock to accommodate guests and conference attendees.

In the past, management used traditional two-way radios to keep the staff in contact. Unfortunately, the radios routinely lost connection, causing frustration and delays in productivity. Inferior radio quality also meant poor audio quality, making messages hard to hear and leading to staff mistakes. Staff would often lose food orders or guests’ requests for fresh towels. The staff then had to spend extra time fixing errors. Not only did this lead to backlogged guest requests, but it also created poor customer experiences.

Replacing legacy land mobile radios with Kyocera and Orion

The hotel began using Kyocera DuraForce PRO devices running the Orion Push to Talk app to connect its 50 staff members. The DuraForce PRO was selected for its built-in rugged durability and large dedicated push-to-talk (PTT) button, extra loud speaker, powerful battery, and accessory support — all in standard phone size.

With Orion, the hotel staff could also communicate off-site, across the hotel property and surrounding city area. For employees working at the hotel and conference center, the hotel kept costs down by using the existing Wi-Fi infrastructure. Other team members who need to be off-site, like drivers, use cellular-enabled devices with the Orion app and stay connected anywhere in the city. Further, the Orion app utilizes GPS via the device to allow managers to locate drivers and other mobile staff quickly.

Saving on operations costs and communicating clearly

By choosing Orion, the hotel management reaped significant financial savings. Upgrading their two-way radios and adding repeaters would have cost at least $500 per employee. On top of that cost, the hotel would have had to obtain an FCC license. The high cost plus the need to equip each team member with a radio meant that management faced a significant capital investment for a technology that they weren’t even sure would work effectively or support the needs of the transportation team. Instead, management was able to offer smartphones running Orion Push to Talk to every staff member at a fraction of the cost of upgrading the radio system.

Immediately after switching to Orion Push to Talk, the staff noted massive improvements in audio quality and effective range. Messages transmitted through Orion come through clearly, which helped eliminate frustration and repeated requests for help. Orion’s excellent audio quality easily surpassed the unreliable radios the team had been using previously.

For the hotel, the benefits of adopting Orion were immediately apparent. The improvements in audio quality and range, as well as the cost savings, proved why Orion was the best solution for their needs.

Read the whole case study

To learn more about how this hotel streamlined their work with Orion, read the complete case study.

Providing environmental services in a large hospital

The environmental services team of a top healthcare provider in the Northeastern US faced a difficult challenge recently when they realized their in-house communication system couldn’t adequately serve their needs.

Hospital beds are in high demand, and reducing patient wait time is a critical goal of hospital management. When a patient vacates a room, the environmental services team must turn it around fast for the next patient.

Poor radio reception meant staff frequently missed messages

The medical center’s hospitality staff needed to continually communicate with other team members for their time-sensitive day-to-day coordination. However, dispatching people to jobs was inefficient because of poor communications. The team often didn’t know that a room needed changing, or they couldn’t report that a room was ready.

The medical center had provided radios, but they didn’t work everywhere on the property. Staff members were constantly switching among communication tools and checking their cell phones for missed texts and voice messages.

The Director of Environmental Services decided that they needed a more sophisticated solution.

Solving the challenge with Onyx

His team chose to partner with Orion, whose voice-powered platform provides hands-free, real-time access to each staff member. Using Onyx immediately simplified the way the team stayed in touch throughout the day, freeing up more time and attention for the patients who needed it most.

Orion’s hands-free, push-to-talk wearable Onyx was the ideal solution to keep the environmental services team heads-up and focused on their work. Using the hospital’s comprehensive Wi-Fi coverage meant that they could go anywhere they needed without losing touch with their teammates. Another benefit? They could finally stop carrying the cumbersome two-way radios, reducing frustration and fatigue.

With Orion, the team is now able to react more quickly in turning around a room to accommodate the next patient, allowing the hospital to reduce wait times and improve the patient experience.

Read the whole case study

To learn more about how this medical center streamlined their work with Orion, read the complete case study.