Valor Hospitality is a global hotel management company, founded in 2015, that manages 17 properties in the UK. These hotels operate under some of the world’s leading hospitality brands—including InterContinental Hotels Group (Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza), Marriott, and Hilton. Valor’s mission, in their own words, is to “provide strong returns on investment and increase asset value for our investors and owners.”
Valor Hospitality aims to stay ahead of the market and exceed customer expectations by implementing a more effective POS system. Procurement Director Nick Moore focused his initial efforts on the 17 UK properties, where a mix of different POS systems was in use. As Nick explains, “One thing all the systems had in common was that they just weren’t delivering enough value to both guests and management. We knew that if we were going to run modern hotels, we needed modern systems.”
The Problem
Valor’s POS solutions had fallen out of step with the growing sophistication of both their guests and hospitality technology. The systems in use had become increasingly awkward, inflexible and expensive – a trend that only worsened over time.
Their existing platforms were becoming calcified: difficult to work with, costly to update and hard to integrate with other tools and data sources. As Procurement Director Nick Moore explained,
“We felt the problem most acutely with the amount of time our servers were forced to leave the floor to enter orders into the POS systems. Keeping staff available for our guests was so important to us.”
Additional challenges included:
- Escalating costs: Over time, the cost of maintaining, supporting, and upgrading these systems far exceeded their value.
- Frustrating support experiences: Communication with vendors was inconsistent and impersonal.
“We’re hoteliers – not IT people,” Nick said. “We need any member of our team to be able to reach out at any time to an expert who can help us use the system and solve problems. We just weren’t getting that kind of responsiveness.”
- Lack of standardisation: The absence of a unified POS system created operational inefficiencies and posed long-term strategic roadblocks. Valor needed a solution that could support multi-channel innovation such as table pay, in-room ordering and other connected services.
The Solution
Valor Hospitality had both tactical and strategic objectives in selecting a new POS system.
Tactically, they needed a proven, tablet-based solution.
“Our analyses made it clear that maximising the amount of time our staff were on the floor was a straight line to increased revenue, increased profitability and, most importantly, happier customers,” said Nick Moore.
Strategically, their goal was to mine, analyse, report on and act on the large volume of purchasing and preference data generated by the POS. To do that effectively, they needed not just powerful software, but a partner with the expertise to guide them:
- What insights could be pulled from the data?
- What was the most efficient way to extract and apply them?
- And how could the POS be used to drive action based on those insights?
The Results
After evaluating several options, Valor Hospitality chose to standardise on the Maitre’D POS Software Suite. The platform included nearly all of the functionality they needed out of the box, especially in terms of strategic reporting, analytics and mobile ordering.
Today, Valor is one-third of the way through migrating all 17 UK properties to Maitre’D. So far, the results speak for themselves.
- Tablet usage has exceeded expectations, accelerating order times in restaurants, bars and lounges, especially during high-traffic periods like happy hours and promotional events.
“We can see, anecdotally, that there’s an increase in average ticket. It’s probable, based on early data, that a lot of that is because servers are on the floor more,” says Nick Moore.
- Support costs have decreased by 60% compared to their previous systems. And the quality of support has improved, now including not just fixes and upgrades but ongoing strategic consultation.
- Training and onboarding were seamless. Thanks to Maitre’D’s responsive support and clear training, each hotel quickly ramped up to an average of 400 transactions per day.
- The rollout approach works. Valor’s long-term, rolling implementation strategy is delivering quick wins while paving the way for sustainable improvements.
“Our careful planning and vendor selection process took a while, but it was worth it. We couldn’t be happier with the results we’re getting from Maitre’D.”— Nick Moore, Procurement Director
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