Mondrian LA Case Study
In the summer of 2012, PebbleBrook Hotel Trust was looking at technology investments they could make at one of the premier properties in their portfolio – The Mondrian LA – to improve profitability. The property was managed by Morgan Hotels a key management company partner who had themselves built a strong reputation for operating not only high end luxury hotels, but some of the most successful restaurant and nightclub operations in the industry.
Morgan Hotels and their nightclub operating partner The Light Group had not worked with this technology previously, so the first step was to validate the fit of the solution:
1. The technology had to be invisible. No clunky looking bottle tops or tags that would ruin the carefully constructed image of the venues.2. The technology had to be free pour based – portion control type solutions would never work in a guest experience focused and creative cocktail operation.
3. The technology had to tightly integrate with the POS system, given what was sold was imperative to know in order to evaluate what was poured. In this case the Mondrian LA had two different POS systems one for each venues, each configured uniquely to suit the supported operation.
4. The project approach and services program had to fit the Morgan culture. Morgan Hotel restaurant and bar operations assemble the most talented management and staff team members to be found in the industry. The environment is fast paced, operating on the edge and guest experience focused. It was critical that the project not come in assuming behavior problems, but rather to explore and highlight opportunities for improvement. Then review the issues with staff in a positive and proactively focused way to identify root causes for issues and adjustments that could be made in operating standards and practices.
5. Managers did not have time to absorb a babysitting task for a new system. The system could not be an initial or ongoing burden.
6. The solution partner (Strategic Beverage Solutions) needed to prove themselves an expert not only in the technology, but in bar operations.