Home Feedback Contents Search Contact Us
Competitive Analysis

Competitive Analysis

Inn-Room System vs. honor bars
  RoomService II Honor bars
Ability to lock out liquor sales yet permit sales of soft drinks an snacks YES NO
Low labor costs; rooms need not be checked daily YES NO
Interior temperature of 38°F YES NO
Automatic folio posting YES NO
Interfaces with hotel PMS-automatic posting of charges YES NO
Eliminates product losses due to adjustments, shrinkages and out-of-date products YES NO
No need for post-departure room check, guest interrogation or charge backs YES NO
Keyless - remote locking capability YES NO
Ability to comply with state and local liquor laws which restrict alcoholic beverage sales during specified hours YES NO
Automatic management reports YES NO
No need for costly tent cards, paper forms, wire tags, hand-held inventory devices YES NO
Large quantity of each item YES NO
Price changes are made at computer, not with paper forms YES NO
Products may not be removed, tampered with and returned to bar YES NO
Reduced inventory costs with stock consisting only of popular items YES NO
Safe, silent chiller unit YES NO
Refill quantities know prior to loading restocking carts YES NO

 

Inn-Room System vs. other electronic bars
  RoomService II Other Electronic Bars
Ability to lock out liquor sales yet permit sales of soft drinks and snacks YES NO
Software user interface is easy for employees to use, and is programmable into non-English language YES NO
Vertical display of merchandise: helps guests identify products; prompts impulse sales; better presentation than merchandise on its side YES NO
One button operation for simplified guest purchase YES NO
"Cancel" button allows guest to abort vend after price is displayed: no false charges, inventory discrepancies, guest disputes or after departure billings YES NO
Vends bottles or cans.  Hotel can switch products easily and capitalize on vendor discounts without need for retooling product compartments. YES NO
Price changes are made from computer; new prices appear instantly on LED readout when guest makes selection.  No need to go to each guest room with new tent cards or price stickers. YES NO
Energy-efficient power consumption, equal to a 60-watt light bulb YES NO
Conventional casegoods height (30¾") YES NO
Open compartment for guest to use; can hold baby bottles, medicines, etc. YES NO
Transactions are approved and captured by the CPU in on-line, real-time fashion YES NO
Sales transaction occurs when guest uses the keypad, rather than when merchandise is moved past a fiberoptic light beam.  Result: ensured data capture and integrity YES NO
Restocking password may be changed daily to ensure internal security YES NO
Quick cool-down YES NO
Interior temperature of 38° YES NO
Parts/service available in U.S. YES NO
Sleek, modern, white interior YES NO
Simple restocking by section and without keys YES NO
No dangerous metal spring behind snack tins YES NO
Easy to use vending sequence eliminates chance for unwarranted charges to guest YES NO
Guests can view interior contents at all times, -- improving impulse buys, and reducing exterior door damage YES NO
Automated (not mechanical) locking mechanism YES NO
Software driven YES NO
Product will not dispense even if the bar is not communicating, (permitting loses from free products to guests) YES NO
Safe, silent, chiller unit YES NO
State of the art technology YES NO
 

Comparative Data

Honor Bars/Inn-Room System

Restocking

Honor Bars

Out of date products must be removed before newer products can be put in their correct place.  If a restocker is in a hurry, the newer products may be placed in the front (Last-In-First-Out).

An unknown quantity of products will be used to stock the bars.   This requires that a cart must be stocked with a considerable quantity of product to enable refilling without returning to the stockroom for additional product.  If the hotel is a resort-type property, with multiple buildings, pushing this cart around becomes a task even for very strong people.  Additionally, each room must be entered and inventoried; then, the restocker goes back to the cart to retrieve the required items.   If the hotel has some low-rise buildings with no elevators, this becomes a very time-consuming refill process.

All rooms must be entered each day even if the hotel knows which doors have been opened (with the new sensing unit) there is still no way to know if products have been removed.  Entering rooms needlessly disturbs the guest and is very labor intensive.

Every bar that has been opened must be inventoried carefully in order to determine if products have been subject to tampering or sampling.  Each product must be examined for an expiration date.

Inn-Room System

Only 15-20% of the rooms needs to be entered each day for restocking.   Each restocker has a number which is input into the keypad (the same keypad the guest uses to select a product) which releases the drawers for restocking.  The entire drawer is pulled forward, allowing all products to be restocked quickly and easily (First-In-First-Out).

The computer records if an item is vended between the time a refill report is run and the bar is stocked.  The computer also, if requested, will allocate a set percentage of products as overage to refill those products that have been selected during that particular time.  For example, the restock report is completed at 9:00 a.m., and room 1200 is included as needing a refill.  A guest in room 1200 removes a bottle of orange juice from the bar at 9:15 a.m.  Because the manager knows that this may happen, he has included an instruction in the computer to include an additional 10% over the required amount of product.  The restocker can completely refill the bar, the computer will know that room 1200 has received the extra orange juice not on the original report, and it will be included in the audit figure.  Each product removed from the storeroom will be accounted for.

Products

Honor Bars

The same product must be in all bars.  In fact, there are so many products that it is difficult for the restockers to keep track of what is in the bar.  It is possible to put 80 items in an honor bar, which means that the inventory costs are high.  There are many products that do not sell well, but will still be found in an honor bar, because there is room for them and because someday, a guest may want the item.  Products that are not popularly consumed items become outdated.

Popular items, such as Coke or Pepsi (the biggest seller in any bar) are only stocked two deep.  If there are two people in the room who like to drink cola, this quantity will not be sufficient.

Inn-Room System

Product depth is five, except for the miniatures, which is six.   This depth ensures that guests will always have the products they want available in the bar.

Inn Room System can be stocked with the most popular items, keeping inventories at an optimum level for maximum profitability.

Menus/Price Changes

Honor Bars

Tent cards or hang tags (honor checks) are essential with honor bars.   They not only show the price to the guest, but they often include an inventory of the bar, so the guest can have some assurance that they will not be charged for items which are not in the bar when they check in.  When it becomes necessary to change the price of an item, new materials must be printed and distributed to the rooms.   Additionally, the restockers must ensure that there is always an honor check in the room.

Inn-Room System

If the hotel wishes to change prices, charge different prices in suit rooms as opposed to standard rooms this is easily and quickly accomplished at the computer.  If the hotel wishes to conduct a "happy hour" in the room, the special price is put into the computer, which immediately communicates the change to all or selected rooms.

Dispensing Alcoholic Beverages

Honor Bars

If the guests are under age, cash guests, certain groups, etc., to whom you do not want to dispense alcohol, the entire bar must be locked manually.

Inn-Room System

If necessary, liquor products may be locked out, leaving profitable snacks and beverages available for your guests' consumption.  If entire groups desire not to have alcohol available, a group code is used to lock out only the alcohol.  If an entire group does not want to have access to any of the items, i.e. if they have not left a credit card authorization with the front desk, it is a simple "group" command to disable the bar and lock it from the front desk.  Inn Room Systems is the only program that can meet specific State Laws regarding timed lock-outs.

Audit

Honor Bars

Restockers must complete "honor checks" and totals must be posted to the guest folio.  At time of checkout, the guest is requested to bring the "honor check" to the front desk for inclusion in the bill.  If the posting is not completed prior to check out, the hotel either sends a late charge notice to the guest or writes off the bill completely.  (Some hotels with honor bars do not bill the customer after departure if the amount is less than $5.00.)

Disputes and adjustments at the front desk are high because of memory lapses or dishonesty.  It is also difficult to pinpoint employee theft from the bars.

Inn-Room System

When the guest presses "BUY" on the keypad, then removes the item, the charge is posted to the computer.  If there is a power failure, no vends can take place.

Disputes and adjustments at the front desk are low due to the computer printout available showing the product which was removed, the date and the time of day.

Disputes at Checkout

Honor Bars

If a restocker has not been to a room to restock the bar prior to the next guest check in, there is no way to know which guest has removed the product.  Who should be charged?

By Checkout, a guest may not remember what he or she removed from the bar earlier during the stay, and dispute a charge at that time.  Or, if the bar has not been inventoried prior to checkout, a late bill must be sent.

Inn-Room System

All purchases from the bar are posted to the guest folio at the time the product is removed from the bar.  The listing includes day, date, time of day, product, and cost.

Charges from the bar are always current.

Exterior Composition/Cooling Mechanism

Honor Bars

The exterior of the bars is composite wood, sometimes with wooden doors.   Over a period of time the doors will warp due to humidity.  Hinges are problematic if the screws holding the hinges are not long enough to fully anchor the hinges in the composite wood.

Inn-Room System

The exterior of the unit is steel, covered to match or complement the case goods.  Inn Room Systems units will not warp or corrode.

Rather than the bar being locked at the door, each individual drawer can be rendered inoperable, in effect, "locking" the bar.

Inn Room System units are chilled with a silent compressor.  The interior of the bar is maintained at 38°F, plus or minus one degree, which approximates the temperature on home refrigerators.
 

[ Home ] [ Up ]

Send mail to with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2000 Inn-Room Systems, Inc.
Welcome to Inn-Room Systems, Inc. Products