Transforming a hunting trip or a vacation into an unforgettable experience begins with anticipating every guest’s needs. As a ranch owner, it’s not just about providing a place to stay; it’s about knowing the guests’ food preferences and allergies and preparing the room with their favorite linens.
Providing such personalized service may seem doable only for large businesses with access to integrated ERP systems and efficient reporting and accounting processes. Ranches and lodges grapple with disparate systems and find it challenging to compete.
Glenn Turner, CTO of Romeo Bravo Software, recognized this disparity and dedicated his efforts to democratizing access to sophisticated technology for smaller players in the hospitality sector.
“Even small businesses can get great technology,” asserts Glenn Turner. “We aim to bring big company technology into play for small hospitality businesses, enabling them to offer a level of service that was once out of reach.”
Turner’s journey into enhancing hospitality operations began when he witnessed the operational inefficiencies of his friend’s guest ranch. Eleven different systems were used to manage everything from reservations to food service. This experience revealed a widespread issue across the sector— the absence of integrated solutions that streamline operations and improve guest experiences.
Faced with a lack of suitable options in the market, Glenn Turner took a bold step by acquiring a company named Lodge-ical. He then redesigned its legacy software, developed for lodges, ranches, and outfitters, into what is now known as Yellowstone, Romeo Bravo Software’s flagship offering. A web-based ERP platform, Yellowstone integrates all aspects of hospitality management into a single, cohesive system. The platform streamlines operations for smaller ranches with advanced ERP, customer relationship management (CRM), and accounting systems. This integration enables these businesses to offer exceptional services and create memorable experiences for guests.
Romeo Bravo Software has a successful relationship with the Dude Ranchers Association that represents over a hundred dude ranches and works to regularly meet with and showcase the robustness and adaptability of their offerings. Among these, over thirty have integrated the cutting-edge Yellowstone platform, enhancing their operational efficiencies and guest experiences. This strategic relationship broadens Romeo Bravo’s market footprint and underscores its commitment to elevating the traditional dude ranch through technology.
Further expanding its reach, Romeo Bravo Software targets Orvis-endorsed hunting and fishing lodges, aligning with over fifteen top-tier establishments. A highlight is the partnership with the Highland Hills Ranch, which recently garnered the 2024 Orvis Wingshooting Lodge of the Year award–a testament to the platform’s effectiveness and reliability.
Yellowstone’s Advanced Tech Stack Powers Business Agility and Security
Yellowstone is built on a robust technical foundation that includes AWS, .NET Core, and Angular. This enhances the platform’s usability, security, and disaster recovery making it versatile enough to support businesses. Through the AWS framework, the company seamlessly scales its services to accommodate growing businesses, ensuring smooth operations regardless of the number of transactions, customers or guests.
The platform incorporates real-time logging and disaster recovery mechanisms to secure client data. And Romeo Bravo is in the process of rolling out AWS Cognito which facilitates user access by allowing log in using existing Google, Apple, or Facebook credentials. This simplifies the login process for both businesses and their guests, enhancing overall accessibility.
Glenn Turner highlighted the importance of these features for both small and large enterprises. For larger businesses, particularly those with a chief information officer (CIO) or a director of technology, the emphasis is on the platform’s security, privacy, disaster recovery, and real-time logging capabilities.
“Our use of AWS ensures we are equipped with disaster recovery and robust security capabilities, along with a continuous audit log of activities, to support our clients’ needs comprehensively,” he states. Romeo Bravo has introduced two key infrastructure components to strengthen its services.
Amazon Kinesis streams database logs to capture every transaction, creating a comprehensive change data capture (CDC) database that provides an accurate audit trail for problem-solving, trend analysis, and the use of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI).
Fullstory, records user sessions that help the company analyze use patterns at micro and macro levels. This data-driven approach helps refine software improvements.
Under Turner’s leadership, Romeo Bravo Software has broadened its product offerings to meet the hospitality market’s diverse requirements. Guide Pointer, another company product, is designed for businesses that offer day activities and guided tours. It provides integrated tools to efficiently manage bookings, billing, and schedules, helping these businesses deliver exceptional customer experiences. Ranch Bookings, aimed at smaller businesses, offers straightforward reservation and activity tracking capabilities. It provides an accessible solution for companies seeking to automate and streamline their operations.
Staying Ahead of the Challenges
The success of Romeo Bravo Software’s products stems from the company’s commitment to improve and respond to market demands continuously. It collaborates with its clients to understand and respond to their needs, iterating the platform to better meet these requirements. An example of this is a company’s current initiative to add food and beverage event management to the Yellowstone platform.
Its focus on responsiveness is beneficial for businesses that deal with seasonal staff turnover. Since many employees work only for a few months each year, the systems must be easy to learn and use.
To accommodate this seasonal workforce, Romeo Bravo has designed its offerings to be intuitive, optimizing workflows and reducing training time. No matter their prior experience, new staff can adapt to the system quickly which leads to improved operational efficiency.
“We believe in a business model where enhancements are made to benefit all users and are included in the platform’s ongoing updates,” Glenn Turner says. “This approach avoids the burdensome cost of customizations and ensures our platform evolves in line with the real-world needs of our users, maintaining high security and operational standards.”
Another instance involves electronic signatures, which were added to Yellowstone after multiple clients expressed their need for the feature. This development was deployed not as an expensive customization but an optional feature that enhances the platform for all users.
During the sales process, guided demonstrations are provided to help prospects understand the products and their features. A comprehensive implementation process follows each sale, beginning with questionnaires to gather essential information that will ensure a successful setup. Clients attend meetings where they configure the software themselves and complete tasks to reinforce their understanding of the platform’s functions. Before the system goes live, they must complete a checklist to ensure they are ready for the transition. This hands- on approach helps businesses understand how the solutions fit into their operations and familiarizes them with the platform’s nuances.
Romeo Bravo Software also adds value through business coaching, helping customers standardize their operations. This coaching aligns the organization and maximizes the benefits of the implemented solutions.
Customer Intimacy at the Core
Romeo Bravo Software’s prowess in assisting small businesses is exemplified in its collaboration with a growing guest ranch that struggled with fragmented operations. The ranch had used an Outlook calendar for scheduling and QuickBooks for accounting, leading to inefficiencies across various operational areas.
“Even small-businesses can great technology. We aim to bring big company technology into play for all hospitality businesses, enabling them to offer a level of service that was once out of reach.”
In 2022, its business leaders recognized the importance of integrating their operations and adopted Yellowstone, a move that was transformational. By leveraging the platform, the ranch was able to unify its operations—from calendaring and scheduling to payments and accounting—into one cohesive platform.
The transition to Yellowstone led to a remarkable improvement in the ranch’s operational efficiency and overall performance. Since implementing the platform and fine-tuning their processes, its business has doubled.
Strategic Growth through Commitment and Innovation
At the heart of Romeo Bravo Software is a dynamic team of 40 professionals, each bringing a wealth of expertise from various sectors, including hospitality, software development, and quality assurance.
The team includes Paul Robertson, a seasoned hospitality expert with extensive experience managing lodges and hotels. His insights ensure that the company’s products deeply resonate with their clients and end users. This diverse group includes skilled implementation and consulting professionals, one of them a former Marine who oversees documentation and implementation processes to enhance the company’s operational efficiency.
Guided by the entrepreneurial operating system (EOS) principles, Romeo Bravo Software focuses on aligning its people and core values with its strategic goals. This approach fosters a strong culture of engagement and commitment within the team.
Under Turner’s leadership, Romeo Bravo Software is committed to leveling the hospitality industry’s playing field by expanding its operations. Its growth strategy is twofold— organic expansion through continual product updates and geographical diversification and inorganic growth through the acquisition of property management and ERP platforms in the hospitality sector.
By focusing on providing top-tier technology to smaller hospitality businesses, Romeo Bravo has enabled them to enhance their service delivery and operational efficiency, ensuring that they meet the high expectations of travelers. The operations of numerous clients, including guest ranches and lodges, have been transformed, allowing them to effectively compete with their larger counterparts. By emphasizing customer driven innovation and continuously enhancing Yellowstone, Romeo Bravo Software is setting new benchmarks for service excellence and operational efficiency across the global hospitality sector.
Published with permission from CIO REVIEW | See full article at this link
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