Inspiring story: Center Parcs
A cautious introduction at one location led to an ambitious vision to digitise all locations to the greatest possible extent within two years.
The Power of Leviy: the Commitment and Desire to Learn Collaboratively
Inspiring stories | Center Parcs
27 May 2019
Three years ago Center Parcs started with Leviy in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany. Ilse said, “For us this was a mega operation. Just think of the number of smartphones that needed to have the software installed on them and the training courses that needed to be given to the 3000 or so employees who would work with this technology.”
Start of the Leviy Collaboration
“Center Parcs is experiencing very fast development in the field of digitisation, both in our interaction with our guests and in our internal processes. I had been looking at various solutions to connect the housekeeping department and, ultimately, other departments such as reception and technical services too, but no supplier offered what Leviy could. They were further ahead than other software solutions.” Ilse continued her story with a smile, “I can now even say that Leviy has also learnt a lot from us in the intervening period. I think that our collaboration has made the product more robust, partly because we connected so many employees to the system. And that’s really great!”
Exciting: A First Pilot
Center Parcs started small with one cleaning team at one location in Belgium. “The first pilot was exciting,” Ilse said. “How will employees respond? Will there be many reports or will people remain silent?” Well, at Center Parcs, nothing ever stays silent! Reports came in from day one and employees were largely positive about it. “Employees were enthusiastic about the system, about the possibility they were given to make reports and about the user-friendliness,” said Ilse. “To give you an example, in the past, cleaners started work, wrote a ticket for each technical report and the technical service could only get started when they received the tickets from the cleaning team. Now employees can use the app to make a report all in one system and the technical service has the report on their doorstep in no time.”
Ilse can see that employees are very enthusiastic about using Leviy due to the number of reports. “The number of reports from employees increased dramatically, employees were able to see the impact of the report they made immediately. Reports were being properly picked up by other departments and often resolved in the time that the cleaning staff were working, and that motivated them to keep reporting. This creates a nice upward spiral. In the beginning I was perhaps a bit worried about employees who didn’t have a smartphone. I was way off the mark! They also understood the system quickly and enjoyed working with the smartphone and the tool. It also made every employee proud to be working with a smartphone. This piece of professionalisation starts with them.”
“Now we are thinking, why didn’t we get started with this sooner?”
“Our cleaning staff are the eyes of the organisation. They go everywhere, into every building and see everything. That’s why we have chosen to equip our employees with a smartphone and to get them to work with Leviy. We can’t get stuck at the supervisor level. No, it had to be at the level of cleaner to achieve real efficiency. No internal chains mean short communication lines. The report must be made at the right level and end up in the right place – that’s something I really believe in.”
Customer satisfaction shows that it was the right choice. “Guests give a higher quality rating and the number of complaints has decreased. Our cleaning teams therefore made more reports and our guests fewer. Exactly as it should be. Now we are thinking, why didn’t we get started with this sooner?” said Ilse.
Tips for a Leviy Rollout
Ilse has tips for companies that want to implement Leviy. “Start with a small pilot. We are still starting with a pilot at every location, often we start with just two cleaning teams going live at first. There are company-specific things and processes at every location, or sometimes tasks are done a little differently. Only after six weeks do we roll it out across an entire location. Going live runs much more smoothly because you have already eliminated the small differences. Pilots are now much less exciting than the first one was, but that doesn’t change the fact that we are still starting with a pilot at every location.”
Fancy Learning from Us?
“Leviy consists of an enthusiastic group of people. I have seen them grow fast over the past year and a half. Leviy’s strength is that they are people who tackle problems, they are involved, they actively respond to customer demand and the speed and flexibility at which that happens is very impressive. They also set themselves apart from the competition with their curiosity and desire to learn from us! Their goal is to continuously improve the product. And the better the product, the more this helps us with our services and ultimately ensures a better experience for the guest. And that is what it’s all about for us: the guest!” Ilse said.
Leviy: A Collaborative Success
“When we were able to start a pilot for Center Parcs, it felt like a wonderful step and opportunity. Center Parcs is an impressive name and an authority in the leisure industry. Sebastiaan van der Vinne (CEO, Leviy) is proud of this great collaboration, “The fact that we now have such ambitious plans after just a couple of years makes us extremely proud! The collaboration was open, clear and above all very ‘together’ from day one. We have a common goal in mind so it also feels like a joint success. The fact that Center Parcs said that the results speak for themselves and that employees, in particular, are proud and happy with Leviy … that goes beyond a success purely in business terms. In this case, you’re actually making a bit of difference to many people’s lives. It couldn’t be more perfect!”
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