Odyssey Hotel Group operates various hotel brands, including Marriott and IHG, on a franchise basis. Head of Sales Europe, Cherryl de Vries, saw that existing processes were hindering their enormous growth ambitions. Less manual work, better workflows, and clear insight into the numbers were essential.
The Challenge: A System That Got in the Way
“We were already using Salesforce, but mainly as a mandatory reporting tool,” says Cherryl. “My team saw it as a burden.” The system didn’t provide reliable management information. For instance, a single request at three different hotels was registered as three separate opportunities, skewing the pipeline. Reports for the board took hours to compile manually. The processes were not standardized, making efficient growth impossible.
The Solution: From Burden to Steering Wheel
The goal was clear: the system had to start working for the team, not the other way around. Welisa transformed the Sales Cloud environment into a powerful management tool. New dashboards were quickly built to present management information at a glance. The registration of opportunities was corrected to provide an accurate view of the pipeline, and many manual processes were automated.
“We can now manage by output much more effectively. Growing without hiring additional salespeople is now possible.”
The Result: Growth Without Additional Sales Staff
The impact was immediate. The workflows are now standardized, and thanks to automation, the team can get more work done. “I can see exactly what the conversion rate is per employee and what opportunities exist per customer,” says Cherryl. “If the board asks what’s in the pipeline for a specific region, it’s now visible instantly.” The team works more efficiently and uniformly, laying a solid foundation for scaling the team as the organization grows.
A Partnership for the Future
The collaboration is focused on the future. The next step is to connect Salesforce to SharePoint for sustainable document management, which will save on data center usage and CO2 emissions. Contract generation will also be moved entirely into Salesforce. “Technically, the possibilities are endless, and I see that same way of thinking at Welisa,” Cherryl concludes.
“Moreover, the lines of communication are short and they work fast. That makes for a very pleasant collaboration.”
