“We needed quick access to key data and intuitive input screens which would prompt the sales staff to offer relevant options to potential customers and capture all valid data.”

All six racecourses offer a range of hospitality suites and restaurants, with 26 suites at Windsor alone. In addition to corporate hospitality, the racecourses offer a range of conference and exhibition facilities.

For example, Royal Windsor Racecourse, which is situated in 165 acres of beautiful Berkshire countryside and overlooked by Windsor Castle, markets its suites, marquees and lawns for conferences, banquets and team building activities. Facilities include meeting space for 250 delegates plus syndicate rooms, banqueting suites for 300 guests, and spacious exhibition areas.

Catering options range from buffets and dinners to barbecues and fine dining menus.

With the installation of Rendezvous, Arena has gained:

• a streamlined business process at site level
• centralised sales management with a common client database
• the ability to cross-sell across all Arena locations
• standardised and speeded up billing
• an interface with accounting to boost accuracy and save time

Paul Shrimpton stresses that flexibility is a key to streamlined operations:

“We wanted a system that allowed us flexibility in how we structure our business going forward and opened new sales opportunities. Rendezvous ticked all the boxes and I’m pleased to say that NFS have delivered what was promised. I am confident they will continue to support us to ensure that all benefits envisaged at time of sale are fully realised.”

Luis DeSouza, CEO of NFS, says: “Arena Leisure needed a flexible and integrated system to handle such a high volume of race meetings and corporate hospitality. We designed Rendezvous to provide seamless booking and billing with a marketing module to facilitate cross-selling and other marketing efforts. So we are very pleased that Arena has found a solution in Rendezvous.”

NFS is a leading international provider of software solutions for the hospitality industry. The company is based in Hertfordshire, and has operations in the USA, Ireland and South Africa as well as Business Partners in the Middle and Far East. The company’s product range includes Aloha EPOS, Rendezvous for Conference, Catering & Meeting Room Management and roomMaster, an automated reservation system for hotels.