“The system has been successful in increasing sales for the location. It has been great to be able to reach our goals and expectations of rolling out this new system.”
Located near Epcot®, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is a tropical beachside paradise that was first opened on October 1, 1968, and provides a relaxing family atmosphere. The resort consists of 2,112 rooms located in five themed village areas, each of which is named after a Caribbean Island – making the Caribbean Beach Resort one of the largest hotels in the United States. Located close the resort’s main poolside area is the Banana Cabana pool, which continues the tropical theme, and provides seasonal specialty poolside drinks and snacks.`
The Caribbean Beach Resort (CBR) had recently remodeled its main pool. They added almost 200 additional seats surrounding the pool, and wanted a way to be able to reach out to guests as much as possible. Their goal was to increase bar sales by adding a Cocktail Server that would be able to provide service to as many guests as possible at the nearby Banana Cabana Pool Bar. According to Jill Kobylesky, Caribbean Beach Resorts’ Restaurant Guest Service Manager, “All guests interested in purchasing items from the Pool Bar had to go to the bar to place their order. We wanted to add a service that they could only find here at Caribbean Beach, and possibly set a new standard here at Walt Disney World.”
Caribbean Beach Resort needed a system that would allow service to be provided to guests efficiently and effectively, as a Cocktail Server was added to provide poolside service to guests. CBR decided to use Long Range Systems’ Beach Butler—a push-for-service paging system, to provide their guests with service that was above and beyond what they expected.
As guests want to purchase something from the bar, they press the service button located on the Beach Butler transmitter unit. Once the button is pressed, a message is instantly sent to the Cocktail Server’s alphanumeric pager, telling them which Beach Butler unit the page came from by displaying the Beach Butler ID. The server then responds to the request by going to that location. ID numbers are placed on the back of each Beach Butler unit. A map layout of the pool deck area is used to identify where each Butler unit is located. Servers referring to the layout know exactly where the units should be placed daily, as well as, where to go when they are paged.
With the convenience of being able to request for service at any time, guests make more food and beverage purchases. According to Kobylesky, “The system has been successful in increasing sales for the location. Our server sales have been pretty consistent and have definitely added revenue to our location as a whole.”
No longer are guests limited to visiting the bar in order to purchase food or beverage.With the new push for service system, they can make their purchases while poolside. “The system so far has met our goal of improving guest service. Our server has provided us with positive feedback that our guests are very appreciative of this service,” said Kobylesky.
Cocktail servers are able to respond immediately to the guests’ request for service as a message is instantly sent to a server’s pager when the service button is pressed.
Providing on-demand service has given Banana Cabana guests more options. “The system so far has met our goal in providing our guests with an option we previously could not give them. It has helped to set us apart from other pool bars on property,” said Kobylesky.
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