The Other House Empowers Customer Experience with Sage Intacct and Percipient
Unique hospitality start-up deploys digital advantage to delight residents and scale for growth.
About The Other House
The Other House is a residents’ club combining home comforts and apartment-style living with hotel-style services.
A new concept, The Other House brings a hotel, members’ club and private residences together into a residents’ club, which caters for both long and short stays. With its first property in South Kensington, the second location debuts in Covent Garden imminently, and more locations are set to follow in the coming years.
Focused on meeting the unique needs of the modern traveller, and an ethos on creating memorable experiences, The Other House offers interior-designed club flats, beautiful spaces to eat and drink, and exclusive access to its private club.
Underpinned by Percipient’s expertise and experience, [Sage Intacct's] ability to integrate and provide intelligence was unrivalled in our search and selection process, and we went live after a smooth deployment in October 2021.
Scaling for Success
As a new company, The Other House initially used Xero for its accounting needs when the business was pre-trading. However, as it geared up to launch, the executive team needed a platform which would integrate with all key systems, deliver high-level business insights on all areas, and scale to support ambitious growth plans which will see the lifestyle brand open 15 sites in the next few years.
As a Tech led organisation, The Other House conducted an extensive review process to select Sage Intacct based on the fact it was the best system on the market and could efficiently integrate with other best-in-class systems.
Tom Haley, CFO, of The Other House, commented: “We first looked at Sage Intacct at HOSPACE 2020. Having witnessed it in action, and talked to existing customers, it represented the best digital platform to support our business. Underpinned by Percipient’s expertise and experience, its ability to integrate and provide intelligence was unrivalled in our search and selection process, and we went live after a smooth deployment in October 2021.”
The Other House started using Sage Intacct fully in 2022. Having been pre-revenue up until this point, the system was deployed and ready for the other hotel systems to become operational. During this time, back-office integration was highlighted as a key strategic priority for the opening, as stakeholders began to see the true power and scalability of the platform.
We now benefit from a massive amount of automation across the business. Because of the impressive integration via APIs, we can view pretty much anything via an easy-to-navigate dashboard, daily, weekly, monthly, or by any other configuration we choose.
Automated Benefits
Ashley Slinger, Senior Finance Manager, at The Other House, explains: “We now benefit from a massive amount of automation across the business. Because of the impressive integration via APIs, we can view pretty much anything via an easy-to-navigate dashboard, daily, weekly, monthly, or by any other configuration we choose. This unprecedented level of speed and intelligence means that we are able to distil key data in minutes rather than days. In practice, this means that when, for example, we report to the bank, we can access and download the information needed in ten minutes rather than the two days it took previously.”
“Crucially, it can be used by anyone, not just finance, which promotes transparency and allows intelligence to be applied where relevant,” adds Tom. “Our quarter-end accounts are produced at a click of a button and we are able to plot and compare any insight we need to create a comprehensive picture, so that when viewing, say, profit and loss, we can look at the numerous variables associated with that.”
“This data accuracy and integrity, in conjunction with its timeliness, means that any subjectivity is removed. Conversations focus on ‘the numbers’ and associated data points rather than a discrepancy, and decisions can be made faster, and in a more informed way. Because mundane tasks are automated, our people are able to focus on insight to drive both the customer experience and profitability. In keeping with our employee engagement, it means that we can keep our people focused on supporting the company’s targets, values and vision, rather than searching for data.”
An Example of Best Practice
In fact, employee engagement is an area in which The Other House has taken its analysis to the next level Tom explains.
“We have recently engaged with a new Employee Opinion Survey partner. A key question when engaging with a new software partner is always can we integrate with Sage Intacct?”
“In this instance, we will be able to see the feedback from the survey in our profit and loss (P&L) dashboards, to help us understand the relationship between salaries and employee satisfaction. To have this insight automated, in easy-to-interpret visuals, allows us to drive the best business conversations in real-time.”
“And because Sage Intacct can also tell us how much has been taken per outlet each morning, our CEO, Naomi Heaton, can be walking through a restaurant for example, and with live data at her fingertips, congratulate staff on record sales. In an economy where labour represents a significant business challenge, this level of insight will be hugely valuable,” Tom adds.
Energy costs are currently another major industry challenge, but because the system provides live data on energy consumption, The Other House’s engineering team can access a more in-depth picture of what’s going on to ensure waste is minimised and peaks can be better managed.
More than Finance
“Sage Intacct delivers truly end-to-end finance, but in reality, it does so much more than that,” Tom concludes. “It allows us to have a high-level business conversation based on statistical insights, which in turn, give us an in-depth understanding and control of our numbers in real-time. In fact, it gathers insights from all departments in order to create a story about a particular number, outcome or trend which stands for a huge amount of value in today’s challenging markets.”
“Digital is, without doubt, a crucial aspect of any modern hospitality business, and we see it as a competitive advantage. While our app will play a significant role in helping to deliver the Resident experience, it’s all of the intelligence generated in the back office, powered by Sage Intacct, which ultimately delivers the magic.”
Sage Intacct Partner for Hospitality
If you’d like to learn more about Sage Intacct, our work with The Other House, or discuss how we can help your hospitality business, please get in touch or call us on 01606 871332.
