The Lowry Hotel Raises the Standard with Sage Intacct and Percipient
Manchester’s iconic Lowry Hotel blends seamless service with seamless reporting following digital transformation.
About The Lowry Hotel
Opened in 2001, The Lowry Hotel is a 5-star luxury hotel in central Manchester, situated on the River Irwell, known for its contemporary style, spacious rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, and excellent service.
With 165 bedrooms, the iconic hotel also features fine dining at The River Restaurant, the RE:TREAT spa, and extensive event spaces, making it a prime spot for both leisure and business, close to the city’s cultural attractions.
Digital Best Practice
Having identified a need for a new platform, The Lowry Hotel selected Sage Intacct following a market review and a shortlist that included Xero and Oracle. The decision was based on its flexibility, ability to integrate with existing systems, reporting and superior management insights. Its ability to instil agility from which to launch new services, and scale to support business growth was also key to the decision. Percipient’s extensive experience in the hospitality industry made it a natural fit when choosing a partner for the project.
The Lowry Hotel’s previous Navision system had several functional gaps that hindered automation, and it lacked the proper support to address them.
“I have a lot of experience working with Sage and was incredibly impressed with Sage Intacct,” comments Louise Longden-Scott, Financial Director at The Lowry Hotel. “Not only did it meet all our functionality requirements, but it was incredibly easy to use, intuitive and crucially, out of the box.
“Its multi-tenant cloud architecture, APIs for easy integration with third-party systems, and scale meant that it felt like a platform which would support us well into the future, and flex to accommodate new initiatives and innovations we might want to explore.”
A Breath of Fresh Air
Having gone live on 1st January 2024 following a short, straightforward deployment, Louise describes the system as “a breath of fresh air” and continues: “As well as being so easy to use, we’re saving so much time through its ability to just process everything in the click of a button. Everything is integrated, and Accounts Payable (AP) offers greater automation, expediting the processing of Purchase Orders (POs) and payments, resulting in around 20% in time saved. More than that, the risk of inaccuracies due to manual error is all but removed, and the way we communicate with our suppliers is far slicker.
“The Lowry Hotel’s month-end is quicker, and there is further potential to improve. The intelligence within it is just a game-changer. The team can ask questions or seek more insight into a particular invoice or transaction, and Sage Intacct generates the relevant data analysis in seconds.
“This capability really comes into its own when a query needs investigating from a board meeting or department head. The team can quickly access a comprehensive and live view of any area from which to respond and take action.”
Perpetual Intelligence
The perpetual intelligence in Sage Intacct enables The Lowry Hotel to be more agile, as department heads can access the latest insights and make decisions accordingly. For example, Sage Intacct integrates with ProcureWizard to provide an overview of suppliers and spending, enabling strengthened relationships, the exploitation of economies of scale, and the negotiation of discounts where relevant.
This intelligence also means that The Lowry Hotel has a live P&L, so you can click on it at any point to see where the business is at. While the idea of a continuous close seems a far-off concept, this capability brings the idea much closer to fruition. The level of automation in our financial management has significantly accelerated the team’s quest to become a completely paperless department, reducing paper use by around 70%.
As Sage’s leading partner in the hospitality space, Percipient demonstrated an excellent understanding of our business from the outset. As well as being local and great to work with, their professionalism and commitment have been hugely impressive throughout, and we’re looking forward to a continued partnership as we navigate our next chapter.
A Partnership Grounded in Hospitality
“Percipient has been an excellent partner throughout this project,” Louise adds. “They have extensive experience in the hospitality industry and a great deal here in Manchester. This experience, combined with first-hand, in-depth knowledge of the system, made for a smooth, fast deployment, and they continue to provide excellent support now that we’re live.
“They are so responsive, and in the event of us having to email a query, they quickly give us confidence that they’ll resolve it. A good example of this is that we hit a niggle in processing our year-end assets and couldn’t run it. Within 24 hours, Percipient had responded, reloaded it, reassured us that it would be resolved, and resolved it. Clearly, a huge amount of work and diligence is going on in the background, but their professionalism makes it look easy.”
Looking Ahead
“As Sage’s leading partner in the hospitality space, Percipient demonstrated an excellent understanding of our business from the outset. As well as being local and great to work with, their professionalism and commitment have been hugely impressive throughout, and we’re looking forward to a continued partnership as we navigate our next chapter.
“There is still much potential to explore within the system, but Sage Intacct represents a robust, scalable platform from which to manage our financials, providing the business with access to in-depth management information in a timely and user-friendly manner. The ability to make faster, more informed decisions is crucial in capitalising on new opportunities and mitigating risk, and with Sage Intacct at our helm, we’re confident that we’re in the best shape to deliver against the high standards which our brand is synonymous with.”
Sage Intacct for Hospitality Experts
If you would like to learn more about Sage Intacct, our work with The Lowry Hotel, or to discuss how we can help your hotel business, get in touch today or call us on 01606 871332.