citizenM's Ambition for Seamless Hospitality

citizenM, a global leader in modern, affordable luxury hotels, has long prioritized offering a premium level of service. For that, they believe in empowering their team, rather than having them hindered by manual processes. This led them to seek a solution that could optimize their workforce capabilities.

For over three years, citizenM has partnered with Aphy, driven by their commitment to efficiency and a tech-forward approach to finding better solutions. And as a strategic partner, Aphy collaborated with citizenM to develop a more sustainable operational model.

This expertise in robotic process automation (RPA) and deep understanding of the hospitality industry enabled Aphy to enhance processes and elevate citizenM’s customer journey as a whole.

The Challenge: Managing Tedious and Error-Prone Manual Processes

Before partnering with Aphy, citizenM faced challenges with many tasks requiring manual intervention. This was highly time-consuming and prone to human error, leading to inefficiencies and preventing staff from focusing on higher-value activities.

Aphy anticipated citizenM's growing challenges and proactively proposed a solution that addressed these. For example, the process of handling no-shows or updating reservations across multiple properties was time-consuming, where staff would have to log in and update information.

“The system wasn’t very responsive. Our team had to perform lots of repetitive actions. This left room for human error and affected the guest service,” says Silvain van Weers, Program Manager, and Head of Engineering at citizenM.

In addition to reservation management, generating reports for multiple hotels was another unproductive process. Employees had to export and email reports daily, which took up significant effort across properties in different time zones.

These difficulties also took a toll on staff morale. As repetitive tasks piled up, employees found themselves unable to focus on the creative aspects of their jobs. As Silvain explained, "We always aim to deliver world-class hospitality, but the manual processes were starting to get in the way of achieving that."

The Solution: Implementing RPA to Automate Key Processes

With a background in RPA and a deep understanding of hospitality workflows, Aphy was perfectly positioned to help citizenM overcome these challenges.

One of the first areas targeted was the no-show reservation process. citizenM operates hotels across multiple time zones, and managing these tasks was laborious. Aphy's approach directly addressed these issues, eliminating the need for employees to log into multiple systems.

With that, Aphy developed a robot that could handle no-shows across all properties without staff intervention. This included automating tasks like report generation and distribution, which previously required significant effort across multiple teams. By enhancing these processes, Aphy managed to considerably free up citizenM staff’s workload, without the need of additional hires.

Moreover, during the migration of citizenM’s PMS, Aphy’s solutions played a key role in minimizing disruptions by designing a robot that assisted in migrating data from the old system to the new one. Supported by Aphy’s team of experts, the robot handled time-sensitive tasks overnight, ensuring that the migration for over 35 hotels was smooth.

“The PMS migration worked overnight, at times like 3 AM, ensuring a seamless transition. This gave our team a sense of relief—knowing the robot had their back,” Silvain explained.

The Results: Increased Efficiency, Improved Staff Morale, and Greater Guest Satisfaction

Aphy has become a trusted advisor to citizenM, offering ongoing support and guidance as they continue to drive innovation in their hotels. Through a more strategic approach leveraging automation, citizenM saved multiple Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) hours.

Furthermore, Aphy has implemented over 30 robotic process automation (RPA) solutions for citizenM, significantly improving productivity across various departments. These streamlined a wide range of tasks, from automating the no-show process to simplified reporting. And as citizenM made fewer mistakes, services improved, ultimately boosting the company's NPS.

“Our staff even began to view the robots as reliable colleagues who made their jobs easier,” Silvain remarked.

Conclusion: Empowering citizenM to Focus on What Matters Most

citizenM has fully embraced RPA as part of their ongoing digital transformation, aligned with their long-term goals. This approach has transformed citizenM, and Aphy remains a key partner in helping them adapt and scale.

Whether it's optimizing reservations, generating reports, assisting with system migrations, or handling payments, Aphy's approach to identifying and addressing challenges has been instrumental in transforming citizenM's systems. This commitment to a long-term partnership ensures that these solutions continue to meet the group’s evolving needs.

As Silvain sums it up: “Aphy has been a crucial partner in our digital transformation journey. If you’re not looking into a solution with Aphy, then you’re not automating enough.”

As citizenM continues to grow and innovate, we look forward to supporting them with our tailored partnership, helping them provide a world-class customer experience—one robot at a time.

Time to Level Up—Join Us! Contact us today to learn more.

Pedro Moreira
Head of Commercial
Aphy