'The hotel industry and AFAS just fit really well together'

Ideally suited for automation of supporting processes

As a sales manager, Maarten Pluim is still going to work for the hotel industry, his old love, via a diversion, "As far as I am concerned, this is the best of both worlds."

"AFAS Software in a nutshell? That is a dynamic and quirky software company with more than 600 enthusiastic employees. We provide products and services to more than 12,000 companies. Quality and vision are the pillars of our success. They enable us to develop and sell high-quality software products." Speaking is Maarten Pluim, who has been with AFAS for more than 15 years and effortlessly completes his sales pitch. He recently switched to the position of sales manager for the leisure industry, which is new to him. As such, the hotel sector is also part of his remit.

"For me, this is a very special challenge," says Pluim. He once studied at higher hotel school with the firm intention of fulfilling his dream: to start a hotel in India. It all turned out differently, however, as he ended up at family-owned company AFAS in Leusden. Via a long diversions, he now returns to what he describes as his old love. "As far as I'm concerned, this is the best of both worlds," says Maarten. "I'm really looking forward to making contact with hotel organisations to show them how they can work a lot more efficiently with our software. I have many great examples of that."

Workflows and dashboards

As is well known, hotels usually use industry-specific software for their core processes, such as Property Management Systems and Point of Sale solutions. According to Pluim, the strong feature of AFAS' software is that it is very easy to link to such systems thanks to a large number of connectors. "Our software is ideally suited for automating support processes," he explains. Examples include HRM/Payroll (in line with the hospitality industry collective labour agreement), Finance, CRM and Projects. "Also consider special functionalities such as self-service for employees and applicants. The combination with smart workflows and informative dashboards ensures streamlined processes and up-to-date insight into operations," says the sales manager. Other major benefits? "Organisations that start working with our integrated ERP software can often do away with multiple systems. This not only saves costs, but also time due to one-time data entry. Moreover, it significantly reduces the risk of errors."

Scalable

Working in the hotel industry is people work, Pluim knows. "Nine times out of ten, it's all about hospitality. Then it is nice to be able to put a lot of energy into guests and visitors, without having to worry about administrative processes. The great thing is that we can offer our customers a scalable total solution. This means, for example, that hotel chains that experience strong growth can continue to work with our software without any problems. The software simply grows with them." 

Ever since the last century, AFAS has been considered a solid software partner for the hotel industry, from independent hotel organisations to large chains. By now, hundreds of Dutch hotels work with AFAS' software. "The hotel industry and AFAS simply fit together very well," Maarten explains. "We have our own theatre in Leusden, we are the namesake of concert hall AFAS Live and main sponsor of football club AZ. So we have gained a lot of experience in the field of hospitality. We have always been inspired by successful hospitality and customer experience concepts from the hospitality industry. Reason for me to keep my eyes and ears open in my new position as well."