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50% reduction in time to create schedules
Real-time labour cost visibility
Smarter staffing decisions
“Managers now understand exactly how their rotas impact both guest experience and department costs. Fourth has helped drive a shift in commercial awareness—and saved serious time along the way.”
— Frazer Gander, Deputy Head of People & Culture, De Vere Hotels
De Vere operates over 260 meeting rooms and over 1,800 bedrooms. Many properties have a rich history to draw upon and each has its own distinct character. All have flexible meeting spaces and are close to major transport networks. Many of their hotels host large-scale events and high-volume stays, which makes effective workforce planning a vital part of their success.
De Vere is a high-volume hospitality group, hosting major conferences, events, and leisure stays—often accommodating hundreds of guests per property on a daily basis. Yet their previous rota tool was outdated and lacked the visibility needed for cost control and operational alignment.
Managers built schedules based on spreadsheets and disconnected forecasts for room occupancy, event size, or food covers. There was no real-time insight into labour costs, making it difficult to plan efficiently or justify staffing levels. As Frazer put it, “Managers had documents everywhere—none of it centralised, and none of it live”.
De Vere moved all eight properties to Fourth’s Activity-Based Scheduling in a single-day switchover—aligned with payroll processing—and without disruption. A central team supported by Fourth’s experts (particularly Sophie and Bal) managed the change with a detailed project plan, live test phases, internal champions, and LMS training resources.
Crucially, property General Managers and heads of department helped build the labour standards and activity metrics relevant to their hotels, ensuring these were fit-for-purpose from the onset. One manager stated “It’s about maximising every opportunity to count towards revenue and make savings without compromising on quality or service.”
Fourth’s implementation made scheduling dramatically faster, more intuitive, and instantly reflective of real business needs—from room types and guest flow to bar and restaurant activity.
The impact has been immediate and cultural. Managers are spending less time scheduling and more time fine-tuning staffing around live data. Weekly payroll meetings now include proactive reviews of schedules versus revenue and guest demand.
“Before, a manager might not be aware of the impact of ineffectively scheduling their teams across the peaks and troughs of a week, or even in the same day. Now, they can rethink that entirely as the module has raised awareness and accuracy across the board.” – Frazer Gander.
Key outcomes:
De Vere is now preparing to roll out Fourth Analytics, building on the foundations of activity-based scheduling to further enhance forecasting, reporting, and financial planning.
Save time, reduce costs, and increase profitability with Fourth’s intelligent solutions.