Our Business
Seirai Group Japan runs ACOE, an accommodation brand in Tokyo. Our business has three lines: hotel business, hotel operation on behalf of owners, and hotel consulting. The day-to-day operation runs on Benri, the system we built, and on inspection that keeps improving the work.
What ACOE is
Together, under one roof.
ACOE stands for A Change of Experience. It is our accommodation brand for families and groups travelling together. Our mission is to provide space for families to make lasting memories together.
Looking further ahead, our vision is to become Japan's most beloved family hospitality brand.
Our business
Three lines of business.
01Hotel business
Accommodation run as our own business.
We run ACOE accommodation as a business of our own. We carry out the day-to-day operation, from managing bookings and communicating with guests to cleaning, inspection, restocking and arranging repairs.
02Hotel operation on behalf of owners
An owner's property, run as ACOE.
We operate an owner's property as ACOE accommodation, utilising the ACOE brand and its network of properties. From signing the agreement to welcoming the first guest, we lead the preparation, working with architects and renovation contractors. Once the property opens, it runs to the same procedures and standards as every other ACOE property.
03Hotel consulting
Our know-how, offered as consultation.
Drawing on our experience of running ACOE and the network we have built, we provide hotel consulting, ranging from property setup to pricing strategy. Before a property opens, we advise, from an operator's point of view, on room layouts and furnishings planned around the guest and on working with architects and renovation contractors. The consulting can also cover listing on booking sites, setting and adjusting prices, and building the day-to-day operation, including cleaning, inspection, restocking, guest communication and written procedures.
The system we built
The standard, built into the system.
Benri is the system we built ourselves to run the operation. Keeping the standard in the system, rather than in anyone's memory, is how we work to keep it high. Choose a function to see what it is for and which functions it works with.
0BenriBenri, from the Japanese word 便利 for convenient, sits at the centre of the operation. It connects the team's work so that everyone can work from the same records and to the same standard.
A schematic. The lines join the chosen function to Benri and to the functions it works with.
0Benri
Benri, from the Japanese word 便利 for convenient, sits at the centre of the operation. It connects the team's work so that everyone can work from the same records and to the same standard.
Learning the standard
1SOP database
Lets a member of staff ask a question and find the answer in the company's procedures or in each property's details.
How it keeps the standardA missing answer can be written in, so the next person who asks finds the same one.
Learning the standard
2Training and onboarding
Takes a new member of staff through the work in stages, one day at a time, with a GM confirming each day.
How it keeps the standardSign-off draws on the record of real work, and what was learned is revisited after sign-off.
The work on site
3Time card
Records who cleaned which room and when, and lets the team know as a clean starts and finishes.
How it keeps the standardA clean carries the names of the people who did it, so its result can be looked back on.
The work on site
4Checklist and inspection
Goes through a room against a set list, and records the inspection, its photographs and anything that needs restocking or repair.
How it keeps the standardWhoever checks a room checks it against the same written standard.
Works with
What guests see
5Online guidebook
How to use the property and what is nearby, from before arrival through the stay, in the language the guest chooses.
How it keeps the standardThe questions guests ask show where the guide falls short, so it can be filled in.
What guests see
6In-room tablet
Lets a guest look things up about the stay, and reach the team, from the room.
How it keeps the standardMessages from the room are brought into the same place as the guest's other messages.
What guests see
7Guest messages with AI assistance
Keeps each guest's conversation in one place, where AI translates and can draft a reply, and a member of staff checks it and sends it.
How it keeps the standardAI stops at the draft, and a person sends it. Whoever replies works from the same saved answers and records.
What guests see
8Social media marketing
Shares the posting out on a rota, and keeps a record of each post and of how the following changes.
How it keeps the standardPosting follows set themes and a rota, so it does not rest on one person's memory.
Measuring and improving
9Review analyzer
Brings guest reviews together property by property, to read how each stay was received.
How it keeps the standardReviews are read beside the record of who prepared each room, so the next clean can learn from them.
Works with
Measuring and improving
10Listing intelligence
Compares how each listing is being booked against its market, and puts the ones that need a second look first.
How it keeps the standardWhether to change the price, the visibility or the listing itself is decided by comparison.
Works with
Measuring and improving
11Revenue management
Bookings, revenue and costs for each property, brought together so the business is read from its records.
How it keeps the standardThe records, not a feeling, show where attention is needed.
Works with
Always aim for improvement
Quality rests on the system, not on any one person.
Each clean is checked before it is closed, each problem is weighed against our SOP, and each issue is tracked until it is resolved. Every record then feeds back into how we work and how we train, so the standard keeps improving, whoever is on shift.
01A check before the clean is closed
Whoever cleaned a room cannot close the clean until the room has been checked against its checklist.
02An inspection by management
Management also inspects rooms, and no inspector grades their own clean. Each problem is weighed by AI against our SOP.
03Issues, repairs and restocking, tracked
Issues, maintenance and restocking are all logged in our system and tracked until they are resolved, so that nothing is missed and every room stays well maintained.
04Every record, analysed
Every inspection is kept on record and analysed as it comes in, and what it shows is turned into solutions in real time, so that the same mistake is not repeated and the way we work improves every day.
05Our in-house training course
New staff learn through our own in-house training course: an intensive programme that covers the work thoroughly, and the mindset behind it.