How Capilon Hotels Achieved a 343% ROI Across Four London Properties
This London hotel group ditched paper-based operations, unlocked 114 hours of productivity per month, and built a tech stack that actually works for their team.
Sam Shepherd has spent a long time thinking about hotel operations. As COO of Capilon Hotels, a management and development company running four boutique properties across central London, he knows what bad tech looks like. He'd used complicated systems before, where it was easier to pick up the phone than open the software. That wasn't something he was willing to repeat.
When it came to finding a housekeeping and operations platform, he researched for months. The criteria was simple: it had to be easy enough for a team where technology doesn't come naturally to everyone, and it had to actually get used.
He chose Flexkeeping.
The old way wasn't working.
One Before Flexkeeping, Capilon's housekeeping operation ran on paper. Every morning, room assignments were printed off the PMS and handed out by hand. When a housekeeper finished a room, they'd call reception to let them know or mention it in passing if they happened to cross paths. In a multi-building setup with one receptionist on the desk, that information could take an hour or two to filter through.
»Our operations were very, very labour heavy. Very old school. Very on paper.«
The knock-on effects were real. Front desk staff couldn't confidently offer early check-ins or late checkouts because they never had a clear, live picture of which rooms were actually ready. Maintenance issues took longer to report because there was no easy way to flag them. And with staff moving between four properties to cover shifts, there was no consistency in how any of it was managed.
67% more productive. 114 hours saved monthly.
Since going live with Flexkeeping, Capilon has recorded a 343% ROI and a 67% productivity improvement across the portfolio, saving 114 hours and £1,599 every month.
Room assignments that previously required printing and chasing now take minutes. Housekeepers receive their tasks directly on their phones, log their cleans in real time, and report maintenance issues on the spot. They do this in their own language, using Flexie AI: Flexkeeping’s multilingual voice-to-text tool. The moment a room is marked clean, the status updates automatically in Mews. No calls or manual updates at the front desk.
For the front office team, the shift has been significant. They can see exactly which rooms are clean, in progress, or inspected at any given moment, and check guests in with confidence.
»It looks better, it sounds better, it's quicker. It's a better experience.«
Guest requests arrive in minutes.
Capilon runs Flexkeeping alongside runnr.ai and Mara Solutions. It's in these integrations where the day-to-day magic happens.
Through the runnr.ai integration, guests can send requests via WhatsApp, for example a towel or extra toiletries. That request then routes directly to the housekeeper assigned to their room.
»The guest makes the request and within a minute they've got a towel coming. People think it's magic.«
The Mara Solutions integration works just as quietly in the background. Overnight guest review feedback automatically generates maintenance tasks, so the team wakes up knowing exactly what needs to be fixed, before the next guest has to ask.
»The maintenance team can wake up in the morning, look at their phone, and see a clear list of tasks from the reviews that went out last night. These are all things that massively help with efficiency and time for our team.«
The team came around faster than expected.
Rolling out new technology to a team where English isn't everyone's first language, and where some staff members aren't naturally comfortable with technology, could have been a challenge. It wasn't.
Flexie AI’s voice assistant meant housekeepers could log updates by speaking in their own language rather than typing. The interface was simple enough that the team didn't need much convincing. Within a week to ten days of go-live, even the most hesitant staff members were using it without issue.
Capilon's head housekeeper, an 18-year veteran of the business, was initially skeptical. Within days, she was singing its praises.
»After months of researching different providers, this is the one that stood out. It's super easy to use, even for people that technology doesn't come naturally to, and it's made everyone much more efficient.«
One platform. Four hotels. Ready to scale.
For a company that acquires, develops, and relaunches properties, consistency matters. With all four hotels running on the same platform, staff can move between properties without retraining, performance can be benchmarked across the portfolio, and new properties can be onboarded quickly without long pre-opening setup periods.
Flexkeeping is now part of the foundation Capilon is building on as they grow.
Want to see these results for your property? Book a demo to see Flexkeeping in action.
