Inside a GM’s Playbook for High-Volume Hospitality at CLLIX Apartments and Hotels

The Australian chain is rolling out Flexkeeping to 20+ more properties after seeing a 413% ROI at pilot property. 

At Brisbane Skytower by CLLIX Apartments & Hotels, operational scale is extreme by any standard. With more than 435 short-term apartments, 147 public spaces, and a 1,141-unit complex, even small inefficiencies add up fast.

When Arun Satheesh stepped into the General Manager role, Flexkeeping, a Mews company, was already implemented, but not fully optimized.

What followed was a strategic reset that unlocked speed, visibility, and measurable performance gains across the operation.

$3K+ saved per month in room allocation alone.  

One of the biggest pain points for management was room allocation. With hundreds of daily arrivals and departures, the process was consuming valuable leadership time and money.

By empowering an Executive Housekeeper to fully champion Flexkeeping across the property, Arun says allocations were reduced from 3 hours to 15 minutes. This saved the team over 112 hours per month, resulting in monthly cost savings of $3,037 AUD.

For a property with 50–60 housekeepers on peak days, this shift also fundamentally changed how teams were deployed. Tools such as Automated Cleanings enabled staggered start times, faster room turns, and better coverage during late checkouts and afternoon arrivals.

»The idea is to maximize the availability of rooms for last-minute pickups to increase occupancy and net revenue.«

87% boost in productivity.

Previously, workflows were split across multiple tools, offshore teams, and manual handoffs. The team felt the pain of constant follow-ups and duplicate tasks. Roadblocks slowed work and increased labour costs.

They retired legacy systems and consolidated processes into Flexkeeping. The introduction of smart automation cut their workload in half, reduced errors, and connected departments seamlessly.

The difference was felt immediately. Human admin decreased by 50%, and the team is now 87% more productive across the board.

The maintenance department was particularly impacted. Maintenance tasks are now raised, tracked, and resolved in parallel with inspections. This allows rooms to be released faster and with greater confidence.

»It’s all about minimizing admin, but still being on top of our game.«

Cleanliness score increased by 10%. 

Cleanliness is a non-negotiable KPI at Skytower and directly affects demand. Arun says it’s one of the key KPIs he shares with his team.

Today, the property maintains a Booking.com cleanliness score above 8.8. Before optimising Flexkeeping, the score held steady at 8. This metric has become a critical threshold for attracting higher-quality guests and premium bookings. Even better—Skytower is maintaining this score at an average occupancy rate of 90%.

»If you’re reaching closer to a score of 9, you get the quality crowd. You get the genius crowd.«

Flexkeeping plays a key role by helping teams resolve issues in real time. Maintenance can respond immediately during inspections, not hours later. Rooms are then released clean, complete, and guest-ready.

»For our guests, the experience starts from checking in on time, with a clean room, and no maintenance issues.«
  

27% of monthly tasks are now automated.

With hundreds of check-ins on busy days, manual task handling at the front desk simply didn’t scale. Arun went so far as to call it “practically impossible” with the amount of rooms Skytower has.

Through Flexkeeping’s integration with RMS, tasks now flow automatically between departments. Front desk doesn’t have to call housekeeping to request a clean. Everything is visible on the app, by all team members, in real time .

In a single month, 683 tasks were automated, allowing teams to focus on delivering fast, smooth experiences for guests. No extra headcount needed. Arun says this level of efficiency has been huge for their perceived value.

»Now we can always give the guest what they need, on time. It impacts our net promoter score (NPS), TripAdvisor reviews, Google reviews, Booking.com reviews. Everything.«

Staff onboarding reduced to 1 day, in 9 languages.

Skytower’s housekeeping team speaks 9 different languages and dialects. While it makes their talent diverse, it also leads to miscommunication, a lack of clarity, and a resistance to using certain tech or tools.

Flexkeeping auto-translates into 200+ languages instantly, so staff can use the app in their native tongue. It also has an AI voice assistant that staff can speak into, and the tool will instantly understand, input, and delegate the task.

That, plus the simple interface, makes Flexkeeping easy to adopt. Especially for high-volume, high-turnover properties.

»It’s such a simple app to use. There’s a one-day training, max. The onboarding speed has 100% helped our operations.«

Next up: 20+ properties across the portfolio.

Skytower is the proven blueprint for CLLIX. The group is now preparing to rollout Flexkeeping across 20+ properties in Australia, starting with those over 100 rooms.

Flexkeeping’s centralized analytics will allow leadership to compare productivity, identify top performers, and support a new cluster operations model across housekeeping, maintenance, and operations.

For CLLIX, Flexkeeping has evolved from a housekeeping tool into an operational must. One that supports scale without sacrificing control, quality, or guest experience.

Want to see these results for your property? Book a demo.