Easy Access to Real-Time Data Proves Invaluable for Staff Housing Operation

“The need for real-time occupancy data was the most important factor in choosing StarRez.”

Richard Miller, Area Manager, Associate Housing, Cedar Point

Challenge

Cedar Point’s many rides and attractions draw not only fun-seekers from around the world, but employees as well — including thousands of international college and university students earning credit through the U.S. Department of State’s Exchange Visitor Program. Also known as the J1 Visa program, this initiative requires companies to provide employee housing before they can be approved to host students from overseas. With 3,300 beds in 13 buildings across three different campuses, Cedar Point’s paper-based processes were creating serious challenges for the human resources team. “We really needed to move into the 21st Century,” said Richard Miller, Area Manager for Associate Housing.

Solution

Cedar Point turned to StarRez for help updating and streamlining its housing operations. “We started with the basics — Entry Management, Booking Management, Work Orders, Occupancy Graph,” Richard explained.

“Now we’ve added Programs, Conduct, Package Tracking, Front Desk, and more, and we also upgraded to PortalX. We’ve converted almost everything to digital processes with StarRez in the past three years. Only two of our legacy operations are still used, one of which is Payroll Deductions for rent payments and we’re just waiting on our new system for that.”

Richard Miller, Area Manager, Associate Housing, Cedar Point

Results

“It’s been a night and day difference,” said Richard. “With our legacy systems, everything was delayed 24 hours. But we know our campus doesn’t operate in a delayed fashion. We need real-time access to occupancy data — who is in which room and when are they transferring. We operate similarly to a hotel in that we have residents who want to transfer almost constantly. They meet people and become friends and want to move in together. Now everyone in our HR, operations, and administration offices can look at StarRez and get accurate data with a delay of just a few seconds.”

Richard is quick to point out that Cedar Point doesn’t just use StarRez for housing. “Security uses it for parking and resident verifications. HR uses it for programs and compliance training. Our events team uses it for tracking attendance. We’ve been able to integrate it into so many areas and because it’s all in one system, we all have easy access to that real-time data.”