Case Study: The Peninsula Chicago achieves centralized capital budgeting and major time savings with BirchStreet Systems

Luxury Hotel Greets Improved and Automated Business Practices

The Peninsula Chicago, a five‑star luxury hotel in the Peninsula Hotels group, faced cumbersome, spreadsheet‑based procurement and project accounting processes. In 2012 the hotel engaged BirchStreet Systems and adopted BirchStreet Systems’ cloud procure‑to‑pay platform — including eProcurement, AP 3‑Way Auto‑Match, Inventory Control and Capital Budget Management modules — to replace manual workflows and improve budget tracking for hotel operations and a major renovation.

BirchStreet Systems implemented Advanced Approvals Workflow, project coding, a declining checkbook with real‑time project budgets and integration with group purchasing partner Avendra, centralizing spend and automating controls. The solution gave The Peninsula Chicago consolidated, auditable budgets for a $36 million guestroom renovation, cut a previously three‑person process down to one person, delivered substantial time savings, and allowed the hotel to track nearly all spend (despite ~95% being custom orders).

The Peninsula Chicago

Matt O’Maley

Director of Purchasing