SCHULTE HOSPITALITY

Digital transformation and centralization of group room block management 

 

54K

Reservations in first 6 months

2HR

Time saved per day

34

Hotels managed centrally 

INTRODUCTION

Hospitality organizations are balancing rapid growth, evolving guest expectations, and significant technology shifts. Success belongs to those who can adapt quickly and efficiently. For Schulte Hospitality, which oversees the Graduate by Hilton brand, the past year marked a pivotal transformation. Katherine Kinney, Director of Commercial Operations, led her team through a sweeping tech transition when Hilton acquired the Graduate brand, requiring all 34 hotels to migrate their entire tech stack.

During that transition, much more than the hotels’ names changed. Their way of working, communicating, and tracking reservations all received a makeover. Graduate Hotels are located across the US and UK, with hotels of all sizes and designs. They are near college campuses, and each is unique based on the needs, interests, and style of that particular market. The hotel in Eugene, Oregon, greets guests with a collection of Nike shoes, while the Randolph Hotel Oxford mimics the iconic Old-World style of the neighboring university. 

What remains constant across time zones and cultures is the need to manage groups efficiently, communicate clearly with event organizers, and adapt to the changing technology requirements of meetings and events. Schulte Hospitality leveraged Cvent Passkey to reinvent group room block management—saving staff hours, empowering planners, and enhancing guest satisfaction.

CHALLENGE

Modernizing and unifying group room block operations despite complexity and time constraints

Planners expect instant access, self-service options, and real-time data when working with hotels that will be hosting their groups. Yet, group block management at most hotels remains highly manual—consuming valuable staff hours and creating friction for planners and guests alike. Several converging challenges prompted interest in a clearer, more efficient process for Schulte Hospitality. 

lobby with center stairs
  • Manual Rooming List Processing: Hotels would request that planners submit rooming lists in a specific template. Compliance was low, leading to extensive manual data entry and a high risk of user error.
  • Visibility and Flexibility Gaps: Planners and wedding clients sought real-time insights—specifically, who had booked and who hadn’t —and the ability to make last-minute changes. Staff often spent one to 1.5 hours daily just pulling, updating, and resending rooming lists.

  • Remote Team Challenges: With Hilton’s server-based PMS, access to the PMS was limited, impacting their ability to support hotels efficiently.

     

pool seen from above
  • Scalability and Growth: As Graduate by Hilton expands, ensuring consistent, high-quality support for both large and small properties (some with minimal meeting space and lean staffing) can become unsustainable with legacy processes.
  • Hybrid Support Models: Distributed, remote operations, and shared service platforms are rapidly becoming industry standards. Schulte utilizes a centralized operations group to manage rooming lists for hotels, thereby freeing up onsite staff to interact directly with customers and secure more business for the hotel. 

SOLUTION

Deploying Cvent Passkey for Seamless Group Block Management

With the transition to Hilton’s PMS and the shift to remote shared services, Schulte Hospitality selected Cvent Passkey to reimagine its approach to managing room blocks for groups. Their new method needed to be user-friendly, secure, consistent, and customer-facing. The burden for managing room blocks was shifted to a shared services team that has become experts in the technology and the governing theories of revenue and room block management. They selected and implemented Cvent Passkey for these reasons:

  • Automate Room Block Workflows: Passkey integrates seamlessly with Hilton’s PMS, letting remote teams manage room blocks and reservations without direct PMS access.
  • Empower Planners and Clients: Planners, athletic teams, and wedding groups gain real-time, self-service access to booking, editing, and monitoring their room blocks—no more waiting for staff to update lists. Planners can choose between self-service and full white-glove support from coordinators, depending on their comfort level with technology.
  • Reduce Manual Data Entry: Passkey’s rooming list upload and validation tool eliminates template mismatches, reduces user error, and ensures accuracy. Planners and staff see updates instantly, minimizing errors and eliminating the need for endless email chains with every change.
  • Support Flexible, Scalable Operations: Large, complex events and small, intimate meetings benefit from the same processes. Using Cvent Passkey frees up on-site staff and remote coordinators to focus on guest experience and sales, not spreadsheets.
  • Sub-Block Management: For major events (e.g., 15+ sub-blocks, 200+ rooms), Passkey handles complex allocations and last-minute changes—what used to be a logistical headache is now “effortless.”

RESULTS

Quantifiable Impact and Transformational Value

Dramatic Efficiency Gains

Spending hours making minute changes, sifting through email trails, and tracking down confirmation numbers was taking time away from more important tasks. Room block management used to be a complex and tedious process. Now, there is visibility for every party involved, self-service options to eliminate wait times, and streamlined processes for taking and changing reservations. Schulte Hospitality has seen improvements in revenue, efficiency, and business opportunities since implementing Cvent Passkey. 

round table with green chairs in a small lounge
  • Time Savings: In the first six months, the shared services team processed 54,000 reservations via Passkey. Staff who previously spent hours on rooming lists now save an estimated two hours per day—time redirected to higher-impact client support and sales activities.
  • Reduced Human Error: Passkey’s automated upload and validation has “created a lot less opportunity for human error and we are seeing… a lot more accuracy in that initial rooming list entry.”
  • Scalability and Consistency: Small hotels—often with lean teams—are now able to deliver the same seamless experience as larger properties, without sacrificing sales bandwidth or risking mistakes.

One member of my team [said] she estimated that she saves about two hours a day… that she can use to help our sales team and help in other ways that are a bit more impactful than just manipulating rooms in the PMS system.

Katherine Kinney
Director of Commercial Operations

Enhanced Guest and Employee Experience

Schulte Hospitality’s transition to Cvent Passkey is a powerful example of digital transformation in the hospitality industry. This restructuring of the way they handle group room blocks has streamlined communication with event planners and created a self-serve platform where guests can manage their own reservations. The positive results for planners, attendees, and employees are clear:

  • Planner and Guest Empowerment: Group planners can make changes 24/7, view real-time status updates, and alleviate anxiety. This is especially appreciated by wedding and college athletic groups, where changes occur frequently and transparent communication is essential for managing room blocks. Passkey is simple and clear, ensuring that even couples who are managing their own hotel block understand their reservations and gaps. Last-minute changes—common for university athletics—are now self-service.
  • Increased Upsell Revenue: Passkey enables hotels to offer upsells (such as room upgrades, shoulder nights, and amenities) directly within the booking flow, capturing revenue that was previously missed due to manual processes.
  • Improved Staff Morale and Expertise: Staff members are more engaged, transitioning from rote data entry to subject matter experts who support clients and learn best practices in revenue management. While Kat’s team is young, they are taking advantage of the opportunities to learn new skills that will serve them in their hospitality careers. Understanding and managing the Passkey system has led to more education about room block management, hotel revenue, and strategic decision-making. 

The ability to give people time back in their day… not having to spend time on more administrative things like rooming list changes and running a rooming list out of the PMS system… makes a big difference in your day.

Katherine Kinney
Director of Commercial Operations

BEST PRACTICES

Schulte Hospitality’s success with Passkey shows that hotels of all sizes can benefit from having a defined room block process supported by technology. Planners and guests expect hotels to have developed seamless processes for integrating their reservations, allowing them to make and modify those reservations online at any time. Employees don’t want to spend their time working in spreadsheets and retyping data. They also value the personal relationships they build with customers and would rather spend their time on tasks that have a direct impact on the business. 

Two blue and purple cogs are placed on a black background, creating a visually appealing design.
  • Manual processes are no longer sustainable as guest expectations rise and remote operations become the norm.
A blue arrow pointing to the right with a black square in the middle on a black background.
  • Self-service, automation, and real-time collaboration are now essential features for group block management—driving both efficiency and revenue.
A blue square with a white line and blue arrow pointing upwards on a black background.
  • Productivity gains free up staff to focus on high-value client support, relationship-building, and sales growth.
Business deal handshake blue purple illustration, symbolizing partnership and agreement in a corporate setting.
  • Planner and guest experience is measurably improved, building loyalty and reputation for both the brand and its properties.
Product used:
long dining table with logo

LOCATIONS

34 worldwide

CHALLENGE

  • Manual rooming list workflows created errors and consumed a significant amount of staff time.
  • Planners lacked real-time visibility and flexibility.
  • As the brand scaled with centralized operations, it created pressure to standardize processes for lean teams.

SOLUTION

  • Deployed Cvent Passkey to integrate with PMS, enabling remote teams to manage room blocks and reservations.
  • Empowered planners and clients with real-time, self-service booking, editing, and monitoring.
  • Reduced errors and manual work via rooming list upload/validation, standardized processes for all event sizes.

RESULTS

  • Processed 54,000 reservations in the first six months.
  • Coordinators reclaimed roughly two hours per day for higher-impact sales and client support.
  • Improved staff morale and expertise as roles shifted from rote data entry to client advisory and revenue management best practices.