Facilipay and the Windward Group Hotel Collection
Windward Group partnered with Facilipay to unify gift card operations across its hotel portfolio, centralising sales, redemption, reconciliation and reporting while reducing manual workflows and supporting seasonal gift card growth.
- Client: Windward Management
- Industry: Hotel
- Format: Video story
- Read time: 6 min
<p style="text-align: left;">Windward Management manages a diverse hospitality portfolio spanning independently branded hotels, resorts, spa properties and city-centre destinations. That operating model creates a powerful commercial opportunity for gift cards, but also introduces complexity: each property must support local guest transactions while group teams need centralised visibility, reconciliation and control.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Facilipay was implemented to unify Windward’s gift card operations across the portfolio. The platform consolidated gift card sales, redemption, reporting and reconciliation into a single operating layer, integrated with Oracle Hospitality workflows and PAX payment terminals.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The result is a scalable gift card infrastructure that supports property-level operations while giving finance and group teams the visibility required to protect revenue, reduce manual effort and improve the guest experience.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Windward Management Hotel Portfolio</h2><h3 style="text-align: left;">Facilipay connected across multiple managed hotel properties</h3><img src="https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782236146771-xrmyb9-cropped.jpg" alt="" width="75%" data-align="center" class="cs-img cs-img-center" style="width: 75%;"><h2 style="text-align: left;">The challenge</h2><p style="text-align: left;">Windward already operated a successful gift card programme, but the process was fragmented across multiple systems, properties and reconciliation workflows. Gift cards were commercially important, but operationally difficult to manage at group scale.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Hotel teams were required to:</p><ul><li><p style="text-align: left;">process vouchers through manual or semi-manual workflows</p></li><li><p style="text-align: left;">reconcile activity across separate systems and properties</p></li><li><p style="text-align: left;">balance voucher activity against property management and finance systems</p></li><li><p style="text-align: left;">manage redemption complexity at the point of sale</p></li><li><p style="text-align: left;">reduce the risk of untracked voucher revenue or liability leakage</p></li></ul><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">We already had very successful gift card campaigns, but it was very disjointed.</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">— Stephen Williams, Group Director of Sales, Marketing & IT</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Facilipay’s role in the ecosystem</h2><h3 style="text-align: left;">A central orchestration layer connected gyest channels, hotel systems, terminals and finance reporting.</h3><img src="https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782231704102-pi18e6-cropped.jpg" alt="" data-align="full" class="cs-img cs-img-full"><p style="text-align: left;">Facilipay became the central gift card platform across Windward’s hotel portfolio, connecting guest-facing sales channels, hotel operations, Oracle Hospitality workflows, PAX terminals and finance reporting.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The rollout included:</p><ul><li><p style="text-align: left;">centralised gift card management across multiple properties</p></li><li><p style="text-align: left;">digital and physical gift card support</p></li><li><p style="text-align: left;">Oracle Hospitality integration</p></li><li><p style="text-align: left;">PAX terminal integration for payments and redemption</p></li><li><p style="text-align: left;">group-wide reporting and reconciliation</p></li><li><p style="text-align: left;">migration of tens of thousands of existing gift cards and vouchers</p></li></ul><h2 style="text-align: left;">Migration at portfolio scale</h2><p style="text-align: left;">One of the most significant parts of the implementation was the migration of existing voucher liabilities. Windward needed to move a large base of outstanding gift cards and vouchers into the new platform without disrupting hotel operations or guest redemption.</p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">There were tens of thousands of existing gift cards and vouchers ported over into the new platform. There’s millions of euro and we had no issues at all.</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">— Stephen Williams</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Transaction-backed adoption and seasonal demand</h2><h3 style="text-align: left;">A peek into how the data is organised and would look like with Facilipay</h3><img src="https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782232858871-6z31gc-cropped.jpg" alt="" width="33%" data-align="right" class="cs-img cs-img-right" style="width: 33%;"><p style="text-align: left;">The parent group's life to date captures 150k+ transaction records across 15+ individual hotel reporting views, including property-level and voucher-specific branches. The system captures revenues from various guest channels: Hotel website, front desks, email campaigns, pay-at-table services, etc.</p><img src="https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782232882959-zc6wwn.png" alt="" width="42%" data-align="left" class="cs-img cs-img-left" style="width: 42%;"><p style="text-align: left;">The data also shows strong seasonality. November and December activity was approximately 3.3x higher than the baseline operating period, reflecting the importance of the festive gifting window for hotel gift card programmes.</p><p style="text-align: left;">This granularity in data gives the business a clear idea on what works in their business and what doesn't- which they can action accordingly for increased sales.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Portfolio visibility across properties</h2><h3 style="text-align: left;">Share of transaction records across leading property and voucher reporting views</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Windward’s portfolio includes a mix of high-volume destination hotels, resorts, spa properties and city-centre hotels. Facilipay enables activity to be tracked across both property-level branches and gift-voucher-specific reporting views, giving finance teams a clearer view of where activity is generated and redeemed.</p><img src="https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782232989646-rdx386-cropped.jpg" alt="" width="100%" data-align="center" class="cs-img cs-img-center" style="width: 100%;"><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><em>Distribution reflects portfolio scale, rollout timing and the split between property-level and voucher-specific reporting views.</em></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">This matters because a gift card sold centrally may be redeemed locally. Without a unified platform, reconciliation becomes fragmented. With Facilipay, group teams can see the lifecycle of the gift card across the portfolio.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><strong>Operational impact across the portfolio</strong></h2><p style="text-align: left;">Facilipay helped Windward move from fragmented, manual voucher workflows to a more connected operating model across its hotel portfolio. Gift card purchase, redemption, payment and reporting were brought into a single platform, reducing manual touchpoints for property teams while giving finance a clearer view of voucher activity across the group.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><strong>Manual workflows reduced</strong></h3><p style="text-align: left;">Before implementation, voucher activity often required manual processing across property management, finance and payment systems. By integrating gift card redemption into the existing hotel workflow, Facilipay helped simplify day-to-day operations for front-of-house teams.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><strong>Reporting and reconciliation improved</strong></h3><p style="text-align: left;">Instead of merging reports from multiple systems, finance teams gained a single portal for voucher sales, redemptions and reconciliation. This improved visibility across properties and reduced the risk of untracked voucher revenue.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><strong>Faster guest transactions</strong></h3><p style="text-align: left;">At property level, the platform made gift card processing quicker and easier. Staff could handle purchase, payment and redemption through a more streamlined workflow, helping improve both team efficiency and the guest experience.</p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">Everything now flows through a single portal. We no longer need to merge reports from multiple systems, reconciliation is faster, and we’ve significantly reduced the risk of losing revenue.</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">— Wendy, Financial Controller, Dunboyne Castle Hotel</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Key Outcomes</h2><section data-features="[{"title":"Portfolio-wide gift card operations","description":"Facilipay centralised gift card sales, redemption and reporting across Windward’s multi-hotel portfolio.","iconUrl":"https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782235443141-0qj2g4.png"},{"title":"Large-scale voucher migration","description":"Tens of thousands of existing gift cards and vouchers were migrated into the new platform.","iconUrl":"https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782235451465-rodczk.svg"},{"title":"Seasonal demand handled at scale","description":"Gift card activity increased significantly during the November–December gifting period, with activity around 3.3x higher than baseline operating months.","iconUrl":"https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782235460888-l53z6g.png"},{"title":"Improved reconciliation","description":"Finance teams gained a single portal for reporting, reconciliation and portfolio-level visibility.","iconUrl":"https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782235472614-qyqoy4.svg"},{"title":"Reduced manual work","description":"Hotel teams were able to reduce manual voucher processing and simplify front-of-house workflows.","iconUrl":"https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782235478840-xmtl1c.svg"},{"title":"Faster guest transactions","description":"Gift card purchase, payment and redemption became easier to complete at property level.","iconUrl":"https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782235493655-rpbbpm.svg"}]" data-align="center" data-columns="3" data-card-size="regular" class="cs-feature-grid-block cs-feature-grid-center cs-feature-grid-cols-3 cs-feature-grid-regular" data-feature-grid="true"><div class="cs-feature-grid-kicker">Features used</div><div class="cs-feature-grid-list"><article class="cs-feature-card"><span class="cs-feature-card-icon" aria-hidden="true"><img src="https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782235443141-0qj2g4.png" alt="" class="cs-feature-card-image" loading="lazy"></span><div class="cs-feature-card-body"><h3>Portfolio-wide gift card operations</h3><p>Facilipay centralised gift card sales, redemption and reporting across Windward’s multi-hotel portfolio.</p></div></article><article class="cs-feature-card"><span class="cs-feature-card-icon" aria-hidden="true"><img src="https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782235451465-rodczk.svg" alt="" class="cs-feature-card-image" loading="lazy"></span><div class="cs-feature-card-body"><h3>Large-scale voucher migration</h3><p>Tens of thousands of existing gift cards and vouchers were migrated into the new platform.</p></div></article><article class="cs-feature-card"><span class="cs-feature-card-icon" aria-hidden="true"><img src="https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782235460888-l53z6g.png" alt="" class="cs-feature-card-image" loading="lazy"></span><div class="cs-feature-card-body"><h3>Seasonal demand handled at scale</h3><p>Gift card activity increased significantly during the November–December gifting period, with activity around 3.3x higher than baseline operating months.</p></div></article><article class="cs-feature-card"><span class="cs-feature-card-icon" aria-hidden="true"><img src="https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782235472614-qyqoy4.svg" alt="" class="cs-feature-card-image" loading="lazy"></span><div class="cs-feature-card-body"><h3>Improved reconciliation</h3><p>Finance teams gained a single portal for reporting, reconciliation and portfolio-level visibility.</p></div></article><article class="cs-feature-card"><span class="cs-feature-card-icon" aria-hidden="true"><img src="https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782235478840-xmtl1c.svg" alt="" class="cs-feature-card-image" loading="lazy"></span><div class="cs-feature-card-body"><h3>Reduced manual work</h3><p>Hotel teams were able to reduce manual voucher processing and simplify front-of-house workflows.</p></div></article><article class="cs-feature-card"><span class="cs-feature-card-icon" aria-hidden="true"><img src="https://pdxgybcqigjepeuikhea.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/case-studies/uploads/1782235493655-rpbbpm.svg" alt="" class="cs-feature-card-image" loading="lazy"></span><div class="cs-feature-card-body"><h3>Faster guest transactions</h3><p>Gift card purchase, payment and redemption became easier to complete at property level.</p></div></article></div></section><p style="text-align: left;"></p>
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