CASE STUDY

About Firoka Group (and its IHG Portfolio)

Firoka Group operates a diverse portfolio of branded hotels and venues across the UK, including several properties under the IHG brand family: Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Express. Each hotel carries its own character, layout, and operational rhythm, yet all must uphold IHG’s globally recognised consistency and compliance expectations.

For Craig, delivering IHG’s brand standards across multiple properties was a constant challenge. Each site relied on different systems, different reporting habits, and different levels of operational maturity. While IHG provides robust standards, ensuring those standards were implemented consistently as well as evidenced properly proved increasingly difficult without a unified system.

Snapfix gave Firoka the structure and clarity the team needed. With one central operational platform, Craig’s teams could work visually, consistently, and transparently, while effortlessly upholding IHG’s standards for guest experience, audit readiness, safety, and compliance. As Craig noted, “Having a digital track means things don’t get lost or forgotten like they did with spreadsheets or whiteboards.” Snapfix turned everyday operations from a reactive scramble into a more reliable process, giving the team confidence that nothing would fall through the cracks.

Before Snapfix

Before Snapfix, Craig’s IHG hotels faced the same operational challenges seen across many IHG properties:

• Fragmented communication channels: Daily operations depended on WhatsApp groups, emails, spreadsheets, and paper checklists, with no single source of truth.

• Lost or misdirected messages: Staff were often contacted at inappropriate times with irrelevant information. As Craig said, “We were using WhatsApp more and more, but staff were getting messages at 11pm that weren’t even relevant to them.”

• No audit trail or compliance assurance: Manual maintenance and compliance checks were often completed retrospectively, making it impossible to guarantee the consistency IHG brands require.

• Inconsistent photo documentation: Photos were shared informally and rarely stored correctly, and checklists could be ticked off without time-stamped proof.

• High-stress audit preparation: When brand audits or safety inspections arrived, teams scrambled to gather documents, photos, and evidence of completed tasks.

• Cross-property inconsistency: Each hotel interpreted processes differently, using its own documentation methods. Without a live operational view, Craig had no reliable way to compare performance, identify gaps, or ensure brand standards were consistently met.

• Lack of accountability: As Penry-Parish noted, “Historically, checklists in hotels were a tick exercise. Someone might have done the whole month at the end of the month.”

Snapfix became the turning point, bringing structure, visibility, and reliable evidence where previously there was none.

“Snapfix highlighted issues we didn’t even realise we had, now our scores are improving again.”

“External auditors are impressed when we show them Snapfix.”

“We’ve reduced our issue resolution times by 
60% 
It's made a massive difference.”

Craig Penry-Parish

Group Operations Director

Firoka Group

Why Snapfix

Craig needed a system simple enough for all teams to use instantly, yet powerful enough to deliver consistency, visibility, and accountability across every IHG property. Most platforms he considered were complex, training-heavy, and ill-suited for IHG’s small teams and fast-paced daily demands.

Snapfix stood out for its visual simplicity “If you can take a photo, you can use Snapfix” making it perfect for teams on the ground. Its ability to unify operations across departments helped leadership improve collaboration. By time-stamping, photographing, and tracking every task, it removed guesswork from brand standards. Maintenance issues, housekeeping tasks, safety inspections, and operational checks became fully visible and auditable.

For IHG hotels, where brand standards and compliance requirements are non-negotiable, Snapfix provided:

• GDPR-compliant communication to replace WhatsApp

• Real-time visibility across all properties

• Proof-based compliance with photo evidence

• Accountability, showing who completed tasks and when

• Consistency, with standardised checklists and daily routines

• Staff adoption from day one, reducing onboarding time

• Faster maintenance turnaround, improving guest satisfaction

Snapfix didn’t just solve individual problems. It created a unified system aligned with IHG’s expectations for safety, consistency, and performance across properties. “You can see straight away who’s doing the work and who’s not, the younger team adopted it instantly.”

Implementation and Impact

Snapfix delivered transformative, measurable results across Firoka’s IHG hotels:

• Full operational visibility: For the first time, daily activity became trackable and auditable. Every checklist, inspection, housekeeping priority, and maintenance task is now time-stamped and supported by photographic proof, removing guesswork and creating real accountability.

• Major gains in maintenance performance: Typical resolution times in similar hotels average up to 10 days. Craig’s IHG hotels now resolve tasks in around 4 days; a 60% efficiency improvement. Early flagging of small issues prevents guest-impacting incidents and reduces long-term asset damage.

• Stronger compliance and effortless audits:  Fire walks, AC filter changes, lift inspections, and statutory checks are completed consistently and evidenced properly. Audit preparation stress has disappeared, with managers simply opening Snapfix to see live status updates. As Penry-Parish noted, “Even external auditors are impressed when we show them Snapfix.”

• Seamless internal communication: Front desk, housekeeping, and engineering teams now collaborate through one shared system instead of juggling WhatsApp groups and email threads. Priority rooms, VIP requests, and stayover needs are actioned instantly and transparently.

• Portfolio-wide consistency: Snapfix created unified standards across all properties. Every hotel now operates the same way, and Craig has a real-time window into performance across the entire portfolio, ensuring brand standards are upheld everywhere.

Snapfix is perfect for

Reactive maintenance

Planned maintenance

Hotel Groups

Fire safety checks

Guest requests

Compliance

Lost and Found

Conclusion

For Firoka’s IHG hotels, Snapfix quickly became more than a tool, it became the operational backbone bringing clarity, structure, and consistency to every department. What started as a security solution evolved into a platform supporting brand standards, maintenance, compliance, housekeeping, communication, and portfolio-wide visibility. With reliable evidence and real-time updates, Craig gained control without micromanagement and every hotel delivered a consistent IHG-level experience.

For any IHG property facing inconsistent processes, compliance pressure, or communication gaps, Firoka’s results show what a simple visual system can achieve. Snapfix helps protect the brand, elevates guest experience, and ensures every hotel operates to the same high standard every day. As Craig put it, “The more you put into the system, the better the information you get out of it.”

Ready to streamline your hotel’s operations? Get in touch with our sales team to schedule a free demo.