An app that's Hot Hot Hot, and beats many others that are Not Not Not
May 22, 2017

An app that's Hot Hot Hot, and beats many others that are Not Not Not

Frank Jameson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with HotSchedules

We currently use HotSchedules for 3 very different businesses, an entertainment center with 100+ employees, a restaurant with 50+ employees and a liquor store with 15 employees. It works for all 3 businesses and we find it VITAL to use the store logs to provide comparisons and insight from staff to better future events. From an HR standpoint, we keep a log of interactions with your staff, good and bad, providing proof for coachings, merit reviews and even labor audits. From a business operations viewpoint, we post in the logs regarding maintenance issues, new product introductions and customer requests. Todays' employees want their schedule information quick, HotSchedules provides a platform to share that information in the text messages, emails. The entertainment center uses the budget feature and we are working to introduce that feature to our other two businesses.

Is HotSchedules pricey? Yes and no. A product is only as good as the person that chooses to use all of the features, we value the store logs MORE than just using the scheduler. Add in that we occasionally use the budgetary segment, we believe we get more value out of HotSchedules.

Overall, I would highly recommend HotSchedules for any company - small, medium, and large!
  • Store Logs - the ability to record daily events. It provides the review for the monthly results, or even a staff members training progress.
  • Scheduler - divide your staff into various departments so your managers can focus on meeting guest needs in smaller groups. Also a great communication tool as it sends out the schedules in a way convenient to the staff member.
  • Reports - we only use 5 of 30+ reports, but those provide us material for managers to keep the business on track throughout the day.
  • Configuration is key - there can be bumps after bringing a new business into HotSchedules so the terminology has to be different for each one.
  • Scheduler - on the old one, there use to be a key that explained the hot keys, now its missing. Probably under Support, but it used to be on the scheduler screen.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
I believe HotSchedules is a premier tool for our businesses. Our last scheduler app did not provide the store log feature, where as HotSchedules provides all of the features that we need and MORE. Reports, Staff Journals, tracking task assignments, handling multiple time off requests. Best part, we still haven't used everything it provides.
This product is well suited for all businesses, but definitely, one where the business deals with daily interactions with customers. Retail, restaurants, and amusement parks all would benefit from the scheduler and store log features.

It probably would not be as beneficial in an office setting, unless it was strictly used for the scheduler feature. Also, if the operation is small in size (under 15 employees), I believe the price may prevent some from trying the product.

Using HotSchedules

6 Years of Experience provides me the insight on the upgrades and changes that HotSchedules has done to improve the experience of its users. There are so many features that we still have not started or used to the fullest, but we believe that we are currently getting a strong value out of the money that is paid for this product.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
None
  • Scheduler
  • Requests for Time Off
  • Messaging
  • Staff Journal
  • Budget setup
  • Adapting or configuring the terminology to a different industry.
Yes - Works really well to use for views of the logbooks, rosters, staff information, but it's way too easy to "lose" progress on a posting by going back or accidental exit of the app. There should be a safeguard to ask you if you want to leave. I also have the Above Store Console that allows me to switch between 3 different companies, and the mobile feature works flawlessly.