In the backdrop of today’s tech savvy world, every mode and scale of hospitality business has a relevant context to use cloud based solutions – to manage their properties efficiently and achieve better ROI from their businesses. The simple reason here is – the target customers, in today context, are global, and are looking for services through online channels and engines.
Currently, hostels and dormitories constitute a considerable chunk of the hospitality service providers – and they too need to leverage solutions which can enable them be present at the same place where their potential clientele are.
Around the globe, numerous travelers prefer to stay in hostels and dormitories whenever they travel, to cut down on their travel costs. To cater to this growing market, there are several booking engines which focus exclusively on hostels such as hostelworld.com, hihostels.com, hostelsclub.com etc. It is thus critical for hostel or dormitory owners to ensure their presence at online market places where their global clients are present and searching. Utilizing a cloud based PMS and distribution system is the foremost step in this direction.
Hostels generally sell their inventory in terms of beds. Here, average income per unit is relatively low – so they require pushing for volume sales. So, hostels or dormitories need a cost efficient solution which helps them streamline their operations(to save on cost incurred) and sell to a global market place – ideally with a ‘fee against actual revenue’ pricing model.
Some cloud based solutions today are a perfect fit for this scenario. Such solutions do not require any heavy IT infrastructure – just a computer with internet access is good enough to get started. A hostel owner can start off with a low one time sign-up fee, and can make monthly payments after that, based on actual volume of occupancy of the beds.
Cloud based PMS can efficiently aid in managing the hostels operations and reservations systems. Bookings can be segregated into several sections as per convenience – e.g. long staying guests, group reservations, individual stays and so on. Gender management and room assignment can also be taken care of by the PMS. These tools ease the burden of the hostel managers to a great extent and helps keep things more systematic, simple and error-free.
An ideal hospitality solution should also enable the hostels to sell their rooms on numerous OTA’s by means of one channel manager. They can manage their room inventory in real time across various booking channels without having to manually juggle their inventory around. It’s an absolute win situation.
Cloud based solutions are the way to go for the day … and ahead. It is efficient, affordable, easy to use, and is equally effective and vital for a 5 room dormitory as it is for a business hotel with 300+ rooms.