Must-have features of a Hotel PMS for efficient management of large hotels

A hotel property management system (Hotel PMS), as the name itself suggests, is a system that helps you manage your property. That’s why when it comes to the hotel tech stack, it sits right at the center of the list. The market has many players out there who claim to offer the best Hotel PMS. But then, you must have realized that some of them can only handle the front desk functionalities. Given the significance of this application and the scale of investment, it becomes crucial for large hotel chains to look for all the operationally imperative features before buying one. This is what we are going to do in this blog today. We will help you evaluate a PMS system that serves your purpose.

In the following article, we will look at how today’s Hotel PMS has evolved. It is no longer just a standalone hotel software; and instead, it has become the nerve center of the entire hotel operation by connecting other critically essential technology solutions. What exactly we want to say here is this – it should let you manage your end-to-end processes, save cost and time, sell more rooms, serve guests better, and increase revenue to see a handsome return on investment.

Let’s go about finding the right one for your large hotel chain operation.

Cloud-based

This is priority number 1. Don’t go by the kind of years a Hotel PMS vendor has spent in the market. After being in the ecosystem for more than 3-4 decades, if they are still selling on-premises Hotel PMS, don’t fall for it. Instead, it is advisable to tie up with a relatively younger software firm that offers a cloud-based solution.

We can give you many reasons to back up a cloud-based Hotel PMS. Here they are –

Affordable, one-time setup cost with a minimal subscription cost
Less Capex with no extra investment on IT infrastructure and supporting staff
Quick staff training on an easy-to-use application
With faster deployment, your property can go live quickly
Application uptime at 99.9% ensures your business is up and running all the time
Top-notch data security with a highly secured platform
Open APIs for seamless integration with several third-party solutions

Central control

We may say that this comes second. When you run multiple properties spread across locations, you would need a solid centralized control. Because, without that, you would struggle to keep an eye on operations in all your properties as you can’t be physically everywhere to do the same. You can access the cloud-based hotel software via the web on your laptop or mobile to view your group-wide and property-wise position.

There is more to it. Some of them are –

Manage multi-property operation with a single sign-on
Handle TA/Corporate profiles
View group-wide/property-level guest history
Use the CRO to manage make/accept bookings across properties
Gain access to group-level advanced reports

Mobile Hotel App

Today, mobility for the hospitality industry is more than a trend. So, when you are talking to a PMS vendor, see if they have the mobile version of the PMS. It’s like carrying your hotel property management system in your pocket and executing operations on the go. Just imagine this – you are attending a hospitality industry conference abroad, but you still are in control of your enterprise. Isn’t it something you must go for?

See more compelling reasons –

Run end-to-end hotel operation from your smartphone
Ensure improved staff productivity
Access critical KPIs anywhere and anytime
Offer faster check-in/out facility to guests
Increase housekeeping efficiency
Make informed decisions on the go

Additionally, the Hotel PMS should have these modules as mentioned below –

Front office management
Point of sale
Accounts receivable
Sales and marketing
Banquet and conferencing
Food and beverage
Materials/Inventory management
HR and payroll
Maintenance management

Now, let’s look at the integration capability part of a Hotel PMS. This is vital as you must leverage the power of many other third-party hospitality technology solutions to ensure a comprehensive 360-degree hotel operation.

Channel Management Solution

You can’t ensure a seamless distribution across multiple OTAs, metasearch engines, and other online sales channels if you do it manually. It becomes a little more cumbersome in case of hotel chains. Because when you do it manually, you have to log into each OTA’s extranet to change/update rates and availability, which is a time-consuming and error-prone process, leading to overbooking, double booking, and lost business opportunities.

The integration between a hotel management software and a channel manager software offers two-way connectivity. This automatically pushes rates and availability from the Hotel PMS to the channel manager for distribution across all the connected channels. Similarly, through the same two-way connectivity, bookings, cancellations, and modifications captured on sales channels would also instantly be updated on the hotel software via the channel management solution.

Revenue Management Solution

Revenue management is another area of hotel operation that requires a high level of digitization. Because, when it comes to revenues, you can’t afford to go wrong by guessing different parameters in setting up the right room rate for the right customer at the right time.

But the integration between the hotel software and revenue management solution simplifies this complex process. The system accurately forecasts demand, evaluates the profitability of each booking, factors in competitor pricing, and suggests the optimal room rates. It also allows you to configure relational rates and multiple rates for a single stay, change daily/monthly rates. Moreover, it can dynamically tweak your room rates based on occupancy.

Booking Engine

If generating more direct booking is your goal, this needs your immediate attention. An online/internet/web booking engine turns your hotel website and social media pages into potential platforms to capture incremental direct bookings, helping you save significantly in OTA booking commission.

Online Reputation Management Solution

Your property’s reputation is defined by the way your guests see it. The way they perceive it depends on how you serve them. It is a kind of asset that you build over years to attract more guests to your brand.

Here, too, the sync between the Hotel PMS and ORM solution allows you to see what guests are talking about you on multiple review platforms in one place, making it easier for you to analyze and understand their sentiment. It also automates the guest review collection process and boosts your online ratings and reputation.

Business Intelligence Solution

Just because we are talking about this integration at the end, it doesn’t undermine its impact on your hotel operation. Having data is necessary, making sense out of that data for the right decision-making is critical. This is where a Hotel PMS and business intelligence solution allow you to do more.

The integration between them maps data from all your systems and presents them neatly. Be it tracking KPIs, analyzing them, and creating insightful reports, you are set to take your hotel chain operation to the next level by becoming a data-driven hotelier.