How to Choose an Easy to Learn and Use Hotel Property Management System in 5 Steps

PRABHASH BHATNAGAR -

Choosing the right hotel property management system (PMS) is vital to the success of a hotel. A PMS not only helps streamline daily operations but also helps improve customer success. It affects every hotel department right from front desk to backend processes, point of sales services and housekeeping, and even your IT department. It is therefore extremely important to choose a PMS that is not only easy to use but is also simple to learn.

In today’s world where stringent social distancing norms are in place, investing in a PMS that can keep track of your housekeeping schedule and help you deliver contactless service is crucial. This will ensure the safety of both your employees and your guests.

Let’s look at a few helpful tips for choosing the right hotel management system software:

1. Define your Goals

Make a list of what you’re looking for in a PMS and rank them on a ‘need’ basis. It is important to understand what you need and why you need it according to the goals you have for your property. It is also a good practice to do some initial research on available products before setting your expectations with respect to the features and pricing.

A few key functionalities that any efficient PMS offers include:

  • An intuitive, easy-to-set-up platform with features that can be altered to match your hotel’s specific needs or requirements.
  • A centralized system to manage users, departments, modules, services, rates, and more with just a click.
  • Remote accessibility and 24*7 support including multi-property management.
  • Contactless check-in and check-out.
  • Easy management of housekeeping and maintenance modules.
  • Centralized reservation management using a robust channel manager that updates room status and availability across all distribution channels in real time.
  • Uncomplicated booking management that allows you to modify and change reservations when needed.
  • A robust system of reports and analytics to help track performance, trends, and help you make the right decisions to increase revenue.
  • Supports integrations with third-party services so that you will benefit the most in order to meet your goals.
  • Manage all your point-of-sales units from one dashboard.
  • Reviews and reputation management so that you can provide the best guest experience.
  • A mobile app, so that you can take care of your business from any device.
  • A web booking engine, to drive more direct bookings and cut costs on commissions.

These features are the bare minimum and may change depending on the size of your property, and the goals you have set for it.

2. Choose a Cloud-Based System

Cloud computing is the future of technology – Easy to install, more reliable, upscaling capabilities, and almost no maintenance cost. It gives hoteliers the opportunity to access their hotel management system software from anywhere, at any time. Make your bookings, check-in and check-out guests, process payments, manage housekeeping and maintenance services, add new users and so much more remotely. Say goodbye to the hassle of having to maintain the infrastructure and costs of an on-site hotel property management system.

3. Look for a User-friendly Interface

The last thing you want is to invest in hotel software that your employees are hesitant to use. The right hotel property management system is user-friendly, easy to adapt to, and has a simple to learn dashboard. This will help to reduce employee training time and boost productivity.

A good hotel property management system automates a lot of your day-to-day tasks such as check-in/out, housekeeping status, processing payments, night audits, rate management, guest management, and so on. Ensure that the PMS you choose is simplifying your tasks, and not complicating things further.

It is important to find a PMS that shapes itself according to your business needs and not the other way around.

4. Opt for 24/7 Support

Running a hotel isn’t a 9-to-5 job. Hence at the time of choosing your PMS, you need to ensure it is able to offer 24/7 support to cover your working hours. This means that your PMS service providers will be available to solve any queries, or issues that you may have at any time that you may have them.

Choose a hotel property management system that not only provides onboarding and continuous training and support to your staff but also has a simple enough interface that your staff will have no trouble adapting to. It would also be extremely useful if they had resources such as blogs, articles, or AI technology to cut down repetitive manual operations that you may have.

During the current times, a pro-tip would be to find a PMS partner that offers remote training and support. Contactless training is equally important for the safety of your staff.

5. Choose the Right Partner

Once you’ve decided on the kind of setup you want, you may also want to think about who you want to help you with this set-up. A few criteria to consider would be:

Service Quality: When selecting a PMS partner, service is one of the most important factors. Find a partner who offers 24/7 support, staff onboarding, and continuous training to trust your hotel’s needs.

Hotelogix’s award-winning customer support delivers an unmatched experience for hoteliers with a dedicated account manager to help with all your hotel’s queries or concerns. In addition, our Automated Coaching Engine (ACE) makes it easier for your staff to go through any process at their convenience.

Industry Knowledge and Expertise: Ensure that your hotel property management system is managed by experts in the industry. With over 10+ years of experience, Hotelogix offers an intimate knowledge of technology and the hospitality industry to launch an in-class solution for hotels.

Flexibility of Integrations: The world of technology is constantly changing and in order to keep up with the latest trends, find a partner who is flexible and committed to meeting your hotel’s needs. Hotelogix’s hotel management system software offers a wide range of third-party integrations and interfaces in order to extend the functionality of the PMS to suit your requirements. From online distribution needs like channel manager, global distribution system, web booking engine, email marketing, and more; to analytics, pricing and revenue management, reputation management, and even back-office processes, Hotelogix has partnered with only the best in the business to ensure that your hotel is running seamlessly.

Hotelogix PMS offers an all-round solution for all your hotel needs. A cloud-based PMS packed with user-friendly integrations to help you run your business without any hassles. Hotelogix PMS aids you with revenue management, reputation management, front desk operations, web bookings, distribution management, financial management, reports, and many others to give you a complete solution to manage your business effectively.