PMS for Small Hotels: How it Can Help Achieve Operational Excellence

A recent forecast report from Grand View Research suggests that global hotel property management software’s (Hotel PMS) market size will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4% by 2028. So, the need for PMS for small hotels is unquestionable.

Here a few important benefits a small hotel can witness with a cloud-based Hotel PMS:

• Streamlined and automated hotel operations
• Reduced errors, time-saving
• Staff collaboration
• More sales and revenue
• Insightful reports
• Enhanced guest experiences

Let’s understand this with an example.

Benefits of PMS for Small Hotels

Here are some of the key advantages small hotels using a PMS can result in:

Improved operational efficiency	Enhanced guest experience	Increased online Visibility and sales
It automates all your daily tasks across all the departments – from the front desk, housekeeping, Point of Sale, accounting, distribution, materials management, and many more.	Operational automation saves staff time. Instead of doing unproductive, mundane tasks, they can pay attention to guests’ needs – room upgrades, special requests, etc. Moreover, with a guest history module, a Hotel PMS makes it easier for them to understand past guests’ preferences and offer personalized services during their subsequent visits.	Hotels can easily manage their online presence through the integration of Hotel PMS and Channel Manager. It helps the small hotel distribute rates and inventories on multiple OTAs in real-time for improved visibility and indirect sales. It is also a crucial element in reducing the overbooking menace. Additionally, integrated with a booking engine, a Hotel PMS helps a hotel in generating more direct bookings via its website and social media pages.
Real-time insights and reports	Reduced IT costs	Mobility to access data on-the-go
Getting real-time insights into hotel operations, including occupancy rates, check-ins/check-outs, availability, room revenue, guest preferences, and feedback are possible with Hotel Management Software. This data helps hotel staff make informed decisions, optimize operations, and improve profitability.	Small hotels can adopt a cloud Hotel PMS with flexible pricing. They neither have to pay a vast license fee upfront nor have to worry about AMC costs. Plus, they don’t have to spend on servers, a dedicated IT team, software upgrades, or data security.	With cloud-based PMS, small hotels can manage their operations from anywhere via mobile devices. This provides greater flexibility and accessibility to their staff.

Key Features of PMS for Small Hotels

Here are some key features that make PMS attractive to small hotels:

1. Front office management	2. Housekeeping and maintenance
Property Management Software (PMS) offers various features that can help small hotels manage their front office operations effectively. It includes – reservation management, guest check-in/checkout, room assignment, managing room rates, and billing.	This feature allows hotels to schedule and manage housekeeping tasks, assign room cleaning tasks to staff, and track room maintenance issues. A Hotel PMS helps users ensure that their rooms are well-maintained and always ready for guests.
3. Reporting and analytics	4. Integration with other systems
Reporting and analytics are also crucial features of a Hotel PMS. A smart one provides real-time data and analytics on occupancy rates, room rates, revenue, and guest preferences. This allows small hotels to make data-driven decisions to improve revenue management, customer satisfaction, and overall operations.	A cloud-based Hotel PMS allows hotels with 360-degree hotel operations across departments, thanks to its seamless integration with various third-party solutions, including CRM, accounting, PoS, channel manager, revenue management solutions, etc.

PMS for a small hotel: How to choose one

Choosing the suitable PMS for your small hotel becomes tricky, as almost all of them do more or less the same thing, right? No worries. We are here to help.

Here are a few points to consider while looking for PMS for your small hotel:

Understand your requirements

Knowing what you want to achieve with a Hotel PMS will simplify the whole process. Ask these questions – what areas of your operations do you need to streamline or automate? How many staff do you have? Also, set the top business goals you plan to accomplish with a Hotel PMS. For example, would you like to efficiently manage the front desk, housekeeping, and restaurant and sell more rooms at the best rate to increase occupancy and revenue?

Cloud-based Hotel PMS to save costs

Today, on-premises solutions are dead due to many reasons. So, you can close your eyes and opt for a cloud-based Hotel PMS that makes sense for today’s business environment. They come with flexible pricing, and you don’t have to worry about paying a considerably higher software license and AMC fee associated with the on-premises solution. Moreover, you don’t need to spend more on on-site servers and an IT team to manage them. With all these, you will reduce your software ownership costs significantly. Isn’t it a good deal?

Free upgrades and data security

Ask these questions – is the Hotel PMS PCI DSS compliant to protect my guests’ card details? Does it have all the cyber security measures in place to safeguard all my data? How will it help me regain my data incase of a system crash and failure? Also, don’t forget to ask this – do you provide free and regular software updates. If you get their response in AFFIRMATIVE, go for it.

Operationally imperative features

Look for minimum features in Hotel PMS necessary for your small hotel operations. It should have a visually-rich front desk console to help manage your reservations. The next thing, it should have a housekeeping module. If you have an in-house restaurant and gift shop, you need a Point of Sale module, too.

Ease of use

Everybody likes simple things. And why not? Software is meant to make our lives easier. The same goes for you and your hotel staff. Spend some time and do some research to find out a few feature-rich yet easy-to-use Hotel PMS. The whole idea here is to arm your team with something that is easy to manage, saves time, and enhances their performance.

More rooms sales

This is important. Now how does a Hotel PMS help here? We will explain this. Are you selling on OTAs? If yes, then the Hotel PMS you are about to adopt should be able to integrate with leading channel manager software seamlessly. It saves your time in updating rates and availabilities on multiple OTAs and boosts your online visibility, leading to more sales. Similarly, ask if the Hotel PMS connects with trusted booking engines to get you more direct bookings via your hotel website.

Reports and analytics

Keeping an eye on KPIs is a must to gain insights into your hotel operations and business. Ensure the Hotel PMS offers some of the most critical reports, including the manager flash report, revenue report, daily revenue report, arrival/departure report, etc. These reports help you make better and faster decisions with the required business intelligence.

Third-party integration

Check with the Hotel PMS vendor about the solution’s third-party integration capabilities. It should connect seamlessly with several best-in-class solutions, including a channel manager, revenue management tool, online reputation management tool, accounting, and PoS to help you with 360-degree hotel operations.

Now that you have a few Hotel PMS brands in your sight, let’s spend some time digging a bit more about them. Visit a few software listing/discovery sites and see their ratings. It will help you understand what users say about those Hotel PMS vendors, their support, training, and everything else.