Top 5 Hotel PMS System Features for your independent hotel

Debiprasad Sarangi -

As an independent hotel owner, you must have an efficient Hotel PMS System to manage operations effectively. It should assist with process automation, boost sales, increase revenue, and improve guest satisfaction. But how can you be sure to choose the right solution when so many options are available in the market? In this blog, you will know the top 5 Hotel PMS System features critical for your independent property. You need to look for these features, match them against your requirements, and you are good to go.

Ready to explore?

Here they are:

#1: The Hotel PMS should be on the cloud

You can see numerous benefits with a Cloud Hotel PMS. This should be the #1 feature of your next solution. Here are a few critical benefits you are bound to witness with a cloud Hotel PMS.

  • Costs saving: With a cloud Hotel PMS Software, you don’t have to spend extra on having an on-site server and other costly hardware. You don’t have to have an IT team for hardware maintenance. You can adopt one on a subscription basis, and you don’t have to worry about paying a huge license fee upfront. It doesn’t involve annual maintenance costs, and features upgrades are free. In short, it significantly reduces your software ownership costs. This means you get to leverage the power of the cloud while saving big. Isn’t it what you want?
  • Anytime and anywhere access: What is the point of having a hotel property management system if you can’t access business-critical information on the go in today’s era of mobility? Here, too, a cloud Hotel PMS system comes to your rescue. You can access the system on your mobile or laptop over the web and can keep track of hotel positions from wherever you want to. Additionally, the application’s Mobile App version lets you execute tasks on the go, improving your operational performance.

#2: Easy to use front desk and housekeeping module

The front desk module allows you to manage all guest reservations, check-ins, and check-outs easily. You can quickly view room availability, assign them to guests, and generate guest folios. Also, look for a few other important front desk features, including:

  • Up-to-the-minute reservation dashboard
  • Drag and drop to upgrade rooms and split reservations
  • Auto-fill returning guest information

Similarly, it should have a feature-rich housekeeping module. It allows for streamlined communication between housekeeping staff and other departments. It helps you to:

  • Assign daily tasks
  • Monitor task status
  • Manage room status from the housekeeping area
  • View real-time room status from the front desk

A user-friendly Hotel PMS is key to ensuring that you or your staff use it to its full potential with less effort. For your team, working on easy-to-use solutions results in performance improvement. It has a long-term positive impact on your guest service capabilities, too.

#3: Wide range of third-party integrations

We all know that a Hotel PMS automates daily tasks. But that is not always sufficient. It must help you work with other leading third-party hospitality solutions. For example, let’s talk about accounting. In this case, the Hotel PMS system should have direct integrations with several trusted accounting solutions. You should have options to choose from.

In this context, you need to check a few important third-party integrations.

  • Point of Sale (PoS): It can help manage in-house FnB outlets and others through automation by offering real-time reports and detailed analytics. It also assists you with efficient inventory/materials management.
  • Accounting: It ensures that all your accounting-related stuff, including transactions via credit card, cash, cheques, point of sale receipts, refunds, discounts, offers, etc., are directly reconciled with the bank statements.
  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM): A robust CRM system empowers you to manage your interactions with guests, including tracking their preferences, inquiries, and complaints. It also helps you upsell and roll out loyalty programs for better sales and conversion.
  • Revenue/Rate Management: A smart Hotel PMS System should let you manage rates. It should allow you to create relational rates and multiple rates in a single day. The dynamic pricing feature should change your rates based on your property’s occupancy levels, demand, and guests’ length of stay. Additionally, it should have integrations with some of the widely used hotel revenue management systems. It automatically suggests the best/optimal rate by analyzing local demand, competition pricing, and other critical elements.
  • Contactless Solutions: We don’t have to tell you how important it is now to offer contactless solutions. Whether in-built or via integrations, your next Hotel PMS system should allow you to roll out contactless guest services, including keyless entry, self-check-in/check-out, payment, etc. It should also let your guests communicate with your staff and raise service requests using their smartphones.

#4: Online distribution

Since it is all about selling more rooms, you must pay extra attention while evaluating the solution’s distribution capabilities. Most guests book their accommodations online – via OTAs, metasearch engines, and hotel websites. That’s why the Hotel PMS should help you sell more via those online sales channels while efficiently distributing your rooms and rates.

  • Channel Manager: The Hotel PMS and Channel Manager integration ensures that your rates and availabilities are updated across all OTAs in real time. It improves your hotel’s ratings and visibility across OTAs and attracts more potential guests with higher chances of conversion. And yes, it eliminates overbookings while getting more bookings via these indirect sales channels.
  • Booking Engine: This is yet another critical aspect of distribution and more sales. It is the best way to drive direct bookings via your hotel website. Since these are direct bookings, you don’t have to worry about paying booking commissions to OTAs.

#5: Reports

Your Hotel PMS needs to have comprehensive reporting capabilities. These are important for you to keep track of your hotel’s performance, financial data, and processes. Because with these reports, you can know what is working and what is not and can make informed decisions when required. 

Here are some of the crucial reports you need for your independent Hotel: 

  • Reservation report
  • Financial Reports
  • MIS Reports
  • Night audit Reports
  • Trial Balance Reports
  • Business Source and Market Segment Reports
  • Cashier Reports

Also, make sure that the Hotel PMS has a report scheduler feature. You can choose relevant and important reports you want daily, and the system can deliver them to your inbox. 

Apart from the five features mentioned above, there are a few other areas that you need to look at before selecting a Hotel PMS System. Let us reiterate this – go for Cloud Hotel PMS because on-premises solutions are no longer relevant. Once you zero in on a few options, look for their credentials. Find out what their existing customers are saying about them. Ask them about their support and training. Just ensure that you leave no stone unturned and look at every aspect of a Hotel PMS because that’s the only thing that will transform your hotel business with rapid growth, enhanced revenue, and guest satisfaction.