After reeling under stress due to pandemic-related lockdown measures since 2019, the global hospitality industry is getting ready for the good times that lay ahead. Yes, at least that’s what industry pundits are suggesting as the health crisis recedes slowly. But things are not going to be easy, especially for hotel chains. As the market recovery picks up, enterprise hotels with multiple properties across locations need to strategize their game plan. If you run a group or chain of hotels, this blog is just for you. Together, we will explore a few areas to focus on to stay equipped for the future.
#1. Adopt a cloud-based hotel property management system (Hotel PMS)
If you haven’t done it yet, you must do it now. Running multi-property operations on an on-premises Hotel PMS is a thing of the past. Look around – the biggest international hotel groups are on the cloud now. We will list a few crucial benefits of a cloud-based hotel management system without wasting much time. Here they are –
- Save costs as you don’t have to invest in servers and IT support staff
- Access the Hotel PMS via the web on any device
- Manage operations on the go via Hotel PMS mobile app
- Witness minimal staff training and ease of use
- Get free and regular patch updates
- Enjoy assured application uptime to ensure business as usual
- Safeguard your data
Be mindful about adopting a robust and matured enterprise-grade cloud Hotel PMS. This is quite critical when you want to streamline and automate end-to-end operations at all your properties. For example, Hotelogix Hotel PMS helps you with the centralized control to manage your critical SOPs with ease. See them for yourself –
- Manage room bookings for member hotels with a CRO
- Monitor operations across properties with a single sign-on
- Centrally manage TA/Corporate profiles
- Gain centralized access to guest history
- Handle room inventory for all your properties in real-time
- Access group-wide MIS reports for better decision making
Ask for a mobile Hotel PMS
Even if you can access your cloud Hotel PMS on the web, it is still advisable to go for a mobile version of it. From managing your entire hotel operation to accessing business-critical KPIs to know hotel position, do everything on the go. This “anywhere, anytime access to the Hotel PMS” allows you to do more while improving your productivity.
Look for the integration capabilities of the Hotel PMS
Today, a Hotel PMS has evolved to match all your technological requirements. It should help you with comprehensive 360-degree hotel management, and for this, it needs to have the proper integration capabilities.
Channel Management Solution:
Post-pandemic era will see a lot of online hotel bookings. For hoteliers like you, this means that you must ensure efficient online distribution. The integration will allow you to update rates and availability on all the sales channels, including OTAs, your website, GDSs, and metasearch engines in real-time. This saves time, minimizes confusion around rates and availability, and helps you do away with overbooking and double booking.
Internet/Online Booking Engine:
You will need this integration if you want to generate more direct bookings from your brand website. Not only this, but you can also use this integration to get more bookings from your social media pages.
Revenue Management Solution:
Once the market opens, you will have to compete with the hotel down the road to sell your rooms at the right price to the right guest at the right time. Manual execution of such delicate tasks will lead to operational hazards. This integration takes the guesswork out of everything and lets you know about the demand and competitor pricing while suggesting the right room rates. It also helps you come up with occupancy-based dynamic pricing to realize the most out of your room sales.
Pro tip:
You may ask your Hotel PMS partner if they can help you with a dedicated revenue manager. They can be a part of your core revenue management team to enable you with the right decision.
Online Reputation Management Solution:
Your chain hotel brand’s online reputation is all about what your guests have to say about you, and you know how important it is in the hospitality sector. When integrated with your Hotel PMS, this solution allows you to see guest reviews from across sites in one dashboard. Thus, it enables you to understand your guest sentiment and make necessary changes in your services and approach to emerge as a hotel that cares for its patrons. This also efficiently helps you enhance your online ratings and reputation to draw the attention of your target audience.
Business Intelligence Solution:
Well, this is critical in today’s data-driven business environment. You can leverage the power of this integration to see all your KPIs in one place. This will facilitate you to understand what is working and what is not. Most importantly, you have the power to make data-backed decisions that could bring you the desired results.
#2. Go touchless
Call it touchless or contactless; we are going to live with this. Thanks to the pandemic-triggered health consciousness, your guests will be curious about it, and they will like it if you offer them these services. So, why not work toward it right now?
Find the right technology partner to provide extensive contactless, self-service facilities to your guests – from pre-stay to checkout. Allow them to use their smartphones to select their rooms, key in their preferences, unlock the room door, control in-room amenities, raise room service requests/complaints, make payments, and many more. Consider adopting voice recognition technologies to allow your guest to control TV streaming, lighting, and HVAC. You will definitely “wow” them with such arrangements.
The competition is sure to heat up as the market gets back to the pre-COVID normalcy. Understanding the guest sentiment and adopting the right hospitality technology solution will help hotel chains like you to streamline operations, improve productivity, sell more rooms, increase occupancy, enhance profitability, and witness instant ROI. A smart Hotel PMS can help you achieve all this while giving you the required competitive edge.
