Hotel property management system: Key features to look for and benefits

Running a hotel business involves many complexities. And as a hotelier, you are always on your toes due to the dynamic nature of the market. The market forces always keep pushing you. So, to remain competitive in the market, you must keep optimizing your processes, including your daily operations. A property management system lets you do that effectively by managing on-property engagements. 

Here, in this article, we will analyze the crucial features you should look for in a PMS and the benefits from its integration.  

Key features to look for in Property Management Systems 

The latest hotel property management systems are cloud-based and have multiple working environments and modules. However, certain features are central to hotel PMSs, and all modern property management systems should have them. We picked those essential features that should mandatorily make the cut in your PMS; the explanations of the same follows: 

#1 Front-desk operation module with booking integration 

The front desk operation module must integrate with the website booking engine and all the other third-party distribution channels. And there should be a user dashboard view that displays all the upcoming bookings, the current room availability status, and a tracking system for check-in and check-out. 

Also, the module should support payment processing and provide instant receipts to guests on their smartphones for their in-hotel expenses. It makes the check-out and the allocation of newly available rooms faster. 

#2 Distribution Management 

The distribution management feature in your PMS must integrate all your distribution channels – your hotel website, the mobile application you use for booking, the bookings that you receive from different online travel agencies and the channel managers. Also, the tool should directly connect to your central reservation system and provide you with a single dashboard, from where you can easily control your inventory and distribute it across channels. 

#3 Internal Operations Management 

The internal operations management functionality should offer you room status, cleaning alerts, and updates on the housekeeping staff. And the tasks assigned to the housekeeping staff should automatically be displayed on the front office system. So, the front office manager can keep a tab on the status of each room and prepare a maintenance schedule accordingly. 

#4 Revenue Management 

The revenue management module should have a clear interface that tracks, manages, and analyzes all your payments in real-time. And it must be able to accept and validate online payments.  In case there’s a non-payment it should be able to manage the outstanding payment record. 

The list of features that we explained above is not exhaustive, beyond these, there will be a lot of common features. You can call the features we highlighted above “the bare minimum”. But you must make sure they are there in your property management system.  

Top benefits of employing a Property Management Systems 

So far in this article we have looked at the features so that you can develop an understanding of what you can expect from a property management system. Now we look at the larger picture – the eventual benefits of employing a PMS. 

#1 Smooth Check in/Check out 

Modern cloud based PMSs come with mobile integration. You get access to real-time guest check-in updates, and your front office can prepare in advance and facilitate fast and easy check-in. And with mobile-enabled guest service, the front office admin can keep tabs on when the guests are about to check out, furnish bills in advance, and facilitate smooth checkout. 

#2 Housekeeping efficiency 

The mobile-enabled guest services also increase the efficiency of your housekeeping staff. Your housekeeping gets real-time updates when the guests check out. They can quickly move to clean the room and make it ready for upcoming guests without any manual communication.  

#3 Back-office integrations 

The property management system allows you to integrate your core back-office systems. You can integrate your operation and finance processes and then manage accounts payable, receivable, industry and infrastructure applications through one view. 

#4 Access to enriched guest data  

The hotel property management also enables you to build centralized and secure guest data and improve the quality of your guest profiles. With inbuilt reports and analytics tools, you can understand the buying patterns of your past customers. And prepare more precisely targeted packages for potential visitors. 

#5 Revenue by selling the fitting room at the right 

The AI-powered revenue Management modules help you deeply analyze internal data and market dynamics from both the demand and supply side, which means you can optimize your rates to sell the right set of rooms to the right set of guests at the right time. And eventually realize increased revenues and profits. 

Recommended: Six leading in-room hotel technology trends in 2023

 Conclusion! 

As we stated earlier, hospitality is a competitive market. And to be in the game. And keep competing with the best, you have to continuously get better at handling the booking cycle. It starts with an online search and booking process, peaks with on-property interaction between your staff and guests, and In-room experiences – that is your best opportunity to make it count. And then concludes with post-stay feedback. The property management software sits at the center of the booking cycle and gives you an opportunity to increase the efficiency of all on property functions of your hospitality business.