Historically, a Hotel Property Management System (PMS) was a product built to replace the antiquated, paper-based, front desk procedures of the past. Simply put, it was a piece of software employed by hotel operators to manage their reservations and financials from a computer. However, today’s Property Management Systems offer far more than just a simple solution to labour-intensive processes.
Why You Need a Hotel Property Management System
Boost your operational efficiency
One of the most significant advancements in technology for hotel management has come in the form of cloud-based systems. Hotel Property Management Systems that can be managed from anywhere at any time simply through an internet connection, meaning that hoteliers can benefit from a range of time-saving (and money-saving) efficiencies. Cloud-based systems allow for greater team collaboration and a subsequent boost in staff productivity. The best online Hotel Property Management Software will help you organise your staff, delegate tasks, and automate certain processes so that you can better manage your workloads and potentially save on unnecessary wages.
Modern Hotel Property Management Systems also provide the added advantage of integration. From POS integrations to accounting, a Hotel PMS should allow you to connect with your favourite third parties, thus affording you the opportunity to manage these aspects of your business within one central platform, making life A LOT easier.
Reduce your spending
That brings me to my second point. Mastering your operating costs is crucial to running a booming hotel business, which is why it is so important to recognise and rectify wasteful practices. If you’re using a handful of separate systems to run your hotel business, that means a handful of different providers. Multiple providers means multiple software subscriptions (and dealing with multiple support agents), and we all know what that means; MONEY. By consolidating your systems into one complete provider with all that good stuff bundled together, you’ll not only cut down on the number of tabs you have open at any given time, but you’ll also be able to pocket more of your hard-earned cash rather than waving it goodbye each month. Oh, and did I mention that cloud-based Hotel Management Systems can also help you lower your upfront costs on hardware? You can read more about that here.
Centralise your guest data and gain a better insight
Perhaps the biggest inadequacy of old-school hotel management methods was that reporting was time-consuming and often inaccurate. There’s only so far you can get with an Excel spreadsheet. Thankfully, most modern, online Property Management Systems offer reporting tools that work to simplify the whole process and eradicate human error. Advanced reporting tools can help users to better understand their guests’ preferences and deliver more well-rounded and targeted campaign materials that are more likely to convert. With NewBook, hoteliers can conduct guest surveys, access helpful guest information like correspondence, booking info, contact details, maintenance requests, and more.
Having valuable customer data and helpful reporting tools accessible through a Hotel PMS will essentially lead to more tailored guest experiences and happier customers, but that’s not where the benefits stop. With NewBook’s Property Management System, hoteliers can also schedule and automate reports for the more operational side of their business. From occupancy rates to revenue flow, the reports will be stored within the NewBook system to access whenever needed. Our clients are then able to apply these insights to their business strategy and garner a more comprehensive understanding of where their money, time, and resources are being spent.
Streamline your cash flow and accounting
The way businesses handle their accounting has completely transformed since the advent of the Internet. A good PMS will come equipped with Revenue Management Software (RMS), meaning that with the right one will make managing your business’s finances an easier task than ever before. Using NewBook’s PMS, hoteliers can effectively adjust their rates automatically according to seasonal occupancy changes and forecast for future cost planning using Dynamic Rates. Instead of manually sending invoices, they can set up Direct Debit billing and schedule automated payment reminders to secure their funds on time. With NewBook’s payment gateway integrations, users can easily take payments online through their websites or send their guests a link to pay their booking bill. Plus, with those handy reporting features I mentioned earlier, NewBook users can schedule automatic reports to make reconciliation and end-of-day processes a piece of cake.
Simplify your housekeeping processes
Housekeeping is just as essential as any other hotel operation, but it can be easily overlooked if you’re already bending over backwards trying to run the rest of your business. Hotel Property Management Software can help coordinate your housekeeping efforts by allowing your team to manage their tasks on the go from their preferred device. With NewBook, housekeeping staff can keep track of what they need to do and when via our handy checklist functionality. Managers can provide their housekeeping staff with a list of the items they need to replenish, areas they need to clean, and tasks that must be marked as completed before they can release a room. Staff can access the checklists via a mobile phone or tablet when going about their daily duties. Time savings? Check! No more wasteful paper lists? Check!
From streamlining your operations, to enhancing your customer journey, it’s easy to see why the right Hotel Property Management Software is crucial to operating a profitable hotel business in 2020. Needless to say, once you have a top-notch Hotel PMS doing all the hard work for you, you’ll wonder how you ever coped without one!
