A hotelier’s guide to property management systems

Without the right system, it’s challenging to manage reservations, let alone streamline processes to improve operational efficiency and guest satisfaction.

The right PMS should elevate a property’s operations, allowing them to automate tasks and glean transformative insights into everything from guest experience to revenue management and distribution. 

In this article, we explore the evolution of property management systems and how properties can choose a system that not only fits their needs today but will grow with them over time. 

What is a property management system?

A property management system sits at the heart of hotel operations. It provides a comprehensive overview of front and back office activities and facilitates tasks such as managing reservations, check-ins and outs, guest communications, payments, housekeeping, pricing, channel management, reporting, and more. 

A property management system helps lodging businesses:

• Improve the guest experience: It collects and stores guest information, enabling you to personalize the guest experience. 

• Grow revenue: Easily adjust rates and monitor performance across the entire business to drive more revenue. 

• Save time: Modern PMS solutions help you automate time-consuming processes, saving you from costly mistakes.

The evolution of property management systems

Lodging businesses have used property management systems for over forty years. While significant strides have been made over time, legacy systems still exist today that cause daily headaches for hospitality workers.

Legacy systems are on-premise, outdated, difficult to use, and lack integration capabilities, making accessing relevant data almost impossible.

Thankfully, modern, cloud-based PMS solutions have been introduced over the past decade. These solutions have robust integration capabilities that make it easy to access the data you need, all within a user-friendly interface.

The core functions of a property management system

A hotel’s property management system is responsible for a lot. It acts as the central hub of information for hotel teams and has a constant stream of data flowing in and out of the system. 

Core functions within the PMS include:

Reservation management: PMS software manages the reservation process – connecting to the booking engine, channel manager, or CRS – allowing guests to book, modify, or cancel reservations seamlessly. From tracking room availability to managing guest preferences, the PMS ensures a smooth and efficient booking process. 

Front desk operations: A PMS streamlines front desk operations by facilitating check-ins and check-outs and handling room assignments. Using information stored in the PMS, staff can deliver more personalized experiences and anticipate guest needs before arrival.

Housekeeping: A PMS optimizes housekeeping operations by assigning tasks, tracking room statuses, and prioritizing cleaning schedules. Communication between housekeeping and front desk staff ensures timely room turnover to enhance guest satisfaction. 

Payments: PMS software automates billing processes, generates invoices, and facilitates payments. Integrations with payment gateways and accounting systems allow hoteliers to streamline financial operations and enhance revenue management. 

Reporting: Data-driven insights are invaluable for hoteliers. A PMS provides comprehensive reporting and analytics tools offering insights into occupancy rates, revenue performance, guest preferences, and more. 

Property management system integrations

While a PMS serves as the central hub of hotel operations, its true power lies in its ability to seamlessly integrate with a diverse range of external tools and systems to help lodging businesses gather vital data. 

When properly integrated, a PMS enhances efficiency and expands functionality to improve business outcomes. 

Key PMS integrations include:

Channel manager: From online travel agencies (OTAs) to metasearch engines and GDSs, there are dozens of channels for hotels to connect. An integrated channel manager ensures real-time pricing and inventory updates to maximize revenue and avoid overbookings. 

Booking engine: A booking engine is the key to your direct booking strategy. When integrated with your PMS, you can collect and store information about your guests as soon as they book and use that information to deliver personalized experiences before and after their stay. 

Revenue management system (RMS): Integrating your RMS with your PMS helps you to easily analyze demand patterns, competitor rates, and market dynamics to set rates and maximize revenue.

Pricing optimization tool: A pricing optimization tool such as Pricing Manager by Lighthouse is geared toward smaller independent lodging businesses. It automates a dynamic pricing strategy for you, with tailored room price recommendations but without any of the complexities associated with an RMS.

Customer relationship management (CRM): Building and nurturing guest relationships is crucial for driving bookings and fostering loyalty. Integrating your CRM and PMS lets you centralize guest data, track preferences, and personalize communication. 

Central reservation system (CRS): For larger or more complex properties, a CRS integration can help you streamline distribution and reservation management, ensuring consistency and efficiency. 

Your PMS can’t do it all, but it does provide the foundation for hotel operations, empowering teams to boost revenue, streamline workflows, and delight guests.

How to choose the right property management system

When choosing a new PMS, there are many considerations you need to make. Since the PMS plays such a central role in hotel operations, it should not be a decision that’s made lightly. Follow these steps as you navigate through the PMS selection process. 

1. Identify your needs and requirements: Determine the must-have features and capabilities of your PMS. Do you want a cloud-based system?  How important is UX?

2. Define your budget: Consider not only the upfront cost of your investment but also ongoing expenses and value. Consider subscription fees, training, support, etc.

3. Consider scalability: Choose a PMS that can adapt to your hotel’s growth trajectory. It should have customizable features and integration capabilities to support your business over time. 

4. Vendor relationships: Research the reputation of PMS vendors considering factors like industry experience, case studies, customer support, onboarding, and implementation support. Not all vendors are equal, so be sure that you feel comfortable with your choice before committing. 

As a starting point, looking for the following features in your PMS search is recommended.

• Cloud-based: It’s more cost-effective and scalable than on-premise solutions.

• Integrated: Allows different tools to communicate and share data, streamlining operations. 

• Intuitive: User-friendly interfaces ensure staff can quickly learn and utilize technology without a steep learning curve. 

• Support & training: Ensure a smooth implementation and ongoing optimization of your PMS to drive better business results.

Empowering your hotel’s success

Choosing the right PMS can transform your business. It can empower your team to deliver exceptional guest experience and maximize revenue in an increasingly competitive market.

Ensure that you take the time to choose a PMS that has the features and functionality important to your business and comes with training and enablement to help you get the most out of your system. 

With the right PMS, the options are endless for the additional tools you can integrate to maximize growth and profitability.

A post by Cloudbeds

Author: Lana Cook, Content Specialist at Cloudbeds

Cloudbeds is the leading platform redefining the concept of PMS for the hospitality industry, serving tens of thousands of properties in more than 150 countries worldwide. Built from the ground up to be masterfully unified and scalable, the award-winning Cloudbeds Platform brings together built-in and integrated solutions that modernize hotel operations, distribution, guest experience, and data & analytics.

At Lighthouse, we’re proud to partner with a leading hospitality platform like Cloudbeds, to equip hospitality professionals with the tools to make more informed decisions, maximize revenue, and enhance the guest experience.

Click here to see how Cloudbeds can help.