10 Must Have Features of a Hotel Management System
In the steadily changing world of hospitality, productivity and guest satisfaction are the most important factors. There are no curve balls there, obviously. It is likewise no mystery that the days when hotels managed their operations manually, depending on unwieldy paperwork and such, are a distant memory. New-age travelers expect exceptionally seamless and personalized experiences, and to meet such expectations while ensuring smooth operations, hoteliers need cutting-edge technology solutions. While the market has plenty of options to offer in this regard, the fact remains that at the forefront of these solutions is the Hotel Management System (HMS). A comprehensive tool aimed to transform hotel operations for the better completely; obviously, an advanced HMS stands to help hotels and other hospitality establishments streamline processes, boost guest experiences, and eventually drive the business’ growth.
So, in this blog, I will walk you through some of the most important HMS features, without which one would struggle to realize the benefits of such a solution.
What is a Hotel Management System?
An HMS, also referred to as a Property Management System (PMS), is a particular type of software intended to help organizations simplify and automate hotels’ operations. In the most simple terms, an HMS functions as a centralized platform, handling a large number of tasks, such as reservations, billing, guest check-in/out, and so on, to help streamline the management of various parts of a hotel’s operations.
10 Features Every Hotel Management System Needs
● Reservations management: This feature is important because it centralizes all reservations-related activities from different channels into one integrated platform. This helps reduce the risk of double bookings while also ensuring ease of access to reservation details. Not only that, it can also help hotels keep an eye on room availability in real-time, ensuring accurate vacancy updates across all booking channels and avoiding overbooking.
● Housekeeping management: Managing the housekeeping department is crucial to a business’s success. If you have a good system in place, you can simply track which rooms are being focused on, which ones require cleaning, and which ones are clean. Furthermore, it facilitates communication between you and your staff by allowing you to write specific requests or wants for a room in guest files.
There are various states in which you can view rooms:
○ Turnovers: These are the empty rooms that require cleaning.
○ Departures: Visitors are checking out of these rooms.
○ Stayovers: This section shows you which rooms are occupied by visitors, their number, and the duration of their stay.
● Finance and accounts management: This aspect of an HMS includes automated invoicing and billing to ensure accurate billing for guest stays. Then there is also secure payment processing, wherein reliable payment gateways are integrated with the HMS to accommodate various payment methods as well as streamline the checkout process. Financial reporting capabilities of such systems also enable the generation of comprehensive reports on revenue, expenses, occupancy rates, and other financial metrics. These valuable insights not only help improve financial performance but also drive data-driven decisions.
● Customer data management (CDM): CDM within a hotel management comprises secure storage of guest information to ensure compliance with the relevant regulations. Furthermore, the guest segmentation allows categorizing of guests based on their preferences and demographics. This, in turn, is vital for targeted marketing campaigns as well as personalized experiences. Moreover, guest communication tools are conducive to seamless communication with guests via different means, further enhancing guest engagement levels.
● Channel management: Channel management, which encompasses features essential for effective distribution and booking management, is also a crucial aspect of an HMS. For starters, real-time inventory distribution is key to disseminating accurate room inventory and pricing information across various travel agencies and the hotel’s website simultaneously. This does away with the need for manual updates while also ensuring consistency.
● Reporting and analytics: This set of features is crucial for data-driven decision-making and hotel performance evaluation. For example, performance dashboards offer real-time/customizable views of important metrics. Leveraging such data and insights from their HMS, hotels can make informed decisions regarding pricing strategies, marketing initiatives, etc.
● Accounting Management: Not all excellent hotel management systems handle only guest registration and room reservations. It also manages the financial aspect of things. It may therefore generate financial data as needed and analyze the amount of money coming in and going out. Because it ensures that the hotel is operating profitably and efficiently, this is quite significant. By working along with other accounting software, some of these solutions simplify users’ lives. For instance, Preno integrates with the well-known accounting program Xero. Hence, you can manage all aspects of your hotel’s finances in one location rather than switching between several systems. A top-notch hotel management system additionally includes accounting administration features. This implies that it can provide financial reports on a regular basis and monitor your hotel’s revenue and expenses. This is essential to ensure that your hotel is operating as efficiently as possible and turning a profit. Certain systems accomplish this through software integration. Preno, for example, easily interfaces with the accounting program Xero. This eliminates the hassle of juggling several software programs to handle your hotel’s finances.
● Channel Manager: Making reservations is how a hotel generates revenue, and this typically entails having a presence on booking.com and Expedia in addition to accepting direct reservations. A channel manager is a feature that the hotel will have if it has an effective Hotel Management System (HMS). With this channel manager, it’s simple to stay on top of the availability and pricing of rooms across all those websites. Managing everything in one location instead of dealing with each site separately saves a ton of time and hassle. Additionally, because it updates availability across all websites automatically once a room is booked, it helps prevent unintentionally reserving more rooms than the hotel has.
● Integrations: An effective hotel management system must interface with other software programs to function properly. This facilitates things for both visitors and hotel employees. For instance, it can interface with accounting software to streamline financial operations. Rather than juggling many software systems, hotel staff can now manage all their tasks in one location thanks to these links. This increases efficiency throughout the hotel by enhancing communication between various departments and saving time.
● Integrated systems provide more convenience for visitors. When visiting the hotel, they can easily reserve additional services or amenities. It all comes down to ensuring everyone has a more pleasurable and seamless experience. Additionally, integrations can offer hotel guests added convenience, such as easily booking additional amenities or services during their stay.
Final Words
These insights will help you make informed decisions regarding your HMS with your vendor offering services for travel and hospitality software development.
