Choosing the right property management system for your hotel is an important decision that will impact the daily running of your business and can often feel overwhelming. However, with the right knowledge at your fingertips, you can easily make the right decision.
It’s not just about selecting PMS software with the most features that meets your business needs now, it needs to fit with your future plans too. With this in mind, we’ve listed the top features and functionalities to consider when choosing your property management system.
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Cloud Technology and Mobility
A cloud-based hotel PMS gives you the flexibility to manage all aspects of your business from one platform, on any device, anywhere in the world! You and your team can access real-time data on reservations, check-in/outs, and housekeeping.
Not only that, but you can connect seamlessly to your OTAs with OTA and direct bookings all deposited in one central booking calendar, enabling you to adjust rates based on capacity, eradicating overbookings. You can also access data analytics and sales reports at the touch of a button from any device in any location – all you need is an internet connection!
What’s more, there’s no need to invest in IT specialists, as your PMS provider is responsible for fixing any issues that may arise and you’re also no longer at risk of losing your data.
For all these reasons, a cloud-based PMS tends to be more powerful and cost-effective than an on-site solution. All you pay for is a monthly subscription. But more importantly, reliability and security are paramount.
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Functionality and Usability
An intuitive, user-friendly system that includes all the features and functionalities you need to streamline your business should be a priority.
If the PMS can’t perform the basic functions to operate effectively then the price of the system becomes less important. A good hotel property management system should include key functionalities such as front-desk operations, back-office management, housekeeping, revenue management, channel management, data analytics and reporting, marketing suite, and a centralised booking system.
However, all of this becomes irrelevant if you and your staff can’t use the system! A good PMS should be easy-to-use and navigate around. Not only will it improve operational efficiency, but it will also help with staff morale, retention, and training new employees on how to use the system.
What’s more, most PMS software should include the automation of hotel critical tasks. This will further boost operational efficiency by reducing repetitive tasks that were more traditionally completed by staff, freeing-up their time to focus on providing the ultimate guest experience.
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Booking Engine and Revenue Management
Now, more than ever, revenue management is becoming the foundation of running a successful and profitable hotel. And part of a good revenue management strategy is to leverage direct bookings and up-selling opportunities, which without a booking engine, isn’t possible.
Most guests enjoy the convenience of being able to book online quickly and easily, whether direct or through OTAs. Not only does an online booking engine provide guests with an easy-to-use online booking platform for your hotel, but it also transitions traditionally OTA source bookings into direct bookers when looking to stay again.
What’s more, a good revenue management strategy doesn’t just focus on increasing prices, it looks at capturing as much value as possible from every guest through up-sells or extras and developing a strong customer retention base.
Of course, hotel pricing strategies also come into play. For example, dynamic pricing uses real-time data on supply and demand to enable price increases or discounts to ensure occupancy rates remain steady and revenue is maximised.
Other pricing strategies may look at placement. For example, to encourage more direct bookings, and therefore less commission payments often incurred through OTAs, hoteliers may decide to have a lower price for online direct bookings than OTA bookings.
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Integrations and apps
Opportunities to maximise revenue occur throughout the entire guest experience, and most PMS providers can’t provide all elements of the entire guest journey without being open to integrations. By ensuring your PMS provider supports important APIs, you are also future-proofing your business by making certain it can scale with you!
If your PMS doesn’t include a channel manager, booking engine or contactless technology for example, then these are critical PMS requirements and should at least be achievable through API integrations.
Other integrations that can help with your hotel revenue management include:
- Electronic Point of Sale (EPoS) systems to help you leverage your food and beverage operations.
- Guest communications (CRM and email marketing system) for personalisation and directing repeat bookings.
- Customer loyalty and rewards through discounts, gift cards and other incentives.
- Business reporting and intelligence to enable you to gain insights, and make business decisions, based on real-time data for your entire estate.
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Reliability and Security
A big consideration when looking at choosing your hotel PMS software is its reliability and security. It’s imperative that your hotel can rely on its PMS software to ensure the guest experience isn’t compromised. Therefore, one of the questions you should always ask is the average uptime and this should be as close to 100% as possible.
Also check the management and stability of the brand itself. Ensure they are backed by strong ownership to provide peace of mind that the company isn’t going to dissolve anytime soon.
Coupled with the reliability, is also the security of the software. The last thing you need is a security breach to compromise your credibility and guest satisfaction.
Ensure your PMS provider’s payment gateway is PCI-compliant. PCI DSS is a set of security standards designed to ensure all companies that accept, process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment.
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Contactless Technology
Contactless technology is relatively new to the hospitality and hotel sector and was catapulted into the industry due to COVID-19 and social distancing laws. However, the functionality has become the norm and guests now expect a contactless guest experience because of it.
The goal is to streamline and automate elements of the guest journey, making it more efficient for the guest and hotel. This includes contactless check-in/out, mobile ordering including room service, table reservations, completing secure payments and using mobile keys to unlock room doors.
Not only does this technology provide guests with what they want, it also enables you to make operational savings from reducing front-desk and restaurant staff to improving housekeeping and room assignments meaning less time-consuming trips to the front-desk.
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Data Analytics and Reporting
The key to maintaining a competitive advantage is how you analyse or manage your data. We’ve already spoken about how much data plays an important role in your revenue management strategy, and there is an abundance of data available to hotels, so it’s an important functionality when choosing your PMS provider.
Thorough data analysis can provide vital intelligence to help you make better business decisions. Whether that’s improving the guest experience, formulating an effective revenue management strategy, creating personalised marketing messages to increase direct bookings, or leveraging your food and beverage operations, data analytics should be at the heart of your business strategy.
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Onboarding, training, and customer support
Once you’ve chosen your PMS provider, you want to know that the onboarding and switch-over is going to run as smoothly as possible with zero downtime.
On top of this, staff training and access to training resources for new employees, means that you can relax in the knowledge that your staff can pick-up and run with your chosen PMS software provider.
Likewise, if something goes wrong with your PMS, you want the confidence that you can get in touch with customer support, no matter what time of day.
Demo with a complete hospitality software solution, High Level
Now you’re armed with all the information you need to choose the right PMS provider for your business, put High Level to the test and request a demo today!
One of our hospitality technology experts will happily discuss your requirements and tailor your demo to your specific business needs.
By Stewart Moss
Managing Director at High Level Software
With an intensive understanding and passion for the hotel sector and more than 20 years' of hotel knowledge and expertise in hotel management, operations as well as sales and marketing for brands, Stewart leads Zonal's hotel division.
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10-Step Checklist to Increase Direct Bookings in your Hotel
While third-party booking sites and OTAs can form a valuable part of the marketing mix by increasing brand reach and filling shoulder times, direct bookings offer a wealth of benefits – the most obvious being the opportunity to improve margins which increase RevPAR, but also providing the opportunity to drive longer-term loyalty for your hotel.
To maximise direct bookings in your hotel and give your bottom line a boost, check out our handy checklist below:
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Ensure your website is user-friendly
Is your website helping or hindering the number of direct bookings you receive? Run through your booking journey as if you were a guest, evaluating how easy it is to browse through your offering, check availability and make a booking. Some key things to look out for here are having too many steps in the booking process, unclear language, complicated systems – or even if it just takes too long to complete!
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Provide up-to-date information
Are all the facilities you offer easily available to view and do images reflect how things currently are? If you have rooms or facilities that are currently unavailable, make sure this is clearly communicated on your website and across any other sources of information to avoid any guest frustrations that may result in disappointment on arrival and damage your brand.
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Display real-time availability of rooms
Guests are looking for the peace of mind of knowing their room reservation is secured immediately at the point of booking. Make sure room availability and rates are correct and in-line with those offered on third party sites. This can be achieved easily by integrating your hotel’s property management system (PMS) with your website’s booking engine via a channel manager, allowing you to centrally manage your rooms across all channels from one platform, and avoid overbooking.
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Offer exclusive deals for direct bookings
Offer preferential rates or extra incentives to encourage guests to book via your website. Not only does this entice guests away from OTAs into booking with you direct, you’ll also be able to capture valuable information, increase opportunities for upselling, and provide added incentives for them to book direct in the future too.
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Highlight how you keep customer information
Trust is a hot topic amongst consumers at the moment, and if guests are confident that you are keeping their information safe, they are more likely to trust your direct booking process. You should clearly communicate how any data is being stored, as well as what you’ll be using it for, demonstrating the value in sharing their data to your guests.
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Communicate with guests
42% of hotel guests say a high level of responsiveness to enquiries and bookings would encourage them to book direct, according to our research, so building a dialogue with guests in the early stages is vital.
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Send confirmation emails and keep the conversation going
Further to the above, make the most of every opportunity to communicate with guests through confirmation emails, reminder messages and offers. Not only will you build trust and provide your guests with peace of mind prior to arrival, these communications also provide valuable opportunities for upselling of experiences and F&B, so make sure you’re utilising these touchpoints to their full potential!
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Reward Loyalty
29% of hotel guests say they are interested in hospitality loyalty schemes that offer personalised rewards. Assess your current loyalty offering – does it meet this demand? If not, the data you gather from direct bookings can help you to develop this by analysing which promotions are working and which could use some refinement. For example, our recent research found 4 in 5 hotel guests said a discount on a return visit would encourage them to book a return trip. Use this insight to deliver tailored messaging that drives repeat custom and direct bookings.
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A booking button on social media
43% of hotel users agree that a button to book a hotel directly from social media accounts would make their booking journey easier. Not only does this help to provide a more convenient journey for many bookers, particularly amongst younger generations, but will also help you drive more bookings and access new groups of guests.
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Encourage guests to leave reviews
Whilst personal recommendations from friends remains the top source of information for guests when choosing a hotel to stay in, online reviews play a crucial role, with 98% of consumers saying reviews influence their choice of hotel. Common platforms for leaving a review include TripAdvisor and Google, however your own website and social media are also popular places guests go to when looking to leave a review. Sending an email to those who have booked directly with an incentive to leave a review is an effective way of increasing your review presence on these platforms.
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The Hotelier's Guide to Increasing Revenue and Direct Bookings
Discover key strategies to improve your guest experience, boost loyalty, and increase RevPAR through direct bookings
All signs point towards a bumper year for staycations in the UK, with recent research uncovering that 81% of consumers are planning to stay in a UK hotel in 2023.
This increased demand for hotel accommodation presents a golden opportunity for hoteliers to grow profits and strengthen their businesses for the future. Download your free copy of ‘The Hotelier’s Guide to Increasing Revenue and Direct Bookings’ to discover actionable advice you can implement in your hotel today to help capitalise on the unique opportunities 2023 will bring.
In this guide, we'll explore:
- How to get the balance right between OTAs and your own booking channels as part of your overall marketing mix
- The benefits an end-to-end direct booking solution can have for your business
- How to best use the data you collect to build better relationships with your guests
- How to drive repeat visits, loyalty and increase average guest spend
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Webinar | 2023 hotel guest trends to help you maximise revenue
As the cost of living crisis continues to fuel the staycation trend amongst British consumers, ensuring your hotel is matching the demands of both new and existing guests will be key to making the most of the opportunities presented during today’s turbulent trading landscape.
Join Stewart Moss, Managing Director at High Level Software and Karl Chessell, Director of Hospitality and Food, EMEA, at CGA by NielsenIQ, as they present an exclusive preview of the findings from Zonal and CGA’s latest GO Technology research into how consumers engage with hotel businesses, and what they expect from their visits to hotels in the future.
From how often guests are visiting UK hotels and what the driving factors behind their visits are, to how they prefer to make a reservation ; as well as new innovations in hotel technology consumers are interested in, this webinar will provide you with actionable insights to help you boost your business in 2023.
Watch this webinar to discover insights including:
- The driving factors behind the frequency of guest visits to UK hotels
- How to cut costs by encouraging guests to book directly with you
- Hotel sector trends that consumers are most interested in
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Oakman Group achieves a ‘high level’ view of their service offering with Zonal’s PMS
Introducing the Oakman Group
Award-winning Pub & Hotel operator
41 properties in England, many Grade 2 listed
Voted one of the Top 25 best companies to work for in the UK
Champions of supporting charities and local communities via their Heart of Oak initiative
“What is key, is having the same tech stack in all the properties. This means that our Head Office has the ability to dial in and support the teams, but also means we have centralised reporting.”Sales & Revenue Manager, Oakman Group
The business challenge
As consumers continue to drive demand for innovative tools that enable them to curate their own accommodation and dining experiences, hoteliers are relying more and more on technology to deliver the faster, seamless experience that guests expect, at every stage of their journey.
As a company that prides itself on delivering top-quality hospitality and service to its guests, the Oakman Group is continuously looking for ways to enhance the guest experience, and were keen to implement a tech solution that was intuitive and efficient, allowing team members to focus on serving guests. The business was also going through a phase of expansion, acquiring new sites, and with many of their pub sites offering overnight accommodation too, they needed a Property Management System (PMS) that could be implemented seamlessly across the whole business, whilst still allowing them to provide the same consistent exceptional service in any newly opened sites.
“We use the Zonal products to allow us to capture guest data and track how our guests are interacting with our business. The integration between the platforms that the guest uses along that journey is key.”Sales & Revenue Manager, Oakman Group
The solution
As an existing Zonal EPoS customer, Zonal’s innovative cloud-based PMS, High Level, was an easy add-on for the Oakman Group, as the Property Management System was already fully integrated into the group’s existing EPoS.
Having a fully integrated system allowed them to manage both their pub and accommodation offering across all sites in one portal, sharing all data between systems, creating a seamless guest journey. This in turn allowed for better reporting, centralised rate and revenue management and an increase in productivity, enabling them to make vital changes on a group level instead of repeating the same task multiple times.
- Fully integrated system with existing EPoS, that allows them to manage both their pub and accommodation offering in one portal, with real-time visibility
- A hotel PMS system that reports on all key metrics, across as many properties as needed
- The Property Management System’s modern design makes it easy to use, which in turn means minimal staff training and quicker roll-outs
- Centralised rate and revenue management – ability to manage rates from one location, very helpful for group level sites
- Fully mobile and contactless check-in/check-out option
- 2-way, real time integration to over 200 booking channels
- In-depth reporting across the group
High Level provides the Oakman Group with a scalable solution, designed with groups in mind. With minimal set up fees for new sites opening, and the opportunity to manage their business operations from one central location, the solution is able to support their ambitious growth plans.
“A product that works for you, does what you want it to do, and is a really good tech solution, such as High Level, helps you achieve your business goals, which is vital.”Sales & Revenue Manager, Oakman Group
Results
By Implementing Zonal’s High Level PMS, the Oakman Group now have access to an unrivalled suite of guest experience and revenue management solutions for their business, allowing them to have more visibility and control over their entire estate. With seamless integrations into Zonal’s wider technology eco-system, the Oakman Group now have all the data they need to make smart decisions and fewer mistakes, meaning that their streamlined approach enables guests to receive the faster, seamless service they expect.
