Four years have passed since the pandemic that devastated the world and became a veritable turning point for everyone, especially in the hotel industry. Hotel owners had no choice but to adapt and, as is known, technology was an essential part of that process.
What is more, these technological advances have played an increasingly important role in the property management system (PMS) of hotels.
This article explains in detail what a hotel PMS is and what advantages it can bring to the daily operations and management of a hotel.
What is a PMS or hotel management software?
A Property Management System (PMS) is essential software in the hotel industry; being designed to centralise and optimise all hotel and tourist accommodation management operations.
Basically, a PMS was created to replace all those processes that required too much time and bureaucracy. However, today it is much more: it is a comprehensive tool that not only deals with daily operations at reception, but also connects and coordinates the different hotel departments to ensure every guest has an exceptional experience.
Types of Hotel PMS
Technological advances mean hotels can now connect their PMS to a host of different applications, such as rate management software, a booking engine and even a credit card collection system.
Technology has also led to hotel owners currently being able to choose between two different types of PMS:
- On-Site: These are installed and run from a local server located in the hotel's own facilities. This provides constant access to data, even in the absence of an internet connection.
- Cloud-Based: This type removes the need for additional physical infrastructure in the hotel, as the system can be remotely accessed from any device with an internet connection. This type of PMS is gaining popularity because it saves costs and provides great flexibility.
Funciones de un PMS hotelero
As mentioned, a PMS functions as the technological core of the hotel, since it helps the owners and hotel staff manage all the daily activities and operations in the hotel business.
In short, a PMS helps simplify and automate basic tasks and others that are not so basic. For example:
- Check-in and check-out.
- Reservation management.
- Room assignment.
- Controlling the cleanliness and condition of each room.
- Interaction with guests.
- Pricing.
- Billing.
- Data analysis and reporting.
Advantages of a hotel PMS
At this point, it is clear a PMS is of high interest as a software solution for the hotel sector.
An hotel PMS brings enormous advantages to tourist establishments; among the most important being:
- Task automation: The biggest advantage of a hotel PMS is the significant reduction in time that hotel staff spend on routine administrative tasks; this automation in hotels leaves workers more time to focus on improving the guest experience.
- Information centralisation: A Hotel Property Management System unifies all the important data in your establishment on a single platform, making information management easier.
- Reservation management: Improvements in management lead to optimisation and the ability to check room availability in real time.
- Integration with other systems: As mentioned, a hotel management system can be integrated with online reservation systems, distribution channels, points of sale systems and even electronic lock management software, such as that from Omnitec.
- Analysis and reporting: The hotel PMS can perform detailed analyses and produce reports, which help owners make the best decisions for their hotel business.
- Customer experience: The guest experience can be personalised as preferences can be recalled from previous visits to the hotel; improving customer satisfaction and, therefore, customer loyalty.
- Flexibility: This system provides enormous flexibility, especially in a cloud-based hotel PMS, as the owners can manage it from anywhere.
- Hotel security: A PMS keeps sensitive hotel and guest information well protected, ensuring trust and confidence, as well as regulatory compliance.
The best PMS for your hotel and how to integrate it with other systems
A hotel PMS is therefore an essential tool, but which one should you choose? We recommend you choose one that can integrate easily with the rest of the systems.
At Omnitec Systems, we offer you an easy-to-use platform to manage all your hotel's electronic locks from any device, thus maximising the security of the premises. However, in addition, we are committed to integrating this with the PMS. In fact, we have already integrated our software with the main PMS on the market, and it can also be integrated with many more.
The best example we have is integration of Omnitec software with the ICNEA PMS, which facilitates automated and flexible management of accesses and rooms in both hotels and tourist apartments.
Remote accommodation management, contactless check-in and check-out, control of maintenance and cleaning tasks... This integration implies a long list of improvements in your guests' experience, as well as optimising all the internal operations in your hotel.
Our goal is to make our customers’ daily lives easier; helping them to optimise tasks and processes and ensure they offer their guests the best possible experience.
For more information, please don't hesitate to contact us at Omnitec!