The management software for hotels is undoubtedly the fundamental tool for the management of a small or large accommodation facility.
However, during the selection and evaluation phase of a management software, we often limit ourselves to considering and evaluating only some aspects, when in reality the basic functionalities for the hotel owner and his team are many.
In this article we try to explain what are the aspects, functionalities and features that can not be missed in a hotel management.
1. The hotel management must help you increase the revenue of your hotel
This is simplistic and wrong, especially because a modern management system must offer the basic metrics and functionalities on which to base the hotel’s business strategy.
The management system should not therefore be seen as an instrument that is acquired and that can remain unchanged without evolving. This is because the hospitality market is constantly changing and staying anchored in a static system means staying behind and losing competitiveness in a very fierce market.It is evident that in recent years the tasks that must be able to carry out the management have increased and the line of demarcation between what is the task of management and what is instead the task of marketing, promotion or revenue tools becomes less and less clear.
Hoteliers are looking for integrated software solutions that can process data, create email marketing campaigns, define promotions and send quotes from a single point.
A management PMS must help those working in the hotel to propose their customers offers and after-sales solutions that can be purchased after their booking. We refer to revenue strategies such as cross sell (sale of additional services after the stay) and upsell (ie the sale of higher level rooms).
Example of automated upselling
Mario Rossi decides to book a double for the New Year’s weekend.
A week before his arrival an email is sent to him in which he is informed about the possibility of using the Junior Suite with a 20% addition.
Mario Rossi simply has to accept the upgrade and the reservation will be updated automatically.
2. The PMS must make the work in the hotel easier!
What good is a PMS if some hoteliers continue to use paper support or external spreadsheets as excel to carry out some operations?
A PMS must simplify some tasks such as:
- automatic generation of files for the reporting of tickets lodged with the state police;
- generation of ISTAT documents;
- management of the tourist tax, specifying age ranges and category of exemptions;
- management of the state of cleanliness of the lodgings;
- and much more!
Another fundamental requirement is the “dynamism“.
A dynamic and versatile pms allows you to enter group or individual bookings quickly and easily.
Just think about who runs a structure near railway stations or airports and receives calls from business customers who want to know availability and prices in less than a minute. A pms therefore must make this data accessible in a few clicks and in an intuitive way, because this is one of those cases in which “time is money“.
In addition, when we have to register bookings, it must be possible to choose whether to apply discounts, surcharges, add extra services, discount codes.
3. Reputation is at stake every day with every guest
A complete and cloud-based management system allows you to monitor customer satisfaction and reviews, which nowadays play a key role in brand reputation.
The management PMS can help the hotel in managing the reviews by connecting with the manager of a channel, allowing you to stay more updated on what guests say about the accommodation on some sites such as TripAdvisor or Booking.com.
Being proactive in managing reviews, managing to seize weaknesses and strengths, will help the hotel gain more credibility and, possibly, more guests!
4. The management PMS of the hotel must be all of a piece with the Channel Manager
How can the management be able to help the hotel staff manage the OTAs?
The channel manager whose purpose is to make the hotelier forget the manual synchronization of rates and availability on the various portals such as Booking.com, Expedia or Hotels.com, allows to work effectively only if this is integrated with the PMS management, allowing you to manage everything from a single interface.
This option tends to eliminate overbooking, but above all it allows a transparent and centralized management of the reservation flow.
What do we want to say?
If the customer Mario Rossi makes a reservation on an OTA portal, this is sent to the channel manager who will then send it to the management that will show all the details and data of the case.
If instead a customer calls into the hotel and book a room, the management software PMS will inform the channel manager (and consequently the OTA portals) that the number of rooms for sale has been reduced by 1 unit, thus avoiding the overbooking.
How can the Slope management software help your hotel?
Slope is a complete, cloud and “all-in-one” hotel management software.
So the hotelier and his staff will find in a single platform all the software tools that he needs both for the purely managerial aspects and for those more oriented to marketing and revenue.
A hotel that uses outdated management software loses money every day for two reasons:
- significantly reduces its earnings;
- increases the costs of management.
If for the management of your structure:
- you are not using any software;
or - you are using old software;
or - you’re using software that you can not use because it’s cumbersome or slow.
Call us and find out how Slope can simplify your life and make you earn more!
