In hotels, PMS stands for Property Management System. It is an application software, which hospitality buildings, resorts, and hotels utilize to control different operations in terms of guest services as well as hotel management.
- Reservation Management
Booking System: A PMS enables hotels to control room bookings, direct and OTA based. It gives the hotel real-time visibility of availability, management of room types, and confirmation or cancellation of reservations.
Prevention of Overbooking: It avoids the hotel from over-booking the rooms, and updates the room availability automatically across channels.
- Front Desk Operations
Check-In/Check-Out: The PMS makes check-in and check-out processes easier by automating guest registration, issuing room keys (physical or virtual), and managing billing.
Guest Information Management: It saves guest details like names, addresses, and preferences to provide a tailored experience.
- Billing and Invoicing
Payment Processing: A PMS is generally integrated with payment gateways to process payments and manage charges for rooms, services, and amenities.
Invoice Generation: It provides automatic receipts and invoices to guests, enhancing accuracy and efficiency.
- Housekeeping Control
Room Status Tracking: It assists staff in room status tracking (i.e., whether the room is occupied, checked out, or needs cleaning) and allocation of housekeeping tasks.
Task Scheduling: The housekeeping staff can view their day's schedule, thus ensuring effective cleaning and preparation of rooms.
- Reporting and Analysis
Revenue Management: It tracks room usage, revenue, and rate to help managers make pricing strategy and demand forecasting decisions.
Performance Reports: It offers guest satisfaction, booking, cancellation, and other KPI performance reports to support well-informed decision-making.
- Integration with Other Systems
Channel Management: A PMS can be interconnected with a Channel Manager for keeping the different platforms aligned with one another for booking details, such as OTAs like Expedia, Booking.com, and Airbnb.
POS (Point of Sale): It is also connected with the POS system for service transactions of hotel services (e.g., food, beverages, or spa treatments).
CRM (Customer Relationship Management): A few PMS solutions offer CRM features that assist hotels in storing comprehensive guest preference profiles, enabling customized services.
- Customer Service Improvements
Guest Requests: It can process special guest requests, such as room service requests or maintenance requests, and respond promptly.
Guest Communication: A few PMS solutions include messaging features, enabling hotel staff to send messages to guests about room modifications, check-in/check-out time, or offers.
Top PMS Software Examples
Some of the popular Property Management Systems utilized in the hotel industry are:
- Opera PMS (by Oracle)
- RoomRaccoon
- Cloudbeds
- RMS Cloud
- Guestline