Whether you are managing bed and breakfast accommodation, a motel or a small property with just a handful of rooms, running a small hotel business comes with just as many challenges as managing larger operations. The key difference is that small business owners usually don’t have quite the same resources and budgets as their larger counterparts. But this doesn’t mean you can’t afford to benefit from some of the same tools that the big players use. What are the functions of a good property management system? A good hotel or motel property management system or PMS will help you to streamline your small hotel reservation system and automate many of the administrative tasks associated with generating bookings. It will enable you to spend more time with your guests and deliver the type of personalised service that keeps people coming back regularly. And the good news is that it doesn’t have to cost the earth. But how do you choose the best PMS for small hotels? Here’s a few of the main features you should look for:
Integrated Front Of House & Back Office Tools
The best PMS for small hotels includes features that not only make you look professional, such as guest communication systems, but also helps you stay on top of maintenance and housekeeping issues. Look for easy to use reservation and front desk management systems that enable you to record valuable information about your guests such as birthdays and anniversaries, previous stays with you etc. You also want robust accounting features that help you record and accept guest payments and easily manage outgoing expense payments.
Channel Manager Integration
Ensuring that you hotel room availability is listed as widely as possible via Online Travel Agents (OTAs) such as Booking.com, Hotels.com and Expedia is an essential part of most property managers marketing tactics, regardless of the size of the property. The best PMS for small hotels will make this process as seamless as possible. A good channel manager will ensure that your hotel inventory and rates are always up to date with real-time availability and offer two-way integration so that bookings made via these sources will automatically update on your system and vice versa.
A Great Booking Engine
The best PMS for small hotels will also be able to deliver a great, responsive booking engine so that potential guests are able to book directly with you from anywhere, on any device. More direct bookings mean no commission fees and higher revenue! Look for a booking engine that is both easy to use from a guest perspective and that fully integrates with your front desk system and channel manager.
Exceptional Software Support
Being a small business owner means that you can’t be an expert in everything… and you shouldn’t have to be. The best PMS for small hotels will be able to offer you exceptional software support should things not be running as smoothly as usual. Look for software providers with the size to be able to offer great support when you need it. This means making sure you choose to work with a software provider that has an Australian-based customer support team with a great reputation and extensive industry experience that you can actually speak to when you need to.
HiRUM Software Solutions is the software provider that more small hotels, motels and bed and breakfast owners are turning for their PMS solutions. We get the challenges that smaller operators face and we’re one of the few property management software companies that cater for small hotels as well as large operators.
Interested in booking a demo or enquiring about HiRUM PMS? Complete the form below and one of our friendly staff will contact you shortly.
https://www.hirum.com.au/blog/top-5-property-management-software-features-to-look-for/
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