PMS hôtel - Hotello

The Hotel PMS at the service of the autonomous hotel industry

Posted on 10 March 202330 March 2023 by Claudine Vio

Le PMS hôtel au service de l'hôtellerie autonome

Online booking

In order to move towards an autonomous hotel industry, hotels must offer an online booking option to allow guests to book their stay without having to call or send a reservation request. Online booking allows the consumer to validate the cost of their stay, choose their room and the options they want without contacting the hotel directly and waiting for a response from them. By integrating this feature into your Property Management Software, guests can easily book their stay online and receive instant confirmation.

Online Check-in and check-out

Hotels can offer an online check-in and check-out solution to minimize waiting time at the front desk, to allow guests to do a late check-in or if the receptionist is busy with other guests. By integrating this feature in your hotel PMS, guests can easily do their check-in and check-out online, all without having to interact with hotel staff.

Online payment

Hotels can also offer an online payment option to ensure payment is being collected. By integrating this feature into the hotel PMS, guests can easily and securely make their payment online while limiting data entry errors since the card is not handled by hotel staff and is not stored in the Property Management Software.

Contactless technology

The use of contactless technology to offer an autonomous hotel experience is also an advantage for hotels. For example, self-serve kiosks that allow guests to do their check-in and check-out without waiting at the front desk or room keys that can be replaced by electronic keys accessible via a mobile app. Online ordering solutions for food and laundry services are also a possibility to minimize physical interactions with the hotel staff.

Use of chatbots

Chatbots are a great tool to answer guest requests quickly and allow the hotel to maximize revenue by offering additional services. Chatbots can be integrated into the hotel PMS to answer frequent guest questions, allow guests to order room services and provide a personalized accommodation experience.

In the hotel industry, Property Management Software’s optimization is essential to offer an autonomous guest experience. However, it is essential that the concept of an autonomous hotel industry not only suits your property and your clientele but also that the technology is fully integrated throughout your customer journey.
From booking to check-out, to payment and key delivery, the technology helps simplify these steps in your guest’s journey but that means using connected and efficient technology. When the customer experience is well thought out, hoteliers have a lot to gain by connecting their systems since the customer does 100% autonomously what a hotel employee would have done for them. Thus, the customer finds it innovative and different and the hotelier is able to devote more time to the management and the customer relationship.

Choosing the right integrations for your hotel

Posted on 1 September 20228 November 2022 by Sarah Trépanier

Therefore, the real challenge is to find the most appropriate solutions for your hotel and your needs. Although your Property Management Software (PMS) is already an essential technology for your hotel, there are multiple complementary solutions that can allow you to further personalize your guest experience, such as online reservations, payments, check-in/out kiosks, channel managers, POS and many others.

So, as a hotel manager, how do you choose the right integrations and technologies for your hotel? Those that simplify your teams’ daily operations while optimizing your hotel’s management should be prioritized.

Choisir les bonnes connectivités pour votre hôtel

Define your needs and goals

The first step should be to ask yourself the right questions: What are you looking for? Why do you need such integrations? What would they bring you? What are their necessary functionalities?

Once you have your answers, make a list of the primary criteria that these solutions should meet as well as a list of secondary and optional criteria.Keep in mind that these integrations must be able to connect to your Property Management Software in order to help you optimize your employees’ daily operations and automate as many repetitive tasks as possible, while also making your customer journey smoother and offering an unparalleled experience to your guests. Before selecting your new supplier, make sure that the Hotel PMS you are using does not already have some or all of the features you desire. Indeed, many hotel software packages offer many features and could therefore have a more advantageous price point.

Get informed, compare and assess the solutions

After defining your needs and goals you should learn about existing solutions by consulting various websites, online referral sites, user reviews and comments. Make sure that these integrations are compatible with both your Property Management Software and the features currently used by your hotel. You should also make sure that the software you wish to use has a good agreement and is open to potential developments in case the information being exchanged is not sufficient for your needs.

Moreover, it is important to compare the different solutions using a comparison table. This will help you to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each. An example of a feature you could consider: a simple solution, easy to use on a daily basis, which allows you to save time and efficiency, at a good quality-price ratio. The cust o mer service provided by your new software is also important, especially in case of technical problems: it must be available, responsive and skilled.

Choosing the right integrations for your hotel is not an easy task and largely depends on your hotel’s needs and goals. Nevertheless, an excellent management of your hotel requires a good technological ecosystem. Among other things, a powerful Hotel PMS and interfacing integrations allow you to automate your employees’ tasks while offering your guests a memorable experience.

Why is a PMS often underutilized?

Posted on 5 August 202212 August 2022 by Nicolas Audiffren

Here are some tips to maximize the potential of your Property Management Software.

Complete your training with your supplier

A Property Management Software is a software that includes multiple functionalities and opportunities, whether it be for day-to-day operations with check-ins and check-outs or for management purposes using forecasting reports and performance analyses.
In order to get to know your software in depth and to make the best use of it, you should contact your supplier regularly. You can perfect your knowledge via training, in order to make better use of your PMS, be more efficient and improve you hotel’s profitability.

The hotel industry has a high staff turnover, so it is important to offer your staff training for them to acquire knowledge about the Property Management Software and learn about best practices. Usually, all the information about the hotel and the Property Management Software is lost whenever the person in charge of it leaves. It is therefore important to keep your management team and the people who use the Property Management Software up to date.

Watch for performance indicators

Your Property Management Software is a key source of information that will allow you to better understand, anticipate and prepare your operations. It includes indicators which can highlight opportunities which you could have missed or shortfalls which you should investigate in order to improve your profitability.

The indicators available in your Property Management Software are plentiful and easily accessible at all times. The key indicators for a hotel are: occupancy rate, ADR, REVPAR, REVPAC, GOPPAR, customer acquisition cost, ROI and retention rate. Among these 8 key performance indicators for hotel managers, some are often under-exploited, such as ADR, REVPAR and REVPAC.

Each of these indicators can give you additional information on your hotel’s performance. The ADR, which you can compare across years, will allow you to fine-tune your pricing strategy.

The REVPAR will help you too improve the additional revenue you can generate from a room.

The REVPAC allows you to analyze the revenue generated by each customer and therefore to act on the sale of additional products on top of the room for each customer.

Use the data

The Property Management Software collects all your hotel’s and customers’ data. Customer data includes but is not limited to: type of customer, country of origin and reason for their stay. All this information is continuously collected.

Therefore, you can consult and use this data for marketing purposes. By comparing several indicators and their relevant customer data, you could for example realize that customers from a certain country generate a higher REVPAR or REVPAC. In this case, it would be relevant to adapt your offers geographically to target this clientele.

This data is important for your pricing and advertising strategies. It should influence your operations in order to adjust your offer to the demand of targeted clienteles.

Don’t let day-to-day operations take over

A Property Management Software is often underutilized because of hotel staff getting caught up in day-to-day operations and lacking the time to focus on the software’s potential. As a result, the implementation of new connectivity and time-saving modules is often delayed or overlooked. The lack of time to implement these additional tools means that the hotel is not benefitting from the software’s full potential. When the off-season comes, other tasks can overwhelm for the remaining staff and the optimization of the Property Management Software is again postponed.

The Property Management Software is a complete software that allows you to manage all of you hotel’s departments. Knowing your Property Management Software perfectly is almost impossible, but it is important to regularly updated your knowledge in order to fully exploit its potential. This will in turn help you to simplify operations and of course to improve your hotel’s profitability.

3 misconceptions about Property Management Software

Posted on 4 April 202226 August 2022 by Claudine Vio

3 fausses idées sur un Property Management Software

PMS are only used by large establishments

You could be missing an opportunity for your hotel if you believe that Property Management Softwares are only used by large properties.

One of the most important features of a PMS is that it is able to adapt to any establishment and its needs. A PMS can be useful for small establishments with a small amount of staff or with multi-tasking staff as well as for large hotels with several departments on top of the front desk, such as housekeeping, customer service, management, sales and marketing. Indeed, a small hotel also has to optimize its occupancy, its staff’s schedule and tasks and its profitability.

PMS are tricky to use

Although new technologies are evolving rapidly and many new features and improvements are being offered, they should not be complicated to use on a daily basis. For hoteliers, the goal of a hotel management software is to simplify the management of their property. This includes automating their repetitive tasks to save time and improving their productivity, efficiency and communication. Therefore, a Property Management Software’s interface has to be easy to use and navigating through the software must be intuitive. The hotel industry having a high staff turnover, the software must be user-friendly and straightforward to simplify and accelerate the training of new employees.

Moreover, a cloud-based Property Management Software is very convenient. Cloud hosting allows hoteliers to access their hotel management software from their own mobile device (computer or tablet) without having to be in-person at their hotel. All they need is a Wi-Fi connection and a web browser.

PMS can replace hotel managers

A Property Management Software can automate hoteliers’ repetitive tasks but it should not replace them. Your hotel management software must be your best ally and not your competitor. It is a tool made available to you to improve your performance and efficiency, particularly by saving you time on a daily basis so that you better serve your guests. Indeed, a PMS is able to automate several tasks such as room assignment and nightly auditing while also sending emails to guests about their stay and generating reports.

You can also benefit from the resourcefulness of a Property Management Software. By being at the heart of your hotel, it continuously collects a lot of data about your customers, helps you track your activities and analyzes your performance.

Everyone has their own idea of why a Property Management Software could benefit their hotel. The most important thing is to define the needs and objectives of your own hotel and not to let yourself be influenced by misconceptions such as that a PMS is only used by large establishments, that they are complicated to use or that they can replace hotel managers!

Why your hotel should have a cloud-based PMS?

Posted on 7 February 202226 August 2022 by Karine Thibeault

Pourquoi équiper votre hôtel d'un Property Management Software cloud?

Remotely accessible and easy to use

Equipping your hotel with a cloud-based hotel management software will allow you to connect from home with your own device such as a computer or a tablet. All you need is a WiFi connection and a web browser. Thus, cloud hosting offers hotel managers greater mobility. Indeed, with this technology, they no longer need to go to their hotel in person in case of booking concerns or to view statistical reports.

Savings on hardware investment

More often than not, the subscription for a cloud-based PMS is monthly. Its price and various included features can vary and be adjusted according to your property’s needs. In addition, you won’t have to invest in hardware that will be stored within your hotel such as servers, hard drives, storage, database licenses and more.

In addition to saving money, cloud hosting saves you from having to maintain physical IT infrastructure.

Real-time data synchronization and back-ups

Whether it’s for a booking, an arrival, a departure or a change in room status, a cloud-based Property Management Software allows you to synchronize all this information in real-time. This represents a significant gain in time and efficiency for your teams in addition to improving communication between your departments.Moreover, cloud hosting provides a true reliability advantage. In case of technical problems, data is saved regularly and can be restored if needed.

Enhanced data protection

Choosing a cloud-based PMS means choosing an external hosting platform rather than local storage. Cloud hosting helps to reduce the risk of hacking, enhance data privacy and comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), an EU-wide personal data privacy protection law.

Opting for a cloud-based PMS can only be beneficial for your hotel. Indeed, cloud hosting has undeniable advantages such as remote accessibility, ease of use, savings on hardware investment, real-time data synchronization, regular back-ups and enhanced data protection.

The advantages of using self-service kiosks in the hotel industry

Posted on 20 January 202220 January 2022 by Claudine Vio

Provide a modern, contactless experience for your guests

Self-service kiosks simplify, speed up and automate your guests’ check-in and check-out processes.

Whether it’s check-in, check-out or even a walk-in, your guests will be fully autonomous and won’t have to wait at your front desk. They will be able to go directly to your kiosk and identify themselves in order to start checking in. Afterwards, all they will have to do is proceed with the payment process and get their room key. Moreover, using a kiosk will allow your customers to add additional services to their stay and therefore increase your revenue. Once their stay is over, they will be able to finalize their check-out and make a payment.

Streamline your front desk’s work

The self-service kiosks can also simplify your front desk’s by automating repetitive tasks such as arrivals and departures. Also, did you know that your kiosk can be connected to your Property Management Software in order to collect your customers’ data? It can also connect to your electronic key system and your payment system.By automating their repetitive tasks, your employees will have more time to devote to your customers and will be able to respond to their requests much quicker. To do so, by ensuring your guests’ satisfaction, you also contribute to their loyalty.

Overcoming staff shortages

The lack or turnover of staff is a well-known problem in the hospitality industry. Indeed, the demand is often very high compared to the supply and many hotels are understaffed during high season. To overcome the lack of staff, avoid seasonal recruitment and improve your front desk’s organization, self-service kiosks could be an advantageous solution as they are available at any time of the day.

In the hotel industry, technology has the advantage of evolving rapidly and offering ever more efficient solutions to provide travelers with an outstanding experience. Opting for the self-service approach, in particular with the implementation of a self-service kiosk, will allow you to offer your guests a fast and contactless experience while streamlining your front desk’s work and making up for staff shortages.

New experiences that simplify reception work

Posted on 3 February 20211 October 2021 by Sarah Trépanier

Check-in at the welcome kiosks

Self-serve kiosks are excellent devices that reduce the amount of repetitive tasks for the front desk team. Indeed, a check-in is often the same: identifying your guest, validating its stay, confirming the terms and conditions of the property, accepting the pre-authorization and delivering the room key. These repetitive tasks can be replaced by kiosks, allowing your guests to check-in or out independently.

Also, welcome kiosks make the reception more welcoming for people who need a special service, since there will be no waiting line. Thus, reception staff will be more available and will be able to engage with the guests to meet their needs and therefore increase guest satisfaction.

Furthermore, kiosks are a good way to streamline busy periods and shorten the arrival and departure process, since guests will be able to check-in or out in just a few clicks.

Automation of repetitive tasks by using a property management software

The automation of tasks is often done by using a property management software or through the ecosystem offered by other softwares. There are several types of automations: automatic room assignment, generation of reports, automatic entry of online bookings, online deposits and confirmation of personal information before check-in. All of these automations help save significant time for employees and allow them to avoid repetitive tasks.

Use of integrated payment

Integrated payment is a part of automation that significantly shortens the payment process. Indeed, the amount to be paid is sent directly from the property management software to the payment terminal. The type of card as well as the payment validation return to the PMS once made on the payment terminal. Therefore, your staff won’t have to enter manually the information in the terminal, preventing them from making data entry mistakes.

As a result, these avoided mistakes make it easier to close the cash register and give the opportunity to your front desk team to focus on your guests by answering their questions and offering them a high quality customer service.

Online reservation

Online reservations help reduce phone calls, which can happen when receptionists are busy with guests on site. In order to provide a memorable guest experience, online booking connected to your property management software allows travelers to check the property’s availability in real time. Moreover, the online reservation allows a buying experience that is just as good, since they are able to directly see rooms and everything they need to proceed with the reservation.

The property’s front desk is a crucial service, it’s the guarantor of guests’ first impressions, whether in person if the reservation was made by phone or online when making a reservation on the property’s online platforms. Therefore, simplifying the reception’s work by automating and using new technologies help the property offer new experiences to its guests. It also guarantees a better customer service, since staff will be more available. It could definitely represent an improvement for the property and a way to highlight the work of people behind the front desk, as well as their desire to serve guests in a more courteous and efficient way.

How can a Housekeeping App improve your guest experience?

Posted on 28 December 202021 November 2022 by Laura Yee Kui Choi

The app facilitates customer requests

Thanks to the housekeeping app, the guests requests’ follow-up becomes easier. Moreover, it allows your housekeeping staff to see in real time the guest’s requests for the room they are currently cleaning. Thus, the app will facilitate the whole process. Requests such as hypoallergenic pillows or an extra baby crib can be added directly on the app and won’t be forgotten. As a result, the housekeeping app will increase the satisfaction of your guests.

Since the app is connected to your property’s PMS (property management software), guests’ preferences will be saved. The guest won’t have to remind the hotel for any specific requests for its next stays. Thereby, the property will be able to emphasize attention toward this loyal guest by putting everything he needs in its room during his next stays.

The room is ready before guests’ arrival

The housekeeping app will provide information to your staff about your guests’ arrival. Thanks to this app, the prioritization of houseworks becomes easier, since the staff is aware of the guest’s arrival, its specific room and room type. Upon arrival, the guest will be able to have access to its room immediately and fully enjoy its stay, increasing its level of satisfaction.

The app provides information on the exact number of people in the room and the length of stay

When your housekeeping staff begins to clean a room, they can quickly see the room occupancy as well as the length of stay. Thereby, it will help provide the right amount of towels and other linens for the exact number of guests, and thus allow savings on cleaning. This also applies to welcome products, since they are not consumed the same way if there are only 2 people in the room compared to more. The welcome experience of your guests will be tailored and personalized, because your staff will be aware of guests’ specific needs before they arrive.

The guest experience in a property is complex as it involves many elements. Indeed, each element must be a success in order for your guests to have a positive memory of their stay and repeat the experience by booking future stays within your property.

Furthermore, housekeeping is important to take into consideration. You have to provide adequate tools to your housekeeping team in order to offer a successful experience to your guests. These tools will help you have fluid communication and help your housekeepers be aware of all the stays’ details. By paying attention to your guests, they will feel all the efforts made by your team to offer them an outstanding experience.

Why does a housekeeping app represent an advantage for a property?

Posted on 1 December 20201 October 2021 by Nicolas Audiffren

application-entretien-menager-hotellerie

Improve communication between teams

Most importantly, the housekeeping application allows property’s departments to communicate with each other in a simple and efficient way, especially between the housekeeping and front desk team. By working with an application, it is possible to modify the status of the rooms, which allows the reception to see in real time which rooms are clean, dirty, being cleaned and ready for inspection.

Moreover, you will no longer need to use paper reports to assign different tasks and use walkie-talkies to communicate with your employees.

Increase housekeepers’ efficiency

Using a housekeeping app also simplifies the daily work of your housekeeping team. They will be able to see the status change of a room in real time and look at the notes mentioning guests’ special requests. Furthermore, the housekeeping manager will be able to organize and prioritize tasks more easily. Thus, your teams will be more organized and will gain considerable time.

Have an overview of tasks

Moreover, an app will help your teams visualize the rooms’ status quickly and the different tasks in progress. It will provide detailed information about each room, such as the number of occupants, the length of stay and the cleaning type required. In addition to having an overview of the tasks to accomplish, your housekeeping manager will be able to better manage rooms and distribute remaining tasks among the team.

To conclude, using a housekeeping mobile app is an undeniable advantage for your property as it will help your staff to be more efficient and productive in their daily tasks.

New technologies at customer experience’s service

Posted on 21 April 202027 September 2021 by Catherine Daoust

nouvelles-technologies-experience-client

Nowaday, guests’ consumption habits have evolved, they are looking for more emotions, interactions and sharing. Thereby, a positive customer experience isn’t only compose of basic services such as comfort or cleanliness but by all the contact and interaction points between your establishment and your customers, throughout its customer journey. As for example, the ease of booking, the staff availability, the welcome’s quality, the speed of check-in, the bedding’s quality and the degree of personalization offered are part of the customer experience.

But what is the goal of a unique customer experience? To offer an innovative experience that makes life easier for your customers and increases their satisfaction. In addition, this memorable experience could be a real advantage for you and a true loyalty sign. Since a traveler would be willing to pay 5 times more than the initial price in order to have a better customers experience, it becomes essential to understand what your customer are going through and to adapt all of your strategies and actions. The typical customer journey should be as simple and smooth as possible if you want to have satisfied and loyal customers.

1- Personalized marketing

Current travelers’ expectations have evolved, each of them is unique and has different expectations from the others. Creating interactions with them will help you to identify their preferences and to create more personalized contents. Talking in a more personalized way with your customers will make them feel unique and not just one among many others. Moreover, personalized marketing favors a more personal discussion with your guests and allows to gather a multitude of information. The personalized marketing’s goal is to create interest among your customers and to maintain a strong relationship with them. Thereby, 3 out of 5 customers say that personalized experiences based on their purchases and preferences would increase their loyalty towards a property.

2- Online check-in

Considered to be a very popular technology, online check-in allows travelers to use a mobile device or a laptop to complete their check-in process before arriving at the hotel. It also enable them to validate their personal information and their payment guarantee remotely. All they have to do is to go to the property’s check-in kiosk in order to collect their room key, or to follow a special “express check-in” line in the event that the establishment wouldn’t have any check-in kiosks. The two main advantages of having this technology is to make customers fully autonomous and to reduce the waiting time at the reception. Thus, your employees will have more time to discuss more personally with your customers and help them if necessary.

3- Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is made of several techniques that allow machines to imitate a real form of intelligence. Within properties, tools have been developed thanks to artificial intelligence and voice recognition. For example, chatbots which are available H24 and help to improve the customer experience by quickly answer to users’ questions. This technology can answer in less than one minute when there are no employees available. We can also take the example of smart rooms, which allow guests to control some aspects of their own room through voice recognition such as light, television or air conditioning. Moreover, artificial intelligence is used for data analysis such as customer reviews and surveys. As a hotelier, using this technology is very helpful for taking the best decision and optimizing your performance and income.

4- Virtual reality

Virtual reality allows you to immerse an individual in a fully artificial world created digitally, by using headset, a mobile application, a video game or even a virtual reality simulator. It is an excellent idea for a property because it offers the possibility of living a unique virtual experience before making a reservation such as a visit of their future travel destination, their room, the establishment’s infrastructure and activities available.

5- Augmented reality

Reflecting a virtual interface in 2D or 3D, augmented reality works via a terminal that screens the real world while adding virtual objects, animations and sounds. It allows the user to view it thanks to a mobile device. As an example, your guests will be able to point your restaurant or spa and see the online reviews of your previous guests or they will also be able to take a tour of your establishment and learn more about the activities offered.

6- Robots

The purpose of using robots isn’t to replace the daily work of your employees. Representing another form of innovative technology, robots are able to perform some daily tasks, giving more availability for your employees to interact more personally with your guests and also to optimize your establishment’s performance. In addition, some robots with advanced features can occupy the role of a concierge, a porter, a receptionist or even a housekeeper.

As a hotelier, using new technologies is a great way to revolutionize your customer experience. The hospitality industry is highly competitive and constantly evolving, the main goal is to offer a unique, personalized and enriching experience that will satisfy your guests and retain them. Moreover, a satisfied customer will not hesitate to leave a positive online review, to subscribe to your newsletter, to follow you on social media, to use the word of mouth in order to spread a good message about your establishment but more importantly to comeback and stay at your place!