Future of Hotel PMS Software - Trends and Innovations

What is a Property Management System? (PMS)

The property management system is a tool used by hotels to manage hotel business operations from a centralized platform.  

Traditionally, PMS functioning was only confined to the front desk operations such as booking reservations, guest check-in/check-out, room assignment, room rate management, and billing. However, contemporary PMS has expanded in scope.  

A hotel PMS is now an indispensable business operations system that enables hoteliers to deliver an elevated guest experience.  

The core functions carried out by the hotel property management system today are:  

• Channel Management 
• Booking engine
• Revenue management system (RMS) 
• Payment processing 
• Guest management 
• Reservation management 
• Housekeeping module 
• Reporting 
• A centralized dashboard  

Now that we have learned about what PMS is and some of the key functions performed by it, let’s move on to the future of this essential hotel tool.

Also Read: Importacne of Property Management System in Hotel Indsurty

The Future of Hotel Property Management System Software

Hotel PMS technology has come a long way. It has evolved so much that it has become a staple of hotel operations. Let’s look at where the technology is heading.  

Hotel PMS trends for the future are as follows:  

1. Cloud-based PMS

Cloud computing has been adopted by businesses across multiple industries for its accessibility and cost-effective nature. Hotels too have embraced the technology. To stay competitive, they are increasingly leveraging cloud-based PMS for enhanced efficiency in business operations, greater scalability, better accessibility, and reduced costs.  

Additionally, cloud-based PMS facilitates automatic synchronization, distribution management, automation of tasks, and deal launch as per real-time availability, among other things.  

Not only this, the cost of installation and data training requirements for a cloud-based is way less than the traditional ones. Furthermore, the latter have expensive service contracts, which are often outdated.

With so many benefits, cloud-based Hotel PMS is certainly a part of the future of hotel PMS and is going to be toping every future trends list in 2023.

2. Integration 

The future of hotel PMS would facilitate further and easy integration between new systems, software, or features, as per the hotel requirements.  

With traditional PMS, there are restrictions on integration with software from different and multiple providers, so often hotels are stuck with one, not-so-flexible system till its expiry date. Moreover, the addition and removal of resources give hoteliers a hard time.  

However, with cloud-based management systems, integration is a cakewalk. These PMS are capable of easily connecting with other software applications, sourced by different providers.  

3. Mobile-first 

As smartphones capture greater market share and record higher engagement levels over time, mobile-first is being practiced by a lot of businesses. Hotels are no different. With more and more travelers leveraging the internet to plan their travel, hotels need to have greater smartphone visibility and services.  

With multiple guest touch points being accessed through mobile technology such as direct bookings, mobile check-in, message updates, digital concierge, etc., mobile-first PMS facilitates the integration of all services into a seamless guest journey.  

Additionally, it serves hotels a lot of purposes too. It facilitates task scheduling centralized staff communication and real-time updates to the entire team.  

Thus, as the mobile technology would further grow, so would the PMS capabilities and scope. Thus, it has made it to the future of hotel PMS.  

4. Open API

Open API is a transformative feature. An open API property management system enhances efficiency through a centralized platform and allows hoteliers to access and leverage multiple hospitality technologies.  

Accessing software with booking engine APIs to channel manager APIs, allows hotels to offer a more connected and frictionless experience.

Also, read: Difference Between Hotel PMS and Channel Manager

5. PMS for elevated guest experience 

The future of hotel PMS would witness property management systems enabling hoteliers or hotel staff to store guest preferences and make notes in real-time. This basically is about the collection of data and creation of guest profiles through in-built tools to personalize the guest experience.  

Furthermore, cloud-based computing is capable of compiling vital guest stay information and data from multiple sources, in one place. This helps hotels to extend offers and deals to guests in real-time when it matters the most.  

Guest satisfaction drives hotel business and should be a leading cause in any Hotel property management software to choose.

Conclusion

Cloud-based Hotel PMS has a lot to offer. As technologies and hotel operations grow and diversify with evolving market conditions and changing guest expectations and behaviors, property management systems will become more mobile and sophisticated with guest satisfaction at the forefront of the chosen tool.  

Furthermore, with increased integration and coordination, hoteliers would feel more control over hotel operations and overall business, with efficiency and enhancements reflected in hotel numbers.

The future of hotel PMS is thus exciting and promising!