The bottom line of a hotel can benefit substantially from a cloud property management system (PMS) because of the way it brings together data from many sources to provide a unified service for customers. It is the “digital brain” of the hotel, controlling everything from the front desk to the spa to the laundry to the housekeeping to the catering to the sales to the revenue management to the fitness center.
This means that modern hotel managers require constant, anywhere access to reliable data. Unlike traditional property management systems, Cloud Based Property Management Software is accessible from any modern web browser (Firefox, Chrome, Opera, etc.) with a valid URL, user name, and password. Cloud PMS can be accessed from any internet-connected device, including desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablets.
1. Functionality
Many hours of a hotel manager’s time are devoted to analyzing past pricing strategies and developing innovative new ones in order to entice both new and returning guests. The next-generation PMS should be able to facilitate these operations, letting hotel managers maintain an accurate record of all receipts and expenses, generate detailed reports on financial performance, sales, and commissions, and set up flexible pricing structures that account for seasonal fluctuations, promotional periods, and early bird rates.
In addition, Cloud Based Property Management Software shouldn’t squander time with manual data collection and analysis. Details into the hotel’s profit and performance that can be put to use are a must for hoteliers, and a cloud property management system (PMS) should make this possible by providing easy access to data across numerous properties at any time, from any location.
2. Integrations
Purchasing a PMS that doesn’t work with your current suite of management programs is a waste of money. Your Cloud Based Property Management Software must be capable of communicating in real-time with your revenue software solutions, distribution systems, analytics tools, and other crucial aspects of your hotel management platform. If your service provider doesn’t offer widely used international platforms, you can throw away a lot of money.
3. Security Compliance with the Payment Card Industry
Modern travelers anticipate that their personal information will be treated with the highest care and that they will be safe from any cyber risks before, during, and after their trip to your hotel.
The PMS stores sensitive customer data such as credit card numbers, booking information, and guest names. Hotels and their cloud PMS providers must, therefore, guarantee PCI-DSS compliance.
4. Scalability
We’ve already established that Cloud Based Property Management Software may include functions that are unnecessary for your establishment. However, as your inventory expands and possibly diversifies into new locations, you may need tools like separate booking engines, social networking engines, and multi-property administration modules. Confirm that your service provider allows you to add these features as needed.
5. Service from the vendor
The hospitality sector never sleeps. Are you confident that the seller will provide timely support if something goes wrong? How knowledgeable is the team about the hospitality sector as a whole?
When deciding on a Cloud PMS provider, think about the following.
What hours of help does the provider have? What days of the week can they help you if they can’t help every day?
Does the provider have agents available during different time zones?
Is it a chatbot or a human that people reach out to when they need help?
Is there a way to get training from the vendor without traveling?
6. Evaluation
Evaluation is a vital process step in the search. You should look elsewhere if a prospective PMS provider doesn’t provide a free trial. You’ll be utilizing the system frequently for at least a few months, and making the transition can be challenging. Look for vendors that provide a straightforward, no-hassle trial; businesses that aren’t confident in letting customers test their software without a salesperson present tend to have more cumbersome trial procedures.
Purchasing a PMS seems like no easy task, and it may take several weeks or months to locate the one that best fits your needs. However, the improvements in productivity, earnings, and, most importantly, the satisfaction of your guests will be well worth the effort in the end.
7. Expenses for Purchasing Management Systems
There are so many options, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to obtain reasonably priced software. Not that Cloud Based Property Management Software is cheap, but with so many to choose from, you must be able to locate one that works within your budget. Make sure your provider has adaptable pricing options and doesn’t require you to sign binding contracts.
8. Security
Data, customer & employee identities, programs, and devices pose potential threats that must be considered when deciding on a Cloud Based Property Management Software service provider.
Your risk tolerance will be determined by the importance of the information you’re storing, but any service you’re thinking about using should include some level of encryption, firewall protection, virus scanning, and user authentication, at the very least.
9. Is there an official confirmation that it’s safe?
PMSs also features built-in security measures. The strict GDPR requirements make managing guests’ data and payment card information essential.
Your PMS information should be kept safe, backed up regularly, and connected to many networks. Furthermore, your PMS must be PCI compliant, with all credit card processing handled independently of the Cloud Based Property Management Software and using robust tokenization techniques. However, you should also ensure that the PMS’s payment mechanism is safe, as this could compromise your guests’ personal information if it is compromised.
How about some clouds, or maybe none at all
Is the property management system you are looking at cloud-based, or will you need to host it on your server? In 2022, the latter is far more likely. However, certain hotels may benefit from staying with on-premises systems.
10. Equally great after-sale care
When settling on such a PMS software vendor, support and training are also crucial considerations. The functioning of modern PMS software should be intuitive for users.
In the long run, everyone—including you and the property—will benefit from intensive training on the PMS software. To ensure that your employees accomplish their assigned tasks properly, you must provide them with the appropriate training. However, you should also ensure they have access to training beyond the first setup. The profitability of your property also depends heavily on the quality of the support you receive.
Nevertheless, cloud computing needs to be a top priority for every hospitality industry business that wants to stay competitive.
Conclusion
These are the important factors you must consider while choosing a Cloud Based Property Management Software! So have a look at it and decide accordingly.
