The hotel industry has had a rough year. Not as many people are traveling because of Covid-19 concerns, so many hotels have lost money. However, now that the FDA has approved multiple vaccines, things should start getting back to normal in 2021.
In the new year, hotels can make a comeback, but only if they have the most modern amenities. People still won’t want to stay at a hotel if they feel like competing ones have better options. That certainly applies when you’re looking at hotel property management software.
In this article, we’ll talk about some reasons why you should get such software if you’re a hotel owner or manager. This software variety is rapidly becoming more popular, and it has many distinct benefits.
Reasons you need Hotel Property Management Software
You Can Manage the Hotel from Anywhere
Hotel management is a distinctly hands-on activity. You might have to do things at any time like:
- Change the room rates
- Change what comes with each room
Once, if you needed to do those things, you’d have to notify your staff in-person. You do not need to do that anymore, now that you can utilize hotel PMS.
You can set up the system, and if you decide to change room prices, you can input that data. It will go into effect immediately. If you want certain rooms to come with new features, like a safe, a minibar, etc., you can make the adjustment via the property management software and notify your staff that way.
This sort of thing is beneficial if you’re away from the property on business. With the software in place, you can spend more time doing things like courting new investors.
You Can Upsell Your Guests
As a hotel owner, you probably know all about upselling already. It is the practice of:
- Trying to get your guests to stay in one of your more luxurious suites
- Trying to get them to order room service or other amenities
Before hotel management software existed, you would have had to try upselling your guests yourself. You might have needed to stay behind the front desk, ready to chat them up as they arrived and tell them about the more luxurious suites and services.
With this software in place, it can do all of that for you. Whenever someone starts to book a room, it will tell them about more upscale options.
They may not have intended to get a more expensive room and some additional amenities when they started the booking process, but the software might convince them by the time they pull out their credit card.
You Can Use It for Staff Onboarding
These software suites have many facets. You can set yours up so it helps your new employees during the onboarding process.
When you were training new staff members, such as bellhops, front desk staff, etc., you or your manager probably would have had to spend some time with them. You’d need to give them all kinds of paperwork to fill out, and you’d have to tell them all about proper staff behavior.
You can have them interact with the software, and it can handle most of that. You, your manager, or another suitable individual will still need to fill your new staff members in on some of the finer details.
However, on the whole, you can get your staff ready much faster and more efficiently once you give them hotel management software access.
You Can Use the Software to Check on Your Hotels
You can also use some of the software features if you want to check on various property aspects. You might integrate it with camera systems if you wish to look in on the hallways, elevators, the hotel’s front, the pool area, etc. Anywhere you think there might be a problem, you can check on that in real-time.
You can also integrate the software with the fire and smoke prevention systems. If there’s ever a fire or smoke situation, you should be able to find out about it immediately. Even before the fire department is on the way, you should know there’s a problem, and you can respond accordingly.
It’s the same if you know there’s a problem where you need the police. The software will notify you there’s been an incident, so you can get to the property to meet the authorities to get to the bottom of it. You can set up security call buttons around the property, so if there’s ever any theft or other issues, the guests can call for help right away.
You Can Figure Out Hotel Data in Real-Time
You can also use the software to see how full your hotel is at any given point. If you have VIPs that need a room, you can see whether you can set them up somewhere suitable.
You can also use the software to figure out guest booking trends over time. This will be useful as you devise future marketing strategies.
For instance, you can decide based on median hotel guest age whether a social media campaign makes more sense or whether you should stick to something more traditional, like TV commercials. You can figure out which social media platforms to use based on whether older or younger guests stay at your properties.
You can set up the software so your guests can rate their hotel experience. If they didn’t like anything about the service, you can find out about it quickly, and you can follow up with them. Maybe if you find out it’s warranted, you can comp their room service the next time they stay with you, or you can offer something else to get back in their good graces.
If you get positive guest reviews, you can use those on your website or in your social media ad campaigns. You can also decrease guest wait times during the check-in process. The faster you get yourself some hotel management software, the sooner your life will become a whole lot easier.
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