As discussed in our last blog, there’s much to explore when it comes leveraging your PMS to get more guest engagement. Today we want discuss a few of the many highlights gained from an operation’s perspective. While a next-generation PMS ideally supports guest engagement, it should also help drive increasing levels of efficiency, including performance and capabilities that make it possible to use existing resources more creatively, improve revenue opportunities and prepare the property for steady growth. As discussed in our last blog, there’s much to explore when it comes leveraging your PMS to get more guest engagement. Today we want discuss a few of the many highlights gained from an operation’s perspective. While a next-generation PMS ideally supports guest engagement, it should also help drive increasing levels of efficiency, including performance and capabilities that make it possible to use existing resources more creatively, improve revenue opportunities and prepare the property for steady growth.

1. The Cloud

The technology is ripe for the picking. The growing demand for cloud-based PMS is enabling hotels to increase overall effectiveness without having to build out additional infrastructure. Cloud-enabled systems offer a level of security that even the most astute IT teams would struggle to maintain with onsite servers. With this comes increased confidence from the knowledge that cloud providers and data centers are held to more stringent standards than would be the case for on-property environments. These same providers are doing a better job looking out for the hotel’s best interests. A mere five years ago, this wouldn’t have been the case. Hoteliers should work with a cloud provider for next-generation PMS performance.

2. The Data

Hoteliers must have a way to predict guest demand and spending patterns. Keeping an eye on the revenue down to the minutest detail requires a next-generation PMS. Metrics, such as RevPAR, ADR, occupancy, historical booking data and reports, like net sales and daily flash, should be easy to query and access. Revenue management data analytics is more than just room revenue data, it encompasses the full spend of the guest in all revenue centers including dining, activities, amenities, retail and gaming spend.  Equally important, operators should seek to truly understand guest preferences or patterns to anticipate precisely how they will spend their money while they’re on property. Both revenue and guest data have stories to tell. Leveraging all data is important to drive rates and deliver personalized guest offers, yielding the highest return based on the full spend of each guest.

3. Integration

The importance of having all the features and functions fully integrated within one hotel PMS cannot be overstated. Logging in and out of multiple systems, maintaining paper files and using manual management techniques creates opportunities for critical errors. PMS solutions are being developed with more focus toward integration capabilities. This is good news for hoteliers who should look only to those platforms that are built to integrate with other software quickly and effortlessly. A next-gen solution will allow flexibility as the business demands, embracing loyalty, POS, booking channels and other integrated technology platforms. An open architecture that accommodates integration will prepare the business for growth and steady competition. Saving precious time and money with a next-generation PMS that plays nicely with other technologies.