What is Hotel Management Software?
HMS or Hotel Management Software is a type of property management system used by hotels, motels, inns, resorts, lodges, hostel, suites, serviced apartments, etc., that expedites the management of hotel operations such as front office, sales, planning, and accounting and other functions.
Types of Hotel Management Software
Hotel management software are classified into 2 types:
- Cloud-based Hotel Management Software
Cloud-based HMS allows you to manage your property over the internet connection. It is browser based software which has property account where you need to log in and manage your property anytime, anywhere. - On-premise Hotel Management Software
On-premise is a desktop-based hotel management software. The software is installed on the local server and can be set up on PC’s in the property. It does not have the flexibility of usage and infrastructure as cloud-based HMS.
How to Choose the Right Hotel Management Software?
To select the best and the right hotel management system, a hotelier needs to identify what hotel software features he wants. Technological innovations have brought in so many advancements in the field of hospitality that hoteliers are always looking out for features that will help them maximise the performance of their property to achieve their goals.
When selecting the right Hotel software make sure to follow these:
- Covers most of your needs
Along with basic features such as booking engine, channel manager, check if covers other areas of managing your hotel operations such as taking orders from restaurant, spa and other facilities. A hotel software should be automate and let you manage at least 80% of your manual tasks and stream line the process. - Meet future needs
Your will want to expand your hotel business in future. A hotel management software that is scalable to manage all your property with a single software will be the need of the hour, So think ahead about your hotel business and choose a hotel management software that meet the needs. - Allows integrations
A hotel software should allow integrations with most popular OTA channels and other third party agents to increase the hotel revenue.The software should be able to update and synchronise all data pertaining to inventory and pricing on all these channels to avoid any booking or reservations issues. - User friendly, easy customised interface
You staff should find it easy to manage when handling the new hotel software. Make sure it fits your needs and is intuitively easy to customise and use by your or your hotel staff. Try to use the trial period to check and test the hotel software to understand its functionality. - Transparent pricing
Choose a hotel software that satisfies your needs in running your hotel operations. The hotel software providers should only charge you for the features you are using and not add unnecessary features.
