What is a cloud PMS?
A cloud PMS is a property management system (PMS) hosted on the cloud, meaning its software and databases are continually live and accessible via the Internet. Unlike a traditional PMS, a cloud-based system requires no specialist hardware or site-specific software to function. With the infrastructure and data stored online, in the cloud, there is no risk of data loss due to onsite computer “crashes” or physical damage to hard drives.
With a cloud-based PMS, it’s possible to manage operations remotely, oversee multiple locations within the same platform, easily share data across departments, and create a seamless guest experience from booking through to check-out. 1. Assess your hotel’s needs
Think about what your hotel needs from its property management system. Carefully consider each stage and step of your business operations—from marketing and sales to guest management and customer service. Think about the requirements of each department within your hotel (Finance, Front Desk, Housekeeping, Food/Beverage, Maintenance, etc.) and how each interacts with the other in order to provide an excellent guest experience.
Here are some questions to ask yourself and your employees while performing this assessment:
Front Desk
- What information do you need from guests at the booking stage in order to provide a seamless check-in and check-out experience?
- What are some common issues that occur during guest check-in and check-out (e.g. last-minute changes, special requests, lack of room availability, etc.) and how can a PMS help resolve these?
Finance
- What financial data and reports should the PMS provide?
- How can a PMS help with cutting costs and generating revenue (e.g. guest upsell opportunities, inventory management, etc.)?
Marketing / Sales
- What sales and marketing tools should the PMS include (such as email marketing integration, promotional discount codes, integrated loyalty schemes, gift vouchers, etc.)?
- What guest data insights and analytics reports should the PMS be able to produce?
Maintenance
- How easy is it for guests to report maintenance issues and staff to create work orders?
- How quickly should maintenance issues be dealt with, and how might urgent issues be expedited?
Food / Beverage
- How might a PMS make it easier to manage guest restaurant bookings and room service orders?
- Should food and beverage receipts and/or invoices be integrated into the guests’ total hotel bill?
- How can guest food and beverage choices be stored, and how can these preferences be used to enhance their experience during future stays?
2. Look for these key features
Although the features you require will depend on the specific needs of your business, most hotels will benefit from a PMS with the following features.
Integrated booking engine
You’ll want to use a PMS that integrates booking into the wider platform, allowing all reservation details and guest preferences to automatically transfer from the sales stage to the front desk. When booking and guest management are separated into two different systems, it’s too easy for changes and reservation updates (e.g. cancellations, switching dates, etc.) to fall through the cracks. Choosing a PMS with a booking engine will reduce the manual workload of front desk staff and help ensure a seamless guest check-in experience.
Secure, robust payment processing
Your PMS should use a secure payment gateway that protects sensitive customer data and offers flexible payment options (i.e. a variety of card types and digital wallets). Look for a PCI-DSS-compliant PMS that encrypts payment details at each stage of the sales process.
Dynamic currency conversion (DCC)
Offer your guests a more personalised and transparent service by allowing them to pay in their local currency. Choose a PMS that automatically detects the user’s location and displays prices in their home currency at the prevailing exchange rate. Nowhere is this feature more appreciated and relevant than in the hospitality sector, specifically the hotel industry which caters to travellers from all over the world.
Centralised reservations
Choose a PMS that enables you to view and manage all reservations in the same place, regardless of the booking channel. Whether a guest books through your hotel’s website, through a third-party website, through a travel agent, or over the phone, a PMS with a centralised reservation system will consolidate all reservations into a single platform.
Guest preference tracking
A property management system that saves and stores guest preferences will not only allow you to offer returning guests a personalised experience, it will also provide you with useful data for targeted marketing strategies. Look for a property management system that makes it easy to view guest preferences and add-ons (e.g. city vs. courtyard view, dietary requirements, room temperature, spa bookings, late checkout, etc.) so that you can anticipate their needs and plan accordingly.
Inventory management and dynamic pricing
Reduce your team’s workload, lower the risk of mistakes, and keep your hotel as full as possible by choosing a PMS with real-time inventory tracking and dynamic pricing. A PMS with robust inventory management will accurately display room availability and can suggest room rates based on historic data, seasonal demand, and your current capacity. Dynamic pricing will allow you to maxmise occupancy rates and stay one step ahead of your competitors.
Housekeeping management
Housekeeping is a crucial aspect of daily operations and tends to be one of the most common pain points for hotel managers. Poor communication between housekeeping and front desk staff can lead to mistakes that delay guest check-in, frustrate staff, and disappoint guests. Look for a PMS that incorporates real-time tracking and room status updates so that housekeeping staff can easily view room cleaning assignments and front desk staff always have an accurate view of room availability.
3. Consider security and compliance
As with any online database, safeguarding sensitive data within your PMS is essential. Your guests need to trust that their private information is in safe hands. A data breach can cause enormous distress for your guests and greatly damage your reputation.
Look for a PMS that incorporates the following security and compliance measures.
Encryption and fraud prevention
Tokenisation
Choose a PMS with a payment gateway that uses token-based encryption to securely process and store sensitive guest payment data.
Real-time fraud detection
Stop unauthorised account access before it happens with a PMS that uses AI-powered fraud and anomaly detection tools.
Access controls for guest accounts
Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Prevent unauthorised access to guest accounts by requiring guests to verify their identity in at least two different ways, using something they know (e.g. password), something they have (e.g. a code sent via SMS), or something they are (e.g. biometrics such as fingerprints or facial recognition).
Role-based admin permissions
Prevent internal data breaches by limiting which areas of the PMS staff members can access based on their specific job role.
Compliance with data privacy laws
GDPR
Look for a PMS that makes it easy to compy with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which sets the rules regarding data consent, access, portability, and erasure.
PCI-DSS
Make sure your PMS uses a payment gateway that follows the rules laid out in the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard for safeguarding sensitive payment details.
4. Choose a PMS that can grow with you
When assessing a property management system for your hotel, it pays to think not just about your current needs, but also where you wish the business to be in the future. Do you plan to grow the business? Will you someday open more locations? Think about how your PMS can help generate this growth and accommodate it once you get there.
Features and tools to consider when thinking about scalability include:
- Advanced inventory management
How efficiently can the PMS track room availability across multiple locations? - Multi-location management
Can you manage more than one location from a single login? - Flexible, dynamic rate management
Does the PMS have automated tools for suggesting room rates based on historic data, regional trends, current capacity, competitor pricing, and seasonal demands? - Currency conversion and language support
If you expand to new countries, will your PMS be able to accommodate the local language and currency? - API access for custom integrations
How easy is it to integrate the PMS with other systems, such as accounting software, CRM tools, and external analytics platforms?
Run day-to-day operations effortlessly with a Cloud PMS
5. Test it for user-friendliness
Never settle on a PMS without demo-ing it first. Regardless of how many bells and whistles a PMS might have, it’s worth nothing if your employees and guests struggle to navigate it. Give each PMS you’re considering a test drive first, taking into account the guest experience with the booking interface and your staff’s experience managing it from the backend.
Evaluate the user experience based on the following areas:
- Mobile responsiveness - Is it easy to use across different devices?
- Speed and performance - Does it run well without buffering or glitches?
- Customisation - How simple is it to customise the look and feel to suit your brand?
- Navigation - Is the navigation intuitive and easy to follow without extensive training?
- Task automation - How much manual data entry is required, or can tasks be easily automated?
- API integration - Can it seamlessly integrate with your existing systems, or are integrations clunky and cumbersome?
6. Make sure tech support is there when you need it
Even the world’s best cloud PMS can’t foresee and prevent all potential complications or questions that might crop up during the day-to-day management of your hotel. When you do, inevitably, encounter a technical issue or have a question that you need help resolving, you’ll want a PMS with a highly responsive and knowledgeable tech support team. Make sure the PMS you choose has a team on hand to troubleshoot issues with you as soon as they occur. The hospitality industry is a 24/7 business, and you cannot afford to deal with slow support or work around limited office hours.
Consider a PMS that offers multiple tech support channels, including phone, email, and live chat. Even better? Find one that will assign you a dedicated tech support person who you can contact directly.
7. Think about costs and value
The cost of a property management system will vary depending on size of your business and the types of tools and features you need. A more robust PMS with advanced functionality will cost more than a simpler platform with fewer tools and customisations.
The fee structure for a hotel PMS typically includes a one-time setup fee, plus a monthly or annual subscription. You must also consider payment processing fees, the costs of any necessary trainings, and any additional tech support costs you may need. In some cases, a PMS may use a commission-based fee structure, taking a percentage of each booking or a flat fee for each booking. It’s important to consider what will be the most efficient fee structure for your business.
Keep in mind that a high-quality PMS can often save you money by automating what were once manual processes and generating revenue with integrated marketing and upsell tools. It can also enhance guest satisfaction, helping build your reputation and drive in more business. If you choose a more robust, albeit pricier, PMS, you will often recoup the investment.
Remember, the cloud is key
Cloud-based property management systems have transformed the way hotels do business, increasing efficiency in a way that hoteliers just a few decades ago could have never imagined. Using a PMS that doesn’t take advantage of the cloud infrastructure is simply no longer an option if you wish to remain competitive in the hotel industry. The accessibility and flexibility of a cloud PMS cannot be matched by a traditional, offline system.
Although it can be tempting to “go with what you know,” making the switch to a cloud PMS is now crucial for meeting your guests’ needs in both the present and the future.
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