As the hotel industry recovers from COVID-19 it will be important to maintain daily operational efficiency despite reduced staff levels and new operational protocols.
A modern property management system (PMS) is designed to make not only the hotel staff’s workday more efficient but the guests’ experience more satisfying. Streamline workflow and communications while offering more to guests without any extra effort from your staff. The following PMS features are examples of how a modern PMS automates daily tasks that result in a more personable customer service experience while increasing hotel productivity and efficiency on any given day.
Housekeeping Report
Responsible for the cleaning, maintenance, and preparation of rooms, housekeeping has always played an essential role in the guest experience and, therefore, the success of your property. Now, with even stricter cleaning and sanitization protocols in place due to COVID-19, the efficiency of your housekeeping team is more important than ever.
The housekeeping report provides users with a complete overview of room status and occupancy in real time, allowing for improved organization, efficiency, and guest satisfaction. Housekeepers can view their schedules and update room cleaning status from their mobile devices as they work, emphasizing accountability and improving communication.
Elevate every part of the travel journey, starting with the check-in process. Integrated with the front desk, the housekeeping report allows front desk agents to view live room status as housekeepers update their reports, making check-in simple and easy.
Convenient Check-in
Guest check-in is a hotel’s initial opportunity to make a good impression on site, a crucial step in building loyal customer relationships and an integral part of the guest experience. Efficiency and convenience are highly valued by today’s travelers, especially during these times of physical distancing. Through data automation, modern PMS streamline administration requirements for a quick yet personalized check-in process that reduces (or even eliminates) physical interaction with the front desk.
Your PMS makes it easy to create and look up reservations, access and edit guest data, recognize returning guests, assign rooms and manage billing and payments. A modern PMS also makes mobile check-in a realistic possibility for guests. Similar to pre-flight self-check-in for airlines, hotel self-check-in is available through mobile apps and is supported through integration with the PMS, giving guests the option to bypass the front desk if desired.
Integrating the PMS with other hotel systems like payment gateways, electronic locking systems, and self-check-in apps streamlines the check-in process even further, eliminating the need to manually consolidate data between systems.
Automated Guest Communications
As the travel industry recovers, guest communications will be key to driving bookings and reassuring guests your property is operating safely.
Automated guest communications ensure routine messages are consistent and timely to boost guest engagement and satisfaction. Today’s consumers are used to constant connection. Manually managing customer communications would be a full-time job, but creating automatic email templates allows you to send consistent, personalized guest communications that increase engagement with little effort.
Communicate with your guests throughout key parts of their journey and send real-time updates and offers by setting up email templates for booking confirmations and pre-arrival and post-stay emails, etc. These emails can be triggered manually or automatically within the PMS and appeal to consumer demand for relevant and responsive engagement.
Automated emails also increase your hotel’s bottom line by providing the opportunity to upsell and cross-sell ancillary services and amenities throughout your guest’s stay. By increasing your guest engagement and maximizing revenue, automated guest communications result in boosted staff productivity and guest satisfaction.
24/7 Access to Direct Online Bookings
While physical front desks and front desk agents can’t be available to guests 24/7, your PMS makes it possible for your property to accept direct bookings at any time and from anywhere. Never miss a reservation opportunity and save your staff from spending hours on the phone with travel bookers.
Furthermore, when integrated with your PMS, your online booking engine automatically sends reservations made through your property’s website straight to your PMS, instantly updating availability within the system. Rate and availability overrides made within the PMS can also be automatically reflected in the online booking engine, allowing customers to see the most up-to-date information when booking online. An integrated online booking engine makes your staff’s workday more efficient by significantly cutting back time spent manually adding and updating reservations, availability, and rates.
Booking Channel Interfaces
Booking channel interfaces provide a direct, two-way connection between the PMS and booking channel partners and save time by streamlining communication and automatically updating booking information.
Through a booking channel interface, a property’s live availability and rates are automatically relayed to third-party booking channels (OTA and GDS channels) while capturing OTA/GDS reservations in the PMS. Additionally, reservation modifications and cancellations are automatically retrieved and updated to existing OTA/GDS reservations in the PMS. Booking channel interfaces automate communication between the PMS and booking channel partners, eliminating the need to manually enter third-party bookings into the PMS and reducing the risk of overbooking or other manual errors.
A modern PMS allows you to go above and beyond for your guests while increasing your staff’s productivity and efficiency, not their workload. Streamline communication among staff and between your property and your customers to create an elevated, more satisfying work and guest experience.
