As guest expectations evolve along with technology, it’s increasingly important for hotels to streamline operations and meet guest demand for mobile interactions with a mobile-friendly property management system (PMS). From guest profile and booking data to hotel performance reports, mobile-friendly PMS make data accessible on the go for improved workflow and guest service. Here are four important mobile capabilities that modern PMS should offer in this new decade and ahead.
Mobile-friendly Online Bookings
Hotel bookings on mobile continue to climb with Criteo research showing smartphone bookings are growing three to 10 times faster than desktop bookings, and approximately 70 percent of last-minute bookings are made on mobile devices.
The evidence is clear; accommodation providers of today simply must provide consumers with a mobile-friendly direct booking option, or lose customers to competitors and OTAs.
Your PMS should include a commission-free online booking engine for your website that works well on mobile devices too. This means an online booking engine with a simple and intuitive booking process that is easy to read and navigate on a small touch screen, and is compatible with various mobile operating systems. The booking process must give consumers confidence by demonstrating page and data security (https), and by delivering automatic on-screen confirmation that affirms the booking was successful.
Mobile Housekeeping Report
Modern PMS are all about improving workflow for greater productivity and guest service and this is especially apparent in mobile housekeeping applications.
Mobile housekeeping reports allow cleaning staff to view and update room cleaning status directly from their mobile devices as they work, boosting productivity and accountability. Integrated with front desk, mobile housekeeping reports improve inter-departmental communication too, displaying live room status to front desk agents and making early check-ins a breeze.
Last but not least, a mobile housekeeping report eliminates the need to print cleaning schedules, reducing paper and printing costs and your property’s environmental footprint.
Mobile Check-in
While baby boomers tend to prefer an efficient front-desk check-in experience, millennials are drawn to self-service apps and kiosks. Looking ahead, evolving guest expectations and technology will continue to move the check-in process away from the constraints of the front desk. In the meantime, hotels can accommodate the varied preferences and expectations of today’s guests by offering both conventional front-desk check-in processes and mobile check-in options. A future-proof PMS will equip you to do both with features like:
>>Paperless Check-in
Paperless check-in functionality allows guests to sign check-in receipts or registration cards digitally on a mobile device using electronic signature capture. Without the need to print and file check-in receipts in hard copy, the check-in process is faster, more cost-effective, and environmentally friendlier.
Paperless check-in also frees agents from the front desk, allowing for a more personable check-in experience within the hotel lobby or lounge. This can be especially welcome by guests during busy periods when queues are building at the front desk, or when guests require assistance at the self-check-in kiosk.
>>Self-Check-in App Integration
Just as pre-flight self-check-in has taken off in airports and online, hotel guests are calling for hotel self-check-in too.
Allowing guests to bypass the front desk if desired, hotel self-check-in is made possible through mobile apps (and on-property kiosks). Integration with the PMS ensures a seamless self-check-in (and out) experience powered by accurate reservation and availability data in real time.
The demand for frictionless, automated self-service options in the hospitality industry will only continue to grow, so it’s crucial your PMS supports such innovations.
>>Mobile Key Integration
Mobile keys play an important part in facilitating a frictionless mobile check-in experience. Using NFC (near field communication) or Bluetooth technology, mobile key apps turn the guest’s mobile phone into their room key.
Due to customer demand, the positive environmental impact (no more plastic keycards) and ease of adoption, mobile keys are rapidly becoming mainstream. Direct integration between PMS and mobile key solutions automates secure mobile key delivery to the guest upon check-in for a seamless mobile check-in experience—or a more efficient front-desk process.
Mobile Messaging Integration
Social media and mobile technology has changed the way businesses and consumers communicate, resulting in a business-consumer relationship that is much more personal than in the past. These days, consumers are inclined to reach out to brands just as they do to friends and family—via social media channels like Facebook and Instagram, messaging apps like WhatsApp and Messenger, and even SMS.
Businesses of all kinds need to provide mobile channels of communication in order to remain accessible and relevant to modern consumers.
A PMS that integrates mobile messaging platforms makes implementing and managing mobile messaging much more efficient and personalized. With a direct connection between your PMS and mobile messaging solution, guest and reservation data is automatically sent from the PMS to the messaging platform in real time to automate routine message delivery, and to match incoming guest inquiries with reservation data for more efficient and personalized responses and resolution.
These days it can be difficult to keep up with the pace of technology, but your PMS can help. Modern cloud PMS vendors like WebRezPro have their finger on the pulse of hospitality technology and already include relevant and exciting mobile functionality to support your business now and in the future.
