If you own or operate hotels, you probably know that it can be a very hectic profession. Everything is rarely running smoothly, and you often have to run around putting out fires. You need determination but also flexibility if you hope to find success in this industry. You also need to utilize any tools that become available. Technology is your friend if you hope to manage successful hotels that get a lot of positive feedback and are always fully booked. That’s why hotel PMS systems make so much sense.
Let’s talk about what exactly a hotel PMS system is, and we’ll also go over four examples of when you might need one.
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What Precisely is a Hotel PMS System?
PMS, in this context, stands for property management system. A hotel PMS system is a way for you to keep track of what’s happening with your hotel remotely. You can use the system with its tool suite to see how many rooms are available, what special activities you planned for a particular weeknight, and much more.
If you don’t have a hotel PMS system, then managing your hotel becomes much more difficult. You might find that your job is needlessly complicated if you don’t have a one-stop solution, a virtual place you can go to take care of all your daily chores.
Now, let’s look at four specific times that you’ll be glad you’re paying for one of these software suites.
You Have a Sudden Mass Cancellation Event
The pandemic has been dreadful to deal with, but it has proven one thing. No industry can prepare for every eventuality, and sometimes, the completely unexpected happens on a grand scale. If something occurs that plunges your hotel or hotel network into chaos, you can use your hotel PMS system to see how bad the damage is going to be.
For instance, if there is a natural disaster or a mass shooting in the area that causes hundreds or thousands of potential guests to back out, you can use the system to determine how much revenue you stand to lose. You can immediately start coming up with a contingency plan for how you can recoup some of those lost guests.
You Become Very Ill but Want to Continue Monitoring Hotel Activity
It could be that you have a very hands-on approach to hotel management because you care so much about it. However, you might contract a serious illness or sustain a severe injury. You anticipate that you will recover, but your condition will sideline you for a while.
If this ever happens, you might want to keep close track of what’s happening in your hotel from your hospital room or your bed at home while you recover. You can use the software suite to see how well the hotels are functioning while you are gone. You can also use the tool suite to reach out to your managerial staff, cleaning crews, catering companies, and anyone else with whom you need to communicate.
You Need to Quickly Find Many New Staff Candidates
You might also encounter a situation where several of your staff quit at the same time. Sometimes it’s just coincidental when this happens, but it also might be a seasonal thing to some extent.
Whether you had prepared for this mass exodus or not, you can use your hotel PMS system to do a large hiring event. You can start a bunch of new candidates by having them answer a series of questions via the system. The ones who give the best answers can move on to in-person interviews.
You can also use the system to help the new hires during the onboarding process. The system can put
them through their paces as they learn how you want your staff to behave.
The System Can Warn You of Any Major Problems
You can also use the system to find out if many different things go wrong. If someone pulls a fire alarm at one of your hotels, you can program the system to ping your smartphone. You’ll instantly know that something is the matter, even if it is the middle of the night.
The system can tell you if anything noteworthy happens that requires your attention when a delay could cost you a great deal. As we mentioned earlier, flexibility is one of the qualities that can help you most in the hotel business, and that’s what a hotel PMS system can provide.
