Hotel Management System

A hotel management solution (HMS) is software used by independent hotels, hostels, boutique hotels and vacation rentals, to control, automate, optimize, and streamline daily operations across departments. The core functions of an HMS include managing property-wide workflows like hotel reservation systems, room inventory and occupancy rates, pricing and RevPar, payment processing and invoicing, marketing, guest communication, and reporting. Hotel management systems empower hotels to run their business better. From eliminating data silos to streamlining operations via automation, HMS increases transparency and visibility across a hotel. The best hotel management software should have the following features:

• Marketing capabilities, including website integration, metasearch advertising, and business listings
• Cloud-based, single-platform solution with regular updates and upgrades
• User-friendly interface to easily train hotel staff, whether at a boutique hotel or a growing hotel group
• Integrated booking engine to drive direct bookings and boost hotel revenue
• Detailed reports for better decision-making
• Channel manager to automate changes in rates and availability
• Automated pricing updates
• Robust guest profiles

The best hospitality technology solutions available today are cloud-based, integrated, and have an open API to allow for customization to meet the different needs of large and small hotel businesses. The best cloud-based hotel management software on the market today includes:

• Cloudbeds
• eviivo
• Stayntouch
• Agilysys
• InnQuest
• WebRezPro
• Shiji Group
• Mews
• Oracle
• HOTELTIME
• OPERA Cloudbeds
• RMS Cloud
• SynXis Property Hub
• Oracle Hospitality

You can check out software review sites, such as Hotel Tech Report, SoftwareAdvice, G2, and Capterra, for more info on the hotel technology ecosystem and answers to common FAQs.

Hotel management software (HMS) has various modules and features built to deliver operational efficiency and maximize profitability, including:

• Multi-property management – Manage multiple hospitality businesses with one platform and access consolidated reports and insights across your portfolio.
• Control dashboard – Get an overview of all your operations in one place with a customizable control dashboard.
• Channel management – Connect to an unlimited number of online travel agencies (OTAs) like Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb and online marketplaces, like GDS, with no added commissions. Keep your rates and inventory management in sync in real-time across your PMS software, channel manager, and website booking engine, and avoid overbookings.
• Reservation calendar – User-friendly drag-and-drop calendar functionality.
• Housekeeping management – Your whole team can see which rooms are clean or dirty in real-time via mobile app and manage maintenance requests.
• Revenue management – An HMS with RMS integrations will let you automate and optimize your revenue management strategy with accurate forecasting and dynamic pricing so your rates are always competitive in your local market.
• Payment processing – Integrated payment processing designed specifically for the hospitality industry to manage on-premise and online payments via payment gateway.
• Reporting – Comprehensive reporting that allows you to track all the metrics you need to know to make data-backed decisions.
• Online booking engine – Increase direct bookings directly on your website with an integrated hotel booking engine.
• Guest management – From guest messaging to engagement tools that help increase upsells and reviews across the guest journey, an HMS should include enhanced guest management solutions to maximize guest satisfaction and guest loyalty.
• Marketplace or Open API – Seamlessly connect to additional apps, tools, and services such as point-of-sale (POS) solutions, CRM (customer relationship management) systems, guest check-in kiosks, accounting software, revenue management systems, task management solutions to track work orders, and so much more.

The cost of hotel management software can vary widely depending on its features and the size of your hotel. Most providers offer tiered pricing plans so that independent hotels can select the one that best fits the needs of their business.

To learn how much Cloudbeds costs, visit our pricing page.

The right hotel management software can facilitate a seamless guest experience in multiple ways. HMS software can help facilitate a seamless guest check-in and check-out experience, enabling contactless options to reduce wait times. Additionally, it can help hotels personalize the guest experience by collecting guest preferences and history.

With guest engagement functionality, hotels can send pre-arrival, in-stay, and post-stay communications using automated templates to answer questions, foster loyalty, and increase convenience.

Additionally, HMS can improve housekeeping by offering real-time updates and efficient scheduling to ensure rooms are cleaned and prepared according to guest preferences. It can also make payments a breeze by consolidating charges into a single folio.

Hotels are increasingly switching to intuitive, unified hotel management software solutions with robust functionality for back office and front desk operations. This type of system ensures that a hotel’s data is in sync and works together to maximize revenue, streamline operations, and delight guests. A modern HMS includes a host of core features all in one solution, including:

• Property management system (PMS)
• Channel manager
• Payment processor
• Booking engine
• Revenue management system
• Digital marketing solution
• Guest engagement tools
• Third-party integrations (contactless check-in, reputation management, CRM, event management, guest services, and other software products)

These capabilities benefit a wide range of operators, from independent hotels to those managing a portfolio of boutique hotels or vacation rentals, by centralizing operations in one place for owners and the general manager alike.

Choosing the right hotel management software is crucial for optimizing hotel operations and make informed decisions. It’s important to choose a solution that’s easy to use and train staff on and that has robust integration capabilities to ensure that it works with other systems you rely on (like your point of sale (POS) system or door locks).

Your system should be able to scale with your business (offering multi-property functionality) and the ability to customize reports to give you the insights needed to make better business decisions. For properties that handle online and in-person payments, verify that the platform and gateway are PCI-compliant.

Ensure your HMS vendor provides a solid onboarding experience, fast customer support and on-going training to get your team up and running as quickly as possible and make continuous improvements to the product.