Technology is really growing fast nowadays, we’ve seen our world shaping itself around the modern day technology and it’s a beautiful thing. Property management is no exception, we’re seeing new brilliant start-ups and brands rising to the occasion and the show doesn’t seem to stop! We go through the newest & most useful property management software that could help you kickstart your hospitality career.
What is a Property Management Software?
Property Management Software or Property Management System also known as PMS is a digital system that covers certain areas of property management to basically help you overcome your challenges. For instance some PMS help you systemize, organize and categorize your rooms and spaces, some PMS focus more on bookings and communications and so on.
Of course, PMS start-ups & companies look to make property management better; however the definition of “better” greatly falls on your own shoulder. It’s really important to acknowledge whether you’re looking to use a PMS to lower your staff cost, categorize your property, use automation features for easier management and much more. Let’s discuss this further.
Understand How Property Management Software Could Help You
Let’s say for instance there’s a hotel manager who looks to improve their engagement with their travelers. For this person a much more simpler cost-efficient PMS might do much better than an over-complicated heavy automation system.
Technically speaking, you should consider staff salary, PMS subscription, efficiency and more. Don’t jump into a conclusion. Make sure you have a near-perfect understanding of how your targeted PMS works and then decide what’s best.
Know the Difference Between The Services
Ever since I’ve been working on tourism & travel industry I’ve seen crazy ideas and technologies grow and make headlines. What’s amazing about all this, is how different each start-up and each idea is. Hence I believe it’s really important for everyone to understand the differences between different services.
For instance, Cloudbeds is a wonderful well-known PMS. However, what they offer you is very different than what MEWS offer. The whole point being, the decision might not be very hard to make. However, you could also choose a PMS that would not integrate well with your property and your system.
Here, at Goki, we work with some of the best property management software out there. We decided it’s best for everyone to understand which PMS works best with their property. So we listed a few PMS you could use for your own property.
Best PMS for Different Types of Property
We want you to know there’s hundreds of PMS out there. It’s so hard to pick one we tried to narrow the list down for each type of property. We believe for instance if you’re a small business owner you don’t necessarily look for the most complicated system which covers all the management areas.
Also you’ll need to take all expenses in consideration and moderation before you choose your property’s new management system. Try not to overlook a thing. We suggest taking notes and writing all you want to achieve by integrating with a new PMS before you actually do so.
Smaller & Newer Hostels
For smaller and newer hostels we would suggest a cost-efficient PMS that covers reservations and room areas is enough. You probably don’t want to set up a complicated system that also covers more advanced areas (automation and payments for example). Also take note that there are some systems out there that offer different subscriptions with different features for different properties. Like us!
One more thing to consider is, for smaller businesses, advanced systems might require more staff members to moderate the system. Therefore be believe staff salary should be taken into consideration definitely.
Larger Hostels
I’ve talked to several hostel managers about what they’re looking to achieve in future for their hostels. I believe even if they are unsure about it, engagement is what they need. Travelers stay in more-expensive hostels in hopes to socialize with new people, engage in activities and have fun. Otherwise every single hostel on the planet has beds for travelers to sleep at night!
In conclusion we believe for larger hostels, communication and engagement features is a must-have addon in addition to all the other things a PMS offers. It’s almost mandatory for larger hostels to let the guests know about the activities the hostel is offering. So the next time you’re looking down a list of property management software, pick one that guarantees an increase to your engagement & communication with your guests.
Starting Hotels
Now for hotels we believe staff expenses is one of the most important things you might want to look deeper into. Hostels could manage to function with a couple of people but for hotels it’s much more difficult. What we suggest for small hotel owners is to set-up a system to cut down staff expenses. Automations is a good way of doing so nowadays. You can set-up a good system to automate check-in for example. Bypassing reception would be a huge game changer for newer hotels.
Larger Hotels
It’s much harder to troubleshoot larger hotels. If you’re looking for a PMS you probably have a issue you mean to solve. The issue may be staff expenses or documents getting lost or many other stuff we hear from hotel owners. What we recommend is, setting up a more complicated almost-fully-automated system for your hotel. It’s much easier said than done. However we also all know how difficult and expensive paperwork and dealing with tired guests after long flights is.
In conclusion we’ve seen automated property management systems do miracles for properties. As a property manager you should definitely consider studying and learning about new technologies. I believe almost all the property management software offer onboardings and trainings for business owners. You should definitely consider taking one of these demo or training sessions!
