Being able to successfully run a business usually entails making sure you have everything in place so that everything is going smoothly and you’re making the most out of your time and resources. While this can be a lot easier said than done, it’s worth noting that there are many different kinds of software that can be helpful for a variety of hotels, whether they’re small or large hotels, independently or as part of a chain. In order to provide your guests with the best stay, it’s important for things to run as smoothly as possible, and there are ways in which having the right software can simplify your day-to-day hotel operations.
1. Streamlines Front Office Operations
While it can be said that a hotel is a small business, it offers and requires some things that are pretty unique. This is why it’s important to get software for the hotel industry specifically. The first thing you’ll probably want to look into is the property management system (POS). The benefit of having a system like this is that it can streamline your front office operations.
Your staff will be able to easily check out and keep track of who’s staying at the hotel, as well as how long they’re staying for and more. PMS is used by owners and front desk employees use to administer their operations by keeping track of reservations, online booking availability, payments, and reporting – all in one location. In other words, it can help employees with guest check-ins and check-outs, view room availability, make changes to existing reservations. Every hotel owner and manager knows how important it is to be aware of the average daily rate, occupancy, as well as revenue per available room, and PMS – software specifically designed for hotels, provides you with that.
2. Better Staff Collaboration
While managing a hotel can be complex, you also need to ensure that it’s done properly, which means your employees have to keep in touch and coordinate. Investing in a program that can sync your business contacts will help with staff collaboration by allowing them to communicate with each other more easily. At the same time, it will allow you to keep track of all your contacts on one platform, which means you won’t need to spend hours looking through emails or calendars.
Increasing staff productivity can only have positive effects on your business – both by providing a better guest experience and by increasing revenue. By being able to communicate clearly regardless of which shift, floor, or department someone’s from, the possibility of dropped tasks, mistakes, and misunderstandings goes down to a minimum. Knowing exactly how to contact someone from the team will make the job easier for any staff member, and by promoting collaboration among your employees, you’re also taking steps to ensure higher job satisfaction.
3. Faster Room Turnovers
Hotel room turnover rates have a direct influence on profits, and hotel housekeeping software is speeding up the process considerably, resulting in lower expenses and greater profits. When it comes to housekeeping, you’ll want to make sure that you’re doing everything possible so that rooms get cleaned faster, since rooms get cleaned before, during, and after a guests’ stay. By getting notified in real-time about the status of every room, you not only get to see if everyone’s doing what they should be, but your staff will also now have a tool that will help them know exactly where to be and at what time.
When there is no time wasted by checking if a room is empty, or whether it was already cleaned or not, the housekeeping process becomes much faster, more efficient, and guests don’t get disturbed. Additionally, this kind of housekeeping software will let you know what the average time of room turnover is in your hotel, as well as how long does it take for individual employees to do it in different rooms. That will in turn make it easier for you to see where there’s room for improvement.
4. Improved Guest Experience
A hotel is only as good as its guest experience, and as such, you need to make sure that your hotel runs smoothly at all times. With the right software, you’ll be able to improve this aspect significantly by making it easier for your employees to cater to guests’ needs and requests. More than that, having this kind of program allows you to get direct feedback from guests. By gathering and analyzing the feedback you receive, you can use it to further improve the guest experience. Knowing what your guests want is important because it will help you understand their needs better, and the only way to do that is by having a tool that can gather real-time feedback. By knowing what kind of service they expect, you’ll also be able to provide them with exactly that – and more.
However, it’s always recommended to first perfect the services you already provide. If a single person doesn’t like something at your hotel, it doesn’t really have to mean anything. On the other hand, if there are multiple people that have a similar complaint, that’s a different story. It means that you have a problem with the service you provide, and it’s time to adjust it accordingly. By constantly working on bettering your services, you are making sure that the guests love spending time at your hotel, and are much more likely to recommend it to other friends, which means more business for you!
5. Tracking Inventory
One of the most important things when running a hotel is always tracking your inventory – from guest rooms to towels and sheets, to food storage in your kitchen. If you’re not tracking your inventory, then you simply don’t know what’s going on with the materials and goods that are essential for running a hotel. Are there enough soaps and shampoo bottles in each room? Are you short of towels? How much food do we have left, and when we should order more? Luckily, hotel owner software packages include features that allow you to easily monitor the amount, quality, and flow of goods that come into and flow out of your hotel. Inventory management is extremely important for any business, but when it comes to a hotel, it’s crucial to know when certain items might run out because they need to be replaced at specific times.
The right hotel management software can help you solve a lot of problems without putting too much effort on your shoulders. With a good piece of software, you’ll have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that everything in your hotel is running smoothly at all times. As long as there are enough people making sure that nothing is missed, this kind of software can streamline your operations and help you give excellent guest service. All in all, managing a hotel is much more simple when you have the right tools to do it with.