The hotel industry has a fine line to toe between investing too little in tech and having too many solutions entirely. Poorly selected and implemented hotel management software solutions can be detrimental to business agility. Instead of enhancing operations, it becomes a roadblock.
Stand-alone solutions are champions in their specialized area of functionality, but they’re only a one-solution wonder. While hospitality operations involve immensely diverse departments, functions, roles, and processes, they all need to work in unison to be effective.
Transitioning from duplicate, unproductive, and incompatible software solutions to an all-in-one hospitality software system is essential to maximize efficiency, reduce costs, and stay competitive. With careful planning and guidance, it can be done without disrupting your everyday operations.
Why You May Have Too Many Hotel Management Software Solutions (Without Knowing It!)
Like every other sector swept by recent years’ technological advancements, the hotel industry has been no exception in the uptake of new tech investments.
When every department is too eager to invest in new technologies, they may not effectively assess how these tools actually benefit the business as a whole. They overspend in certain areas when a smaller investment would suffice. It’s also common for different tools with duplicate functions to be employed across departments.
Granted, data integration between systems and moving information from one to another can be challenging.
With too many systems to keep track of, miscommunication and misunderstandings between departments, managers, and employees often escalate. These factors contribute to a poor guest experience and are ultimately a detriment to your bottom line.
The Cost and Impact of Redundant Hotel Management Software
Using redundant hotel management software is no more than a burned budget. Not only do you spend more on software, maintenance, and staff training, but your processes become less efficient.
Redundant or duplicate software refers to the number of different applications you use across the company for similar functions. This can include emails, file sharing, marketing automation, sales, communications, project collaboration, and other cloud capabilities.
Departments may end up with inconsistent brand and organizational templates, conflicting document processes, and a lack of IT security control. Say, for example, you use multiple communication platforms such as Slack, Skype, Hangouts, and Zoom, your team might not be sure which application to use. They can easily miss messages and meetings.
With a lack of consistent communication and procedures, employees end up redoing work, wasting hours searching for files, and scrambling to pull together data that should be immediately available to everyone.
What Hotel Management Software Do Hotels Really Need?
Hotel reservations, operations, safety, and sales are key departments that require streamlined processes across teams. The following hotel management software should be non-negotiables for small, growing establishments and hospitality tycoons alike.
A Property Management System (PMS)
A comprehensive hotel property management system (PMS) is central to effectively managing all aspects of hotel business operations. More importantly, it is key to delivering a superior guest experience. This system forms the backbone of your business and significantly reduces and streamlines time-consuming, paper-intensive processes.
A PMS includes management capabilities for:
Front office
Booking reservations
Guest check-in and checkout
Room assignment, hotel distribution, and room occupancy
Room rates
Billing
Housekeeping and room management
Maintenance
Guest data
Data compliance
A PMS is also key to connecting operations and financial processes for more accurate billing.
A Central Reservation System (CRS)
With reservations coming in from various online and offline channels, it’s critical to have a centralized system to manage rates, bookings, and payments while preventing double bookings.
A CRS serves as a global distribution center that stores rates and availability in real time. This ensures accurate information is available on demand to online reservation channels and travel agents. The right CRS system will improve your flexibility, efficiency, and customer relationships by saving time and streamlining payments.
A Point-Of-Sale System (POS)
While it generally forms part of a wider payment system, point-of-sale software processes in-person customer payments. Your team uses it to process check-ins and checkouts and facility services such as spa treatments, business center services, entertainment, and restaurant meals. Additionally, some systems enable the automation of inventory updates and data reports.
Safety Solutions
Hotel safety software is often a standalone solution which makes it a hassle to implement and manage effectively. However, if there is one area that deserves more resources and top-tier training, it’s employee and guest safety.
Neglecting safety can result in high staff turnover, a poor hotel reputation, costly lawsuits, fines, and significant financial losses.
With new safety and panic button laws for hotels, implementing a modern enterprise hotel security solution will offer you and your staff peace of mind, allowing better work morale and higher productivity. In addition, you can ensure you remain compliant with varying laws and regulations across your properties.
How to Get Started With a More Suitable Suite
With the fees, administration, and security threats of managing a complex landscape of SaaS point solutions, it only makes sense that hotels are starting to prioritize simplifying and streamlining their tech stack.
Figuring out where to start with a more suitable hotel management software solution without disrupting internal processes is daunting. Where does one start?
Imagine a hospitality tech landscape where you can manage the majority of your complex and diverse processes in a single hub. A tool like WrkSpot enables hotel leadership teams to manage operations, maintenance, budgets, employee schedules, and guest requests in a single platform.
Even better, you can do this from anywhere, whenever you like. Add to that data-driven reports that are available on-demand and real-time budget and compliance insights.
Your employees can clock in and out, see and manage work assignments, and communicate on the job from their mobile devices. Customer requests can be assigned on demand. Additionally, housekeeping can communicate with the front desk from anywhere to inform them of room readiness, maintenance progress, or delays.
With varying access levels, managers can access a customized dashboard with operational and budget overviews. On the other hand, employees will be assigned access only to features necessary for their specific roles.
In a fast-paced industry with a high demand for excellence, scattered operations, poor employee safety practices, and non-compliance can cost you greatly. Smart solutions can play an instrumental role in helping you manage complex and diverse hospitality processes.
As the leading smart hotel management software solution, WrkSpot enables you to streamline your operations, manage your workforce, and stay compliant with safety and security regulations.
Book a demo today to discover how you can transition from a costly, unsystematic, and inefficient tech stack to a single solution. Don’t get lost in the shuffle—streamline your business operations and boost your bottom line today.
WrkSpot: Jun, 01, 2023
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