What's The Best PMS For Small Hotels?

If you own or operate a small hotel, chances are you could use a little help. Because you’re often forced to do more with less, your staff may already be stretched thin, filling multiple roles and juggling tons of responsibilities every day. Keeping all these balls in the air takes precious time away from what you love most - serving your guests!

What you need is a behind-the-scenes solution that can automate many of the crucial-but-tedious functions you have to manage all the time. You need a property management system (PMS). Although there are a wide variety of these types of software platforms on the market, not all of them are going to be the right fit, especially for smaller operations. Read on to learn more about what a PMS can do for you, and what makes for the best PMS for small hotels.

What Does a PMS Do?

Consider this comparison: If your small hotel was a car, a PMS would be the engine. With a PMS, your business benefits from time-saving (and stress-reducing!) automation and organization. Would you want to drive the Flintstone’s car cross-country? Maybe once for novelty, but probably not on a regular basis.

These systems allow you to see and manage everything from your housekeeping schedule to your reservation calendar to your taxes. With a PMS integrated into your business, you’ll be easily:

• Measuring KPI: A PMS can drill down into data and provide detailed reports quickly. By doing so, this software makes it simple to see at a glance how well you’re doing in terms of key performance indicators (KPI). That way, you can identify any areas that require improvement and make adjustments before they have a chance to eat away at your revenue.

  One of our favorite reports is called Booking Pace. It's a powerful report that combines multiple KPIs and should be reviewed regularly to help you make data-driven business decisions - our favorite kind! We like to refer to it as the "crystal ball" report.

• Improving guest experience: If you could be less distracted by tedious tasks — such as maintaining pen-and-paper records or manually entering data into a spreadsheet — you could have more time to spend on your guests. This is especially critical for smaller businesses because travelers expect more personalized service compared to large chains.

• Increasing efficiency: Chances are, you don’t have the same resources as a Hilton or Hyatt, so you need to make the most of what you do have. By automating many of your tasks, including guest communication, it becomes much easier to cover your bases and get everything done quickly and efficiently.

• Streamlining reservations: With the power of a PMS at your side, you can accept bookings, upsell additional amenities, generate invoices and more 24/7 without lifting a finger. You — and your guests — will appreciate the seamless and automatic management of these functions.

  It's important to note that more and more guests expect to be able to book a room reservation online. And you don't want to assume that a guest that cannot book through your website will take the time to call. PhocusWire reported that in 2018 almost 50% of hotel rooms were booked online. When it comes to travelers under 30, 80% of reservations were booked online.

  

• Creating scalability: Whether you have five rooms or 50+, a PMS can make any property simpler to manage. Best of all, if you’re planning to expand at any point, you can do so without skipping a beat.

What to Consider When Choosing a PMS

First and foremost, you want to make sure that the PMS software was designed with smaller properties in mind. You should be able to trust that the provider understands your needs and knows how important their services will be for you. You also want to ensure that whatever system you choose can handle as many jobs for you as possible. Its ability to integrate with other products — such as your booking engine and channel manager — is another essential consideration.

In fact, some systems, like ThinkReservations, offer an all-in-one solution that includes our own mobile-responsive booking engine and in-house channel manager. By cutting out the need for third-party solutions, you’ll experience a smoother connection and have one main point of contact if you ever have any questions.

Trust ThinkReservations

As a leading provider of software solutions made especially for independent lodging properties, ThinkReservations offers a PMS that can do it all for you. Not only can our system support the most important responsibilities of a property manager, but it also works seamlessly with our channel manager and booking engine for a worry-free experience.

Something else you’ll find that makes ThinkReservations stand out in the crowd is our staff. From asking those first questions to a member of our sales team, getting up and running with our onboarding specialists, or calling customer support with a quick question, you’ll find friendly, helpful, experienced lodging pros. We love what we do and it shows!

Click here to learn more about our PMS’s full capabilities and the benefits it can provide.