The front-desk system
A PMS (property management system) is the software a hotel uses to manage its reservations and stays. Plenty of people just call it "the front-desk system".
The front desk lives in it, but other teams use it too: reservations, housekeeping, accounts and management. When a guest asks at the desk how much they've spent so far, the answer comes from the PMS.
A day in the PMS
- 07:30Front deskThe day's departures and their folios
- 10:00HousekeepingRooms marked clean from a phone
- 14:00Front deskArrival, room and guest register
- NightNight auditThe day's charges checked and the day closed
- MorningManagementYesterday's occupancy and revenue
At half past seven, the morning receptionist checks the day's departures and gets those guests' folios ready. By ten, the head housekeeper is marking rooms as clean on a phone. The front desk can see which ones are ready for the afternoon's arrivals.
At two, a family arrives. The receptionist finds the booking, assigns a room and takes each guest's details. In Spain, those details go into the guest register the hotel sends to the Ministry of the Interior. That night, the night auditor checks the day's charges and closes the day. Next morning, management has yesterday's occupancy and revenue.
| Who | What they do in the PMS |
|---|---|
| Reservations | Enter bookings, track each tour operator's and agency's room allocation |
| Front desk | Check-in, checkout, charges and invoices |
| Housekeeping | Each room's status: dirty, clean, inspected, out of order |
| Accounts | Invoices to tour operators and agencies, outstanding balances |
| Management | Occupancy, average rate, the outlook for the coming weeks |
What almost every PMS does
Nearly every PMS has a room chart showing each booking and its dates. It handles check-in and checkout, and most can send guest details to the authorities where that's required. It keeps each guest's folio: the room, the minibar, and anything charged from the bar or restaurant. It issues invoices and produces the daily reports.
The differences show up in whatever isn't common to all hotels. For a vacation hotel, that's most of the next section.
What's different at a vacation hotel
Tour-operator contracts
A vacation hotel sells a large share of its rooms through tour operators, with one contract per season. Each contract sets rates by date and meal plan, an allocation of rooms, release dates and offers such as early booking discounts. When a booking comes in, someone has to check the price matches what was agreed. If the PMS doesn't know the contract, that check happens by hand, or weeks later when the hotel invoices the tour operator.
Each guest's meal plan
Room only, half board, full board or all-inclusive. The meal plan decides what a guest can have at the buffet and the bars, and it's often printed on a wristband. If the front desk changes a guest's plan, the bar needs to know before the next drink.
Many outlets charging to the room
Pool bar, beach bar, à la carte restaurant, spa. Each has its own POS (point of sale system: the software staff use to ring up orders and take payment). Whatever a guest charges at any of them has to be on their folio before checkout.
Changeover days
On a Saturday in July, a hotel may check out hundreds of guests in the morning and check in as many in the afternoon. A slow PMS, or one with too many steps, shows on that day more than any other.
The season
Some hotels close for the winter and reopen in spring with new staff. A receptionist hired last week should be able to check a guest in on their first shift.
What a PMS connects to
At the centrePMS
- Channel manager
- Website booking engine
- Bar and restaurant POS
- RMS (revenue management system)
- Door locks and phone system
- Accounting software
A PMS rarely works alone. It usually connects to:
- the channel manager, which sends rates and availability to online travel agencies
- the booking engine on the hotel's website
- the POS systems in the bars and restaurants
- the RMS (revenue management system: software that suggests rates based on demand)
- the door locks and the phone system
- the accounting software
Someone has to maintain each connection, and any of them can break. Before you choose, ask which ones already work with the systems you use, and who fixes them when they stop.
What to ask before you choose
- How do I load a tour-operator contract? Does the PMS price incoming bookings against it?
- Can I change rates, meal plans, seasons and invoice series myself, or do I have to ask the vendor?
- If the hotel is in Spain: does it send the guest register to the Ministry of the Interior? Is it adapted to VeriFactu, Spain's new rules for billing software? Ask for the vendor's declaration of compliance. Our VeriFactu guide explains what that means.
- Which connections already work with my POS, channel manager and door locks? Ask to see them running at another hotel.
- Can I export all my data whenever I want, and in what format?
- What happens at the front desk if the internet goes down?
- What does it cost to get started? Ask about moving your data across, training and support through the first season, not just the monthly fee.
Where Hospedia PMS fits
We're designing Hospedia PMS for vacation hotels in Spain, with tour-operator contracts built into the PMS itself. It's in development and doesn't have a date yet.