Is your hotel suffering from no-shows? If not, then perhaps it’s the competition that’s been killing your revenue? Doesn’t sound familiar either? Then you must be among the very few who haven’t been affected by the ever-changing guest behavior and booking patterns.
Because out of the entire hospitality industry, the only ones spared are the likes of Hilton, Marriott, or Wyndham. What’s mutual between them is an automated hotel PMS.
Having an automated cloud hotel PMS to help you automate and streamline everyday operations could be a lifesaver in the face of such business adversity. By taking the holistic approach to revenue management, these convenient cloud-based systems drive bookings and boost overall ROI.
Here’s how.
1. Cloud-Based PMS Solutions Are Cost-Effective
Though there are PMS solutions that can be stored and used exclusively in-house, we’ve decided to focus on those revenue management tools that are cloud based and so should you. Cloud-based solutions are accessible anytime and anywhere, and they are also cheaper than in-house software.
What’s more important is that cloud PMS tools enable you to stay on top of both guest demands and industry trends. All the best solutions boast robust analytical features, thus equipping you with metrics for tracking seasonal demands and occupancy levels in the area. If you make a comparison regarding year-to-year statistics, this will help you analyze trends.
Many comprehensive hotel software solutions offer an integrated channel manager and competition tracking tools that allow hotels to seamlessly connect with OTA’s and, at the same time, form their pricing based on the competition. This is an invaluable actionable insight.
Armed with comprehensive data about your guests, competitors, and marketplace, you can predict future behaviors and adjust your prices accordingly. This optimizes both short-term decisions making and long-term strategizing, which is of paramount importance in the context of revenue management.
2. Tracking Guest Behavior Is a Walk in the Park
As a hotelier, you could never live on seasonal revenue only, nor could you allow yourself a luxury of not staying in touch with your satisfied customers. If your guests are checking off with a big smile on their faces, then you must use their satisfaction to your advantage. You have to keep delighting them.
Customer retention is another thing an automated hotel PMS can help you with. Suppose one of your past guests has decided to book another room in your hotel. Since their guest history is already a part of your PMS base, you can tap into that data and offer them a personalized stay the next time around.
Why not greet them with their favorite meal, for instance? A PMS stores room service information too, so you’ll need one quick glance to find out what that is. This opens great possibilities for upselling as well, since satisfied customers have no problem of paying a little extra for personalized treatment.
In fact, one survey shows that if a travel brand tailored its information and overall trip experience based on personal preferences or past behavior, 36% would be likely to pay more for their services.
Based on the loyalty of a customer, a hotel can offer a free upgrade depending on the season and availability or throw in a free service. That will cement that loyalty even further!
3. Automated Hotel PMS Supports Omni-channeling
Satisfied customers will certainly recommend you to their family and friends, but that’s not everything that a cloud PMS solution can do for your brand recognition. Modern times call for modern measures, and omni-channeling is one of the best ones. The reason is simple – it keeps your reception open 24/7.
If you say that you offer online bookings at better rates, you will capture more leads and have better revenue rates. And, 80% of customers prefer to self-serve in order to get the information that they need.
An omnichannel feature is available only with cutting-edge PMS tools and essentially allows you to manage reservations coming from multiple channels like telephone, social media, messaging apps, and your business website. Needless to say, it simultaneously enables you to track revenue on each of them.
That way, you can discover which booking channels provide the greatest influx of new guests and calculate opportunity costs based on this information. Not only do these channels deserve better marketing campaigns, but they should also be empowered with booking solutions such are chatbots.
4. Managing OTA Payments and Expenses with PMS
Revenue management software solutions are also brilliant for calculating accurate OTA payments, managing commission invoices, and finding their place in an overall ROI equation. Without a tool to help you do that, your business can end up paying for more reservations than it has actually booked.
All this is enabled with reporting features that allow you to keep track of everything that’s going on with your OTA revenue. By monitoring these reports, you can stay in control of your incoming and outgoing commissions and save money that you didn’t even know you were giving away to your OTA.
In case one of these reports show that you owe less than the commission invoice amount, then it may be a good time to revisit your OTA agreement. Whether or not this is due to some discrepancy in their system, a cloud-based PMS will let you know. You can always contact the agency and fix the mistake.
Automated hotel PMS solutions can save you money only by cutting down operations costs. When to that you add possibilities for personalization and customer retention, or opportunity management that allows you to predict future demand with certainty, you’ve got yourself a reliable revenue boost. Keep track of accounts receivable and look at ageing analytics to see which companies and travel agencies are credit worthy.
About mycloud Hospitality
mycloud (award-winning hotel software) has been developed by Prologic First, an independent, private company with over a decade and a half’s experience delivering end to end technology solutions to the hospitality industry across the UK, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Prologic First’s “WISH” brand is used across 30 plus countries by over 1,600 clients representing the “who’s who” of the industry. Some of our most popular and most adopted solutions like “WISH”, “Touché” & Web Prol’IFIC. Our technological leaders and best in class solutions in the market place, offering some of the most advanced features to hospitality professionals.
