The Advantages of Using a Cloud-Based Hotel PMS at Your Chain Hotel

Multiple lockdowns and travel bans during the covid19 pandemic have left hotels throughout the world reeling. They must cope with falling income as a consequence of lost business, as well as maintaining everyday operations with fewer employees as a result of workforce reorganization. With falling revenues, according to Hospitality Technology's 2022 Lodging Technology Study, investment in IT has been little over the previous two years — averaging at 2% to 3% of overall revenue. It also claims that by 2022, roughly 58 percent of hotels will be aiming to reduce the cost of managing technology. These critical challenges may jeopardize their present digitalization strategy and their ambitions for development and expansion. But what may be the solution? The answer is a cloud-based Hotel PMS.

What is a cloud-based hotel PMS?

Hotel property management systems (PMS) manage all aspects of hotel business operations, including the delivery of superior guest experiences

Traditionally, a hotel PMS was defined as software that enabled a hotel or group of hotels to manage front-office capabilities, such as booking reservations, guest check-in/check-out, room assignment, managing room rates, and billing. A hotel PMS replaced time-consuming, paper-intensive processes.

Today, hotel PMS technology has evolved well beyond the front desk. A hotel PMS is now a critical business operations system that enables hoteliers to deliver exceptional guest experiences.

Here are a few ways a cloud-based hotel PMS might benefit your hotel's operations.

1. It reduced ownership costs

A cloud-based PMS is by far one of the most effective strategies to save money without jeopardizing the transformation effort at your chain hotels. Your IT overhead expenses are reduced since you only have to pay a single subscription fee for solutions at multiple hotels rather than investing in expensive servers, specialized IT employees, or AMCs for different properties. You won't have to worry about data security since your technology partner will handle it for you. Furthermore, operating a cloud-based PMS is relatively simple for new employees, saving you money on additional training. Isn't it more cost-effective when money is tight?

2. It helps manage chain hotels on the go

Traditional systems have restricted access and require physical presence- a nightmare for chain hotel owners. On the other hand, cloud-based PMS allows you to oversee and conduct operational activities from remote locations. Using a cloud-based hotel PMS, you can not just conduct any hotel-related duties including reservations, check-ins, report generation, and check-outs for a single hotel but for your complete hotel chain. Because cloud PMS provides you access to any hotel system, anytime, anywhere, and guarantees that all operations are managed efficiently at all your chain hotels.

3. It increases data security

When you employ a next-generation cloud PMS, you can assure the protection of client data of all your hotel chains. Remember that there are hundreds of customers from various chain locations relying on you for service and security. You can easily conduct security checks and updates regularly without even being physically present at all the properties. Thanks to the cloud technology of cloud-based hotel PMS, your data is protected even if your hardware fails.

4. It offers multi-property management that works

Yes, we are referring to centralized control over multiple chain properties. A cloud-based hotel PMS allows you to centrally access group-wide or property-level information, guest history, manage bookings and even manage travel agents' and corporate clients' accounts. You may also use the web to access the cloud-based Hotel PMS on your smartphone. Such adaptability and mobility allow you to monitor your group/property-level activities from anywhere and at any time.

5. It efficiently increases staff productivity

Time is unquestionably money. The longer it takes to educate your employees and deploy desktop-based applications, the greater the impact on your bottom line. The majority of best cloud-based hotel PMS are user-friendly and simple to understand. Even a novice or experienced employee may easily learn how to use the program. Additionally, cloud PMS automates numerous manual and redundant tasks, increasing overall productivity and leaving your staff free for guest engagement. Now imagine the same level of heightened productivity and higher guest satisfaction at all your chain properties, cloud-based hotel PMS is the answer to increasing productivity.

6. It improves hotel business by easily integrating with other cloud solutions.

It becomes simpler to deal with other cloud-based third-party solutions when using a cloud-based PMS. It may, for example, integrate with revenue management, channel manager, online reputation manager, web booking engine, POS, and many more applications. This can automate operations in all your hotel departments, from the front desk to the backend operations. As a consequence, you will be able to:

• Improve RevPAR, and adjust your room prices based on the demand, supply, occupancy, and competitor pricing.
• Increased room sales and online reach, distribute effectively on OTAs and metasearch engines.
• Attract more visitors, and improve your brand's online reputation and ratings.
• Increase direct bookings for all your properties through your website to reduce OTA commissions.

7. It allows staff to best serve your guests

According to the Hospitality Technology 2022 Lodging Technology Study, improving guest room technology would be a top priority for 45 percent of hoteliers in 2022. Many other patterns indicate that over 70% of hotels expect to invest in the technology needed to roll out a variety of guest-facing features this year. Contactless payments, mobile reservations, mobile check-in/out, mobile room keys, and hotel employee communication applications are all on the list. A cloud-based Hotel PMS, that lies at the core of your chain hotel business, can connect to the platforms described above to help you keep focused on improving the guest experience.

Due to changing market realities, operational requirements, guests' needs, and other variables, technology is changing at a super quick rate. Hoteliers are rapidly adopting cloud computing because they can see the benefits of using a cloud-based hotel PMS to manage the operations of their hotel chains. If you haven't made the changeover yet, your business might be losing out on good profit margins. If that's your goal, now is the moment to make the switch to the cloud, as it has the potential to alter your hotel's development and agility.