The Independent Hotelier's Guide to Property Management System Selection

Expanding on the property management system requirement list for your Hotel, Resort or Inn

In the last article, the topic was about creating the high level requirement list for your hotel. Now we will look at breaking down your high level requirements in more detail. Although this can be a time consuming endeavour it is well worth the effort.

This process will help your team cover all the bases while making your needs crystal clear. The goal is to end up with a detailed evaluation checklist to meet your business needs. Keep it as simple as possible and continue to ask yourself if the item on the list is a must have or a nice to have function. This list should consist only of must haves, keep a separate list for the nice to have functions.

Take your high level list or modules then start listing your must have functionality under each module heading. Break the modules in manageable sections, let's start with the reservations module for an example.

Within your module headings create summary sections such as creating a guest reservation, modifying reservations, reporting and so on.

Creating a guest reservation.

Independent guest reservations
Source of business related to the reservation
Market segment related to the reservation
Reservation deposits
Attaching Travel Agent information for commission tracking
Email/print guest registration card
Select from a variety of room rates and change room rates
Process no show reservations
On-line Booking reservations
GDS reservations

Modifying a guest reservation

Cancel a reservation.
View and change guest address and contact information.
View or change arrival and departure dates (length of stay)
Add, view or change guest notes or requests
Change or remove a travel agent that is linked to the reservation
Change rate.

Reservation Reports

Productivity reports
Forecast reports
Consumption reports
Statistical reports

Group reservations (you may consider taking the items from your reservations module list that apply to the group module to start your list for the group module.)

Wholesaler reservations (you may consider taking the items from your reservations module list that apply to the wholesaler module to start your list for the wholesaler module.)

As you can see above, it begins to get much more detailed. The processes may then be grouped into reservations processes made at the reservation agent level, the on-line booking level and the Global Distribution level.

You can also see that the group module and wholesaler module are related to and intertwined with the reservation module but at the same time they are indeed separate modules. It will be easier to keep them noted as separate modules during the evaluation list exercise.

Not all modules may apply to your property, if not don't include them. The reservation manager may also work as a group coordinator at one property however these will be two distinct positions for these tasks at another property in which case the reservations manager may work on building the reservations list and bring in the group coordinator to assist with the group module list. Not every property is the same, so the extent of the list and the people involved will vary from hotel to hotel. 

Not only are hotels different from one another in their needs, property management systems are different from one another. Some property management system companies cater to resorts while others to city hotels, some to full service hotels and others to limited service hotels. The point here is that they may have different functionality and may offer more advanced functionality in one module over another depending on the types of lodging clients they cater to.  

The above exercise helps to ensure that your specific requirements will be met and you don't have a surprise after signing on the dotted line. You do not want to be in a position where you find out something you thought worked one way works in an entirely different manner or a function you took for granted thinking it was there, isn't.  

Lower the risk of surprises. It is within your control!

Jeff Sefton

   

property management system evaluation

Building the property management system requirement list for your Hotel, Resort or Inn

Now that the property management system evaluation team has been formed, it is time for the team to begin building the high level system requirement list. The high level requirements will get broken down into more detailed requirements at a later stage, at this point think about the system as modules such as Front Desk, Reservations, Housekeeping, Accounts Receivable and so on until you have covered them all. Refer to previous posts for guidance, these will provide you with a breakdown of sections, or modules.

An easy way to work through the modules is to layout the system flow, use post it notes on a wall or blackboard. If you are able to meet in an area where you can keep the notes up for further meetings, great! otherwise take a photo and post the notes again at your next meeting, or perhaps tape them to a flip chart that you can bring to each meeting.

If the team begins with a reservation being made and how the reservation flows though the system while at the same time thinking about the reservation also as a guest and all the touch points that the  guest experiences during their stay.

The flow charting process will help the team not only understand the information flow, but also have a better understanding of the system as a whole and not just the particular module they have been exposed to. 

The Project Manager will organize these manageable sections with help from the team and assign team members to be responsible for one or more sections. The Project Manager will then review the objectives of this exercise with the team, set a date for the next meeting and set the schedule and agenda for future team meetings. 

If for any reason a team member is unable to attend a meeting it is their responsibility to assign someone from their department to attend, while providing their replacement with the information they will be expected to present at the meeting.

Go with the flow!

Jeff Sefton

 

property management system evaluation

Building your Property Management System Evaluation Team

Choosing a strong and diverse evaluation team to help choose the best tools to run your hotel is also the first step to having buy-in from your hotel team. It is important to have everyone on-board when a new property management system is selected for your property. Everyone involved in your organization from the owner, hotel management company and senior management to the front desk, reservations, sales and housekeeping department needs to be invested and committed to the project.

Prior to beginning the evaluation process, it is important to designate a project manager that will be accountable and see the project through from start to finish. The purchase of the property management system will signal that the the evaluation process has officially ended. 

The Project Manager is the first person to be selected. This selection may already be determined and possibly a consultant has been hired for the job, a manager at head office, a manager at the hotel, someone in operations or someone in the information technology department.

At this time it is important begin to think about the next project, this will be the property management system training and implementation which is likely to occur several months to a year after the evaluation process begins. This time line depends on how complex your business needs are and how much time can be dedicated to the evaluation and purchase process not to mention the schedule of the property management system vendor.

Evaluation team members may consist of operational managers that may use functionality that is geared to their management role as well as front line staff that would use the property management software on a daily basis and for the majority of their day. Staff in various positions such as Front Desk Clerk, Reservations Clerk, Housekeeping Managers or Supervisors, Sales Staff,  Accounting Staff, Concierge Staff and staff in the Information Technology Department would be able to offer different perspectives. Consider representatives from these departments to be included in the evaluation process. Their experience with past systems as well as their department processes and their insight into what functionality they need to best serve the hotel guests will be very valuable when building your requirements list.  

The Project Manager should set expectations and objectives of what is to be accomplished during the evaluation process and provide this information in writing to the team. Setting expectations and objectives will help to keep the evaluation process on track. The team needs to understand that although comments and suggestions are appreciated and necessary, not everyone’s wants will be fulfilled. The goal is to choose the best system to meet your specific business needs while providing the best overall tool for all departments and the business as a whole.  There will be some areas and functionality that will require compromise. Sorting out items that are needs as opposed to those that are wants is essential during this process.  Items that are determined to be needs should be qualified as such.

Now it’s time to start building your team!

Jeff Sefton

property management system evaluation