The Independent Hotelier's Guide to Property Management System Selection

The 12 Steps of Property Management System Evaluation - Step 7

Step 7 - Research property management system vendors that offer the majority of features that match your needs assessment.

The Internet is a great resource and a good place to start when searching for potential property management system vendors. Hotel related periodicals are a good resource as they regularly have articles relating to property management systems.

Staff are a good resource as well. Experienced staff have typically worked with a variety of property management systems.  Find out what systems they used, what they liked and disliked.

Speak with Managers from properties that are similar to your own, it is likely that they will have needs that are similar to those of your business. Their needs are likely to match your list of needs and they may be working with the system using business processes that are most likely similar to your own. 

Jeff Sefton

The 12 Steps of PMS Evaluation - Step 6, Drill Down And Identify Specific Needs

Step 6 - Drill down and identify specific needs in relation to your property management system requirements.

This process will help your team cover all the bases, make your needs crystal clear and provide a thorough understanding of your business process.  The end result of Step 6, will be a detailed evaluation checklist that corresponds with your specific business needs as well as the needs of your guests.

Note:
Not understanding the business process in detail is a major contributing factor to experiencing surprises or missing functionality that is required for your business.      

Looking back to Step 5, you identified business needs and  guest needs.  Step 6 is where you drill down to understand and to list those needs in more detail.

Continue to ask yourself if the item on the list is a must have or a nice to have function.  The list you need to focus on for this step is the must haves. Keep your list for the nice to have functions separate.

Determining the flow and order of the business processes that need to be accomplished for your hotel, will guide you towards the functionality that you require in your property management system.

It all starts with the guest making a reservation. Reservations may originate on-line or by phone for example, so begin here with the reservation flow and follow that reservation through to each touch point for your guest and your organization, from reservation to check-in to check-out. Don't forget special requests, confirmations, housekeeping and charges that may occur on a guest bill.  Accounting requirements for billing and guest follow-up after their stay should also be included. 

Creating a flow chart is the easiest way for your team to visualize the flow and to list your requirements accordingly.

Jeff Sefton

The 12 Steps of PMS Evaluation - Step 5, Identify Business Needs And Identify Guest Needs

Step 5 - Identify business needs and identify guest needs

Although a guest need may also be considered a business need, you will find that separating business and guest needs at the beginning is helpful in the needs identification process.

A good example of a business need may be the ability for the property management system to calculate Travel Agent commissions, offer reconciliation of, and production of cheques for your Travel Agents.  A guest need may be the identification of return guests for your recognition process. A guest need may also be automation of specific functions that increase guest service or satisfaction. 

An easy way to work through your business and guest needs list, is to 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.

Jeff Sefton

The 12 Step Plan - Step 4, Define your Property and Identify your Primary Market Segment

Step 4. Define your Property and Identify your Primary Market Segment:

Defining your property type and primary market segment will help guide you to areas that you need to spend more time on during the property management system evaluation process. 

• A resort hotel compared to a city hotel would differ considerably in their primary market segment. The city hotel has a primary market segment of corporate and a resort hotel has a primary market segment of leisure.
• A hotel located close to a highway would likely get a lot of transient guests where a hotel in a city business centre would get a large percentage of guests that are traveling on business.
  
• A resort hotel may have the need to print vouchers for activities or perhaps ski passes.
• A boutique hotel may rely heavily on guest history to identify and acknowledge return guests.
• A convention hotel may rely heavily on the groups module within the property management system.
• An extended stay hotel may have the need to post monthly room charges as opposed to daily room charges.    

As you can see from the above, the hotel type and the market segment have a direct correlation between the needs of the hotel and the emphasis on the functions of the property management system that the hotel staff will be using to carry out their daily duties.   

Property Types:

• City Hotel
• Resort Hotel
• Boutique Hotel
• Property Management - Extended Stay Accommodation
• Bed and Breakfast

Market Segments:

• Corporate.....- Business
• Group............- Weddings/Events/Sports Teams
• Leisure..........- Vacationers
• Discount........- AAA/CAA Members and Other
• Government..- Government Employees
• Wholesalers..- Business from Tour Companies

Service Offerings:

• Full Service Hotel – offering a wide variety of amenities for your guests such as restaurant, room service and banquet facilities.
• Medium Service Hotel – May have a coffee shop, meeting facilities.
• Limited Service Hotel – No Restaurant or banquet facilities, may offer continental breakfast.

Jeff Sefton

The 12 Step Plan - Step 3, Select the Evaluation Team

3. Select the Evaluation Team

Choosing a strong and diverse evaluation team to help choose the best tools to run your hotel will also help to get  buy-in from your entire 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.

Now it’s time to start building your team!  

Jeff Sefton

The 12 Steps of Property Management System Evaluation- Step 2

Step 2. - Determine the budget and get sign off.

It is important to determine your budget before you begin evaluating property management systems.  There is no point wasting time and effort to evaluate property management systems that are priced out of your budget range.

Would you test drive a  Rolls-Royce when you can only afford a Ford Mustang or begin looking to purchase a home without getting pre-approved for a mortgage? 

The same theory applies to evaluating property management systems.  Determining your budget and getting sign off for the approved budget by the person that has that authority to do so is the best practice. 

You will appreciate this once you realize how much time is involved during the property management system evaluation process and when it's time to sign on the dotted line. 

Jeff Sefton

 

The 12 Steps of Property Management System Evaluation- Step 1

Step 1. - Select the Project Manager

Designate a Project Manager that has been granted authority for the evaluation project by the owner or management company. The Project Manager is accountable for the evaluation process and results, and should see the project through from start to finish.  Being granted authority and taking accountablility is essential to the sucess of any project. 

The Project Manager is the first person to be selected, and this selection should be completed before the property management system evaluation process begins. The project manager may be a consultant, a manager at head office, a manager at the hotel, someone in operations or someone in the information technology department.

The main function of the Project Manager is to facilitate the evaluation process, as well as set meeting agendas and schedules.  The Project Manager will also provide reporting to the team at set milestones.

Jeff Sefton

The 12 steps to evaluate and select Property Management System Software for your Hotel, Resort or Inn

The 12 steps to evaluate and select Property Management System Software for your Hotel, Resort or Inn

1. Select the Project Manager. 
2. Determine the budget and get sign off.
3. Select the Evaluation Team.
4. Define the property type and identify who the guests are.
5. Identify business needs and identify guest needs.
6. Drill down and identify specific needs in relation to the property management system.
7. Research property management system vendors that offer the majority of features that match the needs assessment.
8. Create a potential vendor list.
9. From the potential Vendor list, break it down to a short list of 5 or less PMS Vendors.
10. Arrange and participate in system demonstrations by Vendors from the short list.  
11. Make the decision.
12. Ask for references and contact them.

Good luck with your evaluation process!

Jeff Sefton

property management system evaluation