Why Smart Hotel Tech is the Future of Accommodation Property Management

The days when travelers picked up the phone to make call-in reservations are long gone. In fact, a 2019 Global Hotel Survey found that 75% of people now prefer to book accommodation online. 

It’s clear that hoteliers, resort owners, hostel owners or villa owners cannot survive without a strong online presence and a system to effectively manage their business and operations. If your property is not online when, and where bookers come looking, you’ll likely fall behind and find it hard to catch up again.

It’s equally important to meet guest expectations as they evolve, especially in the midst of a global pandemic. Do you offer online check-in? Can you maintain a high level of service with less staff?

Don’t get left behind. Let’s take a look at how smart hotel tech is the future of hotel management.

5 Ways Smart Hotel Tech Gives Your Property an Edge

Do you wonder why some accommodations are more popular than others? Is it about their Good location? Luxury linen? Or even, 24-hour fitness center?

On closer inspection, the most successful properties use powerful Hotel Management Software (HMS) that automate everyday processes and adjust rates and strategies according to market conditions. This allows property managers to spend less time on grueling admin tasks and more time on guest experiences.

Let’s explore five impactful ways in which smart hotel software can help your property stay ahead of the game.

Get More Done in Half the Time

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If you’re still using excel sheets to manage your bookings or scrambling to create invoices when impatient guests are ready to check out, or even settling for a solution that doesn’t offer much more than email automation, then it’s time to invest in a Property Management System (PMS) that helps hoteliers automate tasks and activities that directly affect their revenue.

Whether you’re managing five rooms or fifty – a PMS is designed to help you keep track of your front desk responsibilities including reservations, housekeeping, maintenance, billing, and invoicing. More sophisticated systems also offer useful insights into your occupancy rate through smart analytics and reporting.

Features to look out for:

• User-friendly dashboard with quick access to booking details
• Contactless check-in solutions
• Financial reporting that can integrate into your Accounting Software
• Cloud-based system that’s accessible to all your staff, without login limitations
• Integrated payment automation
• Synchronized housekeeping and breakfast schedules to your reservations
• Automated upselling and online check-in

Cast a Wide Net

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Listing your property on online travel agencies (OTAs) is no longer optional unless you have an enormous marketing budget. To put it in perspective, Booking.com spends half a billion dollars on Google advertising per year. So if you can’t beat ‘em, join them.

OTAs maximise your exposure but at the same time, you want to avoid over-committing yourself to managing two or three separate accounts or even worse – run the very real risk of accidentally overbooking!

A property Channel Manager is the simple solution that brings it all together under one roof. It connects hotel managers directly to their OTA listings and automatically updates your room availability and rates across the board in less time than it takes to say: “We’ve got another booking!”

What to look out for:

• Integration to the biggest OTAs: Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia, Hotels.com and others
• Speed of channel synchronization
• Integrated into the HMS

Cash-in on Direct Bookings

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Before booking, customers look for more information about the accommodation. The best source of information is none other than the property’s own website. In fact, 52% of online users check a hotel’s website for better rates and amenities before making a booking decision.

Are you missing out on commission-free direct bookings?

It’s time to do away with old-fashioned contact forms and utilize a Booking Engine that can serve as a website or be implemented on your own website so that guests can book your rooms and securely make online credit card payments. It makes the process of online booking simple, fast and enjoyable.

A booking engine that is worth investing in should also integrate with the PMS and Channel Manager you use, so it can operate and be managed in the same manner as the OTAs you connect to.

Features to look out for:

• Customizable to your property’s look and feel
• Secure payment gateway
• PMS and Channel Manager integration
• Automated and customizable emails: confirmation, pre-arrival and post departure
• Add-on or upsell functionality
• Ability to track and manage the available stock of your add-ons
• Multi-language and currency capabilities to convert international guests
• Mobile-friendly

Elevate Your Guest Experience

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According to a recent consumer report from Trustpilot, guests are more willing to write a good review if they had a good experience. What are guests saying about your property? Upselling not only increases revenue and profit but also elevates the guest experience. Done correctly, it can create customer loyalty and encourage repeat bookings.

Upselling Software allows hotels to add compelling add-on options for room upgrades, transportation, or a delicious breakfast and a bottle of wine during or after the booking process.

Features to look out for:

• Guest segmentation to personalize your offers and increase revenue per room
• Booking Engine, PMS and Channel Manager integration

Increase Your Revenue with Reliable Data

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Do you know the exact day and time of the month when you get the most bookings? Most property managers don’t know what the actual occupancy rate of their property is. But those managers armed with powerful insights from PMS reports can make data-driven decisions that are guaranteed to improve their bottom line.

Here’s how:

Smart hotel tech like Yield Management allows hoteliers to set rules based on market conditions.

For example, you can create a rule that automatically lowers rates and distribution in a time of tough competition and less demand. Or, set a rule that increases rates on your busiest days of the week. This smart tool works silently in the background while you get to sit back and watch your revenue skyrocket.

Features to look out for:

• Room-sell probability function
• Competitor pricing features
• Integrated in the HMS

Connect All Your Tools

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The great news is that you don’t have to utilize these powerful tools and hotel software solutions separately. An All-in-One Hotel Management System, that can be connected with built-in PMS, Booking Manager and Channel Manager, goes far beyond the management of rooms and reservations, enhancing every customer touchpoint from booking to check-out.