Property Management System
A property management system (PMS) is a software application for the operations of hospitality accommodations and commercial residential rental properties. PMS is also used in manufacturing industries, local government and manufacturing. PMS provides a centralized computer system to organize, schedule and perform the day-to-day functions and transactions involved in accommodations businesses.
Front Office
- The front-office module manages reservations and housekeeping and conducts a night audit that can be set automatically or manually.
- Website integration for online reservations, payment and account management
- Rental booking engine with built-in payment facility
- Link to third party point-of-sale, telephone and key card systems
- Automatic uploads and downloads of exchange deposits
- Manage guest and concierge services
Food and Beverage
Food and beverage management forms part of the hospitality industry, and is focused on:
- Managing the daily food- and beverage-related operations in hotels, restaurants, cafeterias, catering companies, schools, hospitals, and other similar establishments.
- Planning menus and managing food and beverage stock levels.
- Managing budgets, minimising costs and maximising profits through accurate planning and forecasting.
- Complying with food safety regulations and maintaining hygiene standards.
- Hiring, training and supervising kitchen staff, servers, and other employees.
- Meeting customer expectations and ensuring customer satisfaction.
Housekeeping
- Housekeeping refers to the management of duties and chores involved in the running of a household, such as cleaning, cooking, home maintenance, shopping, and bill payment.
- Hotel housekeeping software allows you to assign rooms to your housekeeping staff based on blocks/floors or sort them based on their status to manage division of work.
- Manage your list of housekeeping staff without any limits, add new staff or remove existing ones at any point of time using our smart hotel housekeeping management software.
Marketing and Advertising
- Effective competition in the marketplace will require a marketing plan and advertising budget.
- Consistency is quite important in advertising.
- Develop a budget to fund regular periodic ads in media that have a proven track record in generating tenants.
- An advertising and marketing budget should also include the cost of maintaining online listings.
- Budgeting for increased marketing when vacancy rates increase is also a prudent plan.
- Coordinating increased marketing to announce renovation or improvements is also a good strategy.
Finance
- Owners should never be in the dark regarding the finances of their rental property. Companies should have clear policies and systems for updating financial information promptly and keeping you informed.
- Top property management companies have advanced software to keep records and make them available to owners through secure online portals.
- Transactions, monthly statements and other information posts automatically, and owners can view them anytime. Make sure all companies will provide you with electronic or paper copies of all receipts.
- In addition, ask any company you’re considering about their policies for tenant late payment fees, charges for tenant damage to the property and budgets for standard repairs by contractors.
- Confirm that they also provide this information to tenants prior to occupancy. Clear and upfront communication about all fees is essential to prevent any issues.
Ethics
- Professional organizations, such as the National Association of Residential Property Managers or the Property Management Association, hold members to high ethical standards and offer additional training and professional development, so checking to see if managers are members may be a place to start.
- Look into how the company behaves toward both owners and tenants. Although a property management company could treat you well as a client, this does not necessarily mean the company treats tenants with the same respect and level of professional behavior.
- Considering all these factors when searching for a property manager will help you find a qualified partner with whom you can develop a productive relationship.
- And a good relationship with a top professional puts you in the best position to maintain your property in excellent condition, attract top-quality tenants and continue to have a profitable investment.
Stock Control and Inventory
- Inventory control regulates the inventory that is already in your warehouse.This involves knowing what is in stock inside and out – how much is available, where is it located in the warehouse and in what condition it’s in.
- It is also about ensuring your warehouse is set up in a way that allows warehouse staff to quickly pick and pack to speed up customer order fulfilment.
- In controlling the inventory you have on hand, you’ll also be aiming to keep inventory costs down.
- This can involve identifying the least popular items and reducing the stock, accurately forecasting changes in demand to avoid overstocking.
- For food and beverage manufacturers, this involves minimising waste by using inventory before they expire.
- Inventory management involves forecasting and product replenishment. Inventory management determines when to order products, in what quantities and from which supplier.
- This ensures that your business will always have the right quantity of the right item in the right location at the right time.
Reservation
- A hotel reservation system is a software application that is implemented by hotels to allow guests to create secure online reservations.
- The hotel reservation system can be synced, not only with your current website but also with other websites.
- This allows guests to reserve rooms in a way that is convenient for them including social media.
- In addition to allowing guests to book online directly, these reservation systems can also provide hotel operators with additional resources.
- For example, a channel manager may be a part of the reservation system, giving hotel operators the chance to distribute their products and live availability simultaneously to their entire network of online agents.
Management Information
- Management information systems(MIS) is the study of people, technology, organizations and the relationships among them.
- MIS professionals help firms realize maximum benefit from investment in personnel, equipment, and business processes.
- Management information systems are typically computer systems used for data managing to make searching, analysing data, and spring information easier.Management information systems are distinct from other information systems in that they are used to analyse and facilitate strategic and operational activities.
- Management Information Systems are typically organized around the functional areas of an organization.
- MIS have diverse applications such as financial MIS, Marketing,Manufacturing MIS, Human Resources, Service Sector, etc.
Revenue management
- A PMS in and of itself is a big step towards improving hotel revenue management indicators, such as Occupancy, RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room), and ADR (Average Daily Rate), which mean a lot in evaluating a hotel’s financial success.
- While GDS and OTA integration helps maximize these rates, revenue management systems help a manager understand how to adjust the processes to achieve better results and control finances.
- This module helps increase total revenue of rooms using forecasting to optimize occupancy, deciding whether to raise or lower inventory prices.
- The revenue management module enables dynamic pricing. Using algorithms, this module helps hotels price the rooms based on historical data about past reservations as it monitors competitors’ rates, weather data, and local events.
- It improves pricing strategies, and updates prices across all distribution channels to sell more rooms at the optimal rate.
- To learn more about revenue management read our article on how machine learning redefines revenue management in the hotel industry.
Advantages
• Reduces add-ons
• Saves time
• Minimizes the administration costs
• Represents a centralized, efficient document platform
• Facilitates managing orders
• Allows creating user-tailored property management forms
• Saves money
• Provides insight into daily managerial tasks
• Provides real-time coordination between multiple users
• Facilitates delegating work and keeping up with the deadlines
• Notification and alert feature
• Improves communication between the employees and colleagues by introducing task discussions
• Facilitates the owner-tenant communication
• Decreases chances of misunderstanding and disputes
• Organizes your trust account audit data
• Automatizes daily operational workflow
• Automatizes finances and maintenance.
Disadvantages
• Time-consuming if you choose the wrong system. Make sure you analyze your own business, the scope of the projects you lead and work on and decide on the type of the property management system which will suit you the best. If you are running a small business, choosing a simple, user-friendly interface PMS is the best option.
• Might seem expensive for a small business. However, the system will pay off within less than a year as it will literally start making money for you. The investment is worth the expense in the long run.
• Training (cost and time). This depends on the readiness of your staff to learn. However, the software is user-friendly and everyone should be able to learn how to use it within a week.
