The hotel management business is undergoing something of a revolution. One is the arrival of short let sites like AirBnB. There is one area where this model will never compete with traditional hotels – customer experience. The desire to present a better experience while simultaneously improving the workflow of the hotel, is driving a second revolution. They are hotel ePOS and hotel restaurant management property management systems.

What are Hotel ePOS and PMS Systems?

A hotel PMS (or to give it the full name electronic property management system) is a system that hoteliers use to manage bookings. This includes not just your room reservations, but facilities and function rooms, and hotel restaurant management, both the check in and check out procedure, invoicing, and payments. It is also useful for building a customer profile for repeat customers, noting their preferences.

A hotel ePOS (or to give it the full name electronic point of sale) is the system used to process transactions. This means any account charges at the end of the stay, food and drink, and service charges such as room service, gift shop and spa if you have one, and anything else they may spend money on during a stay. They can also generate data for your most important revenue generating facilities such as hotel restaurant management.

The Benefits of Hotel ePOS and PMS to Your Business

ePOS and PMS hotel restaurant management systems, when fully integrated, have multiple benefits to both the hotel and to the employees working with customers every day.

• Streamlining rate management for special offer days, high and low season variations, and discounting systems for agents. They can also automatically change rates when occupancy reaches a certain level.
• Everything is more efficient – from the online booking to check in, to billing for food and beverages, to booking facilities and the check-out process.
• Employees are happier when these systems are automated or streamlined and integrated, freeing them up to pay more attention to customer needs.
• Freeing up your employees to pay more attention to customer needs means a better bottom line – cost savings and increased revenue generation.

The Benefits of Hotel ePOS and PMS to Your Customers

Your customers want as simple a process as possible during their stay. They won’t care about seamless integration and cloud connectivity, but they will notice when the process from booking to check-out is seamless. They notice when:

• Account queries are resolved quickly and with minimal hassle.
• Employees pay more attention to guest needs and don’t seem constantly on-the-go.
• A simplified integrated system of billing, such as adding a bar tab and restaurant bill to their customer account.

When the hotel ePOS and hotel restaurant management system is integrated, fluid and fast, the customer is happier. Research suggests they are likely to spend more money at the hotel restaurant and bar during their stay.

The customer’s experience starts way before their arrival. It is vital that these systems are used by and integrated with the booking system for a seamless experience too.