Improvements in hotel technology have been enabling properties to think less about the behind the scenes processes and concentrate more on guests.
Two years ago about a quarter of US hotels were using pen and paper to manage their properties but, fast forward to 2017 and they are looking increasingly to cloud-based systems to improve processes.
In the latest report from purchasing advice company Software Advice, the company says 96% of hotel software buyers are now looking for a cloud-based system because it means lower investment costs and more flexibility, especially for independent hotels.
The ‘Hotel Management Buyer Report – 2017’ looks at current hotel management software buyer behavior.
It also identifies the most popular software functionality most hotels use to attract guests, facilitate direct bookings and improve the guest experience.
Key findings
The use of a hotel-specific system is increasing alongside modest industry growth—hotel management system adoption increased by 2% in the past two years.
Sixty-two percent of buyers are looking to replace problematic software, while 38% are new users looking to automate and increase organization.
Hotels are almost entirely in the cloud—96% of HMS buyers opt for web-based deployment.
US hospitality industry growth boosts hotel management system HMS Adoption
Hospitality companies use a wide array of methods to handle daily tasks, such as taking reservations, checking guests in and out and tracking housekeeping.
As the industry continues to see modest growth in supply and demand in 2017, we see that the adoption of a hotel-specific management system has increased by 2 percent from two years ago.
At the same time, there’s a 2% decrease of manual methods, which include pen and paper or spreadsheets.
This suggests that more hospitality companies recognize the benefits of a hotel-specific property management system.
These systems offer features crucial to hospitality. As a hotel manager, your standard PMS addresses the needs of apartment or condo managers; an HMS includes functionality that you need to stand out from the competition, including:
