From managing dorm bed bookings and activity reservations to dealing with high staff turnover, managing a hostel is quite different to running a hotel.
NB: This is an article from WebRezPro
But just like a hotel, hostels also need an efficient, automated solution to streamline daily operations and maximize revenue.
While a hotel property management system (PMS) is designed to sell rooms, not beds, a hostel-friendly PMS does both. A PMS designed with hostels in mind offers flexible functionality tailored to hostel operations that reduces daily administrative workload, sells more beds, and improves both the guest and staff experience.
Accessible online, a cloud PMS offers even the smallest hostel a modern, automated and affordable solution. Here are five big reasons any hostel needs a cloud PMS.
1. Sell the Way you Want
A cloud PMS offers full, flexible functionality, which means you don’t have to fit your business around your PMS; your PMS fits the way your business works. From dorm beds to private rooms, groups to packages and discounts, your PMS should offer the flexibility to sell the way you want in order to maximize your revenue.
>> Customizable unit inventory
A hostel-friendly PMS accommodates dorm beds as well as private rooms and other units, including tent sites, cabins and more. WebRezPro even allows dorm beds to be assigned to gender-designated or mixed dorms.
>> Flexible rate management
Hostels require flexible rate management tools to meet dynamic pricing needs, including seasonal rates, discounts, packaged activities, etc. A cloud PMS makes it easy to set up (and override) seasonal rates, long-term rates, discounts, add-ons, group rates, rate restrictions and even the most complex packages.
>> Upsell activities and other extras
Hostels typically offer guests additional products and services like padlocks, linen, and tours and activities, so it’s important for a hostel PMS to manage and track these sales. A hostel-friendly PMS will allow upsells and other extras to be added and included with the bed/room booking, or sold separately.
2. Fully Integrated Direct Online Bookings
Direct bookings are so important in the quest to improve your hostel’s bottom line. That’s why it’s crucial to offer your guests the ability to book direct through your hostel’s own website.
A cloud PMS tailored for hostels will offer an online booking engine for your website that supports both dorm bed and private room reservations, as well as all types of rates, packages and add-ons. WebRezPro’s online booking engine allows your guests to book multiple beds at once on a single reservation and search for beds in gender-specific dorms. And it’s mobile optimized for travelers on the go.
Integrated with the PMS, the online booking engine sends direct bookings coming through your website straight to your PMS, with availability updated automatically. That means you don’t have to manually consolidate website bookings with telephone and walk-in reservations—the PMS does it all for you.
3. OTA Integration for Seamless Online Distribution
While direct (commission-free) bookings are essential for optimizing profit, it’s also important to sell inventory across the right third-party channels to increase reach and revenue. Here’s where a cloud PMS can also save you significant time and prevent overbooking.
Through direct integration with your OTA channels, your cloud PMS streamlines and centralizes the online distribution process, allowing you to manage your OTA inventory and rates directly. Reservations made through third-party booking sites are automatically sent to your PMS and availability is automatically adjusted accordingly. By automating the online distribution process, your reservation data and availability are always up to date, preventing overbooking.
A hostel-friendly PMS knows the importance of being on the right channels and offers established connections with distribution partners that work well for hostels—like Hostelworld.com, the world’s largest online hostel-booking platform.
4. On-the-Go Access
You probably got into this business because you enjoy meeting people from all over the world and are a bit of an adventurer yourself. Being tied to the front desk all day should not be a part of the plan!
A Cloud solution works on any computer or mobile device connected to the internet, allowing authorized personnel to access reservation data, reports and more from anywhere—on or off property. So when it’s time for your own travel adventure, you can relax knowing that you can securely log into your system to lend a helping hand if needed while you’re away.
5. Easy to Learn and Use
Large hostels in particular can have a high staff turnover. Many hostel owners offer longer-term guests a work trade program where the guest volunteers at the hostel in exchange for accommodation. With staff coming and going it is especially beneficial to have an easy-to-learn system in place.
Most modern cloud Property Management Systems offer an intuitive user interface complete with quick-access menus, shortcut buttons and graphical calendars that give a clear overview of reservations and availability. WebRezPro’s user interface offers a modern, consistent design that helps new staff catch on quick (according to many of our customers). For example, our interactive availability calendar offers drag-and-drop functionality that allows reservations to be easily moved and modified.
A modern, responsive, intuitive user interface design not only helps new staff learn the system fast, but is critical for maximizing daily efficiency.
A hostel-oriented cloud PMS equips hostels of any size with the tools they need to streamline daily operations, sell more beds, and improve both the guest and staff experience
