Managing Your Hotel- Anywhere, Anytime, Any Device.
From fitness classes to friend unions and colleague meetings to college parties, digital platforms have made it possible for us to be educated and entertained even after the Covid Pandemic. The word ‘remote’ has suddenly become the catchphrase in any workplace with an increasing number of people loving the ‘pants optional’ perk that remote working carries along with it. But this word, was a buzzword in the hospitality industry even before Covid took the world by storm and heightened the need for it. Hoteliers have consistently worked on getting their hands on suitable solutions to help them better manage their hotels remotely when they saw a rise in the number of travelers carrying mobile devices. This has finally led to many hotels replacing in-room telephones with in-room tablets and many other upgrades in Hotel technology. But how exactly did technology help hoteliers keep tabs on their hotels through their tablets? At any time and from anywhere?
The Revolution Of Remote Hotel Management.
From evaluating critical success factors to comparing the hotel’s key performance indicators, hoteliers are able to keep their fingers on the pulse of their hotels with an integrated application like FX Pulze or software like FX Front Desk from wherever they are. This gives hotel managers the advantage of keeping in touch without having to physically be at the hotel. Hotel owners can often log-in daily to monitor reports for occupancy, average daily rate, and revenue per room available as well as profit or loss statements -often for multiple hotels or portfolios. Whether they’re taking a vacation in Bora-Bora or bored at home on a lazy Sunday, whatever information regarding the hotel will be just a few clicks away!
If you rewind 10 years back, hotel management was no easy work and carried along with it cupboards of dusty files and tables decorated with bulky computers. In fact, the amount of emails and computer work were becoming a hindrance to stay active and engaged with guests. But hotel management software actually turned the tables for hoteliers and remote management created a revolutionary change. The ability to quickly access data not only released more time to focus on guests and helped them make more revenue but it also became highly important when related to pace and variances, to budgets and forecasts in all types of revenue. With software like FX Finance and FX Pulze, hoteliers can now have access to multi-property accounting in a single database and view mission-critical business data in just one go!
The “anytime anywhere”’ access to hotels allows management to work smarter, and focus on the highest priority items timelier. It also allows for greater efficiency as tasks like multi-group booking and rate management can be carried out effortlessly with an integrated solution like FX CRS. Staying connected through technology helps owners and workers do everything in real-time. This leads to greater flexibility and greater job satisfaction as they get to work outside office hours and get attached only as much as they want to be.
Challenges
Not all technology is perfect. And although Remote Hotel Management has taken hotel management to a whole new level, it does not come without bringing about some challenges. When communications were handwritten or were even emails, there was always a hard copy evidence and a paper trail. But when it comes to text, printing becomes a chore and there are times when hoteliers put their phone away, forgetting to take action.
Internet connection is vitally important for remote hotel management. And it’s no surprise that some places call you to reach your phone out like a retarded person walking around trying to find the perfect spot behind a curtain or in the corner of your storeroom. In many parts of the world, you’ll be able to get connected to the internet, however, if hoteliers are in a place where the internet connection is not reliable enough, then remote hotel management becomes a hassle unless backup plans for other connections are in place.
Wrapping up
It’s true that the hospitality industry takes a bit of time to grasp on tech trends and some hotel owners still prefer old-school tech, with a touch of Cloud. However, the resistance to adapt to cloud technologies and mobile management of hotels have a continuously declining trend. This is especially after the pandemic which turned touchless tech into a norm and brought about a need for contactless Solutions and works from home management. And hoteliers are making changes to adapt and stay consistent with the changing needs of the environment through innovative remote hotel management software like FX Front Desk in order to sail through the storms and provide the ultimate guest experience for their guests.
A property management system is a significant Enterprise Management Solution that could either make or break the operational success of a hotel. This solution is currently going through a rapid phase of technologic evolution and hoteliers are climbing up the ladder to reach the cloud, and hop in the bandwagon of a cloud based PMS. However it’s also common for hoteliers take the longer route in technology and sometimes stay behind the curve. After, all the hospitality industry is all about human interaction. The industry where warm smiles, gracious greetings and utmost care are considered most important.
So whilst, a cloud based PMS could be an amazing tool that’s both revolutionary and reliable, and can open the window of innovative opportunities to a hotel, there are still some repercussions to it. After all everything’s a mixed bag, with upsides and downsides in them. And a cloud based PMS might just not be suitable for every hotelier and can have serious consequences if the right isn’t system isn’t implemented.
It’s understandable. Choosing the right software, is like choosing which restaurant you want to go to for dinner. A mind-blogging decision that can have serious implications for regret. Alright the resemblance might be off track and uncanny, but given that the software is the heart of a company choosing the one that’s the perfect fit for the property could be a pretty daunting task.
Through this blog, we’ll take you through pros, to both cloud-based PMS and an On-premise PMS, to help you make better decisions.
Pros of Cloud PMS
Minimized Costs
From staff trainings costs to exorbitant software license fees, Cloud based PMS beats legacy PMS every time when it comes to set-up and ongoing maintenance costs. This is one great way for hotel owners to penny pinch costs and save big-time! All that physical hardware that’s taking up space can finally, take a trip to the garage-sale, because clouds PMS don’t require them. In fact there is no need for on-site servers and their cooling equipment. There are no recurring upgrade costs because cloud PMSs are automatically upgraded.
Security
Using the right Enterprise Cloud Partner like Microsoft Azure for PMS solutions ensures that the customers’ data is safe and secure. Frequent security checks, upgrades and backups take place and they don’t require manual intervention. Compared to on premise backup, storage and computing systems which have legacy security that are only reliable to the extent they’re configured and difficult to implement, cloud is a much safer alternative because cloud service providers are specialized in keeping the data safe- that’s their job!
Enhanced Operational Efficiency
With a countless number of departments and even more systems, managing a hotel ain’t no piece of cake. In fact they can be extremely complex. Thanks to cloud, daily tasks are streamlined and automated and the degree of manual interventions reduces to nearly zero. With a cloud PMS, room rates, inventories reservations and more can all be managed centrally online. This means that hotel staff who’ve been tied to their front desk can now invest their time in attending to guests and concentrating on their needs to serve better.
Mobility
The ‘access from anywhere, anytime’ advantage that tags along with a cloud based PMS gives greater flexibility to hoteliers as they can now skim through house-keeping stats or browse through important reports whether they’re sipping Piña Colado at a beach, or up and alive at midnight. Since cloud just requires a basic internet connection, it allows to manage and perform operational tasks through any mobile devices including tablets.
Pros of On-Premise PMS
Less Reliability on Internet Connection
A cloud based technology can only work as fast as the internet speed. Whilst the internet has become a necessity and is widespread in many parts of the world, it may not still be accessible to many locations around the world. If the internet connection a little slow or even spotty, it may not be reliable to consider cloud based PMS. Local server-based systems, on the other hand, do not require an Internet connection. Access to the system itself does not depend on access to the Internet, which can be unreliable in extremely remote areas. This will ensure guaranteed access and check-in/ check-out on any day and at any time of the day I.e. 24×7×365.
Security
Although, this was discussed as a pro to cloud based systems earlier in the blog, there are still security concerns that tag along to it. Online, there is threat of viruses and malware and system hacks. Considering the sensitive nature of data stored by a PMS—especially guest data—security concerns (virtual or physical) must be taken very seriously. Therefore, local server-based systems also avoid concerns over Internet security.
Robust Functionality
Chain hotels need PMSs that can cope with guaranteed levels of reservations and other data and still respond quickly to system queries. Depending on the technical resources of the vendor, Cloud-based systems can be hindered when dealing with such a load of data and queries. While this does not tend to be an issue for smaller and independent properties, large chain hotels enjoy the robustness that local server-based systems (and big budgets) afford.
Wrapping up, To Cloud or Not?
Let’s face it. At the end of the day, the hotel industry highly depends on guests experiences. The more cherished memories they make, the more revenue that’s generated. Paying attention to what the guest desires, how when and where, is now what hoteliers need to scrutinize in order to enhance guest experience. Therefore it is important to consider a PMS that’s guest centred rather than tech-centred to help them them best serve their goal of guest experience. However hoteliers also must look into factors like property size and number of locations, budget, technical resources and expertise, and online presence before making such a switch. Finally, talking about mixed bags, maybe the optimum solution for your company could be best of both worlds with a mission critical On-Premise PMS that includes some added benefits of cloud systems. To checkout IDS Next’s Hybrid Solutions that serves the exact purpose, providing a seamless experience combining On-Premise, Cloud and Mobile, click the link below.
https://idsnext.com/hybrid-solutions/
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