What if you were asked to rate a hotel based on the services you received? How many stars would you give it on a scale of 1 to 5? Chances are, you’ll give a poor rating below-par services and a good star rating for quality services provided.
Among the things that usually influence hotel ratings are; how long they take to check-in or check-out, nature of payments, provision of special services, quality of their customer service, and the hotel’s general organization. Everyone, including me, prefers being cared for with utmost concern, and the level of personalized treatment for guests is a top priority.
Being a large enterprise, a hotel should have every single part functioning coherently and in tandem with others. That’s a core part of providing top-notch services which your guests deserve. Don’t forget, they’ve paid huge sums of money to enjoy top-quality services. Therefore, it’s necessary to do all you can to ensure your customers receive what they pay for.
Similar to how the body functions, whereby the brain controls the entire functions of the body, a hotel should be run with the help of a single system. This ensures that there are no delays during check-ins and check-outs, less or no payment hiccups, and there is an excellent organization.
Hoteliers should note that any single disruption or that to poor service delivery could lead to customer distrust and dissatisfaction. However, it doesn’t have to get there cause there are excellent hotel management systems to put in place to help you with the stress. All you have to do is contact reputable hotel tech companies to help you install the best hotel management systems.
But how do you go about choosing the best hospitality software for your Airbnb? Before we get into that, it’s necessary to understand that it’s challenging to choose the right software to help you put everything together. That’s why we did in-depth research to help hotel owners know to choose the best software to manage their various hotel functions. Now let’s look at the various tips from experts to help you narrow down your selection process:
How Do You Select The Right Hospitality Software?
First, it’s important to understand what hospitality software is. It’s a hotel management system that allows you to control all your hotel operations such as accounting, invoices, bookings, customer service delivery, pricing, among other things. Thanks to advancements in technology, these systems are cloud-based to provide extra convenience and accessibility from anywhere, using any device.
To select the right software for your hotel, you should keep in mind the following:
It should be to handle at least 80% of all your needs
B&B owner, you should look beyond the basic features such as reservation management, online booking engine, reports, CRM, channel management, and more. The right software should include extra features to enable you to optimize and enhance all your hotel operations with ease.
Since your Airbnb may have various income sources such as bars, restaurants, spa rooms, work-out facilities, conference rooms, kitchen, and more, you’ll need software that can manage all of them. Therefore, you’ll need software to integrate separate bookings and accounting systems into a single system to give your various receptionists and department managers an easy time. These functions can not be done using an off-the-shelf solution but by effective software from top hotel tech companies.
It should provide room for the extension as your business grows
Hotel owners are often so excited about launching quickly and often forget about their long-term plans. While basic features can help you run a productive business, that might not serve you well, especially if you plan to scale up.
It might not take long, though, because, at some point, you’ll need to think big to elevate your business. So, choosing software featuring basic features only will not offer great service if you’re thinking about expanding your business.
To scale up, you’ll need an integration with third-party services, increased site speed, more storage options, and more. To achieve these, you need to upgrade your package for more advanced features or select top-quality software that provides expandability.
Ability to integrate with other distribution channels such as OTAs, and GDS
Making direct bookings through your hotel website increases guest loyalty. However, integrating your system with other powerful tools such as Global Distribution Systems (GDS) and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) will increase your hotel’s revenue.
A software known as a channel manager runs these distribution channels, making room availability and rates management across multiple channels effortless. Moreover, booking sources information is included in the reports to display the channel of distribution’s effectiveness.
Privacy and Security
As a hotel owner, you’ve got a lot more to handle. The last thing you would want to deal with is solving cases of your customers’ private information falling into malicious individuals’ hands.
To avoid such scenarios and customer disloyalty, you need to install confidential software that promises full security of your customer’s personal information and transactions. A Cutting-edge security system with end-to-end user encryption is what you need to fend off hackers, ensuring that you keep your customers’ data safe while protecting your business.
User-friendly interface
Your employees shouldn’t hesitate when trying to learn the functions of a particular button or when scrolling through a manual with useful information. Depending on your hotel’s size, you should consider software that’s easy to configure and customize without seeking help from developers.
In Conclusion
Hotel management systems are key to maintaining customer loyalty and satisfaction, which would lead to increased revenue. Poor hotel disorganization, delays during check-ins and check-outs, lack of personalized treatment, and more often lead to poor star ratings of your hotel services.
That’s why you need to invest in superior software from top hotel tech companies to ensure quality customer service, data security, proper organization, and many more. With the help of this article you can now make the right decision.