Managing a hotel is like conducting an orchestra. There are many moving parts that must work together in harmony. The hotel symphony requires a robust property management system to keep every part of the orchestra on the same page.
General managers conducting hotel operations need truly comprehensive solutions to streamline the daily hotel processes around the property, rate and revenue optimization, guest experiences, and so much more. It also means being able to do their job from anywhere. Some of the most important features of a hotel PMS from a General Manager’s perspective should be:
- Easy to use for experienced staff, and easy to train for new hires
- Eliminate repetition and streamline communication
- Delight and engage guests by letting your staff focus on the people in front of them
- Flexible set up to match your hotels needs and boost revenue
- True reliability that’s always on and with real, human support
Easy to use
As a General Manager, your attention is needed in many places. Your hotel PMS needs to be genuinely easy for you to use so that you can quickly and reliably get the information you need, no matter which hat you’re wearing at the moment.
It also needs to be easy to train new team members on, in every department. We have spoken with many General Managers, and this is a key priority for them. Training new staff and answering questions about how to use technology or how to troubleshoot problems both take away time from other important tasks that need to get done every day.
Prioritize a PMS that is easy to navigate and intuitive for experienced hotel workers and new hires. Your PMS needs to be easy for everyone who interacts with the property management system: front desk, back of house, housekeeping, accounting, management, and so on.
Chorum PMS has made this a priority. When we spoke with Sharmin Dharas, Owner & General Manager of Hotel Zazz in Albuquerque, NM her exact words were:
“We’re a full-service hotel that runs a lean operations team. I needed a PMS that would be easy to train people on and would help me and the hotel grow.”
Eliminate repetition
The fastest way to streamline hotel operations is to eliminate unnecessary steps and reduce manual errors. A better hotel PMS does this. In our conversations with GMs, it’s clear that too many property management systems require multiple screens and interfaces to access basic information that you need on a daily, if not hourly basis. A streamlined, intuitive PMS is not only easy to use, it reduces clicks.
Another important way to eliminate repetition is by consolidating core functionality into one streamlined system. Real-time data about rooms and rates should be available to everyone, anywhere on any internet enabled device. That includes:
- Housekeeping updating room status easily and efficiently from their phone or tablet
- Room occupancy % visible to quickly update rates when you’re away from your desk
- Room status and current rates at the front desk from on-the-go housekeeping
Want to see what a truly mobile PMS looks like? Watch a video overview of Chorum Mobile.
Delight and engage guests
Your PMS should be designed to both empower guests to create their own positive experiences, as well as empowering your staff to help those guests.
Some guests prefer a contactless experience that skips the front desk entirely. Your PMS should be able to accommodate this. With modern technology, direct integrations, and mobile functionalities, guests can check-in, make reservations, and purchase additional amenities right from their mobile devices. This system also allows for seamless communication with guests via email and SMS, including pre-arrival notifications to inform them when their room is ready.
On the other hand, a better PMS helps your staff focus on the guests right in front of them. A complicated system means more time behind a screen and less time interacting with guests!
Flexible Set up
Every hotel is different. When assessing a potential PMS for your hotel, consider exactly how you like to configure every element of your property management system. Your technology vendors should not limit you, but instead work with you to create the perfect set up that fits your specific requirements.
Chorum PMS is a truly robust system that supports hotels of any size. We work with you during implementation and onboarding to create the right workflows, processes and checkpoints. Chorum PMS has made customizability a priority. When we spoke with Monica Reyes at The Spring Resort & Spa, a General Manager with extensive revenue management experience at many different hotels, we asked her about her experience using our flexible system. She responded:
Revenue management is streamlined from beginning to end, with fail-safes to avoid mistakes … The workflow in Chorum PMS is very logical and easy to use, the ability to maximize room night revenue is right at your fingertips.
Your PMS needs to be set up to your specifications, which includes key functionality like revenue management as well as the ability to create your custom tech stack. Our entire suite of solutions is built on Jonas ARC, our proprietary integration engine. We make it easy to implement and maintain integrations from our PMS to other systems, so you can send guest data everywhere it needs to go.
True reliability
A reliable PMS is cloud-based, always on—and backed by truly incredible support. Some hoteliers are wary of cloud-based systems, fearing down-time or spotty connections. The reality is that they can be more reliable. An on-premise system is only as good as the maintenance and upkeep of the server at your hotel. A cloud system is regularly updated and maintained by a team of experts.
If you’re worried about downtime, invest in a PMS that has an offline mode that automatically syncs connection is re-established. In our case, Chorum PMS offers an offline sync that keeps your hotel connected even if the internet goes down.
Reliability also means real, human customer support. Many PMS vendors expect hotels to rely on video training and chatbots. Jonas Chorum has a different perspective on customer support. First and foremost, you’re not bounced between support agents and forced to re-explain an issue multiple times. Our product research and development start with conversations with our customers and their needs. Learn more about how we do support a little differently.
A PMS that General Managers Trust
Jonas Chorum’s suite of hotel property management solutions is recommended by General Managers at small boutique hotels, 500-room beachfront hotels, and everything in between. See more conversations we’ve had with General Managers, to hear from them in their own words.
Our product suite has everything hotels need to streamline operations and engage their guests including: PMS, CRS, POS, guest messaging and offline capabilities. To learn more, watch a 5-minute demo of our system right here.
