In today’s ultra-competitive hotel market, it has become more important than ever to get the help you need right when you need it. If something goes wrong, you need to know that you can get in touch with someone quickly. Questions arise from time to time, and you may have someone standing in front of you, and you have a question or an issue you need answered right away. That’s why it’s vital to have a property management system (PMS) staff at your disposal to help you when you need it most.

Email

Some people would rather send an email than call their PMS support. So having a responsive customer service is a must. Look for a support team that you can email easily and that will respond to your email with a case number, and will communicate through email until the request is complete. This type of communication can allow you to work at your own pace while your PMS support is working hard behind the scenes to make your job easier.

Live Chat

Occasionally, you may also want the benefit of a customer service person without having to commit to a lengthy phone call. To fill this need, several of today’s PMS software programs offer a live chat option. With live chat, customers may stay more fully engaged with their own hotel guests while a PMS technician can see, in real time, what they are encountering within the PMS program.

Customer Community

Sometimes, the most effective way to manage your service requests is by seeing all of your open requests right in front of you on your computer, tablet, or smart phone. In that case, it’s important to look for a PMS with support that has what is often called a Customer Community. Through such a community, you can see all open service requests, create new requests, and receive updates on all open cases. In addition to viewing requests, you are also able to see the current status of all your products, search a knowledge base, and submit ideas for product improvement.