Is your hotel optimized for maximum revenue this summer season? All indications are the 2017 summer travel season is going to be scorching hot for hoteliers.
It’s exciting news, but also a warning to hoteliers without the proper technology in place to ensure their hotels run smoothly during the busiest time of the year. If staff is already challenged to keep a hotel running smooth under current conditions, once the summer travel deluge hits, their job will become increasingly more difficult. And guests will notice the service difference too, damaging the opportunity to win repeat business.
But there is still time to give hotel staff a break, and to try to increase your hotel’s bottom line. Convert that outdated on-premise property management system to a cloud-based PMS that is designed to maximize profitability in a 21st century hotel.
For example, hoteliers leveraging the power of a cloud-based PMS such as the SkyTouch Hotel OS® are finding efficiencies both operating the hotel, and in their ability to command better rates.
Automate Rates
With products such as the SkyTouch Hotel OS®, hoteliers are setting rate management rules to define rate triggers. The system can automatically adapt to new BAR levels based upon changes in actual occupancy, or number of rooms sold. Plus, a technologically advanced hotel PMS allows for setting of shared selling limits among designated wholesale rate plans. This may yield higher profits by more effectively pricing the room product. Think about how much potential money is left on the table without a smart PMS system in place. Plus, a cloud based system allows a hotelier to change rates quickly and remotely anywhere where there’s an internet connection.
At the Hotel
Hoteliers already struggling to operate hotels while using a premise based PMS, will find even more difficulties as occupancy increases during the summer travel season. Hotels using a modern PMS are finding a more intuitive interface and online training tools enabling front desk agents to learn the system and be more productive quickly. With labor costs rising, it’s essential to maximize employee productivity while also ensuring new employees are up and running fast. Ease of use reduces training time and costs while boosting productivity.
The housekeeping department can run more efficiently too, says Dylan Clarke, general manager of the Jays Inn and Suites and a nearby Comfort Inn. Because of reporting mechanisms that are standard with the SkyTouch Hotel OS®, his housekeeping department runs more efficiently. Staff always knows how many rooms were occupied the night prior, which ones are due to check out, and which rooms need linens changed, for example. All at the touch of a button. This helps him schedule the right number of room attendants daily, while speeding up workload distribution. “We click off who is working and assign rooms to them. At the end, just check off the room and you’re finished,” said Clarke.
Don’t lose out on what could be a record breaking summer for hotels. There is still time to have your whole staff trained and reservations moved over from your old system before Memorial Day.
Contact our Hotel Operation Experts today to find out how you can get your hotel High-Season Ready!
