A Property Management System (PMS) is a Hotel Management software that is used by Hotel Managers, Rates and Reservations managers, Front office, Back office, Reservations, Catering, Laundry etc. It manages the various Rates, Offers, Inventory, Guest related services like room Reservations, Guest Check in, Checkout, Room move, Room service, Telephone, Laundry and other amenities. It also integrates the Front office, Back office, Point of sale and Customer Relationship Management System.
The PMS communicates with the Central Reservation System (CRS) in a Hub and Spokes model with the CRS as a Hub and the PMS of various hotels in the chain as Spokes. This model of communication enables the hotels in the group to synchronize the various rates, room inventory, guest reservations and guest profile over a WAN or LAN network.
The PMS interfaces with the Hotel’s Central PABX using a RS232 Serial communication link or a TCP/IP link to get the Telephone usage billed to the guest. Depending on if the room is Checked in or Checked out, the telephone line can be locked to deny unauthorized use. The PMS also interfaces to the Voicemail system for Guests and Hotel managers. The PMS also interfaces with other third party systems like In-room Entertainment System etc. The PMS can also interface with Yield or Revenue Management Systems to maximize the hotel’s revenue over a period of time.
The various features of any PMS are as follows:
- Reservations: Individual, Group, Block bookings, Cancellation, Wait listing, Cashiering and Deposits.
- Rate Management: Manual, Automatic, Yield Management system interface
- Guest Management: Guest demographics, Contact details, Group and Agent details, Guest preferences
- Front office: Walk-in guest booking, guest Check in, Checkout, guest Messages, Wakeup calls, guest Services, Cashiering including Multiple payment methods
- Back office: Daily revenue reports, Reservation reports
- Configurations screens & multiple user logins
- Central Reservation System (GDS, IDS Distribution)
- Interfaces to third party systems like In-room entertainment, In-room chargeable amenities like mini bar, POS, key lock, switching systems etc.
- Interface to Hotel’s web site to enable Online Booking