This article was originally written in French

Hoteliers are increasingly "on page" with the proposed technologies to improve the management of their hotel. However, a minority of them remain convinced that using a modern hotel management system (PMS cloud-based) is not essential for the proper functioning of their institutions. It was time for me to write an article to expose the risks of such a choice.

1 - Data Piracy
The case of the Hilton hotels, which have been attacked on their PMS via public wifis, is the perfect illustration of what can happen to a hotel whose PMS is outdated. Think about your PMS as a program installed on your computer: if it is not updated, you become an easy target for hackers. Your system contains confidential data such as customer names and credit card numbers. Modern Property Management System will help protect this information through a powerful encryption. Indeed, it is important to remember that you are responsible if these cards are stolen and sold online.

2 - The shortfall
A simple example: the old systems have no connection to a channel manager, the hotelier has to manage its distribution channels manually. It was during an internship in reception I found myself several times with the obligation to relocate a client who was able to book a room in the hotel while the latter was complete and outdated on different sites . A modern PMS offers other functions to optimize the management of a hotel: yield management, automated email, housekeeping and more. And you? When was your last overbooking?

3 - Losing the north
The fact of not having functionality adapted to the modern customer has the direct consequence of loss of sight of the objectives of any hotel:

  • Give the best possible experience to customers
  • Generate more booking
  • Customer loyalty

Using a modern hotel management system will save you time, you are going to use for marketing or so pamper your guests. To give a concrete example, here is the first customer to use Base7booking, Jeffrey Carlton Hotel in Ghent in Belgium. Optimizing the management of his hotel allowed him to update his profile TripAdvisor and become in two years, the highest rated hotel in its area. The result? An increase of 30 points in its occupancy rate between 2012 and 2014 (54% to 84.4%).

4 - Being passed
Expectations and especially the habits of today's consumers have evolved considerably in recent years: bookings via mobile, fast check-in / out or accessibility of information. The requirements have changed so that only a modern PMS will allow you to respond. Customers are becoming more accustomed to new technologies, the hotels must therefore reflect the comfort of their establishment through the tools used by their future guests.

5 - Overwork
Family life, day 15h and stress management towards customers are legion in the world of hotels. Now a hotelier tired, stressed and angry penalize your hosts and therefore your business. It is therefore imperative to provide the best tool to avoid additional stress. It is for me the most important because it directly affects the well-being of the hotel and therefore productivity.

If these situations seem familiar to you and if you spend more time managing your PMS rather than you care for your customers, it's time to change.

Base7 Booking
Hotel technology company
Base7booking.com

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