This research investigates the role of Property Management Systems (PMS) for data management in hotels and has been executed in two main phases. At the first stage of the research an online questionnaire was sent to property level contacts and completed by 95 hotels mainly in Europe and followed by a focus group study which included six co-directors and reception managers from upscale hotels. These co-directors and reception managers are the prime users of PMS systems and best placed in a hotel in order to get an accurate idea about how the PMS systems are used in hotels today and therefore could elaborate on the issues highlighted in the online survey. An overview is given of the first stage, before reviewing and analyzing the results of the focus group study and drawing some conclusions.

Results from the online survey

In the initial online survey, it is clear that most hotels stay with their current PMS system until forced to change i.e. they are upgrading to a newer version, or renovations/construction propels them to change or upgrade systems, or more rarely, moving from a DOS-based system to windows based and for better reporting. Price or cost of system is rarely a factor, leading to the assumption that keeping the PMS current and exploiting its functionalities is less of a priority for hotel operators with loyalty (or perhaps inertia) a deciding factor. Results show that hotels stay with a PMS provider's software for an extended time (5 to 20 years). It is clear that not all functionalities of the PMS are used by the properties. As PMS systems have increased their functionalities e.g. link to website, report generation, payroll etc., it seems the original, core functionality i.e. that of room allocation and accounting/guest billing continues to be the dominant with a large under-utilization of the range of the PMS functionalities. In terms of data collection, sharing and reporting, there seems to be little data sharing between departments and this is not always in support of business objectives.

The Focus Group Study – the view from hotel front desk participants

In the recent focus group study the underlying reasons for the apparent lack of exploitation of both the PMS functionality and the data within the PMS system are investigated. Most of the respondents view a change of PMS system as a constraint, coming from the software suppliers or from the corporate level. Only one respondent voiced a proactive approach to PMS change, i.e. in order to link applications from Fidelio to Opera for the reservations. It seems there is no local strategy and decision making power at the hotel level concerning the choice and the evolution of the system. The implementation of a new version is rarely welcome with enthusiasm. Moreover, the difference in terms of applications and options between versions is not so clear to hotels; sometimes the users have the perception that there is no fundamental improvement in the system from the previous to the new version. There is also an emphasis on the lack of expertise available: "Sometimes we just feel helpless with the IT problems that we face. So we also have a tendency sometimes to choose the easy way out." "More generally, there is no IT department in most hotels, and rarely a computer specialist in small businesses". Our respondents feel dependent on a technology that actually creates additional needs in their organization. They mention the existence of at least one staff member for whom computers is his/her personal interest and hobby. In this case, there is no explicit organization structure to support technology, rather an implicit competence that can face unexpected hardware and software challenges. This lack of training and technology expertise is also apparent from the questionnaire where training is often quoted as reason for not fully exploiting technology.

The participants also noted that the newer versions of PMS have longer and more detailed reports that do not meet the expectations of the users. The reports of the previous versions were easier to read. Some explicit comments from participants were; "we changed to (Fidelio) V7 and had printing problems. When we changed to Crystal we had some bugs. …the answers did not come immediately when we presented these problems (to PMS suppliers). Some reports on currency exchanges were wrong. It can be a real problem." "We do not have great freedom about reports that we would like to edit ourselves", "We are offered dozens of reports, all looking very nice, but that do not always match our own needs". The participants mentioned the standard reports that are available but lack of investment in time and training again leaves them unable to fully exploit these.

The participants articulated similar opinions regarding data management i.e. daily and monthly reports are shared among the different departments, wide access to the data is expected, and the private client information is accessible to the reception and the housekeeper departments. Some explicit comments from participants were; "There are restriction levels. There are administrator and operator levels. For the other systems, reservation system for example, which does not communicate with Fidelio, only the front desk has access to it". It seems that not all systems exchange data or manage it effectively "there is great work to be done to set the data, define the parameters in order to have databases. Right now we are doing the preparation work to be able to get statistics and lists for the Marketing", "The F&B is separated, they have Micros, they are the only ones to use it." The newer PMS versions can provide more data for the hotel manager but it is time consuming to customize the reports and to find the right information.

Conclusions

The results from the questionnaire and the focus group study show that the market in Europe continues to be led by a handful of providers. Unfortunately, at property level many operators feel they are "held hostage", by this monopolistic position of key PMS providers and / or by corporate office decisions. Many respondents in the survey and participants in the focus group expressed the feeling that they were "forced" to change their software versions. In this market, it seems the suppliers have a huge tacit advantage over their clients. Additionally, their frustration comes from the gap between the way a new version is presented by the supplier and the reality, once bought and implemented. According to the respondents, the demonstrations by the suppliers are well executed from a marketing/communication point of view only. However, when issues appear after installation, the after-sales services do not always satisfy the clients. This is further moderated by the feeling of those front desk operators that they do not have the skills, technology expertise and/or power to make informed decisions about the PMS.

For further information on this research project contact [email protected] or [email protected]

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