The hotel industry and the hospitality industry in general can be very lucrative, but it’s also super competitive. There are always going to be plenty of hotel owners and operators nearby wanting to poach your business while you want to do the same from them. You’re always trying to find an edge because if you can’t, you’ll quickly go out of business.
That means you should look for technological solutions for common problems and situations that arise. The hotel PMS system is one way for you to get that valuable edge over the competition. Let’s look at some of the things it can do for you and the rest of your staff that might just convince you to invest in one without any further delay.
Your Guests Can Use the System to Contact Housekeeping
The StayNTouch hotel PMS system mentions on their website that they are a way to “free your staff from the front desk.” What they mean is that your staff can leave the front desk and roam around the property, completing tasks because of the flexibility the system provides once you implement it.
However, it’s not just you and your hotel staff that can use the system. You can also allow guests to access it. When they do, they’ll find it to be every bit as convenient as you and the rest of your staff will probably discover.
For example, maybe a guest gets to their room during the check-in process, and they find that it is not as clean as they would like. This sort of thing doesn’t happen often, but maybe there was an oversight, and housekeeping missed that room.
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That’s the sort of thing that can get you negative online ratings if you don’t fix it quickly. Your guests can use the system to inform the staff of what’s happening, and they can immediately send housekeeping to fix up the room.
You can then dispatch someone to meet the guests in their room and apologize profusely for the error. You might set them up in the lounge with some complimentary champagne while the housekeeping crew fixes the problem. This way, you’ve used the system to quickly fix a potential issue, and you’ve made sure the guests stay happy.
Your Guests Can Easily Upgrade Their Room
You might have some guests who booked one of your regular rooms to stay for a few nights. They arrive, and they use the system to check in, either in the lobby or maybe you have a smartphone app that they can utilize. Either way, this is a faster way to do things than having them speak to a staff member.
They might notice an easy upsell feature on the tablet in the lobby that mentions how they can get a better room at a discounted price. They might be okay with purchasing a suite now that they’re in an exotic setting and away from their home and a familiar environment.
Simply being in an exotic destination can often convince someone who doesn’t usually spend frivolously to treat themselves. You can also be in a better situation to offer this customer the suite at a discounted rate because the system knows that you didn’t sell the suite for that weekend.
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Your Guests Can Easily Leave Feedback
Some hotel owners and operators don’t understand how vital guest feedback actually is. When a family shops for hotel rooms in an area they don’t usually visit, they don’t know anything about the accommodations there. They rely on a stranger’s online feedback to let them know how clean a hotel was, how friendly the staff was, what kind of food the lounge had, and so forth.
Because of this, you need to get positive feedback whenever you can. The more you can do to solicit it, the better it’s going to be if you want lasting industry success.
You can have a section of the platform where guests leave feedback, but they’re not likely to do so until you incentivize it. You can tell them you’ll give them 10% off their next stay if they review their visit. You can make the questions as easy as possible to answer.
The more five-star reviews you can accrue, the more likely that you can attract some new customers. The discount you promised the family that just stayed with you makes it probable that they will come back as well.
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You Can Upsell Without Relying on Staff Members
We already mentioned how you can use the software to upsell your clients. That suite instead of a regular-sized room is going to get you some more money to help your bottom line, but that’s far from the only add-on you can feature.
You might use the platform to make the guest aware of a couple’s cruise that’s happening at the marina nearby. You can partner with a yachting company if they cut you in on every couple that signs up for one of their moonlight cruises.
You might mention on the platform that families can sign up for exclusive lounge access, a sightseeing tour, or whatever else you have going on that’s not part of the original room rental fee. You also don’t need to have your staff members push these add-ons since the software suite can do it for you.
Often, people will sign up for things more if a computer offers them as add-ons rather than if a human tries to convince the customer that they’ll want the additional service or product. Computers aren’t pushy.
This will also probably make some of your lobby staff breathe a sigh of relief since some people don’t like trying to upsell customers. Some individuals are born salespeople, but it makes others uncomfortable.
You will quickly find many other things that a reliable hotel PMS system can do for you. You can also customize yours to make sure that it’s handling all of your needs.
