Study Reveals 58% of Hotel Executives Want Better Integration Between their PMS and Other Systems

Many of today’s Property Management Systems (PMS) suffer from poor levels of integration and a lack of support for hoteliers, a new report published this month claims.

The report, ‘h2c Global PMS Study: The Future of Hotel Management Systems’ quizzed executives from 110 global hotel chains on their technology needs.

PMS technology is vital in the smooth running of hotels as it gives managers an overview of everything from bookings to sales and marketing functions, HR, payroll and amenities management.

While poor support was ranked as a major gripe for hoteliers when it came to their current PMS provision (30%), what they wanted in an "ideal world" was most revealing. Here, 58% called for better integration between their PMS and other systems. Also, on the wish-list was better mobile integration (41%); easy to use interface (36%) and access to better intelligence data (34%).

Similarly, hoteliers suggested today’s technology was not built with ease of use in mind. In Europe, a staggering 66% said they were only using a fraction of the functionality of their system. This contrasts with the fact that only one-third (38%) said they could use the PMS in a ‘guest-facing’ way, be that managing bookings or letting them access hotel services.

Andrew Williams, product strategy director at Guestline commented: “The h2c study demonstrates very clearly something that Guestline has been saying for some time – hoteliers don’t want to be IT experts. Instead, they want a PMS that is simple to use, intuitive and gives them the information in an understandable way. The report also confirms how influential support functions are for a hotel when choosing a PMS and that it is absolutely crucial to offer quick responses to problems."

Guestline's systems are all built with open APIs because it knows that its customers are rarely starting from scratch and they need to integrate with many other systems. Hoteliers often add systems together as they grow and it is vital these different components talk to one another.

The report also revealed conflict amongst hoteliers over how technology was chosen and sourced. While 30% said they wanted a cloud-based solution, the deciding vote on purchasing decisions was very often left to IT departments rather than those at the ‘sharp end’ of the business.

Michaela Papenhoff, Founder and Managing Director of h2c, h2c commented: “Today’s market dynamics tie the resources of many vendors down to getting their technology right at the expense of support services. At the end of the day, both tasks are equally important to keep hotels happy.”