How to Integrate a PMS with Channel Managers, Booking Engines & OTAs

PMS (property management system) integration with channel managers and hotel booking engines can be a game-changer for your hospitality business. If you’re a serviced apartment or hotel owner, a PMS is a must to give your brand that much-needed competitive edge in the current digital-oriented market. It will boost efficiency by automating various repetitive tasks like check-ins and check-outs, guest communication, housekeeping management, and more. At the same time, it will reduce your errors and offer access to real-time data updates on guest information, room availability, and other vital information. This will help you respond promptly to changing scenarios and optimize your resource allocation likewise.

In fact, your business will also get a boost with PMS integration thanks to the increasing options for personalization. This will help you access guest profiles and preferences, thereby tailoring your services and anticipating guest requirements well in advance. That’s not all; you can optimize pricing, engage in targeted marketing campaigns, and scale with the growth of your business. Let’s find out why and how hotel PMS integration matters for your business.

Major Systems That You Should Consider

When it comes to hotel PMS integration, there are several key systems worth considering in this regard. They include the following:

·       PMS- The Property Management System is the core setup which manages all parts of your daily operations. These include reservations, room assignments, guest check-ins and check-outs, reporting, and housekeeping.

·       Channel Manager- It is a system that distributes your hotel inventory to OTAs (online travel agencies). This will sync inventory and rates throughout multiple OTAs and other channels for distribution. You can thus ensure that when a room is booked on any platform, it is automatically unavailable on other platforms, thereby eliminating overbookings.

·       Booking Engine- The booking engine will enable your guests to directly book rooms on your website and other platforms. It will integrate with the PMS and channel managers to update pricing and availability on a real-time basis.

·       OTAs- Online travel agencies are third-party platforms that you need to grow your business. They function like online marketplaces for hotel and serviced apartment brands, linking them with potential customers seamlessly.

How to Integrate: A Step-By-Step Guide

Here are the major steps to integrate your PMS with hotel channel managers and hotel OTAs, along with booking engines and other key systems.

·       Step 1- Choose a PMS that offers integration support or comes with an open API.

·       Step 2- Link the Channel Manager to your PMS and then sync the availability of inventory in real-time.

·       Step 3- Connect your Booking Engine for automating direct bookings.

·       Step 4- Enable OTA syncing through your Channel Manager dashboard.

·       Step 5- Test the synced system and then go live. It will ensure convenient updates on a real-time basis.

You will also have to integrate your payment gateways, revenue management systems, POS, and CRM. Other housekeeping management and guest communication modules also have to be integrated and customized accordingly.

Benefits of a Fully Integrated System

There are several advantages of fully integrated systems as you’ll find out. Some of them include:

·       Streamlined Operations- You can easily streamline day-to-day operations, covering multiple aspects such as front desk operations and housekeeping schedules. Through centralizing operations, the system enables efficient room allocations, faster check-ins and check-outs, and better guest request management. You can also enable better guest services with a central inventory source.

·       Boost Bookings- This is possible with a centralized inventory source, thereby keeping everyone updated on room availability, special requests, and guest preferences. Centralization will ensure more customized and consistent guest service.

·       Better Convergence- With easier integration, your sales teams can forecast demand more accurately based on real-time occupancy data and analytics. Your front desk teams can manage check-ins and check-outs better without manual errors. Payment processing will also be safer with integrated solutions, while considerably lowering the risks of fraud.

·       Improved Revenue Management- Revenue management also gets a boost from easy access to extensive data on room rates. This allows you to implement dynamic pricing strategies to scale up revenues. Your PMS can share relevant data with several internal systems and you can make data-driven decisions as a result. You will find it easy to manage multiple booking and customer-facing channels without spending a lot of time and energy.

·       Real-Time Insights & Analytics- An integrated PMS means getting access to customizable reporting solutions. You can analyze real-time data pertaining to occupancy rates, average daily rate, and various other metrics. This will help you get actionable insights for decision-making. The robust analytics edge will help you gain a competitive advantage in your sector.

·       Happier Guests & Smoother Staff Workflows- The PMS will help you personalize services for guests based on their available data and preferences. You can automate check-ins and check-outs for better experiences, while using dedicated channels to automate guest communication. Prompt responses, customization, and dedicated guest apps will also help you improve the satisfaction quotient considerably. At the same time, happier guests aside, there will be smoother staff workflows as well. Everyone will be able to view the centralized repository and you can assign tasks and track them, ensuring that they are completed in a timely way.

Concluding Notes

As you can see, integrating a PMS with channel managers, booking engines, and OTAs, will naturally give you massive benefits. You can expect a huge boost for your hotel or serviced apartment brand with improved guest satisfaction, prompt maintenance and housekeeping, personalized services, optimized check-ins and check-outs, dynamic pricing for scaling revenues, and real-time inventory access and updates. Every aspect of your day-to-day operations will be handled seamlessly by the PMS.

In a highly competitive global hospitality market, the aPerfectStay PMS will give you an edge over your counterparts for sure. It will help you bring more guests, scale with business growth (if you opt for a cloud-based solution), and most importantly, enable a leaner, centralized, and efficient operation overall. Make your brand stand out with a robust and future-ready solution. Integrate your PMS today without further delays.