Automation has gradually crept into various areas of the hospitality industry over time. Early systems were used for budgets and reports, then expanded to sales reports and room inventory control. Advances in technology brought comprehensive reservations systems and the ability to handle transactions electronically. As computers gained more capabilities, they began analyzing reservations data to provide valuable marketing insights and supporting more sophisticated front office systems tracking guest histories and preferences. Modern property management systems now integrate information across all aspects of property management to improve services, maximize revenue, and enhance the guest experience.

1. PROPERTY
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Chapter 7

2. HISTORY OF AUTOMATION IN HOSPITALITY
INDUSTRY
1. At first, automation was a tool for
producing and analyzing budgets,
reports, statistics, accounts.
2. Then, automation crept into such areas
as sales reports, rooms inventory control,
timekeeping.
3. Advancements in telecommunications
and technology brought reservations
systems and their ability to handle
transactions.
Source: American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute

3. HISTORY OF AUTOMATION IN HOSPITALITY
INDUSTRY
4. Further advances came as computers
were used to analyze captured
reservations data, thus providing
important marketing info.
5. Still further advances brought front-office
systems that provided guest histories,
patterns of use, preferences.
Source: American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute

4. INTRODUCTION
 What influences technology need for
lodging establishments?
- Department needs
- Guest amenities
 Service level and customer relationships
- Facility size and layout
- Organizational structure

5. INTRODUCTION
 Property Management Systems - PMS
 Evolving
 Complex
 Peer to Peer (P2P)
 Same application installed on more than one
computer

6. INTRODUCTION
 PMS - Centric
Model
Property
Management systems
integrate all of the
information needed to
manage

7. PMS FUNCTIONALITY
 PMS must be able to provide six basic functions
 Enable guests to make reservations
 Enable guests to check-in/register when they arrive
and check-out/pay when they leave
 Enable staff to maintain guest facilities
 Account for guests’ financial transactions
 Track guests’ activities for use in future sales efforts
 Interface with other systems

8. PMS FUNCTIONALITY
 Enable
guests to
make
reservations

9. PMS FUNCTIONALITY
 Enable guests to check-in/register when they
arrive and check-out/pay when they leave
 At front desk
 Remotely
 PDA
 Remote terminal

10. PMS FUNCTIONALITY
 Enable staff
to maintain
guest
facilities
 Room Type
 Status
 Occupant
 Inspections

11. PMS FUNCTIONALITY
 Account for guests’ financial transactions
 Credit Card Information
 Address Information
 Business
 Home
 Room Rate
 Room Charges
 Night Audit
 Collects and Posts Room/Guest Data

12. PMS FUNCTIONALITY
 Track guests’ activities for use in future sales
efforts
 Information relevant and beneficial to future
sales efforts
 Accessed by:
 CRS - Central Reservation System
 CRM - Customer Relationship Management

13. PMS FUNCTIONALITY
 Interface with other systems
GDS - Global Distribution System
CRS - Central Reservation System
must integrate seamlessly even if from
different vendors
Sales and Catering Applications
POS (F&B)
Retail Points

14. PMS FUNCTIONALITY
 Interface with other systems
HVAC or EMS Systems
In-Room Amenities
Messaging
Security
Call Accounting System

15. FOUR KEY INTERFACES
 Real-time interface with the GDS/CRS
 The activities management system
 Built-in revenue and yield management
 The enterprise

16. REAL-TIME INTERFACE
 GDS/CRS
 Switches
 Goal: to generate revenue
 Complicated due to different business models
and varying relationships between entities
 Real-time: greater flexibility
 Costly to develop systems

17. INTERNET RESERVATIONS MODULE (IRS)
 Most PMS have IRS
 Make reservations online
 Book through Internet
 Eliminate fees –Expedia about %12

18. REAL-TIME INTERFACE
 Tracks guest room and activities
 Cancels appointments if guest cancels or checks
out
 Repairs
 Pagers, blackberry

19. REAL-TIME INTERFACE
 Revenue and Yield Management Tools
 Managing room sales to maximize revenue and
profits
 Examines multiple variables and provides
complex calculations

20. REAL-TIME INTERFACE
 The Enterprise
 Refers to all systems - front and back
 PMS (front)
 Payroll, Purchasing, HR (back)
 EAI - Enterprise Application Integration
 End goal:
 of fewer redundancies
 and increase in collaborative synergy
 ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning
 BPI - Business Process Integration

21. GUI - GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE
 Interface
 Intuitive
 Fits naturally with expectations
 Ease of training
 Multi-lingual
 Includes Websites

22. PMS EVOLUTION
 1st Generation: Minicomputers
 2nd Generation: UNIX/NOVELL
 3rd Generation: Reservation systems
 4th Generation: Client-server
 5th Generation: GUI
 6th Generation: ASP (VPN)

23. RESERVATION SYSTEMS
 Selling individual reservations
 Selling group reservations
 Displaying room availability and guest lists
 Tracking advance deposits
 Tracking travel agent bookings and
commissions
 Generating confirmation slips and various
reservation reports

24. RESERVATION SYSTEM SCREEN

25. DISPLAYING ROOM AVAILABILITY
AND GUEST LISTS
 Today’s inventory
 Future date
 7 to 14 day
availability
 Blocked room

26. RESERVATIONS
 CRS (central
reservation system)
 IRS
 Voice Center
 GDS (Global
Distribution System)

27. COMPANIES
 Fidelio
 German company
 World Leader
 Was bought by Micros, USA based company
 Now, Micros/Fidelio

28. CRS
 Decentralize the reservation function
 Centralizes marketing and sales efforts
 One way
 Two way

29. INTERNET BASED CRS
 Started in late 1990s
 Flexible
 Cost effective
 Compliant with GDS
 Marriott.com / starwood.com /
bestwestern.com

30. DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS FOR A HOTEL
1. Travel Agency (GDS)
2. CRS (800 reservation number)
3. Call the hotel directly
4. Corporate travel agent
5. Hotel website (i.e. Hilton.com)
6. Internet travel agency (i.e. Expedia.com) (Online
GDS / ADS/ IDS)
7. Walk-in
8. Other

31. GDS

32. ADS/ IDS

33. OTHER TRAVEL RELATED WEBSITES

34. SWITCH

35. YIELD MANAGEMENT
 Yield management rules can be
established for:
 overbooking
 discount control
 length of stay control
 product class control
 group evaluation

36. TRAVELER’S USE OF INTERNET
 87% of traveling population in the U.S. are
online travelers
 88% use the Internet to make travel plans
 52% used the Internet to book their travels

37. GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS
 Joint ventures linking a number of diverse
businesses
 A big inventory
 Smart Switch
 Translator

38. GDS
 There are 4 major GDS
 Amadeus
 Galileo/Apollo
 Sabre
 Wordspan

39. SMART SWITCH
American Airlines
Unix System
Marriott
Windows Based System
Hertz Rent a Car
OS System
SABRE
Common Platform

40. SWITCH
 Pegasus
 http://www.pegs.com
 Wizcom (Trust)
 http://hospitality.cendant.com/technology/

41. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
 Property management systems provide data that marketing can use
for:
 Revenue maximization
 Better rooms inventory control
 More accurate management of room blocks
 Yield management capabilities
Source: American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute

42. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
 Automation helps hotels provide better guest service and related
recognition programs:
 Guests can count on same room, same seat, same car
preference as a result of guest history and preference systems
 Express check-in and check-out
 Automated check-in and check-out
 Similar technology has provided automated airline ticketing and car
rentals
Source: American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute

43. FRONT OFFICE SYSTEM
Guest registration
-retrieve reservation
-assign a room
-collect payment
-verify room status
Telephone services
- Phone calls
- Wake up call
-Messages
Cashiering and guest
check-out
-generate folios
-post transactions
-open and close cashier
shift
-guest check out
Room status and
housekeeping
management
-room discrepancy report
-room status report
-etc.
Front
office
system

44. NIGHT AUDIT
 Recording all transactions
 Posting of room and tax
 Producing a trial balance
 Generating reports and updating statistics

45. VIDEO
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OFs7130
GKQ