How to choose a hotel PMS: 12 questions to ask first

A PMS, or property management system, is the program that runs your front desk: reservations, check-in and check-out, bills, receipts and the guest list. It also holds a great deal of your hotel's money records. So when you choose a hotel PMS, you are choosing something your staff will use every hour and your accountant will rely on every month.

Every vendor will say theirs is easy and complete. Do not decide by what they say. Decide by what you can see, on your own rooms, with your own staff. These twelve questions help.

About the daily work

1. Can my receptionist learn it in one shift?

Ask a real receptionist to try it. Give her a simple task: make a reservation, check the guest in, add a charge, take a payment, check out, print the receipt. If she is confused, your staff will be too. Ease of use matters more than a long list of features.

2. Does it follow how my hotel works?

Do you take a deposit by bank transfer? Charge overstay nights automatically? Split a bill between a company and a guest? Hand over between shifts? Ask to see each one. A system that forces new routines will be worked around.

3. Does the bar, the restaurant and the store connect to the front desk?

If a guest charges a drink to their room, does it appear on their bill without anyone typing it again? When the bar sells a drink, does the stock go down? Separate systems mean double typing and gaps. See how this fits together on the platform page.

About the money

4. Can I see what happened yesterday without being there?

The owner should be able to read the day's earnings, bookings and exceptions from a phone. Ask to see it. Our post on what an owner should read every morning lists what matters.

5. How does it stop money going missing?

Ask what happens when someone voids a bill, gives a discount, deletes a charge or changes a rate. Is there a record that no one can edit? Do risky actions need approval? Do cash-ups show shortages? Read ten small ways money leaks out of a hotel and ask the vendor to show you each answer.

6. Does it handle accounts, or must I buy another program?

Ask whether bills post to the books automatically, and whether your accountant can read the reports. Re-typing the front desk's figures into another program costs time and creates mistakes.

About your records

7. Can I move my old records in, and can I take them out?

Your guest history and balances should come across when you start, and come out in a usable format if you ever leave. Ask who checks that the totals match.

8. Who can see what?

Each person should have their own login and only the permissions they need. Ask to see how you remove a person's access the day they leave.

About support and risk

9. What happens when it breaks at night?

Ask who answers, how, and when. A phone number that goes to voicemail at 6 pm is not support for a hotel.

10. What does it need to run?

Does it need a server, special computers or a fast connection? What happens when the internet or power goes down? Be honest about your own hotel's conditions. Our post on keeping hotel software working through power cuts and slow internet will help you plan.

11. How much will it really cost?

Ask for the full price in naira, including setup, training, support and extras, and what happens when you add rooms. See what hotel software costs in Nigeria for the list of costs to ask about.

12. Can I try it before I pay?

A vendor sure of its product lets you try it on your own rooms. Xenia has a 14-day free trial with no card needed. Test it with real work, not a demo that someone else drives.

Do not skip the live test

Before you commit, run one full day on the new system alongside your current way of working. Make five reservations, check in three guests, take a deposit, charge a drink to a room, check one guest out, and do a cash-up at the end. If the numbers match and the staff can do it without calling the vendor, you have your answer.

If you would like to see Xenia handle that test, book a demo and we will use a sample hotel, or look at the front desk page first.