The 2024 Guide to Property Management Software

From chaos to control:

Ecient & seamless Property Management Systems

By Mandy Clarke, Editor, AccomNews

A Property Management System (PMS) is an essential tool in the arsenal of hospitality accommodation management, facilitating efficient operations. A PMS serves as the central hub for handling reservations, guest information, billing, and other essential tasks. It operates quietly behind the scenes, orchestrating tasks seamlessly.

Consider this: A bustling lobby, guests eff ortlessly checking in and staff members efficiently managing their duties—all the while, the PMS silently oversees reservations, guest preferences, and financial transactions, ensuring a flawless experience for all.

Here's why a PMS is the ultimate ally for your hospitality accommodation business:

Centralised reservation management: Manages all reservations from one central location. This streamlines the booking process, reduces the risk of overbooking, and ensures accurate availability across all distribution channels.

Guest information management: Maintains comprehensive guest

profiles, including preferences, contact details and booking history.

Efficient check-in and check-out processes: Swift and seamless experiences for guests and the automated procedures also free up staff time to focus on providing exceptional service.

Inventory and rate management: Realtime insights into occupancy rates and competitor pricing enable dynamic pricing strategies that maximise revenue while maintaining competitiveness in the market.

Integration with other systems: Many PMS platforms integrate with other

hotel systems such as housekeeping, accounting and point-of-sale systems. This streamlines operations and eliminates manual data entry, ensuring data accuracy.

Energy savings: When the PMS integrates with the Energy Management System (EMS) it monitors and controls energy consumption leading to cost savings and environmental benefi ts. Using real-time occupancy data from the PMS, the EMS can adjust the heating, ventilation, lighting and air conditioning (HVAC) systems accordingly. For example, the EMS can adjust the lighting and temperature sett ings to conserve energy if a room is unoccupied.

Guest comfort and sustainability:

Integrating a PMS with an EMS not only enables you to increase energy efficiency and reduce operational costs but at the same time it enhances guest comfort while demonstrating your commitment to sustainability.

Reporting and analytics: PMS soft ware generates detailed reports on various aspects of hotel operations. This allows you to identify trends and implement strategies for continuous improvement.

Eff ective communication and timely support: Both are key to ensuring you deliver great hospitality and essential to a positive guest experience. It is important to leverage your PMS system to its full potential and achieve both operational and financial objectives. P04

© Adobe Stock, stock.adobe.com

© Adobe Stock, stock.adobe.com

Airbnb’s 2024 list of preferred partners is out and Resly was named a Preferred partner!

We’re honoured to be one of the select few to receive this status as a nod to the quality of service we provide.

Enhanced communication:

Facilitate better communication between your team members, departments, and guests using the following features:

• Personalise: Use guest data stored in the PMS, to personalise communication with your guests based on their preferences, past stay history and special occasions. This approach enhances the guest experience and fosters stronger guest relationships.

• Two-way messaging: Some PMS platforms offer this, allowing guests to communicate with staff directly through the system. Guests can make requests, ask questions, or provide feedback, and staff can respond promptly, addressing any concerns in real-time.

• Integration with guest apps: Allows guests to access information, make requests and communicate with you conveniently from their smartphones. This fosters a more modern and tech-savvy guest experience.

• Instant alerts and notifications: This ensures timely response and resolution, improving guest satisfaction and loyalty.

• Multilingual support: Some PMS systems offer multilingual communication capabilities, enhancing the guest experience for a diverse clientele. This is vital when you are catering to international guests.

Feedback management: PMS software often includes features for managing guest feedback and reviews, enabling you to monitor guest sentiment, address concerns promptly and leverage positive feedback for marketing purposes. This feedback loop fosters continuous improvement and helps you maintain high service standards.

Stay history and preferences: Whether it's room preferences, accessibility needs, dietary requirements, or special occasions, having access to this data enables you to provide a more personalised experience.

Loyalty program management: Use this data to identify loyal guests, reward their patronage and incentivise repeat bookings.

Targeted marketing campaigns: A great way to drive direct bookings is to segment the guest database and create targeted marketing campaigns tailored to individual guests. This could include offering promotions to frequent guests, targeting past guests with special offers or personalised email marketing, to maximise your marketing efforts.

Look towards the future:

PMS systems are poised for further evolution with a particular focus on the integration of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI-driven algorithms promise to further revolutionise guest experiences through predictive analytics, personalised recommendations and automated guest interactions.

Finally, but very importantly your PMS provider must offer excellent customer service.

A responsive and knowledgeable support team that assists with system implementation, troubleshooting and ongoing training, ensures your business will derive maximum value from its PMS investment.

Remember a responsive PMS provider team will help maximise the capabilities of a PMS system, thus empowering you to deliver exceptional service to your guests while optimising your resources and your revenue potential.

© Adobe Stock, stock.adobe.com

© Adobe Stock, stock.adobe.com

How REI Cloud transformed operations at Pacific Regis Beachfront Holiday Apartments Time is money:

Mandy McMullan, a seasoned management rights entrepreneur, boasts extensive experience in the industry.

Currently managing multiple properties throughout Queensland, including those on the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Whitsundays, she also serves as the onsite owner-operator for Pacific Regis Beachfront Holiday Apartments.

Situated in the heart of Burleigh Heads, this 15-storey resort offers two-bedroom selfcontained holiday apartments.

For her property management needs, Ms McMullan opts for “REI Master’s flagship product,” the cutting-edge REI Cloud technology, implemented across all her properties.

“REI Cloud stands out as the most user-friendly and reliable platform available, which is why I have chosen to utilise it across all my complexes,” she said.

Upon the purchase of the Pacific Regis in 2022, it operated on a different PMS platform. However, Ms McMullan promptly recognised the advantages of transitioning to REI Cloud.

“Implementing REI Cloud at settlement for Pacific Regis

immediately alleviated the challenges we would have faced by sticking with the previous PMS,” she explained. “Having dealt with similar issues in the past, I was confident in my decision to transition to REI Cloud.”

Utilising REI Cloud for business operations has brought about transformative efficiency improvements, and streamlining daily tasks, allowing Ms McMullan to focus on other critical aspects of managing her properties. Additionally, she appreciates the flexibility of REI Cloud, which offers both an “All-In-One Solution” and integration with numerous third-party providers.

“The most tangible benefit of REI Cloud is the time savings,” Ms McMullan emphasised. “Its webbased nature and automation suite enhances efficiencies leading to reduced time and costs for our businesses.

“And as the saying goes, time is money!”

Furthermore, Ms McMullan commends the professionalism, customer service, and support provided by the REI Master team, asserting that no other software provider compares in her experience. She strongly recommends that any operator not currently utilising REI Cloud explore its offerings.

GuestPoint shows the way

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

Tim Canny has worked in the accommodation industry in Perth, London and Canada. Now the owner/operator of Ballarat’s Sovereign Park Motor Inn, it is the GuestPoint Property Management System he employs here that gets his top rating.

As the major reasons for his rave review of the technology, he cites convenience, simplicity of use, and the fact that GuestPoint listens to clients and adapts its soft ware to their individual wishes.

“We’ve been using GuestPoint for 12 years and we were probably one of the first motels to use it,” Mr Canny said. “We switched from their old system ‘Motelier’ to the new version of GuestPoint and we’ve been rapt with it ever since. It’s a great system for our property. We have 49 motel units so it’s perfect for us.

“I’ve worked in a lot of places around the world and GuestPoint is one of the simplest systems I’ve used, and I’ve had lots to compare it with. It’s easy to use and it’s easy to train other people how to use it.

“It saves us so much time. GuestPoint has also become our channel manager, so it now distributes the rates for us and it’s certainly made life much easier for everyone at Sovereign Park.”

David Sawers, GuestPoint’s General Manager, told AccomNews that one of the best features of GuestPoint is that it provides an “all-in-one solution” simplifying so many tasks in hospitality management.

“The GuestPoint Channel Manager, the GuestPoint Payment Gateway and your purpose-built property’s website are

all integrated directly within the PMS allowing you one location to manage your entire business,” he said.

“Although we are heavily designed towards the motel market, we provide many industry sectors with a great solution. We can provide a system to match the needs of anyone who sells a bed or site. This includes properties such as caravan parks, hostels, and bed and breakfast accommodations to name a few, however, our goal is always to keep it simple.

“We have an online training academy where managers and staff can sign up and complete a certified course about the GuestPoint PMS. We also team up with some great relief manager companies that utilise these training courses.

“Many of our customers use this course when they employ new people, rather than having to train them themselves or organise a separate training session. The new team member simply goes online and completes the two-hour course, which covers everything from checking in to running management reports. We can even allocate specific modules so they only have to learn what relates to their property and job role.”

Mr Sawers said while some of GuestPoint’s newer competitors “might

have all the bells and whistles, often they can be hard to navigate”.

“We prioritise what core products customers need and we try to make sure we integrate with those at a competitive price, so the customer is gett ing maximum value for money,” he said.

“We’ve been around for 13 years now and transitioned from being a serverbased product to also a cloud-based version working in unison. Many of our customers have the server-based product on their reception computer. Still, their reservation centres, managers or owners can log in on any device, anywhere, at any time using the cloud-based version.”

Mr Canny said GuestPoint had done away with his days (and nights) updating availability on booking sites manually.

“Using it as our channel manager has been a huge time saver,” he said.

“Through GuestPoint Pay we can now process payments and it’s created a lot more efficiency in our front office. It makes taking deposits and checking in guests so much smoother.

“We’ve made all these changes in the last couple of months, and it’s added so much efficiency to our front office.

“It’s great for our guests too because they get instant confirmation emails and text messages from our GuestPoint, so communication-wise it’s tremendous.”

Mr Canny said GuestPoint provided 24-hour support and is “very quick at responding and solving any issues”.

“They listen to their customers and even implement suggested changes. They’ve adapted things for us based on our feedback,” he said.

“We’ve produced ideas, only to find them appear in the next version of their product.

“We have conference rooms listed through GuestPoint as well as our guestrooms, but we didn’t want them included in our occupancy percentage, because it skewed the figures. GuestPoint was able to install a feature for us through which we could choose what rooms were included in our occupancy data, so we could exclude those conference rooms and make our occupancy rates more accurate when it came to reporting.

“We made suggestions about emailing, and being able to amend and edit the emails before they were sent out by the system. GuestPoint listened and made changes to the soft ware for us.

“They’ve updated and improved their products quickly based on our customer feedback. For us, that’s a great thing.”

Tim Canny

Ballarat’s Sovereign Park Motor Inn. Image supplied.

RMS Cloud Cllix into action

CLLIX Apartments is a pioneering company in the Management and Letting Rights (MLR) business, leading the way with innovative technology solutions. Shankar Kotha, the Chief Commercial Officer, describes the company’s model as a “tech-enabled hospitality solution” for its 18 properties and 8500 apartments, which it manages on behalf of the unit owners.

At the heart of CLLIX’s groundbreaking innovations is RMS Cloud (RMS), provided by a company with more than 40 years of experience in property management system technology. The trust accounting module is supported by industry partner ARAMA, solidifying RMS as one of the most reliable platforms globally. The capabilities of RMS were recognised by this tech-forward enterprise and employed throughout its properties, a testament to the strength of RMS.

CLLIX utilises RMS software across all its properties, encompassing the short-term letting division. Mr Kotha emphasised the seamless integration of RMS in organising Trust Cash Transactions reports for auditors, ensuring compliance with numerical order receipts.

“Our transactions and guest profile history are managed through the RMS system. With our focus on MLR, we rely on the RMS system to handle all our transactions in accordance with trust requirements.”

RMS provides an all-in-one solution for the business. “Pretty much everything happens within the RMS system,” Mr Kotha said.

“We have a centralised corporate office

that liaises regularly with the RMS team to make sure that everything is compliant and that we are doing everything by the book when it comes to statutory compliance.

“Our reservation team members make bookings in RMS Cloud and when the guests arrive at the property they are checked into the system. We handle payments through the system and when the guests are departing the property, we check them out through the system.”

Garth Kay, Head of Customer Success - Global at RMS, underscored RMS’ integral role at CLLIX Apartments and Hotels in boosting operational efficiency and guest satisfaction.

“RMS Cloud has become a great asset to CLLIX’s success, optimising pricing and availability to maximise revenue while ensuring an exceptional guest experience,” he said.

Mr Kay highlighted the power of RMS technology – on how it is revolutionising guest communication through features like 2-way SMS solutions.

“It enables streamlined communication between properties, staff, and guests, fostering convenience and stronger guest relationships. Personalised interactions, including booking confirmations and timely responses to enquiries, contributing to overall guest satisfaction and loyalty.

“RMS’ extensive partner directory, boasting over 550 integrations, has empowered CLLIX to curate a custom tech stack tailored to their specific needs.

“Through partner integrations facilitated by RMS Cloud, such as Duetto, CLLIX has gained access to sophisticated revenue optimisation capabilities. Leveraging datadriven insights from RMS’ robust technology, Duetto helps to enable dynamic pricing adjustments in response to market demand and competitor rates,” explained Mr Kay.

“This proactive approach allows CLLIX to capitalise on real-time revenue opportunities across their 18 properties, providing a significant edge in the competitive hospitality landscape.”

Mr Kotha added that CLLIX leverages the RMS Channel Manager feature for distribution to online travel agents, government agencies and corporate clients.

Mr Kotha said his company was rebranded as CLLIX about 18 months ago when directors saw a real need for the company to provide a digitally savvy offering for the market.

CLLIX deployed self-check-in kiosks for automation of guest check-ins in partnership with H2TechLabs and RMS.

The partnership between CLLIX and RMS is integral to the brands continued success, with RMS’ global presence poised to elevate CLLIX’s aggressive expansion strategy to new heights. Leveraging RMS’ technology, already deployed in more than 70 countries, CLLIX is well-positioned to achieve its growth ambitions on a global scale, with the help of RMS.

Mr Kotha said: “Our founder and CEO Michael Song started the company about nine years ago with Arena Apartments which is currently part of our portfolio.

“We are true to the MLR business and that’s where our growth has come from. We have 12 properties in Queensland – in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, five in Melbourne, and one in Adelaide.

“We have a very agile MLR operation under Michael Song, who is a dynamic CEO, and we are heavily investing in our technology.

“We want to go global and in fact we have plans to land our first overseas acquisition this year.”

Brisbane Skytower by CLLIX, image supplied.

What is the impact of implementing Resly?

– Here is a Resort Manager's review

Resly Is “Extremely Fast, Extremely Easy”, Says Resort Manager

The whole purpose of a property management system is to make life easier for hoteliers and resort managers. The PMS needs to be reliable, efficient and easy to use. So we asked Sam Melis, who manages the Noosa Blue Resort, about her experience using the Resly system.

A great time saver

“The minute we heard of Resly”, said Sam, “I wanted to know all about it. I went down to another resort here that highly recommended it. The earliest benefit that I could see immediately was how time consuming the other system actually ends up being, compared to the Resly system. Everything is so quick. It’s extremely fast. A job that would normally take me an hour or two is literally a five minute job these days.”

Portable because it lives on the cloud

Resly lives on the cloud, so it’s accessible wherever there is a mobile connection.

Says Sam, “I can take my laptop and I can be at home. I don’t need to come to work anymore really.”

She loves the fact that Resly is a cloud-based mobile platform. But it doesn’t stop with portability

and convenience. Resort managers like Sam don’t need to be concerned about applying software patches or version updates because the Resly team takes care of all that.

Customer support & continuous improvement

“The biggest thing that I love about Resly”, says Sam, “is the support team and the support you get. I felt that support from day one, and even now down the track I still feel like I have that support. Any request, any wishlist item that I can think of, send it to Resly and it’s actioned. It’s done. Almost weekly there are new updates happening and a little alert tells you what’s new. It continues to get better.”

Flexibility between resorts

As well as her main responsibility

at Noosa Blue, Sam also looks after several other resorts in the area.

“Another great thing with Resly is that it’s extremely easy for me to move between the different resorts. With Resly, I can access different information from the one spot, not having to move around [between applications] which makes my life 100 times easier.”

A roundup of other popular features of Resly

Direct booking: With the Resly direct booking engine, you can effortlessly acquire commission free, direct bookings. Reducing your properties reliance on third party agents.

Communication: The Resly suite of products includes an automated professional messaging facility that delivers branded emails and unlimited SMS messages to your customers at no extra cost.

End of month: The regular EOM reporting is handled quickly and efficiently, which our users love.

Reconciliation is a breeze with trust account bank feeds available from over 30 Australian banks.

Month by month contracts: Instead of locking clients into 24 month contracts, our users are free to leave. Of course, that puts pressure on the Resly crew to deliver what we’ve promised. So far, so good.

Back-ups taken care of: There’s no need to back-up your computer because all your data sits on our secure cloud storage.

The transition to Resly: Data migration can be quite tricky, especially when you’re moving away from a creaky old platform. That’s where our new clients love the fact that we take care of data migration. We also provide one-on-one training to get you up and running.

Perhaps the most important of all…

Staff are happier: Instead of having to do battle with a legacy system that was designed way back when, and had various additions and functionality tacked on over the years, everything about the Resly system is smoothly integrated. It was designed that way.

Sam Melis, Noosa Blue Resort

Software for smart hoteliers.

The all-in-one property management solution - Resly combines the latest technology and simplified trust accounting, wrapped up in one intuitive and easy to use software system.

resly.com.au