Hotel inventory management software is something that is very useful for the modern hotelier. In this article, we'll discuss it in detail. We will cover what it is and how it works. We will also list some examples of it that you should know about.
Hotel inventory management software is also sometimes referred to as a hotel inventory management system. Whichever term you hear, what is being spoken about is a system of software that was designed to assist hotel operators. It is in place so they can manage their inventory. This includes rooms, but also amenities and various additional resources.
What’s most important to remember is that as a hotelier, you need to have effective inventory management at all times. That is how you can maximize returns and manage and create demand.
You will always have money invested in your hotel. This is tied up in its rooms. The only way you can get a return on that investment is to sell those rooms optimally. Your main considerations for hotel inventory management will usually be market segmentation, distribution, and pricing. The right hotel inventory management software can help you with all of these things.
Now, let’s take some time to talk about how a hotel inventory management system works, as well as its benefits and overall purpose.
To put it simply, this kind of management software works by automating various administrative tasks. If you didn’t have it in place, then these chores would take up a lot of you or your staff’s time.
The reason you want this software in place is because it reduces errors and streamlines your operations. If it’s working correctly, it should also maximize your revenue.
If the software you chose is working correctly, then it should be able to improve guest satisfaction, optimize your occupancy rates, make informed decisions, analyze your data, and update your rates. You will likely want it to manage your bookings and track room availability as well. In this respect, it is every bit as useful to the modern hotelier as having a global distribution system or a hotel reservation system in place.
You should also be aware that a hotel inventory management system can often integrate with other systems. For example, if you have a customer relationship management tool or a property management one, integration with both of these is possible. Once you’ve synced these systems, you should be able to get a comprehensive view of your operations that is highly useful to you and any of the hotel’s other decision makers.
We’ve already spoken a little about the purpose of your hotel inventory management software, but let’s expand on that for a moment. This software can be a tremendous help to hotel managers and owners who are looking to track and control their inventory. While this includes rooms and other amenities, you can also use it to keep track of additional assets.
For instance, this software can be used to help manage your pricing, availability, and reservations. You might also use it to manage both your online and offline bookings.
With the right software package in place, you can automate dozens of processes that were once manual. This should increase the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of your operations.
Let’s go into more detail regarding the benefits of hotel inventory management software. While there are dozens of them, we’ll focus on some of the most evident ones.
If you use hotel inventory management software, you can get highly detailed reports on many aspects of your hotel’s operations. This, in turn, can help you drive revenue growth. You can do this by looking at the data your management software provides and making informed decisions based on it.
If you do not have a background in marketing, it’s helpful to have some individuals on staff who do. They will have suggestions regarding what you can do with the data your software collects that you probably won’t be able to come up with on your own.
If you get one of the high-end hotel inventory management software suites that exist today, you can also enjoy the enhanced security that it provides. You can set the software to back itself up regularly. That way, in case anything goes wrong, you will have a secure backup of all data going back weeks, months, or even years.
You will also have the option of encrypting your data, and you will probably want to take advantage of that. There’s no reason to think that anyone is going to try to steal that data, but the hotel industry, like any other, is always in danger of potential theft or espionage. If you have encryption in place for all your data, you can rest easy in the knowledge that no one unauthorized can access it.
This kind of software suite is also certain to create a better experience for your guests. While there is a private-facing aspect to this software that only you and those you authorize can access, there is typically also a public-facing one that you’ll make accessible to your guests and would-be guests.
You can allow them to use the software to easily check in and out of your hotel. By doing so, you save them time. You can also reduce the number of staff members who at one point you would have needed to have on hand to handle these duties in person.
It’s also undeniable that if you have an efficient hotel inventory management software system in place, that should cut back on your costs in several areas. There are various daily routines that can be both simplified and automated with this software. That should allow you to scale back your payroll. You should see more efficiency in your overall operation as well.
The ability to forecast with hotel inventory management software should not be overlooked. With the data you bring in, you can learn about what times of the year your hotel is likely to be at its busiest.
While some of that information should already be obvious, this software provides a more in-depth look at the numbers than you’d otherwise be able to generate. With this information, you will know when to potentially change your room pricing.
The other way this software can help you is through the most advanced, up-to-the-minute inventory tracking. Human error is always a possibility if you don’t automate this part of your hotel’s business. With inventory management software monitoring your sales and cancellations, you will be able to keep track of your inventory meticulously and always accurately.
Choosing hotel inventory management software can be a challenge. You’ll want to carefully compare the features of each option before making your selection.
There are dozens of examples of hotel inventory management software suites that are competing for your attention these days. FutureLog is one of those.
It offers real-time stock-on-hand calculations. It also has Bluetooth connectivity so you can boot it up if you want to check on your hotel’s room availability while you’re on the go. It also gives you barcode scanning abilities and paperless inventory management.
The Vyapar app allows you to manage and check your stock levels. That includes not just how many rooms you have available, but also things like kitchen inventories and supplies for your rooms.
It also has one of the better systems of effective resource utilization and waste minimization. You can use its real-time updates to keep an eye on how many rooms you have available during the busiest times of the year.
Little Hotelier includes one of the easiest front desk management systems to learn how to use. Your staff should have no issues mastering it.
It is also a booking engine and a channel manager. If you want to optimize how you sell rooms online, this is going to be one of your best options. You can use it for both OTAs and your direct channels.
Rategain allows you to manage your pricing and provides you with real-time room availability. It has a footing in over 100 countries and also partners with over 700 entities in the hotel industry. It currently connects an astonishing 191,000 hotels and over 24 billion data points.
Cloudbeds is considered to be one of the better-known names in the industry. Their hotel inventory management software can integrate easily with various payment gateways and booking channels.
It offers channel management, automatic rate adjustments, and can give you customized real-time availability updates for all of your properties as well. It also boasts frictionless payment processing and prides itself on being easy to both learn and use.
Since the needs of no two hotels are going to be exactly the same, it makes sense to consider what you’re looking for from the software suite that you eventually choose. Here are some of the usual considerations for hotel owners.
This may sound obvious, but if your hotel inventory management software can’t save you money, then it’s pointless to use that particular one. You might need to do some experimentation in this area.
You can get together with the decision makers for your hotel and talk to them about which one they think makes the most sense for you. If you come to a consensus, then you can try that software for a while and see what it does for you.
These bespoke platforms are available through a software as a service model. You can always move on to a different option after a few months if you find the one you chose isn’t reducing your costs as much as you had envisioned.
No two of these software platforms are exactly alike, so you’ll need to think about which features each one has and which ones you feel you need. Maybe you require something like multilingual or multi-currency support. If so, then be sure to get one that’s integrated with these features.
As we mentioned before, there will most likely be some aspects of the software that only you and the high-ranking members of your hotel staff will use. Your public-facing staff will use other parts of it, while your customers will use some of its other features.
You’ll want a software platform that is easy to train your staff in how to use and that is intuitive enough for your customers to master quickly and easily. If they can’t learn how to use it almost instantaneously, then you will likely lose them to a competitor.
The support this software platform offers can be just as important. If anything ever goes wrong, or if you have any questions, you should be able to reach out to the manufacturer at any hour of the day or night and get a satisfactory response.
Scalability is an aspect of this kind of software that you might not necessarily think about, but you should. If your business really begins to take off, you want a software platform that can grow along with it.
Integration is probably the last aspect of this kind of software that you will want to look for. You want software that can integrate instantly with your current system. What you will probably want is an open API structure. That is the kind of platform that can integrate easily with your revenue management tools or CRM software
Now, you should have an understanding of the purpose and potential benefits of a good hotel inventory management software system, as well as a working knowledge of some of the ones that are on the market. You can take some time to look at which software platform you think will work best for your hotel, sign up for it, and see what it can do for you.
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Hotel owners must handle many aspects of their hotel’s day-to-day operations. There are many responsibilities, and you can’t afford to neglect any of them. That certainly applies to hotel revenue management.
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