Guide
How to choose a hotel PMS
The choice goes wrong in the same way almost every time: people look at products before understanding the problem. These seven steps invert that order — and the first one requires talking to no vendor at all.
The seven steps
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Measure what you have, before looking at what is out there
It sounds obvious and almost nobody does it: people start from quotes instead of from the problem. If you do not know how many hours a week you lose and on what, you have no yardstick for judging a demo — and you will end up picking the prettiest interface.
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Write down your three non-negotiables
Three, not fifteen. A list of forty requirements is met by everyone on paper and by nobody in practice. The real three are the ones that, if missing, would make you say no even at a very low price.
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Ask who does the migration, in writing
Guest records, history, future bookings. Who brings them in, in how long, and what happens to whatever does not fit. «You re-enter them» is a legitimate answer, as long as you are the one putting that cost in the sum.
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Get a sandbox with your own data
Not a guided demo: an account where you enter a real booking, with your rates and your board arrangements. A PMS reveals itself when you ask it for something specific to your property, not when they show you theirs.
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Test the worst day, not the normal one
A group arrival, a last-minute change, a payment to split three ways. The difference between two systems does not show on a straightforward booking: it shows there.
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Ask what happens in year three
Annual increases, additional rooms, a second property, and in what format you take your data away if you decide to leave. A contract that says nothing about those four leaves them for the vendor to decide.
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Talk to someone two years in, not to a chosen reference
References handed to you by the vendor are good by definition. A property like yours that you found yourself is worth more: the question to ask is «what would you do differently», not «are you happy».
The four costliest mistakes
- Choosing in high season. A migration asks for the front desk's attention exactly when it has none. The moment is low season, and the rule is: never with a full house.
- Buying features you will not use. A switched-off module costs the same as a switched-on one and takes work off nobody. The criterion is not how many things it does, it is how many it will do on its own in your property.
- Replacing the PMS to fix a pricing problem. They are two different projects: revenue management systems connect to what you already have. Bundling them doubles the risk and stretches the timeline for no gain.
- Underestimating the migration. It is the part that gets planned least and lands hardest on people: how to do it without losing data is in switching PMS.
You can take the first step now
The check-up is step 1 turned into ten questions: it measures how much repetitive work your system leaves to you, area by area, and tells you which two are worth fixing. Sometimes the answer is that the PMS is fine and the problem is elsewhere — which is a useful result, because it saves you a project.
Free tool
PMS check-up
Ten questions, three minutes. A score out of 100, the detail by area and the two things worth acting on. Your browser works out the score.
Questions people actually ask us
How long does a proper selection take?
From starting to look to signing, six to eight weeks: two to work out what you need, two or three for real testing, the rest for the contract and planning the migration.
Anyone rushing you is taking away steps 4 and 5, which are the ones that separate vendors.
Local vendor or international one?
The difference that matters is not nationality: it is local compliance — tourist tax, guest reporting, e-invoicing — and who answers the phone when you have a problem at eight in the evening in August.
An international vendor can have both, but that has to be verified rather than assumed.
Do I need a consultant to choose?
For a single property, usually not: the seven steps above you can do yourself, and step 7 — talking to someone two years in — is worth more than any paid comparison.
For a group with several properties and systems already in place, yes: there the hard part is integration, not selection.
What if after measuring I find that what I have is fine?
That is the best possible outcome: you have saved a project and a few thousand euros. In that case the upside is in pricing or in costs, which are separate tools and add on to what you already run.