The times are dark and hoteliers need all the help they can get. Many hoteliers are turning to technology to fill operational gaps as the ongoing labor shortage restricts their ability to operate at a high level. In the end, technology serves to streamline difficult, time-consuming tasks and activities and to accurately and quickly present needed information. But how do they get started?
A customer-focused technology such as Cloud PMS should give hoteliers the freedom to provide their own, idealized versions of the guest experience. However, effective hotel technology must also be staff-focused, facilitating operations, streamlining communications, and increasing employee productivity, as well as management-focused, helping hotels grow their businesses. Hotels want a mobile and customer-focused Cloud PMS to support a lean staff as they attempt to satisfy an increase in travel demand in the wake of the pandemic. In this article, we will learn all about how a guest-centric Cloud PMS can help you win the battle against staff shortage.
The causes and consequences of the hospitality labor shortage
The hospitality industry lost a decade in terms of revenue and job losses on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic reportedly cost the U.S. hospitality industry over 3.1 million jobs and over 50% occupancy, according to the ALHA. The industry is, however, close to experiencing a significant recovery, which is good news. The modern traveler now has more faith in traveling as a result of rising vaccination rates, rapidly declining case numbers, and hotels offering contactless guest experiences through technology such as Cloud Based Hotel Management Software. With over 61.8 percent of American respondents confident that the pandemic situation will continue to improve and over 72 percent of respondents making travel plans in the previous week, Destination Analysts, reports that traveler confidence is rising. Job reports show that the hospitality sector added over 331,000 jobs in April 2021, the sixth largest gain in the previous 50 years, reflecting the rising optimism.
Unfortunately, these developments might not be sufficient. The number of employees in hotels is still 600,000 below pre-pandemic levels, but workers don’t appear to be filling the openings. This can be attributed to a number of things, such as prevalent health issues, the challenge of finding childcare, and the recent increase in federal unemployment benefits. Without the burden of physical or technological limitations, hotels must figure out how to use technology such as cloud PMS to support a lean staff, quickly train new staff, and assist their current employees in better engaging with and serving their guests.
Some ways a guest-centric Cloud-PMS can help overcome staff shortage
- Cloud PMS is easy to use and easy to train.
The way hoteliers and hosts conduct business is being revolutionized by cloud-based hotel PMS. With the help of cloud technology, you can check in on your operations from anywhere in the world that has an internet connection—you are no longer required to be on-site. Additionally, the Best Cloud-Based Hotel PMS has a simple, user-friendly design with drag-and-drop calendars and one-click functions that can easily be adapted by new employees. Some suppliers might even have a sizable learning library to aid in training. In comparison to businesses that still use paper and pen or difficult-to-learn legacy software, these modern technology features and support offer more effective training tools, saving weeks’ worth of time and money spent on onboarding new employees.
- It helps save time with automation
Poorly integrated technological systems frequently require numerous hours of manual or administrative work. For instance, if your hotel sells rooms on multiple Online travel agencies such as hotels.com and Expedia, without an integrated channel manager you will frequently use different extranets and spreadsheets to keep track of reservations and inventory. Several hours of work can be saved each week by leveraging a fully integrated hotel technology solution. If your channel manager and booking engine are both seamlessly integrated with your cloud PMS, you can manage and update your rates in the PMS and have them immediately reflected in all of your channels and your booking engine. The guest’s information is automatically added to your PMS and your room inventory is instantly updated across all of your channels when a reservation is made through one of your OTA channels or on the booking engine of your website, saving you time and avoiding overbookings.
When your PMS and payment system are linked, you can save even more time because you won’t need to manually enter credit card details. This decreases merchant processing fees while also reducing manual errors and reconciliation times. All the tools you require to manage your business, including the PMS, channel manager, booking engine, payments, revenue management, and even website creation and hosting, are offered in one platform with the Best Cloud Based Hotel PMS. It automates sufficient daily tasks to replace one or more full-time employees, saving you time and money.
- It helps offer a completely contactless guest experience
Today’s guests have largely come to expect a contactless experience, and creating one is simpler than ever. Now is a good time to invest in contactless technology because of the labor shortage and the commitment hotels owners and operators now have to follow through and offer a secure and dependable environment for both staff and visitors. Mobile devices can be used to implement many contactless options. In order to automate guest registration and securely capture and verify their identification, some contactless technology, for instance, enables self-service check-in via a mobile app that integrates with your PMS. Digital room keys to access the room is another way your hotel can offer a contactless experience
With some services, contactless technology is extended so that hosts and hoteliers can remotely control energy consumption and monitor noise levels. You can integrate your PMS with a real-time communication tool to ease the workload on your current staff and streamline staff communication and property operations management by enabling your team to share information, solve problems, and plan workflow in real-time. By providing chatbot guests with a chatbot service that will automatically respond to frequent questions from guests and free up staff for other tasks, you can further streamline your guest communications.
It might be challenging to invest in new software like Cloud PMS for your business during the labor shortage, but the time and money you’ll save in the long run will be well worth it. And since travel is moving more slowly, now might be the ideal time for you to switch before it picks up speed again. The productivity of your current staff can ultimately be increased while saving time and money thanks to modern cloud PMS.
