Information Technology In Hotels Session 2 Video

Summary

The video provides an overview of Property Management System (PMS) features commonly used in the hotel industry. It covers essential modules such as the front office for reservations and guest data, housekeeping for room status management, sales and marketing for company profiles and contracts, and accounts receivable for billing. It explains how guests can book rooms through various channels like phone calls, hotel websites, and online travel agents. The video also highlights the use of credit facilities for corporate clients and discusses guaranteed versus non-guaranteed bookings.

Takeaways

• 🏨 The Property Management System (PMS) is essential in hotel operations, helping manage reservations, check-ins, check-outs, billing, and guest data.
• 🧳 The Front Office module in PMS handles guest reservations, check-in/check-out processes, and integrates guest folios and historical data, including corporate and travel agent revenue statistics.
• 🛏️ The Housekeeping module tracks the status of rooms (clean, dirty, or occupied), ensuring that housekeeping staff and front office know which rooms are ready for new guests.
• 📊 The Sales and Marketing module maintains company profiles, tracks travel agents, and generates reports on revenue and room nights booked through corporate clients and agents.
• 🎉 The Banqueting module manages bookings for events like meetings and banquets, tracking resources, event details, and billing information for smooth event operations.
• 💳 The Accounts Receivable module handles payments for corporate clients and travel agents, enabling credit facilities and tracking payments for events and reservations.
• 📞 Booking methods include calling the hotel directly, booking through the hotel's website, using an online travel agent (OTA) like Booking.com, or contacting a physical travel agent.
• 🌐 When booking via the hotel website, guests can view service catalogs, room types, and nearby attractions, and directly compare options before making reservations.
• 🖥️ Online Travel Agents (OTAs) such as Booking.com allow users to compare hotels by location, price, and amenities, with reservation details passed to the hotel for confirmation.
• 💼 Corporate guest bookings are often linked to predefined rates and contracts, managed through the Sales and Marketing module, ensuring consistency in pricing and tracking corporate business.

Q & A

What is the primary function of a Property Management System (PMS) in the hotel industry?

The primary function of a PMS is to manage hotel operations, particularly front office tasks such as reservations, check-ins, check-outs, billing, guest folios, and guest history. It also integrates data from different departments to ensure smooth guest management.

What is the role of the front office module in a PMS?

The front office module manages guest reservations, check-ins, check-outs, billing, and historical guest data. It also tracks revenue from corporate clients and travel agents, integrating various services used during a guest's stay, such as room charges, telephone usage, and restaurant bills.

How does the housekeeping module in a PMS assist hotel staff?

The housekeeping module helps the staff keep track of room statuses, indicating whether a room is clean, dirty, or occupied. It enables front office staff to allocate clean rooms for new arrivals and ensures housekeeping staff knows when to clean rooms based on guest checkouts or daily cleaning schedules.

What purpose does the sales and marketing module serve in a PMS?

The sales and marketing module is used to manage company profiles and contracts. It tracks revenue generated from corporate clients and travel agents and provides reports on company performance, such as room nights and total revenue, allowing the sales team to manage client relationships effectively.

What does the banquet module in a PMS handle?

The banquet module manages reservations for event spaces like banquet halls and meeting rooms. It tracks event details such as resources needed, rental costs, and billing for event organizers.

How does the accounts receivable module benefit corporate clients and travel agents?

The accounts receivable module manages payment details and credit facilities for corporate clients and travel agents. It tracks contracted rates, billing, and payment terms, allowing companies to pay within an agreed period (e.g., 30 or 60 days) after events or room bookings.

What are the various ways a guest can book a room using a PMS?

A guest can book a room through several channels: directly calling the hotel, booking via the hotel’s website, using online travel agents (OTAs) like Booking.com, or through a traditional travel agent. The booking details are then integrated into the PMS.

How does an online travel agent (OTA) interact with a hotel’s PMS?

An OTA, such as Booking.com, passes reservation details to the hotel’s PMS via automated interfaces, emails, or fax. Some PMS systems have direct integration with OTAs, allowing reservations to be automatically entered into the system.

What is the difference between a guaranteed and non-guaranteed reservation in a PMS?

A guaranteed reservation means the guest provides credit card details or payment in advance, ensuring the room is held even if the guest doesn't show up. In contrast, a non-guaranteed reservation does not require advance payment or verification, and the room can be released if the guest fails to check in by a certain time.

How does a PMS handle corporate client reservations differently from individual guest reservations?

Corporate client reservations are often made through predefined contracts with agreed rates and credit facilities. These reservations are associated with company profiles in the PMS, allowing the hotel to track corporate business and offer discounts or special promotions based on the company's booking history.

Outlines

00:00

🏨 Introduction to Property Management System (PMS) Modules

This paragraph introduces the concept of Property Management Systems (PMS) in the hotel industry, focusing on the key modules present in PMS software. It highlights that the front office module is an essential component of every PMS, handling reservations, check-in, check-out, billing, and guest history. The housekeeping module is also discussed, emphasizing its role in tracking room status (clean, dirty, occupied) and ensuring smooth communication between front office staff and housekeeping. Additional modules such as sales and marketing, which manage company profiles and generate reports on revenue, are covered, as well as the banquet module, which handles meeting spaces and resources for events. Lastly, the paragraph touches on the accounts receivable module, explaining how contracts and credit facilities are managed for corporate clients and travel agents.

Keywords

💡Property Management System (PMS)

A Property Management System (PMS) is a software platform used in the hotel industry to manage various aspects of hotel operations. The script highlights PMS as essential for handling reservations, guest information, billing, and housekeeping status. For example, PMS is used to create reservations, manage check-ins and check-outs, and integrate billing functions, making it crucial for both front office and backend tasks.

💡Front Office Module

The Front Office Module is one of the core components of a PMS. It handles guest reservations, check-ins, check-outs, billing, and historical guest data. The script emphasizes how this module is the heart of hotel management as it consolidates information about guest stays, revenue, and billing integration. For instance, it includes features for tracking guest folios and managing corporate travel agent accounts.

💡Housekeeping Module

The Housekeeping Module is responsible for tracking room statuses, such as whether rooms are clean, dirty, or occupied. This module communicates directly with the front office to ensure rooms are prepared for new arrivals and cleaned after checkouts. The script explains how this module helps front office staff allocate rooms based on their status, enhancing efficiency in hotel operations.

💡Sales and Marketing Module

The Sales and Marketing Module in a PMS focuses on tracking and managing relationships with companies and travel agents. It maintains corporate profiles, tracks revenue generated from these sources, and helps with reporting on company contracts and negotiated rates. The script explains how this module is vital for analyzing business generated by corporate clients and travel agents and allows for negotiation of room rates based on past business.

💡Banquet Module

The Banquet Module manages reservations for meeting rooms, banquet halls, and other event spaces in the hotel. It keeps track of event schedules, rental fees, and required resources. In the script, it is mentioned as a key part of hotel operations, ensuring that events are smoothly organized, billed correctly, and resources are efficiently allocated.

💡Accounts Receivable Module

The Accounts Receivable Module tracks payments owed to the hotel by corporate clients, travel agents, or other entities. It integrates with the Sales and Marketing Module to monitor contracts with companies and travel agents, ensuring that billing and credit facilities are managed properly. The script highlights how this module helps handle situations where companies may be given credit facilities, allowing them to pay after a service is provided.

💡Online Travel Agent (OTA)

Online Travel Agents (OTAs) are websites or platforms that allow guests to book hotel rooms online, often through third-party services like Booking.com or Expedia. The script mentions OTAs as an alternative to direct hotel bookings, where guests can compare hotels and book rooms based on location, pricing, and amenities. OTAs communicate with hotels through various interfaces, such as PMS integration or emails, to confirm reservations.

💡Corporate Guest

A Corporate Guest refers to individuals staying at a hotel as part of a business relationship between the hotel and the guest's company. The script mentions that corporate guests benefit from predefined contracted rates, which the hotel negotiates with the company in advance. The Front Office Module allows the hotel to track corporate guest stays and apply special rates or discounts based on the company’s business volume.

💡Guaranteed Reservation

A Guaranteed Reservation is when a guest provides payment or credit card details to ensure that the hotel holds the room even if the guest does not show up. The script explains that guaranteed reservations provide security for both the guest and the hotel, as the booking is confirmed with payment. This contrasts with non-guaranteed reservations, where the guest can cancel or the hotel may not hold the room without upfront payment.

💡Credit Facility

A Credit Facility allows corporate clients or travel agents to pay for hotel services after they are provided, often within an agreed-upon period such as 30 or 60 days. The script discusses how hotels offer this to companies or agents with whom they have contracts, allowing smoother business operations for recurring clients. This facility is managed through the Accounts Receivable Module in the PMS, tracking payments due from these clients.

Highlights

Introduction to Property Management Systems (PMS) and its importance in the hotel industry.

The front office module is a key component of any PMS, responsible for guest reservations, check-ins, check-outs, billing, and guest history.

Housekeeping module tracks room status (clean, dirty, occupied) to assist in assigning rooms and maintaining cleanliness.

Sales and marketing module manages company profiles, corporate travel agents, and contracts, providing valuable reports on revenue and room nights generated.

Banqueting module is used for booking meeting rooms and event spaces, managing resources, and billing related to the event.

Accounts receivable module handles credit facilities for corporate clients, tracking payments and financial transactions.

Different ways to book a room at a hotel: directly calling, through the hotel’s website, online travel agents, or physical travel agents.

Benefits of booking directly through the hotel include the potential for better rates, especially during low occupancy.

Online travel agents (OTA) like Booking.com allow guests to compare hotels, prices, and features before booking.

PMS systems can integrate with OTAs to automatically update reservations, minimizing manual input by hotel staff.

Guaranteed reservations involve immediate payment or verification of credit card details, while non-guaranteed reservations may be canceled without penalty.

The front office module consolidates charges from various hotel departments (like sales, restaurants, and telephone systems) into a guest’s folio.

Corporate profiles in PMS systems allow businesses to negotiate rates and track room bookings for employees, which helps in securing discounts.

Sales team members are linked with corporate profiles in the sales and marketing module, allowing tracking of performance and business generated by individual sales staff.

Credit facilities offered to corporate clients or travel agents allow them to make payments within an agreed period, ensuring smooth operations for large events.

Transcripts

hi everyone in the previous session we

have seen different softwares which are

used in hotel industry now in this

session we'll be talking about PMS

or property management system features

and modules So Below we have listed down

or highlighted a few of the typical

modules which are present in almost

every property management software

mainly and particularly front office

module definitely it's there in every

PMS software uh to reserve to keep the

data of the guest create reservation

create checkin

checkout um integrate the Billings all

the guest folios history guest history

uh the

revenue revenue from corporate travel

agents I mean all historical and

statistical data lies in front ofice

module then we have housekeeping module

housekeeping module is Main

uh serve the purpose for the rooms which

rooms are clean which are rooms are

dirty or occupied so that the front

office staff knows that which if there

is a new reservation so which room need

to be

allocated if it's an occupied room

ultimately uh that serve the purpose for

housekeeping staff so they can see that

okay this room is occupied so they need

to clean up the room on daily basis if

the room is vacant and in the dirty

status then ultimately they know that

okay the room is vacant now but it's

dirty status this means that it's a

checkout room they can go to the room

clean the room and then change the

status in PMS software or in

housekeeping module so that front office

they can release the room uh for booking

or for checking in any uh new

arrivals then we have sales and

marketing module sales and marketing

module mainly deals with uh the sales

team

it's very useful for the sales team in

sales and marketing module we Define uh

company profiles so if a regular company

uh or or

the a contract does exist for a company

so that contract and the company profile

is maintained in season marketing module

and through this module different

reports are available uh which company

or travel agent generated how much

revenue how many room nights all those

stuff uh we can get from Sal marketing

module or from its

reports then we have Banting module

Banting module also um basically Banting

like but we have uh banquet halls

meeting rooms so Bing Banting module uh

reserves uh the meeting places meeting

spaces how much is rental The Source uh

resources are recorded in banking module

if a client is there then definitely uh

a sheet is maintained for an event that

what kind of resources are required for

event when the event is going to happen

uh who's the

organizer and of course at the last

billing

details lastly we have a module or

accounts receivable module uh like I

said earlier that in sales and marketing

modules we are recording the travel

agents and companies and uh definitely

if there is a contract does exist

between the Oda or sorry not Oda travel

agent or even the Oda and uh any

corporate companies any kind of firm

those profiles are maintained in sales

and Mar

module so what happens why we have Sor

Maring module so the benefit is that

once the the company profile is defined

or travel agent profile is defined in

sales and marketing

module there is a facility which is

called credit facility so for example if

a corporate company let's say

ABC does exist and they have a

contracted rate with Hotel so contracted

rate means that uh normally if I'm I'm

owning a company if I go directly to any

hotel to book 10 rooms or to book a

meeting space I might I might not get

that best rate best available rate uh

but if I'm a contract with uh the hotel

then first of all I will get predefined

rates definitely based on my uh business

which I'm giving to the hotel so Hotel

can or even I can negotiate the rates

with the

hotel so once that contract exist in

place then the second benefit I can get

credit facility so for example if I'm

having an event on 1st of uh

December so if I'm I'm having a credit

facility which means the event can go on

smoothly and I can pay within 30 days or

60 days whatever depending on the

contract with the hotel so all those

payments are recorded in accounts

receivable

onu let's go ahead

further okay M now we'll start with Mr

John the guest intends to visit the city

and plans to book a room in hotel Alpha

so what will be the communication

process

so here we are talking about

particularly a PMS or front office

module to book a room in hotel Alpha

there are multiple

ways directly call hotel and book a room

over telephone is very easy and

convenient way but this way used to be

popular before uh the womb of

internet but anyway still if a guest

knows the hotel he is State earlier also

or if a friend has referred the hotel to

somebody else so he calls the hotel

directly uh the benefit in calling

directly a hotel is that you can get

best rate you can negotiate a rate so

depending on the occupancy sometimes uh

even on the web or Internet on the or on

the website of the hotel you will find

predefined rates but if you call a hotel

and if occupancy is low or if let's say

uh if you call in the

evening so evening normally uh guest

does not B so but if you need a room

urgently in the in the evening you can

call directly to the hotel and uh you

can get better

rates so this is option

one what happens Hotel reception or

reservation Department receives a call

and books room by creating reservation

in PMS system a very straightforward way

no

complexities okay the second option is

book a room from hotel's

website now this is another Advantage uh

you may ask why we need to book a room

through hotel's

website the thing is that on the hotel

website you can because definitely every

hotels nowadays every even every

company the service catalog does exist

on the hotel website service catalog

means what kind of rooms they are

offering what kind packages they

offering so uh by having look at

pictures at least not 100% but at least

you can see 50 to 70% you can get the

image of the hotel how does it look like

where it is located nearby

attractions uh the locality so all the

transportation details of facilities

which are there inside the hotel so all

these details are there on the hotel

website so then you can ultimately

compare with other hotels as well how

does it work now Mr John created

reservation on hotels website and this

reservation then comes down into PMS

which is linked with the hotel website

uh sometimes in certain cases some of

the PMS or depends on the hotel

management they don't have interface

with the PMS system so the reservation

will come by FS or by email to them and

then the hotel reservations St they

create a reservation into PMS system or

front front office module or reservation

module then they revert back to the

client or back to the guest with his

email ID and everything and then the

guest receives or Mr John receives the

confirmation that okay this is the room

this is the rate checkin date arrival

date or departure date and all the

details if airport or uh Airport pickup

is required and any any other

thing

now book a room from online travel agent

online travel agent what is online

travel agent now in the market you have

seen uh different travel agencies are

there in the

market so if you go to uh travel agency

XYZ physically visit a travel

agent so what they will do they will

search online with their facilities

which hotels are available let's say you

say that okay I want to book a room in

London on uh December

3rd so they will log into the system and

if they have any contracts with the

hotels in

London they can check online okay or

they will maybe they will check their uh

the hotel's

website and without knowing you they

will create a reservation on behalf of

travel agency online travel

agency so uh

the difference between online travel

agent and travel agent which is

physically uh exist on in your

city the difference is that online

travel agent is a kind of website which

is providing

facility to the customers so the

customers can choose which hotel to book

area wise region wise pricewise such as

booking.com um gta.com or cwood travels

so all these are online travel agents

booking.com does not exist as a

normal uh Legacy travel agent which are

having offices in particular location in

the city and then you go physically the

online travel agent is a website which

is linked with different hotels they are

displaying the options different hotels

and ultimately guest can compare the

hotels facilities rates also the

locality all these preferences which

guest want to

have so what happens when you visit a

website such as

booking.com so first of all Mr John he

looks at the website booking.com chooses

the hotel and creates a reservation now

what happens then once you create

reservation through online travel agent

or on booking.com

once Mr John creates a Booking.com uh

reservation so basically he's not

directly creating a reservation doing

the reservation process directly with

the hotel what he's doing he's making a

reservation on

booking.com after that once the

reservation is created then booking.com

now will communicate with the

hotel booking.com or aa.com or

hotelbeds.com any any otaa the next step

of communication is that if the otaa or

online travel agent or

booking.com hotelbeds.com any other OTA

if they are having the contract with the

hotel so what they will do definitely

they'll be having a contract that's why

the hotel information is displayed on

their website so the next step is that

booking.com or OTA will now pass this

reservation details to the

hotel there are multiple ways how to

pass the reservation details to the

hotel it may be through facts if they

have if the hotel is having

interface uh their PMS interface with

the OTA then automatically the booking

will come down into uh the PMS

system or they can send via

email the third thing is that OTA is

also having

two kind of

interfaces one is for the

guest so that interface is for the

public where the guest can go they can

book a room another interface or console

you can say is provided to the

hotels so Hotel logs into the

booking.com console and they see that

okay this booking is there so which Li

which is lying on the booking.com and

then they prints or creates or directly

creates booking into their PMS or front

office

module with that they send a

confirmation to on the console that yes

[Music]

book okay so we were talking about

option

third so through at booking comes down

and the resolution is created now let's

talk about option four call a travel

agent in Booker room now booking.com

have options or other travel agents they

are also having

options call a travel

agent and then travel AG sends a booking

with fax email to hotel or if the hotel

access to OT website then booking

appears on OT website and reservation

Department creates reservation in

PMS second

option if the hotel has PMS interface

with website then the res comes down to

BMS automatically so these are different

options which are available to book a

room in a

hotel once the room is booked the guest

will receive a confirmation email from

the

hotel uh that's another part that the

booking is guaranteed or non- guaranteed

guaranteed means that uh if you have

booked a hotel booked

room in a hotel over the website either

on hotel's website or on the OTA website

or by visiting a travel agent or by

calling a travel agent so guaranteed

means that you are providing your uh

credit card details or Account Details

and instantly uh you have paid the money

so that's a res guaranteed

reservations uh sorry guaranteed

reservation or uh if you have provided

your credit card details on the booking

while creating a booking or creating a

reservation on the hotel website or OTA

website so your credit card number goes

to the hotel then Hotel verifies the

credit card that if the credit card uh

is authenticated or not they just verify

actually the details so once the details

are verified so then you can have

guaranteed uh booking or even sometimes

on the hotel website or Oda website you

will see two options guaranteed and non-

guaranteed guaranteed means that even if

you don't visit the hotel during your

stay but still you need to pay the money

because that was a guaranteed

booking non- guaranteed means you can

put any credit card even if it is not

authorized uh from the hotel that okay

or verified from the hotel site that the

credit card is valid or invalid so

non-ed means that even you can cancel

your booking before the arrival date as

well depending on the terms and

conditions which are given on the

website let's go further a step

ahead okay front office

module typical software modules on right

hand side you will see all these modules

are mentioned which we have seen earlier

screen now front office module allow

users to create reservation check in and

check out the guest and post charges as

well so front office module basically is

gathering the charges from telephone

system from internet system from B of

sales system which is there in the

restaurants all these charges are coming

down to front office module and uh goes

to the uh guest account which is in

general terms in hospitality industry

that's called

folio and of course front office or

front of a staff or reception staff they

can directly post manually uh also they

can OS the

charges front office module has a file

where all the case bills for current

stay and record for previous days are

stored in terms of PFS PMS that file is

called FS I just

said okay while creating the reservation

front office module gives an option to

record the guest data as an individual

travel agent or corporate guest

individual means that if I'm if uh I

have a room booked through my company

and my company is having a contract with

the hotel or even in the absess of

contract so the company my my my company

staff calls a hotel they books uh a room

for me in that hotel now the company

information is gone to the hotel so once

the hotel staff they will create

reservation they will select the profile

as corporate guest because corporate get

guest means that if my company is

sending different uh uh individuals to

that hotel in different timings so that

hotel can track my company's record that

how much business I'm giving to them and

based on that

business I can also ask or my company

can also ask a particular discount or a

kind of special promotion for my company

or the hotel offers a kind of promotion

to the corporate guest or the corporate

or the company itself that okay if

you're uh if you're sending

uh let's say or booking 10 rooms in a

month uh per month in a year then we are

giving you this special discount or

special

rates travel agent corporate guest means

that the hotel is having signed contract

with the travel company for certain

period and agreed rates in advance so

that once a guest from any travel AG

company comes to stay in the hotel then

those predefined rates are applied this

is very simple scenario that okay corpor

companies having contra with the

hotel predefined rates are there no need

to negotiate the rate the company knows

the rate the hotel knows the rate in

this case uh normally what's happening

the companies they are not showing the

rates uh to the guest if I'm going there

I don't know what is the night room

night because I may book a room later on

not on the company behal but on my

personal behalf so that's why

company companies are asking to the

hotel s that do not show the rate per

night to the guest or to the individuals

we are sending to

you the company travel agent profile

profile is created in sales and

marketing module which keeps the record

of the production revenue generated by

Affiliated companies or travel agents

and those companies of travel agents are

linked with sales team members sales

team

members this the last phase are linked

with the CSD members is then if how is

having sales team and any sales

individual is going to the market

meeting different uh companies so once

they bling the business so that company

profile is associated with that sales

team member and ultimately as earlier we

have seen that the seon marketing module

shows us the statistics about the

corporate of the company in the same way

the season marketing module shows the

production of a sales team member as

well credit facility is another option

which does exist in PMs and and is given

to the corporate clients or travel