Technology has the potential to amplify a hotel’s business 一 or throttle it. Traditionally, legacy PMS systems adopted a ‘pay-to-scale’ business model, where hotels would pay expensive premiums to upgrade their software or connect to ‘proprietary’ integrations. And because each hotel property would have to house and maintain its own individual server, the ability for the brand to add new properties would be significantly limited.

Native-cloud PMS systems remove these impediments to a hotel’s scalability. Eliminating on-site servers and integration and upgrade fees can reduce costs and give a hotel’s tech stack the flexibility it needs to capitalize on changes in a dynamic market. But a hotel’s scalability is not just a linear metric. This article will examine how SaaS-based technology can empower hotels to scale in a variety of dimensions, from adding physical properties, to expanding to new markets and customer segments, to maximizing revenue, and empowering their staff.

Does Your PMS Help You Scale Physically to New Locations and Regions?

The most basic metric of scalability is whether your business can easily open properties in new locations and regions. As the heart of a hotel’s technology suite and physical operations, the hotel PMS can greatly assist expansion 一 or burden it. Hoteliers should focus on finding technology partners with a proven track record of implementing their solutions in under a month, with the option for either an in-person or remote implementation process. Technology providers should also work closely with their clients at every stage of the onboarding process. They should proactively address questions and issues within the same day (and ideally within the same hour), and provide comprehensive live and on-demand training resources to ensure the entire team can master the platform.

Hoteliers should also select a PMS with robust multi-property and chain management capabilities. This allows hoteliers to interact with their guests as a unified brand while easily switching between individual property, group, and chain management levels. Chain management can also help speed up implementation, as a brand’s rate and configuration data can be uploaded as a template that can be instantly applied to new properties.

Does Your Technology Suite Help You Maximize Revenue and Scale Your ROI?

A hotel’s technology stack can play an enormous role in how they can maximize revenue and keep costs to a minimum. Many SaaS-based platforms, for example, do away with the expensive maintenance and energy costs associated with on-site servers, while also enjoying the performance, reliability, and security delivered by native-cloud servers such as Amazon AWS. Mobile platforms can also increase revenue by presenting guests with opportunities to purchase add-ons and upgrades directly through their mobile devices. This can create multiple touchpoints throughout the guest journey where the hotel can earn additional ancillary revenue, while also personalizing and enhancing the guest’s stay: The guest can be presented with initial upgrade options during booking, additional amenities during a mobile or kiosk-based self-check-in, dining add-ons through a mobile Point-of-Sale (PoS) platform, and monetized late-check-out before their departure. The return from mobile offers can be significant: Many Stayntouch clients enjoy conversion rates as high as 18% for room upsells, and 10% for add-ons. For some clients, this translates into a quarterly ROI of up to 240% 一 meaning their technology purchase would more than pay for itself.

Does Your Tech Stack Allow You to Scale Your Market Reach by Accessing New Customers and Market Segments?

Scaling your business also means gaining access to new markets, and appealing to new types of customers. Selecting a PMS with a flexible asset structure allows you to deliver more than the standard “one room for one night” to your guests. Offering hourly rates, for example, can appeal to busy airport travelers experiencing layovers or delays, and remote workers looking for a break from the monotony and distractions of working at home. Integrating your PMS and booking engine with a channel manager can give you access to global markets while also optimizing your distribution basket and streamlining your booking process. Channel managers can help you reach new customers by connecting your hotel to global OTAs and metasearch engines while automatically synchronizing bookings across all channels to optimize rates and minimize the possibility of unintentional overbookings.

Can You Scale Technologically to Keep Ahead of the Competition?

Although legacy on-site PMS systems were feature-rich, they relied on a business model that forced hotels to pay expensive premiums for software upgrades and proprietary integrations. This trapped hotels in a technological “walled garden” that throttled their ability to scale their tech stack to meet the dynamic challenges of the market. Conversely, SaaS-based PMS platforms have the intrinsic advantage of offering regular software upgrades at no extra cost, and many come with a webhook-enhanced open-API architecture that gives hoteliers maximum flexibility when building a tech stack. Some PMS vendors have gone a step further: By bundling a flexible PMS platform with other core systems such as payment facilitators, booking engines, and channel managers, these vendors can provide hoteliers with the best of both worlds, giving them the feature-rich ecosystem of the old legacy systems, with the easy scalability of open-APIs.

Can You Easily Scale Your Workforce to Meet the Changing Needs of Your Guests?

It’s no secret that high turnover and persistent labor shortages have been a burden to hotels looking to succeed in the post-pandemic era. To scale their business, hoteliers need to leverage technology that allows them to hire who they want, and get the most out of the employees that they have. That’s why it’s particularly important to pay attention to the design of your software’s user interface: Vibrant and intuitive interfaces can significantly reduce the time needed to train employees while allowing hoteliers to select from a wider pool of potential new hires. When combined with mobile flexibility and communication and robust AI and automation, mobile SaaS platforms can become a powerful tool that allows staff to meet guests wherever they are on property, and allows hoteliers to manage rates, restrictions, and multiple properties from wherever they can access an internet connection.

Hotels Have Multifaceted Business Needs, and Their Tech Should Allow Them to Scale in Multiple Dimensions

A hotel will never have just one metric to measure success and growth. The benefit of mobile, native-cloud platforms is that they facilitate a hotel’s expansion across multiple dimensions, from building a comprehensive and integrated tech stack, to expanding into new properties, global markets, and customer segments, to increasing their ROI and empowering their employees. By adopting a multifaceted approach to scalability, hotels can more holistically grow their business and serve their guests.

About Stayntouch

Stayntouch delivers a cloud-native and guest-centric hotel property management system (PMS) with a comprehensive library of over 1,100 integrations. Stayntouch's cloud-native PMS empowers independent hotels, hotel groups, and management companies to drive revenue, reduce costs, enhance service, and captivate their guests. In 2022, Stayntouch launched Stayntouch 2.0, a fully integrated technology suite featuring its core cloud-native PMS and guest kiosk solution, a comprehensive chain management module, a seamless booking engine (Stayntouch Booking), a robust payment processing platform (Stayntouch Pay), and a powerful channel manager. Stayntouch 2.0 enables hotels to streamline their operations, maximize and diversify their revenue streams, and deliver an even more enhanced guest experience with the innovation and support of one trusted technology partner. Stayntouch is supported by a team of professionals with deep roots in the hospitality industry and is a trusted partner to industry-leading management companies including Sage Hospitality, HEI Hotels & Resorts, and EOS Hospitality, innovative independent brands such as Village Hotels, Pod Hotels, and First Hotels, and iconic flagship properties such as the TWA Hotel, Showboat Hotel Atlantic City, and Zoku Amsterdam. For more information, visit www.stayntouch.com.

Frewoini Golla
Director of Marketing
Stayntouch

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