When it comes to hotel tech, we may all agree that PMSs are at the top of the food chain. It's semantically already in the name itself: a PMS is the SYSTEM used to MANAGE your PROPERTY. This gives the software connotations of centrality in operations. However, a new wave of leaner systems is rising: PMSs are becoming "hubs" rather than all-in-one solutions, using open APIs to allow users to plug in other software and tools as needed. These systems are less about "managing the property," and more about integrating third-party software. In this environment, where do PMSs sit in one's tech stack? Is the classic notion of PMS outdated? Will the future of hotel tech be less reliant on PMSs as we know them?

Industry experts Uli Pillau, Founder and CEO of apaleo; Michael Levie, Co-Founder at citizenM; and Babs Van Gilst, working in the Quick Service Restaurant industry, will join host and moderator Simone Puorto, Founder | CEO | Futurist, to discuss, share thoughts, and perspectives on where the PMS sits in a hotel's new technology stack.

The panel discussion is based on the recently published HN World Panel - Where does the PMS sit in the new technology stack? - featuring 20 expert views.

Timestamps:

00:55 —
Introduction by Simone
01:40 —
Introduction Babs van Gilst
02:40 —
Introduction Michael Levie, citizenM
03:55 —
Introduction Uli Pillau, apaleo
04:45 —
citizenM opening new hotel in Rome
06:00 —
How do we define a PMS? (Simone)
07:52 —
Is the main notion of PMS dead? (Babs)
12:30 —
Today's PMS role as a connector? (Michael)
15:00 —
Elaborating on the API first approach (Uli)
19:15 —
What's should be the core built-in functionality of the PMS (Babs)
24:35 —
Should the self-check-in function be part of the PMS solution? (Babs)
25:50 —
It architecture comes first before even thinking of a PMS (Michael)
28:15 —
Living with the restrictions of current systems (Michael)
29:00 —
We have to look at how other industries revolutionized IT (Michael)
30:00 —
Is our industry too PMS-centric? (Simone)
30:42 —
Today... everybody is acting based on the restrictions of PMS (Michael)
32:20 —
Has the pandemic played a role in looking differently at PMS? (Babs)
34:10 —
Are we oversimplifying the use of API? (Uli)
38:45 —
Is the PMS an innovation blocker? (Uli)
39:30 —
Make things easier by reducing PMS functionality to a core minimum (Uli)
41:00 —
Connecting to PMSs has always been transactional (Michael)
43:00 —
Does the current PMS improve the guest experience? (Babs)
48:00 —
Are PMSs capable to improve the guest experience? (Michael)
49:25 —
Old school PMSs are obstructors... not enablers for the industry (Michael)
50:00 —
Understanding why we live in the current situation (Michael)
51:30 —
How should we call the post-PMS platform architecture (Uli & Michael)
52:45 —
How citizenM took a different approach (Michael)
57:00 —
How to move forward from here onwards (Babs)
1:00:30 —
How to move forward from here onwards (Michael)
1:01:59 —
Rip the RFP... strat thinking differently (Michael)
1:02:15 —
No reason why not hoteliers should try out applications (Uli)
1:03:20 —
Closing

Thanks apaleo for sponsoring this session!

About apaleo GmbH

apaleo is an open software platform for hospitality industry players. Every accommodation provider has the power to integrate solutions into an ideal technology stack, including property management and integrated payment services as well as any kind of 3rd party or in-house application. For more information visit apaleo.com.

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