We all know picking a property management system feels like much work. And most times, it really is. You have to look through the options you have, contact the vendors, look through data with your team, and do a bunch of stuff.
There’s an easier way. And it’s more effective too.
You see, companies tell you all types of bogus stuff just to get you to buy their software. They’ll tell you they have this feature and what you will be missing out on if you don’t use their services.
Also, you might be seeing reviews online about how good the Property Management System has been for some businesses. We don’t know, but that might just be because the application solved a problem unique to them. It might not be the same case for you.
So, don’t trust it... yet.
The best way to pick a good Property Management System is to check it out for yourself and confirm it has the features I’ll be listing below. The reason is that when you take it for a spin, you get to see first hand what the software can do for you and how beneficial it can be to your business.
You get to separate the hype from the real deal, judging the app’s usefulness from your own point of view. It’s about your business surviving and being productive. You can only trust yourself and your team to know what’s good for your business. No one else.
How to get the best Property Management System for your business
That said, let’s quickly go into what you should be looking out for when trying out a property management system.
1. Ease of use
This should be obvious, but a lot of hoteliers and managers compromise for systems that are pretty complicated to use. They believe they’ll get the hang of it along the way. That’s the wrong way of looking at things.
A Property Management System is there to make life easier for you. It’s to help you relax more while getting more productive and making more money. If a Property Management System can’t be simple enough to do just that, why should you use it?
Also, a complicated interface is a red flag. Good applications have always been known to be easy to use, despite having vast functionalities. Think Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others.
A vendor that cares about helping their users get the most from their business should at least make it easy for them to do so.
2. Third-party integrations
Your business – whether it’s a hotel, rental, hostel, club, co-working space, whatever – needs some third party integrations to keep things going smoothly. Common integrations include payment gateway, channel manager, POS integrations, communication mediums, and utility billing.
A property management system should feature those integrations, without asking you to do any additional work on your part.
3. Cloud-Based or Legacy?
Before you make a Property Management System part of your business core, ensure it is cloud-deployed and real-time. What this basically means is this: make sure you can access your Property Management System online, through the web. The reason for this is that you use the latest and most secure of what the vendor is offering.
A desktop application has to be manually updated by you or the vendor, and who knows what operating systems would be most vulnerable if there was a random attack to users? A cloud-based application ensures you are using what everyone on the application is using, with the best security you can have.
Also, it means you can access your entire platform from any location, with any device, instead of being confined to a device.
4. Relevant solutions to real problems
A lot of Property Management System vendors sell features that can do all this and all that, so it’s your job to check if those systems can really solve the problems your organization is facing.
Getting a ‘highly functional’ Property Management System with a lot of complex functionalities isn’t going to do you much good. What is better is looking at your needs and goals, and then going ahead to find a Property Management System that can help you achieve those goals in the simplest way possible.
That pays better than stressing yourself and your team on how to make good use of the Property Management System.
5. Accounting
That’s one of the most important aspects of property management systems. A good accounting system should be an integral part of the Property Management System. It should also be very efficient, without any lapses or negligence of implementation, because that’s the powerhouse of your organization.
It should be able to handle every aspect relating to accounting, including invoicing, funds transfer, budgeting, cash flow recording, recurring charges, and more.
Pay attention to the accounting platform and ensure it can fulfill your needs in that area.
6. Complete solution
Here’s where a lot of people get it wrong. A complete solution is not only necessary, but it would also help you become more focused on getting things done since you have everything and don’t need to go look for some solutions elsewhere.
An all-in-one solution is what you need as an organization that intends to boost productivity. Having a complete, all-included solution will mean all the essentials you need to effectively do business with are readily available. The external tools you might need then comes in the form of third-party integrations.
7. What do their current users say?
I remember mentioning earlier that you shouldn’t trust reviews you see online, as it could be totally different for you. Another way to check if the Property Management System is good for you is to personally reach out to other users of the application, in the same field as your organization.
The reason for that is simple: Being in the same field with you, they’ll probably be using the same feature you’d like to use, so you can get good advice from them whether it’s a good idea to use the solution.
So, remember that choosing a Property Management System should come down to an in-house decision. What’s good for one hotel may not be just as efficient for a co-working space facility. You need to take every feature into consideration and judge if or not it’s a good fit for your organization.
Now’s a good time to tell you about Booking Ninjas. We have been involved in the hospitality industry so we know what every sector wants exactly. And we have made the solutions an integral part of our application. Click here to get a real-time feel of our application, and run it by the checkpoints listed above. You’re welcome!