What is a hotel PMS?

Why use a PMS?

A hotel PMS centralizes and streamlines operations, improving efficiency and guest satisfaction. It acts as an ergonomic control center that automates, coordinates, and optimizes daily front-office and back-office tasks.

Reservation management

A PMS simplifies reservation management and planning. With real-time data and guest profiles, it can:

• Increase occupancy;
• Improve key metrics like ADR and RevPAR;
• Enable smarter pricing and speed up yield management;
• Simplify cancellation handling.

It also facilitates access to booking history, statistical analysis, activity reports, and strategic decision-making—useful for marketing (loyalty, targeted email).

Operations (housekeeping, etc.)

A PMS improves service responsiveness, especially housekeeping—critical to guest satisfaction and hotel image. Instant “housekeeping alerts” help turn rooms faster or address specific requests. Third-party tools exist, but a good PMS offers native options or smooth integrations.

Billing

A PMS saves time on billing, supports multiple payment methods, and automatically reconciles balances with deposits. Integration with admin systems simplifies tracking and control.

Check-in / check-out

A PMS offloads many repetitive front-desk tasks so teams can deliver a smoother guest experience at arrival and departure—and focus on upsell opportunities.

PMS and integrations

The goal is to acquire a PMS that fits your needs and integrates with your tools. For example:

• Access control and digital key systems
• Restaurant modules
• Booking engine and website rate/availability displays
• Channel Manager for OTAs (e.g., Booking)

Ideally the PMS interconnects and synchronizes internal and partner tools (CRM, ERP, POS, survey/reviews, etc.).

How much does a PMS cost and how to choose?

Each hotel is unique and must choose the PMS that suits it best. Vendors offer similar but not identical modules at varying prices, so a “standard” cost is hard to quote. Whatever the final price (base module, add-ons, cloud vs. on-prem, support), a well-chosen PMS positively impacts your business.

Focus on modules that truly help optimize your operations and profitability; avoid pricey extras that add little value. Your positioning and goals will guide you toward some PMS over others—every PMS has pros and cons; there is no single winner.

See also our blog post: How to choose your hotel PMS?

To guide your choice, UTH, an IT services provider for hotels, leverages 20 years of experience to map your goals to software features and point you toward the most appropriate PMS solutions—always with value for money in mind. Up-to-date on the latest tech trends, UTH supports you in selecting and implementing this strategic system.