Tech
22 problems · 21 fully documented
Systems problems in hotels arise at the interfaces between PMS, POS, CRM, payment and data protection, which is why a migration or rollout almost always affects more than the one system.
Fully documented (21)
PMS migration stalled mid-rollout
Two systems live, neither one trusted by the team.
Server or cloud: we don't know whether to move our PMS
The server in the basement still runs, but every vendor only talks about cloud.
Our PMS doesn't fit our type of hotel
Half board, spa and packages get organised around the system instead of inside it.
Our PMS vendor was acquired and we're told to migrate
A letter from the new owner, a date, and suddenly the system switch is no longer a choice.
Support replies days later
Saturday, 5 pm, the system hangs, and the hotline is closed until Monday.
PMS, POS and CRM don’t speak to each other
Guest data lives in silos, so personalisation is impossible.
Our data doesn't belong to us
Twenty years of guest history sit in a system nobody can get them out of.
Every new interface costs extra
Channel manager, CRM, door locks, POS: every connection is its own contract.
Our guest data is scattered and unused
No 360-degree view of the guest.
Our POS and payment systems are dated and siloed
Billing and reconciliation are error-prone.
PMS and POS don't play together
Dinner gets rung up at the bar, retyped at the front desk and hunted for at month end.
Cancelling an invoice is a battle
A wrong name on an invoice costs reception half an hour and the accountant an email.
The registration card is still on paper
Every guest writes down at check-in what they already entered when booking.
Breakfast: tally marks on a list instead of real time
Ask the room number, find it on the list, tick it off. At nine the queue reaches the door.
Our numbers are scattered across too many systems
Decisions take too long.
Our Wi-Fi and IT aren’t up to standard
Outages disrupt guests and operations.
We lack a plan to catch up digitally
Investments happen ad hoc, not strategically.
The team works around the PMS with WhatsApp and notes
Housekeeping, maintenance and reception have their own system: the group chat.
Our guest communication runs through too many channels
Requests get lost, replies take too long.
Our software costs keep growing and nobody has the overview
Licences keep running, the benefit is unclear.
The PMS bill is twice what was quoted
The per-room price is right; nobody read the lines underneath.
Logged, documentation follows (1)
These problems are in the catalogue but not yet fully documented. If one of them is yours, tell us. Cases are what turn a logged problem into a documented one.
Hospis for this area (1)
Hospis from the network whose work covers this category.
Your problem isn't listed? Tell us your case