By Jeff Sefton

1. Select the Project Manager.
2. Determine the budget and get sign off.
3. Select the Evaluation Team.
4. Define the property type and identify who the guests are.
5. Identify business needs and identify guest needs.
6. Drill down and identify specific needs in relation to the property management system.
7. Research property management system vendors that offer the majority of features that match the needs assessment.
8. Create a potential vendor list.
9. From the potential Vendor list, break it down to a short list of 5 or less PMS Vendors.
10. Arrange and participate in system demonstrations by Vendors from the short list.
11. Make the decision.
12. Ask for references and contact them.

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By Jeff Sefton

Aphrodite Caserta, Director of Marketing & Communications at Safari West shares her experience regarding the hotel property management software evaluation process.

Tell me about the process you went through to purchase a property management system for your business.

“We completed a thorough needs assessment for the property and determined that we needed to move from a manual to a computerized system to meet the growth and unique needs of Safari West. We felt that by automating our reservation system it would enable us to enhance the guest experience and maximize our profits.

Once decided, we appointed a project manager and put together the project plan. We then developed a Request for Proposal (RFP) based on our needs analysis.

Here is how the rest of the process unfolded:

1. We conducted some research:
   • We started by calling the General Managers at similar size properties and asked questions such as what property management they were currently using? We used our Property/Reference Questionnaire to conduct the interviews.
   • We reviewed our marketing plan, defined our guests, demographics, etc.
   • We went on-line to gather information and read white papers about hospitality systems.
2. From there we developed a ‘long list’ from the research we conducted with similar properties and from information we gathered on-line.
3. We contracted an IT specialist to provide an assessment of our current infrastructure and make a recommendation (factoring in projected total cost of ownership) either to support a client server based system or a web-based system.
4. We then developed a ‘short list’ of five vendors to contact and set up demos.
5. We put together a document listing the key benefits of each vendor and the key concerns as they related to our RFP and needs analysis.
6. We prepared a recommendation to the property owners based on our research and analysis, taking into consideration all intangibles benefits including references, how long they have been around, are they keeping up on the latest trends, do their people have extensive experience, as well as price comparisons, model comparisons, support and training, interfaces with standard protocols, and web model vs. client server model. “

What were the 3 most important things you considered when making the purchase?

1. “The program needed to be easy to learn and could be fine tuned to our operation.
2. Will they be around in the next five years? Who are the people within the company – do they have experience in the hotel industry? The more experience, the better the program, training and support.
3. The program needed to match our operating style and should have more features than we thought we could use…we didn’t want to outgrow the system.”

Did it matter to you if the property management system was web based or server based?

“Yes. We decided on a web based system. Most client server systems required that we own the software and install the programs on several computers.

The upkeep with upgrades and the cost of hiring an IT person to keep the system running would be very expensive. In contrast, a web based system allowed us to have someone else run the software remotely over live Internet connections. The onetime cost of a web based system vs. recurring costs associated with leased or purchased equipment such as software maintenance, server hardware maintenance, network support, database support and other contingencies was a huge savings.”

Now that you have purchased a property management system do you feel you made the right decision and if so what do you think were the most important parts of the process that led to that decision?

“Yes, indeed – we made the right decision. The most important part of the process was the developing the project plan and the project team. Defining our needs, getting the right people in the organization involved, building the business case as to return on investment, working with all the end users and getting their commitment and support, and finally, establishing a change procedure involving all the end users.”

What would you deem to be essential to the success of this project?

“Our team’s commitment was essential to the success of this project.”

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Choosing a strong and diverse evaluation team to help select the best tools to run your hotel is a good first step in gaining buy-in from your hotel team – It is important to have everyone on-board when a new property management system is selected for your property.

Everyone involved in your organization from the owner, hotel management company and senior management to the front desk, reservations, sales and housekeeping department needs to be invested and committed to the project.

Project Manager

Prior to beginning the evaluation process, it is important to designate a project manager that will be accountable and see the project through from start to finish.

The Project Manager is usually the first person appointed to the evaluation team. This choice may already be determined…possibly a consultant has been hired for the job, a manager at head office, a manager at the hotel, someone in operations or someone in the information technology department.

Evaluation Team

• Evaluation team members might consist of operation managers that use functionality geared to specific roles as well as front line staff that would use the property management software on a daily basis
• Staff in various positions such as Front Desk Clerk, Reservations Clerk, Housekeeping Managers or Supervisors, Sales Staff, Accounting Staff, Concierge Staff and staff in the Information Technology Department would be able to offer different perspectives
• Consider representatives from these departments to be included in the evaluation process – Their experience with past systems as well as their department processes and their insight into what functionality they need to best serve the hotel guests will be very valuable when building your requirement list.

Setting Expectations

• The Project Manager should set expectations and objectives of what is to be accomplished during the evaluation process and provide this information in writing to the team
• Setting expectations and objectives will help to keep the evaluation process on track
• The team needs to understand that although comments and suggestions are appreciated and necessary, not everyone’s wants will be fulfilled
• The goal is to choose the best system to meet the property’s business needs while providing the best overall tool for all departments
• There will be some areas and functionality that will require compromise
• Sorting out items that are needs as opposed to those that are wants is essential during this process.  Items that are determined to be needs should be qualified as such.