Slashdot Mirror
Software Options for Operating a Mid-Sized Hotel?
curly_dan asks: "Can readers recommend any software packages suitable for a mid-sized hotel (100 rooms + restaurant + bar + function rooms) to use for checking guests in/out, billing, housekeeping, reservations, financial accounting and all other necessary functions for a busy hotel? Their existing system (which I don't want to name) is clunky, fails often, and the telephone support team seem unable to use or configure their own product and are frequently rude to the hotel staff. I'm interested in hearing the experiences on the software packages those of you in this business have encountered."
Stop using MS Office for your hotel.
You're not getting anything past anybody by not naming it.
Note to mods: I'm probably being sarcastic.
MS BOB.
- B. Fawlty.
When I worked at a hotel (65 rooms, no restaurant), we used a product called Check-Inn. It had all of the features you mentioned, and was fairly decent. It wasn't awesome, but it wasn't too expensive, either. IIRC, they could do internet reservations in the latest release (which we weren't running).
Start here.
If you find a package that sounds interesting, Google it. If you still have questions, submit an Ask Slashdot question and mention the ones that interest you along with an open-ended request for expert opinion.
I bet you'll have better luck getting a response.
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
While it is aimed at residential colleges, it offers functionality for billing, events/functions, room allocations and a bit more. Having been involved in a company which uses it, it's ok, except that users need local administrative privileges.
Check it out here: www.starnetsystems.com.au
Be warned, it's fairly expensive, but probably not prohibitively so.
www.fearthecow.net
You'll want to make sure that the new system interacts correctly and usefully with the hotel's phone system. Depending on that system, it could reduce the number of choices rather dramatically.
Try Corewar @ www.koth.org - rec.games.corewar
Don't ask software geeks what's the best software for running a hotel. We may know software, but we know shit about hotels. You should ask other hoteliers.
Whichever option you choose for your hotel, make sure it can integrate directly with the GDS to get you out on sites like www.CaliforniaSunHotels.com . These guys aggregate hotel inventory and sell it at discounts from Expedia and the like. You can also connect into them directly by loading inventory into the aresdirect.com product at hotelgeneral.com . The best thing about these guys is they all run open source software like Linux and Apache. You can see that in the bottom line by the commission they charge. Oh, and I happen to know one or two of the programmers there, and they rock!
Filemaker is the solution you are looking for. Much of what you have requested has pre-built packages and companies like Soliant Consulting or Excelisys or you could even do it yourself
free download to play with, never used anything better
Hands down THE BEST software if you like to run a hotel.. bar.. integrates nicely..lots of add ons, evey serialed upgrade has just rocked with wish fullfillment.. the forum is good for 'how do i's although the owner/author/president can get snippy when he feels a post just isn't appropriate....
www.innquest.com
I've worked days inn, marriott, best western, one holiday inn briefly, and three independents, innquest rocks..
you can create custom confirmation letters that adjust to the details of the bookings, with variables you set and using boolean logic.
try it.. I can't tell you enough how much I think it rocks. yes- I'll gladly be known as a innquest fanboy...
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
and a Howard Johnsons..
Trust me.. download roommaster, play with the sample data.. it'll kill you with ease of use.
it does require win xp pro on all terminals..
First year we saved about 1k in postage by emailing our confirmations (independent motel) we also had much better communications because we had sent an email to everyone at point of booking, and again when their reservations had a deposit.. if we never recieved a deposit, 'usta be we'd cancel the bookings, now we send an email ahead, then recapture about half, then cancel the rest...
I have confirmation letters that know the difference between a rack rate, and a special that require a different cancel time, and prints the date they must cancel by (3 days ahead, or 14) automatically..
it can produce 99% of it's reports to PDF...
pay the pony, at a 100 rooms, get the enterprise edition, the extra reporting is well worth it.
THE ONLY THING it does not do that I wish it did today (Robert, are ya listening? I'm sure you've figured out who this is from the slacker typing style) is let me track rooms completed by which housekeeper... where the desk types them in, and I also wish I could move line items off the DESK FOLIOS only, so I could recapture missed call accounting interfaces (due to desk, not software error) to the rooms they belong to cleanly.....
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
in trade lingo it is Property Management Software.
PMS for short...
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Stay far far away from a company named MICROS. Sure you may see them everywhere but their marketing and "support" are shady and underhanded. They will tell you that you need to upgrade every two years and if you say no then they will try to get anyone at your property down to the night auditor to sign a paper allowing them to do the install. They might even just come in and say they have to install then get the signature on the way out and you just signed away $10k to them.
You'll find a few packages and a few stories.
There was a wonderful looking, easy to use system documented a while ago on The Daily WTF. It was even shown to have a truly elegant architecture. Check it out, you'll definitely be surprised!
Solution to blink tags: wrap them in another blink tag, with a javascript delay loop, so they cancel each other out
Mrs Richards: Now. I've reserved a very quiet room, with a bath and a sea view. I specifically asked for a sea view in my written confirmation, so please make sure I have it.
Manuel: Qué?
Mrs Richards: What?
Manuel: Qué?
Mrs Richards: "K"?
Manuel: Sí.
Mrs Richards: "C"?
[Manuel nods.]
Mrs Richards: "KC"?
[Manuel looks puzzled.]
Mrs Richards: "KC"? What are you trying to say?
Manuel: No, no-no-no. "Qué" "what".
Mrs Richards: "K what"?
Manuel: Sí! "Qué" "what"!
Mrs Richards: "C.K. Watt"?
Manuel: Yes.
Mrs Richards: Who is C.K. Watt?
Manuel: Qué?
Mrs Richards: Is it the manager, Mr Watt?
Manuel: Oh, manager!
Mrs Richards: He is.
Manuel: Ah Mr Fawlty!
Mrs Richards: What?
Manuel: Fawlty.
Mrs Richards: What are you talking about, you silly little man?!
[She turns to hotel maid Polly.]
Mrs Richards: What is going on here? I ask him for my room, and he tells me the manager's a "Mr Watt", aged forty.
Manuel: No, no. Fawlty.
Mrs Richards: Faulty? What's wrong with him?
Polly: It's alright, Mrs Richards. He's from Barcelona.
"I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google"
Resort Data Processing? Gotta love the DOS-based interface, crappy Pervasive database, and insulting support. My friend (tech guy for the resort) got threatened with a cancellation of the contract by the president of the company - on a whim. I've been trying to convince him to look for other packages for years.
Poor means hoping the toothache goes away.
I'd LOVE to build an asterisk PBX to run a hotel. That would rock so hard. I'd done the design for an asterisk installation in that type of environment, but have never had the opportunity to deploy it. I'd highly recommend it if you want absolute total control of your PBX.
http://www.squirrelsystems.com/default.html I have heard good things about these people and you can find them running all over, it's likely worth looking into. ;)
The immature mind measures.
If you can find a used Fidelio 4 system anywhere, I'd recommend that. DOS-based (think Borland IDE), and configurable as all hell.
Failing that, if you can find a Fidelio 7 system, try that. It's Windows-based and a bit finicky, but basically the DOS-based Fidelio with a GUI and uses SQL instead of dbIII.
Opera, the current incarnation of Fidelio, would be overkill for your needs. (And requires an Oracle license.)
The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
what did hotels do before the invention of desktop computers?
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
But seriously guys, I've worked at hotels (work at one right now actually) as a cook, and I can tell you, that there is a real shortage of ANY KIND of software.
Be it inventory control, booking, checking in, personell management -you name it. Not only that, but most run over Windows, so you get the addittional problem of purchasing windows, running it and having the associated problems.
Now the way I figure it, anyone building a system based on linux, where interaction with the actual operating system on the part of the end user is minimal (think KnoppMyth) that STILL manages to do alot of math (count customers, inventories and extrapolate from that information ie. predict the future) without the end user having to worry about learning a whole lot of stuff (remember, we are talking about cooks who generally can't tell the difference between a computer and an ice machine, except for me of course), you would really make a $hitload of money.
Just my opinion based on my experience.
Some say he is made with ascii, others that he is eyeballed daily by millions. All we know is, he is known as the Sig
Check all the systems against the screenshots in Major Malfunction's infrared presentations. He seems to have 0wned most of the hotel systems out there. Couldn't find a URL to any of the presentations, but here is a Wired article that contains some information.
Doolittle :
Bomb no.20 : To explode of course.
I can't speak for most of the Epicor software suite but I strongly recommend that you avoid their Scala product. It sucks, in fact let's say it sucks a lot.
Ed Almos
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. - Tacitus, 56-120 A.D.
I work at a very large casino company with more than a handfull of hotels and several thousand hotel rooms, not exactly mid-sized, but the info may still be relevent to you.
We use Agilysys's Lodging Management Software aka LMS. I believe Agilysys has a price range that may suite your needs. It has all the features you mention, and if it doesn't, they can assist in adding in modules that can do what your looking for.
Hope this helps.
--
Duckz
I know more history than I've experienced myself.
/accomodations available without quoting rates-- this enables you to give up the book faster.. then using a rate sheet (one taped near every phone) quotes rates & details.. when getting the booking, you fill out a reservation form (about half a sheet of paper sized) with customers & reservation details
But, in the period JUST BEFORE pc's were common, our hotel used a
1-Micros Cash register to keep track of all the rooms
2- 3 ring binder with 'graph' paper to keep track of availability
3- boxes like 4X6 index card boxes for actual reservations
process, you call the hotel, ask for a certain date, the agent steals the "book" from whichever phone (of three) it's sitting at, and looks at the two pages (rooms 1-40 on page one, 41-80 on page 2) and quotes availability and room descriptions
as soon as possible, you write this name in the book for their room in pencil.. you file the respad in the box for such by name.
a week-ten days later, their deposit (check or money order only) arrives.. you pull the name copy.. get the book- erase the name in pencil, write it again in ink.. then go to the micros and open the 'adv deposit' account.. ring up the check- and it prints a two-line comment on the respad as well.. now file the respad in the index boxes by date of arrival.
guest arrives, fills out stub card on registration card.. you ring up a payment from the advance deposit file, and the balance of what the guest paid at check in.. and print it off
each night, the auditor takes each card one at a time, and posts off the days charges...
at checkout, the balances get zeroed, and the top copy is the guests receipt.
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The book was hands down the most important database at the hotel
no backup was possible, if lost it would have been a nightmare to re-create..
it held two pages for each week of the year, (there were too many rooms to fit on one page)
it literally had to be passed from person to person during the day at an alarming rate
it's the only paper item I've ever used reinforcing rings on (and been glad of their existence)
occasionally a page would get so worn that it would be re-created by copying, but it was annoying because that stiff page wouldn't match the feel of the rest
when it was say, 25 jun and we had callers on the line for 4th jul, we'd spiel whatever details seemed likely before we'd give up the book to someone else (hissing, "take 415 for the holiday and I'll kill ya-- I'm selling it right now..")
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Developing/supporting Property Management System (PMS)/PBX/Call Accounting interfaces and whatnot (large-scale proprietary stuff for some of the big boys - not commercial software) for hotels ranging from 80 rooms to 5000+ rooms. When I left the company I thought about starting a F/OSS PMS suite, but never persued it. Maybe I'll sit down this weekend and start to draw out some ideas. Maybe one day you'll see something on sourceforge geared towards mom-and-pop B&B's, small hotels, inns, and hostels. It might be me.
I have found there are just two ways to go.
It all comes down to livin' fast or dyin' slow. -REK, Jr.
AutoClerk is easy to work with, comes with decent training manuals and videos, and has good support, although labor costs are somewhat expensive. I'd reccomend checking them out.
Don't know that much about the software, but I have a friend who works for Newmarket International. I know this is the kind of software they do, but I don't know how good it is. *shrug*
Give a man a match, you keep him warm for an evening.
Light him on fire, he's warm for the rest of his life