General Modules and features of Hotel Front Desk
Software
There are many ways to manage the property
with Hotel Front Desk Software. Most of these are becoming more
Microsoft Windows based. They are called ‘Graphic User Interfaced’.
This is the base trend that all hotel computer software is
following.
Many of the front desk software programs out there are designed to
provide hospitality software capabilities. They are focused on
making the guest’s visit as great as possible. They also provide a
number of options such as letting the front office know which rooms
are in use, which are available, and which are ready for service.
This makes the modern hotel software more versatile and capable,
unlike to older hotel front desk software that could barely support
a place’s base needs. In the past there was a need for a multitude
of programs to supply what can single hotel front desk software can
supply on its own.
Many of the hotel front desk software either has a built in hotel
management software or is tied into one so that the manager can
oversee what has been done and what needs to be done. This makes it
so that the manager is more in tune with the situation than someone
that just came in and had to see what has transpired over a period
of hours.
There are many programs out there that can do what hotel front desk
software can do, but it is ideal to get uniform programs that can
plug into one another. This makes transition between programs more
cohesive and less of a chance of data loss.
Hotel front desk software is part of a property management module
(PMS) and is designed to facilitate the management of guests with
regard to check-in-check-out, reservations and billing, and in room
management. Basic features of hotel front desk software will include
reservations, guest/folio history, individual and group
reservations, room and rate management, housekeeping, guest
accounting/billing, night auditing, and city ledger. Hotel front
desk software will also have accounting, housekeeping, management
and reporting features.
Reservation modules will have hotel reservation software and an
Internet booking engine, which allow for real-time reservations from
web based sites. A CRS books reservations for multiple properties.
The hotel reservation software also will have features that provide
standard and fast check-in/check-out, show future room availability
and unsold rooms, provide guest folio review and edit, make or
modify key lock cards, easy identification of room types and rates
(based on season, interval, package, senior, etc), handles
deposits/refunds, view reservations by month/day, book by room
number or type, handle walk-ins, and schedule rate changes.
Management modules help track hotel performance and include night
audit, revenue per available room, average daily rate, percentage
occupancy, occupancy forecast reporting, and summary of revenues,
payments, and taxes for a certain time period.
Housekeeping features provide an update of the housekeeping status
of each room, customize housekeeping duties, staff tracking, and
make room assignments. Accounting modules will perform auto posting
of charges and payments, automatic transfer of advance deposits,
specify type of taxes, specify number of payment methods, and city
ledger functions. Reporting modules can forecast occupancy rates,
view arrivals and departures past and future, list in-house guests,
their room numbers, outstanding balance and credit information,
generate statements for corporate accounts, view room housekeeping
status and generate management reports.
