If growing your business is your ultimate goal, you must find ways to save both money and time. As your operations grow, your needs are likely to change — and offline tools are no longer capable of handling the complexity of property management. However, migrating to an online system capable of handling these complexities can be an overwhelming task.

Here are three things to consider when migrating to a cloud-based reservation management system to streamline your operations and experience a smooth transition. 

1. Evaluate How It Will Improve Your Current Operations 

Capture Online Bookings

When considering the move to an online reservation management system, closely examine how it can enhance your ability to capture bookings.

With offline operations, you may be limited to accepting reservation requests through email or phone. This can take up a lot of time from your front desk staff who will need to manually take every call and respond to every email. For growing businesses such as yours, this is highly inefficient and puts your staff under increasing stress.

A cloud-based reservation management system can improve the way you acquire new reservations through online booking options. For instance, you can receive reservations anytime without manual intervention.

Diversify Your Accepted Payment Methods

Although payment processing technology has improved, 

offline technology is still lackluster compared to mobile-friendly, diverse payment capabilities with online reservation management systems.

Before migrating your operations online, it’s crucial to determine which payment options your guests prefer and how your software can accommodate those preferences. You’ll still need to provide guests with basic payment options choices for those who may need them, but don’t worry; cloud-based solutions still meet this demand. 

Additionally, a cloud-based reservation management system offers more security to take booking payments, giving your guests peace of mind knowing their payments are secure.Make Data-backed Decisions

Outdated legacy systems are only effective until a certain point in your operations. If you are manually reporting on your property’s performance throughoffline tools, you may be missing out on comprehensive, real-time analytics that drives growth. 

As an expanding business, you need the right technology to help you make important decisions that will support your goals. When considering migrating to a cloud-based reservation management system, native analytics, and reporting tools are a must-have. 

With cutting-edge software for reservation management, you can access the latest business intelligence and reporting tools to evolve your decision-making. These tools will help you further understand the booking behavior of your guests and help you coordinate pivotal decisions.

Whether you need to assess your occupancy rate, price performance, or uncover hidden expenditures, the right software will give you access to accurate data in one centralized easy-to-use dashboard. 

Manage Your Property on the Go

Traditional systems require you to be in-office and manually operate from a fixed location. When migrating to a cloud-based reservation management system, you should evaluate how you currently manage your property and consider how you want to. 

Whether you manage one or multiple properties, are on the go or working from home, you want to ensure your software is optimized for remote access. A cloud-based reservation management system enables you to operate your property from anywhere at any time. You can carry out operations remotely such as check-ins and check-outs, report generation, and inventory management.

2. Assess Your Existing Reservation Data 

Switching to reservation management software can be an overwhelming process, especially during the implementation period. 

You may ask yourself, “What if I lose all my data?” or “What about all the bookings and information I have for all my guests?”

Before moving your operations online, you’ll need to ensure that your existing data can be migrated and that there is compatibility with other technologies that support your operations.

Cloud-based reservation systems facilitate data migration more easily than on-premise reservation systems. A great provider can assess, cleanse, and audit your guest data without any loss.

3. Consider the Learning Phase

Once you’ve decided to transition to a new system, be sure to plan for staff training time. Proper training is needed to fully understand your new system and provide the best service possible at your property.

Not only should you consider the initial training for onboarding and implementation, but you should also think about the continuous support your team would need after migrating your operations. 

Some examples of continuous training you can utilize are:

• Industry reports, case studies, competitive insights, and performance data
• Hospitality conferences led by industry leaders
• Online training, classes, and workshops
• Up-to-date supporting resources and additional hands-on training

Achieving Operational Excellence 

Migrating to an online reservation system can seem like a daunting task. There’s a lot to assess and plan for ahead of time, but you don’t have to do it alone.

RMS provides you not only with an industry-leading platform to alleviate all your operational needs, but we offer a library of additional resources, tips, expertise, and 24/7 support created to lead you to operational excellence.

To learn more about the functionality and integrations possible and the data-driven decision-making power that comes with a robust, cloud-based PMS built to evolve your operations, download our guide Operational Excellence in Hospitality: Using PMS to Work Smarter today.