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Innkeeper

How a hotel PMS works, from one booking to the invoice

A property management system is the one place where a small hotel keeps its rooms, bookings, guests, rates and money. The easiest way to understand it is to follow a single reservation through the day.

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One booking, five steps, one system

  1. 01

    Booking arrives

    Booking.com4471-2093
    A. MoreauArriving from Booking.com
    Double3 nights
    2 guests$360

    At 11 at night a guest books a Double for three nights on Booking.com. Innkeeper receives the reservation, creates the guest profile and places the stay on the tape chart in the right room type. Nobody at the property has to be awake for it.

    Hotel reservation software
  2. 02

    Channels close

    Room 23 nights
    Expedia
    Airbnb
    Google
    Direct

    The moment the booking is saved, Innkeeper recalculates how many Doubles are left for those nights and sends the new availability to Expedia, Airbnb, Google and your own booking engine. The last room cannot be sold twice.

    Channel manager software
  3. 03

    Guest checks in

    Arriving today3
    A. MoreauRoom 2Arriving today
    R. PatelRoom 4Arriving today
    S. TanakaRoom 7Arriving today

    On the day of arrival the guest appears on the front desk list with the balance due and the room status. The desk confirms the details, takes the balance and marks the guest in-house.

    Hotel front desk software
  4. 04

    Room to housekeeping

    Housekeeping today8 rooms
    Room 2Dirty
    Room 3Clean
    Room 4Inspected

    On departure the room turns Dirty on the housekeeping board. It is assigned, cleaned from a phone checklist and marked Inspected, ready for the next arrival.

    Hotel housekeeping software
  5. 05

    Invoice issued

    INV-48201A. Moreau
    Nights3 x $120
    Tax rate10%
    Total$396.00

    The folio of nights, extras and payments becomes an invoice with your tax lines, sent to the guest as a PDF and ready for your bookkeeper.

    Hotel invoicing software

What a hotel PMS replaces at a small property

  • The paper diary or the spreadsheet of who sleeps where
  • Updating availability by hand on each extranet
  • Email threads with guests who want to book direct
  • A separate invoicing tool where the stay is typed again
  • The housekeeping list written each morning

Where direct bookings fit in

Not every guest comes through an OTA. Guests who find your website book through the hotel booking engine on the same calendar, pay a deposit on Hotel and above, and cost you no commission. From step 2 onward their stay follows exactly the same path.

Where rates fit in

Rates, seasons and restrictions are set once in Innkeeper and sent to every channel and to your booking engine. On Boutique the system suggests rate changes from occupancy and booking pace. See hotel revenue management software.

A PMS or a channel manager?

A channel manager only keeps availability in sync. A PMS also runs the desk, the rooms and the money. Innkeeper includes both in every plan. Read PMS vs channel manager for the full comparison.

Questions about how a hotel PMS works

Does the PMS work while the property is closed for the night?

Yes. Bookings from channels and your website are received, placed and synced at any hour.

Do I need to install software?

No. Innkeeper runs in the browser on a computer, tablet or phone.

How long does it take to set up?

Add your rooms and rates, connect your channels and import your future bookings from a spreadsheet or CSV. A small property can do this in a morning.

Follow your own booking through Innkeeper.

Send a booking through the demo inn, or create your account and set up your rooms.

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Sample inn Sep 24 to Oct 7 Direct