PMS property management system: what it does and what it should cost
A PMS is the record every other hotel tool reads from, and Innkeeper is one built for properties with 4 to 80 rooms.
Watch the PMS act as the single record
The live demo is a working PMS on an 8-room demo inn. Create a reservation and follow what it changes: channel availability per night, occupancy and ADR for the next two weeks, the housekeeping board on the departure day and the invoice preview. One entry, every screen updated. That is the whole idea of a PMS.
- One reservation updates channels, reports, housekeeping and billing
- Drag a stay to another room with a conflict check
- Import a reservation by pasting an OTA confirmation email
Pms in hotel industry terms
PMS stands for property management system. In a hotel it is the system of record for rooms, reservations, guests and charges. Other tools connect to it: the channel manager reads availability from it, the booking engine writes reservations into it, housekeeping reads room status from it and accounting reads invoices from it. When a hotel has no PMS, those tools each keep their own copy, and the copies drift apart. When a hotel has one, there is one answer to the question of who is in room 4 tonight.
What a pms system records
- Rooms and room types, with the rate plans that apply to each
- Reservations, from enquiry to check-out, including room moves
- Guest profiles with contact details, notes and previous stays
- Charges, payments, deposits and the invoice for each stay
- Room status for housekeeping: dirty, clean, inspected
- Daily figures from the night audit: occupancy, ADR and RevPAR
Hotel pms software and the channels around it
A PMS on its own does not sell rooms. It has to connect to the places where guests book. Innkeeper connects to Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb and Google through channel connections and iCal, and every booking closes the same dates on the other channels. On the Hotel plan the channel manager software works both ways and also sends rates and restrictions. The hotel reservation software is the tape chart where all of this appears, and the hotel invoicing software turns each finished stay into an invoice with the right tax lines. On the Boutique plan, API access and webhooks let you connect your own tools as well.
What a PMS should cost a small property
PMS pricing is often per room with modules on top and a setup fee, and many vendors share numbers only after a demo call. Innkeeper publishes prices by room count: $49 per month for up to 10 rooms, $149 for up to 30 and $499 for up to 80, which works out at roughly $5 per room per month. Every core module is in every plan and there is no setup fee.
PMS property management system questions
Is a channel manager the same as a PMS?
No. A channel manager keeps availability in sync across booking sites. A PMS is the record of rooms, guests and charges that the channel manager reads from. Innkeeper includes both.
Do I need a PMS if I only have eight rooms?
If you sell on more than one channel or issue invoices, a PMS removes most of the manual copying. The Inn plan is sized for properties up to 10 rooms.
Is Innkeeper installed on a computer at the hotel?
No. Innkeeper runs in the browser, so it works on the front desk computer, a laptop, a tablet or a phone.
Can I bring my existing bookings?
Yes. Bookings in a spreadsheet or a CSV export from your current PMS can be imported. The Boutique plan includes an onboarding session and the import done with our team.
PMS prices by room count
Inn
Monthly
$49
- Yearly
- $490
- Rooms
- up to 10 rooms
Hotel
Monthly
$149
- Yearly
- $1,490
- Rooms
- up to 30 rooms
Boutique
Monthly
$499
- Yearly
- $4,990
- Rooms
- up to 80 rooms
Every feature per plan is on the hotel PMS pricing page.
Give your property one system of record
Create your account and start with rooms, channels and reservations.