Introduction: Understanding PMS Automation
Anything that cuts the need for human intervention in routine manual tasks is automation. Anything that facilitates a free flow of information from PMS to its partners and vice versa is automation. In fact, as per a 2021 survey of 773 participants, 90% of the automation users claim that automation has improved collaboration across departments and 89% even feel more satisfied with their job due to the presence of automation tools in their workplace.
PMS providers build integrations with a wide network of partners. These include a few direct connections with travel wholesalers and a healthy mix of third-party channel managers i.e., OTAs. Wholesalers work as middlemen between OTAs and properties. They buy inventory in bulk and sell it to OTAs. Plus, PMS has to keep a good mix of OTAs to reduce dependency on a single distribution channel. If you look at all of this from a bird’s eye view, there is a huge exchange of information between multiple partners. This massive exchange is managed through APIs.
And what are APIs?
It’s the tech that goes invisible while making your life easy. It’s the tech that gives a traveler a list of flights available for their trip, it’s the tech that tells them if the suite with the ocean view they want is available or not, it’s the message pop-up that alerts them to book fast or the price may go up.
It is the thread that allows connection between a PMS and other systems such as wholesalers, OTAs, channel managers, booking engines, payment gateways, and more, behind the scenes. APIs are simply nothing but facilitators of automation.
Integration Strategy for PMS
1. Mandatory APIs
Some APIs are essential to perform fundamental tasks such as creating and updating property and room type information, creating and updating the rate plan, managing availability, and processing reservations. This, coupled with the mapping Iframe, helps you create a minimum viable product ready to go live.
Mapping Iframe helps you perform channel mapping. Channel mapping is essentially synching your inventory with the third-party channels you are connected to. It allows you to track and manage updates from one central system. The mapping screen can be managed by the PMS’s customer support team or it can be made accessible to the property itself for greater control and reduced maintenance.
2. Advanced Integrations
A PMS provider can opt for advanced integrations, aside from the mandatory ones, to improve automation. These integrations focus on two aspects:
Easier operations:
This can be achieved through automation of tasks such as
- reporting of no-shows to minimize manual intervention
- flagging invalid credit cards to ensure payment security
- reporting cancellations to optimize occupancy and more.
Better efficiency:
This can be achieved through automation of tasks such as
- real-time content updation across channels to improve accuracy
- facilitating communication between guests and properties to increase guest satisfaction
- managing reviews and feedback to maintain a positive online presence, and more.
Benefits of Automation
1. Increased retention of properties
PMS providers can take care of complex tasks. PMS automation can take care of repetitive tasks. Tasks that are time-consuming and monotonous in nature, such as data entry, reservation processing, check-in and check-out procedures, payment processing, scheduling cleaning, managing inventory of supplies, etc., all can be taken care of via automation.
According to a 2022 Gartner survey, 85% of infrastructure and operation leaders expect to increase automation by 2025. The numbers make it clear that the more the PMS makes a property’s operations simpler, the more sticky the property becomes to its PMS.
2. Dedicated time for the property’s internal operations
According to a WorkMarket’s 2020 In(Sight) report, 78% of business leaders say that automation can save up to 3 hours of their day. That’s a staggering 780 hours per year. Imagine reinvesting all that time in your business growth.
Automation does not take coffee breaks, so while it focuses on mundane tasks, it allows a property to work in parallel on its operations that do require manual effort, thus increasing productivity. Tasks requiring manual effort could be guest interactions, employee training, property maintenance, quality control, strategic planning, and more.
Consideration for Building APIs
1. Time Investment
Building an API is a time-consuming process. It requires careful planning, execution, testing, and deployment, all of which is asking for sufficient time and resources to be aligned.
2. Assessing Property Demands
To build APIs, PMS providers need to assess property demands to build for required functionalities. This requires connecting with the right stakeholders, understanding their pain points, and prioritizing the functionalities that will deliver the most impact.
3. Scalability and Flexibility
The APIs need to be built with scalability and flexibility in mind. It should be solid enough to manage large volumes of data and fluid enough to accommodate future changes in technology.
4. Support and Maintenance
Just building the tech stack is not enough. There needs to be bandwidth available to maintain the tech stack as well. Aligning tech personnel bandwidth to update APIs is essential to ensure they remain reliable over time.
5. Cost Considerations
Building APIs does require having heavy pockets. It includes various costs such as developer costs, infrastructure costs and maintenance costs. The hourly rate of an API developer in the USA and Canada can go as high as $130. It can be more if they are a senior developer. Not to mention, the more the number of APIs, the more the cost. When there is so much a la carte, the bill only goes up.
Outsourcing API services can significantly take the stress off your shoulders. It saves costs, provides access to expertise, and speeds up time to market. Fully API-driven systems like Su offer an extensive API suite, having 30+ APIs. These APIs are fully documented and can be easily integrated into your systems. Su offers APIs that enable a PMS to customize their channel manager interface to make it look and feel like it was built in-house. Just like automation, Su works like an invisible partner to your visible success.
