INTRODUCTION

Front Office – the most important department of the hotel where guest comes in contact with the hotel first.
Computer is an electronic device that is used for calculations, logic operations and creation of database that can be utilized for future requirements. Compters can store large amount of data on magnetic media. Comouter is capable of doing arithmetic calculations faster than any manual method.
Computer system – consists of 3 interrelated and interdependent components namely-
  • Hardware
  • Software
  • Users.
Computer Application in Front Office Operations – replacing manual, mechanical work or use of electric devices.
 

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (PMS)

It is a generic term used to describe the application of computer hardware and software in managing the interface of various departments of a hotel.
 
Examples of PMS:
  1. Amadeus
  2. Fidelio
  3. IDS
  4. PMS
  5. Visual Oui
  6. Opera
  7. PMS
  8. Innfront
  9. CLS

Points to consider while selecting a PMS

  • Budget: Budget must be a consideration while selecting a Property Management System for your hotel. A small hotel may want to opt for a local, lesser known brand for the cost constraints while bigger hotels may opt for well known brands as they can afford it.
  • Brand: Well known PMS brands are considered reliable which may help bigger hotels to decide upon selecting hotel management software based on their brand image.
  • Cost of Operation:  The hardware (computer, printer, back-up discs etc) used by the PMS should be replaceable at a reasonable cost.  Costs for operating supplies, such as paper and cartridges should also be reasonable.  Systems that require such hardware part which cannot be obtained economically, readily and locally should be avoided. 
  • Ease of Installation:  Hotel’s operate 24hrs a day and 7 days a week, so any disruption in the continuous operation of its PMS can affect the hotel and its guests.  Before selecting a new PMS, the FOM should thoroughly investigate the amount of time required in the installation of the new system.  Installation time and its actual cost must be a common consideration in the selection of a new PMS.
  • Ease of Use:  New Front Office employees must learn how to use the PMS.  The ease with which they can learn the system is a factor in reducing training costs and increasing the pace at which new employees become comfortable operating the system.
  • Ease of Interface Integration:  Information needed by FOMs to professionally manage Front Office comes from a variety of sources.  Hotels use many automatic systems like card-key machines, telephone systems which must interface with the PMS for operational utility and efficiency.
  • Maintenance Requirements:  Like any other hotel equipment, the PMS must be properly maintained to operate efficiently.  The cost of effective preventive maintenance may vary from one PMS to another. The FOM must determine and understand the time and money required to minimize down time and to maximize system efficiency by providing routine, ongoing maintenance.
  • Ease and Frequency of Upgrading:  Technology advances at a fast pace.  Hardware and software upgrades are routinely issued by manufacturers, and most of these significantly improve the operational effectiveness of a PMS.  FOMs should anticipate significant increases in demand for up gradation, memory, and speed and should provide for the same at the time of procurement. 
  • Quality and Availability of Support Services:  A PMS is a computerized system and is vulnerable to hardware malfunctioning, software glitches, and potentially damaging intrusive viruses.  Support services personnel, preferably via a toll free telephone number must be accessible on a 24 hrs and 7 days basis.

IMPORTANCE OF USING COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN FRONT OFFICE

  • Reduces paper work
  • Environment friendly
  • Saves time
  • Increases efficiency
  • Reduces error
  • Increases speed and guest satisfaction
  • Improves co-ordination among different hotel departments

Reservation Module includes the following features:

  • It provides room status records when the date of arrival, date of departure and type of guest rooms are entered in the system.
  • It can check the reservation status of a guest quickly.
  • It displays room availability status by simply selecting a date.
  • It can attach guest messages to relevant reservations, to be delivered at the time of arrival.
  • It can automatically calculate rates.
  • It can create group blocks etc

Front Desk Module includes the following features:

  • It can access guest information easily and quickly for viewing, modification or check-in.
  • It displays a graphical room layout with the room status information.
  • It tracks all guest activities for the length of their stay.
  • It prints registration cards.
  • It updates the system in case of a guest room change etc.

Cashier Module includes the following features:

  • It manages all aspects of the guest folio including debits, credits, adjustments, transfers and allowances.
  • It allows the viewing or printing of folio details and summary information.
  • It consolidates all transactions and produces and accurate bill, enabling a speedy checkout.

Reporting Module includes the following features:

The reporting module has various formats which allow the management to retrieve operating or financial information at any point of time.  With this module, the management can quickly access information such as the availability of rooms on a particular day, the number of guests arriving on a specific day, listing of guest’s folio balances, outstanding balance reports etc.

DIFFERENT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

There are several companies that provide the PMS software to hotels, with their own unique features to suit the different requirements of various hotels.  Some of the companies providing PMS software are Micros, Amadeus, IDS Fortune, and Shaw Man. 

AMADEUS 

Amadeus property management system can be integrated with Front Office, sales and marketing, and financial management functions.  It allows the user to move faster in all core aspects of guest experience management. 

  • FRONT OFFICE MODULE:  This module offers full availability, reservation, billing, and yield functionalities, which in turn generate useful performance statistics.  It provides data on performance indicators such as sales, accounts, source, and segment activity, which is monitored to analyze business efficiency and used to generate management reports. 
  • SALES AND MARKETING MODULE:        This module aids the sales and marketing professions to target potential guests and effectively manage customer relationships. 
  • CONFERENCE AND BANQUETING MODULE:      Event planning is a feature that helps generate revenue for hotels.  The key features of the conference management system include real time conference/ meeting room availability and equipment management.
  • FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT:  It is designed for liquidity planning and control along with comprehensive accounting, financial reporting and analysis

FIDELIO

Fidelio hotel management software is a completely integrated system package.  Fidelio headquarter is in Munich, Germany.  This EMS maximizes the efficiency of the hotel.  It is a highly flexible system.  Its uniform and user friendly programme means that the hotel employees can learn this system quickly.  Fidelio has pulled down menus which help and assist the user at every step and only short term training to staff is required. 

  1. Fidelio promotes smooth functioning of all the departments.
  2. It reduces paper work and helps in saving money on extra stationery.
  3. It eliminates communication gap between departments.
  4. It helps in providing quality service to the guest thereby, up-keeping the hotel’s goodwill.
  5. It is a highly flexible programme and has facilities like screen painter, report generator, user definable report menus and night audit etc.
  6. It has the ability to create extensive guest history.
  7. It has extensive modules for various hotel management operations like reservation module, front desk module, cashier module, night audit module, material management system etc.

One disadvantage of Fidelio may be that it is very expensive and any under utilization will be expensive.  Its maintenance is also costly compared to other systems.  Another disadvantage may that during night audit terminals are shut down, thus check-ins and check-outs during the period cannot be taken during the period.

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SHAWMAN PMS

The ShawMan PMS is an integrated Front Office Management Software that can host multiple properties and handle guest reservations simultaneously across many units including an integrated web-based reservation agent and auto confirmation manager.
 
ShawMan’s PMS plugs into an Integrated Telephone Call Management System that supports a host of EPABX interfaces and also seamlessly connects to ShawMan POS, MMS and CRM Systems to complete the application needs of the boarding & lodging Industry. The ShawMan Hotel Centre is a unique and powerful interface design that handles registration, cashiering, and night audit functions, treating guests and rooms as two manageable objects and supports right click quick task launch of forms and reports, undo and redo, eraser and task history to effortlessly customize the desktop for each user and department to manage a slew of jobs undertaken daily by the attendants, supervisors and managers both at the Front Desk and back office
A three tier client middle server architecture allows business processes and rules to be easily defined and modified such as customer profiles, multiple rate codes, meal plans, guest history, room inventory, house keeping and more. Several MIS outputs to choose from for quick and accurate reporting in the form of statements, flash reports, chasers and audit trails and a query that allows users to design their own custom.
 

IDS PMS

IDS stands for internet distribution system which refers to the portals that offers online reservation and bookings.

For the last few years the number of bookings of room has increased considerably through IDS and GDS which makes it highly acceptable distribution channels on the internet, benefiting the hotels. However, the hotels are required to use the system appropriately to make the most of the system. Because IDS is an online portal it offers numerous choices to the travel agents and also provides hotels with better visibility on internet.

IDS for hotels is highly recommended for the small and midsize hotel entities that are trying to force their place in the competitive hospitality market. The IDS for hotels connects your hotel with around 11,000 online travel portals including some popular hotel booking websites like Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire, TravelNow, Travelocity, Booking.com, hotels.de, hotels.com, Agoda, Priceline, Lastminute.com and many more.

Benefits of the IDS for hotels:

Presence across the Globe: Most important and vital advantage that IDS offers to the hotels is the worldwide presence. Internet has simplified life and online booking and reservation of the hotel rooms has specifically made things easier for the customer to plan and schedule visits to different destination without sweating around the offices of travel agents.

The online booking is very popular and when it comes to hotel rooms it is most preferred medium to reservation. Being an online entity, anyone can visit the website and search you – hotels, without any problem to book the rooms. This gives hotels a lot of visibility among the customers and it can be accessed from any part of the world without any help from anyone else.

Easy Connectivity: because internet distribution system is totally an online thing, hotel management system can easily connect with different distribution channels without any problems. Over 11,000 websites and 6, 50,000 travel agents across the world are reachable on the internet. IDS for hotels allow the travel agents to see the hotel rates and availability in real time with photos and information that helps travel agents and their customers in making a decision.

Broaden Market Reach: In the conventional system hotels used telephones and travel agents to create a market for their business but the reach was always constrained. The internet has no such hurdle. It is easily accessible and reachable beyond boundaries which mean anyone can access the hotel from any part of the world through internet. This open for all system allows hotels to penetrate deeper into the global market.

There are many other benefits of the IDS for hotels which is why most of the hoteliers are now choosing to step up to the IDS and make themselves visible to the world.

OPERA PMS

The Opera Hotel Program is a property management system (PMS) solution fit for all sizes and types of hotels. It automatizes basic front office services such as reservation, check-in and check-out therefore saving time, as well as reduces human error. Furthermore, it provides detailed reports regarding personnel and workflows in the facility. This allows you to identify inefficient procedures and processes and take early action to address any problems you may encounter.

Advantages of Opera Hotel Program

  • Features such as quick check-in and check-out provide convenience and time-saving in terms of all front office operations.
  • Ready or customizable report formats are available. It automatically generates and sends periodic reports.
  • It can work in tandem with Revenue Management software programs.
  • It comes with advanced and automatic pricing options such as daily price, special price, base price, dynamic pricing.
  • It allows you to separate customers into groups according to their characteristics and preferences and then create special campaigns and promotions for each group.
  • It arranges housekeeping according to current situations of rooms.
  • It creates customer profiles with detailed data.
  • It is compatible with e-Transformation process products such as e-Invoice and e-Archive.
  • Its interface can be integrated into over 1000 third party systems and more than 80 channel managers

PMS APPLICATIONS 

The modules of an ideal PMS are as follows:
 
Reservations
  1. Guest data
  2. Room inventory
  3. Deposits
  4. Special requests
  5. Blocking
  6. Arrivals
  7. Departures
  8. VIP
  9. Projected occupancy
  10. Travel agents
  11. Guest messages
  12. Reports
Registration
  1. Reservations
  2. Guest Data
  3. Room inventory
  4. Room status
  5. Security
  6. Reports
  7. Self check-in
Room status
  1. Room inventory
  2. Availability
  3. Reports
Posting
  1. Point of sale
  2. Room
  3. Tax
  4. Transfer
  5. Adjustments
  6. Paid out
  7. Miscellaneous charges
  8. Phone
  9. Display folio
  10. Reports
Call Accounting
  1. Guest information
  2. Employee information
  3. Post charges
  4. Messages
  5. Wake-up calls
  6. Reports
Checkout
  1. Folio
  2. Adjustments
  3. Cashier
  4. Back office transfer
  5. Reports
  6. Guest History
Night Audit
  1. Guest charges
  2. Department totals
  3. City ledger
  4. Cashier
  5. Financial reports
  6. Housekeeping
Inquiries! Reports
  1. Reservations
  2. Registrations
  3. Checkouts
  4. Housekeeping
  5. Credit balances
Back Office
  1. Accounts payable
  2. Accounts receivable
  3. Payroll
  4. Budgets
  5. General ledger
  6. Reports
Housekeeping
  1. Room availability
  2. Personnel assignments
  3. Analysis
  4. Housekeeper’s report
  5. Equipment supplies inventory
  6. Maintenance requests
Food and Beverage
  1. Point of sale
  2. Posting
  3. Cashier reports
  4. Food/beverage inventory
  5. Recipes
  6. Sales control
  7. Sales production analysis
  8. Labour analysis

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (GDS)

  • Computer-based systems linked globally through satellites, which are used for hotel reservations, airline reservations and other travel arrangements.
  • Usually, the GDS terminals are with travel Agents. The travel agents may be linked to the GDS through a dial-up mode or a lease line.
  • All the GDS mentioned below are linked to one-another through a parent satellite.
Examples of GDS:
01. Apollo
02. Gemini
03. Galileo
04. Sabre
05. System One
06. Worldspan
07. Amadeus
08. Axess
09. Abacus
10. Infini
11. Fantasia

 

CENTRALISED RESERVATION SYSTEM (CRS)

  • a computerized reservation system for a chain or group of hotels to enable them to sell their rooms effectively.
  • The hotels, their sales offices and Central Reservation Offices are linked through a CRS for an effective and real time management of room inventory.
  • It is primarily a Wide Area Network.
Examples of CRS:
1. Opera
2. MARSHA
03. Taj Central Reservation System
04. Leading Hotels of the World
05 Utell
06. Best Western Hotels
07 . Welcomnet
08. Holiday Inn Worldwide