How to use these questions
Ask every provider the same 15 questions, and ask them to show you the answer on screen, not just tell you. A feature that takes four clicks in a demo will take forty on a busy night. Bring your front desk manager to the demo: they will spot problems you won’t.
The questions are grouped by what they protect: your money, your staff’s time, your data, and your budget. None of them has a trick answer. A provider who is honest about what their system doesn’t do yet is worth more than one who says yes to everything.
Money: will every rupee add up?
1. What happens when a charge is wrong?
Ask them to add a charge, then fix it. The right answer is a correction: the original stays on the folio, crossed out, with a reason and the name of the person who corrected it. If a charge can simply be deleted, anyone can make money disappear, and you will never know.
2. Do staff see the price before they save it?
Before a charge, a room move or a cancellation fee is saved, staff should see the amount, its tax and the guest’s new balance. Ask them to move a guest to a dearer room. Does the new price appear before anything changes, or after?
3. Can the Night audit close a day with loose ends?
Ask what happens if a guest due today hasn’t arrived, or a cash shift is still open. A system that only warns will be skipped by a tired night clerk. A system that refuses to close until each one is sorted keeps every report honest.
4. Who can give discounts and void bills?
Discounts and voids are where money most often slips out. Ask whether staff need a manager’s approval for them, whether the system keeps who approved each one, and whether every charge records the person who added it.
5. What can I see when I’m not at the hotel?
Many owners don’t sit at the desk. Ask what you can check from your phone: last night’s close, the cash shifts, who owes money, unusual discounts. Ask whether anything checks the day for you, or whether you have to go looking.
Your staff: will they actually use it?
6. Does it work on the phones my staff already have?
Housekeepers don’t sit at a computer. Ask to see housekeeping on an ordinary phone, in a browser. Can a team share one phone, each with their own PIN? What happens when the signal drops on the top floor?
7. Does each person get their own sign-in and role?
Shared passwords make every record anonymous. Each person should sign in as themselves and see only the screens their job needs. Ask what happens when someone leaves: can you stop their sign-in that day?
8. Can it record the ways my guests really pay?
List every way money reaches you: cash, your card machine, bank transfers, mobile wallets, company accounts. Each should go on the same folio, with a receipt, and cash should land in the right shift.
9. Is the restaurant on the same record as the rooms?
If you run a restaurant or bar, ask how a bill reaches a guest’s room. It should go straight onto the folio, with its tax, only for a guest who is checked in. A separate restaurant system means slips, and slips get lost.
Your data: is it yours?
10. Can I get a full copy of my data, and when?
Your bookings, guests and bills belong to your hotel. Ask whether you get a full copy whenever you ask, including if you leave, and whether reports download for Excel for your accountant. Get the answer in the contract or the terms.
11. Where is it kept, and how is it backed up?
Ask whether the system runs in a data centre or on a computer at your hotel, whether connections are encrypted, how often it is backed up and how long each backup is kept. Daily backups are a fair thing to expect.
12. What happens when the internet goes down?
A cloud system needs a connection at the desk. Ask what still works without one, and what the provider suggests: a backup connection, a phone hotspot. Ask about housekeeping phones too, where the signal is often weakest.
Price, setup and support
13. What will it cost in total, every year?
Systems are commonly priced per room each month, sometimes per hotel, and booking tools sometimes take a commission on each booking. Ask for the whole cost for your number of rooms: the plan, any add-ons, setup, training and commission. Ask whether there is a long contract, and how you cancel.
14. How long does setup take, and who does it?
Ask who moves your rooms, rates, guests and upcoming bookings across from what you use now, and how long it takes. Ask to see the system set up with your own rooms before you decide, not a demo hotel.
15. Who do I talk to when something goes wrong?
Something will go wrong, probably on a busy night. Ask whether you reach a person, by which channel, and how staff are trained at the start. A help page is not support.
The 15 questions on one page
Print this and take it to every demo. Tick a question only when you have seen the answer on screen.
Before you buy a hotel PMS
- A wrong charge is corrected with a reason, never deleted.
- Staff see the price, tax and new balance before anything is saved.
- The Night audit refuses to close a day with loose ends.
- Discounts and voids need a manager, and every charge has a name on it.
- The owner can check last night’s close from a phone.
- Housekeeping works on ordinary phones, with a PIN each.
- Every person has their own sign-in and sees only their screens.
- Cash, card, bank transfer and mobile wallets go on one folio.
- Restaurant bills reach the folio of a checked-in guest by themselves.
- A full copy of your data whenever you ask, and reports for Excel.
- Data kept in a data centre, encrypted on the way, backed up daily.
- A clear answer for when the internet goes down.
- The whole yearly cost in writing, with how to cancel.
- Your rooms, rates, guests and bookings moved across for you.
- A person to talk to, and training for your staff.
