1. Audit of what exists
How the property runs today: how many units, how many channels, who works reception, where the data sits and what specifically hurts. Without this any recommendation is guesswork.
Hotel software and IT
Choosing a PMS binds you for years. Worth getting right
We advise on selecting a property management system and a channel manager from start to finish, run the implementation and data migration, then put the rest of the property IT in order. We resell nothing, so we can tell you a system is wrong.
No vendor commissions
Migration tested on a copy
Audit in 5 days
Why this decision is hard
A PMS is not a program, it is how the property works
Swapping warehouse software in a shop hurts for a week. Swapping a PMS in an accommodation business hurts for a season, because it runs through reception, housekeeping, accounting, sales channels and guest history all at once.
So properties stay for years in a system that does not fit them. Not because they cannot see the problem, but because the cost of getting the change wrong looks larger than the cost of staying put.
The second reason is simpler: almost every piece of advice online comes from someone selling one particular system. We have no partner agreement with any vendor and take no commission on implementation. Our income sits on the consulting and support side, not on licences - which is why we can say plainly that a system is too expensive for your size, or that its channel manager is unreliable.
PMS versus channel manager
PMS is the system you run the property in: reservations, rooms, check-ins, billing, housekeeping, guest records. Your control room.
Channel manager sits on top of it. It pushes availability and rates out to the booking portals and makes sure the same room does not sell twice for the same night.
Some systems bundle both, others require two separate contracts with two vendors. That is one of the first things we check, because it changes the total cost and the number of places where things can drift out of sync.
Selecting a system, end to end
How we choose software for a property
Six steps. The first two usually eliminate three quarters of the shortlist, and that is their entire purpose.
2. Requirements list
We write down what the system must do and what would merely be nice. Separating those two is the most important moment of the process - most properties overpay for modules they never open.
3. Comparing candidates
We compare real options on total annual cost, not the licence headline. Fees for integrations, for channels, for extra workstations, for support.
4. Testing on your data
We test the shortlist against situations from your property, not the vendor demo. This is usually where the gaps that are not in the brochure show up.
5. Contract review
We help read the offer and flag what usually slips past: notice period, exit cost, data ownership and the format you would get your data back in.
6. Implementation and migration
Guest records, reservation history, rate plans and billing data. Always on a copy first, always with the numbers reconciled before switching over.
We do not migrate in the middle of the season unless there is no choice. If your current system will hold until November, we will tell you to wait - even though that pushes our own work back by six months.
The whole IT structure
Not just the reservation system
The PMS is visible, so it gets all the attention. Failures, though, usually come from the things nobody thinks about until they stop working.
Network and Wi-Fi
Guest network separated from the internal one, so a guest on Wi-Fi is not on the same network as the reception computer holding guest records. Coverage in rooms and hardware that survives a full house.
Business email
Addresses on your own domain instead of personal mailboxes. Correct SPF, DKIM and DMARC so booking confirmations do not land in guests' spam - a more common problem than people expect.
Backups
Copies of the system, the website and the mail, stored off the production server. Tested, not merely taken - a backup nobody has ever restored is a feeling, not a safeguard.
Access and permissions
In most properties everyone has access to everything and passwords travel on sticky notes. We sort out who sees what, who can change what, and what happens to access when someone leaves.
Reception hardware
Computers, fiscal printers, card terminals, document scanners. Selection, configuration and making sure they work together rather than each on its own.
Ongoing support
Once the structure is in place we stay reachable with a guaranteed response time. During a failure in high season that is the part that actually matters.
Ongoing care runs on a retainer with a guaranteed response time. See the plans and response times.
Free consultation
Start with what you already have
Call and tell us what you run and what bothers you most. Sometimes reconfiguring the current system is enough and the whole migration becomes unnecessary - if that is your case, we will say so straight away.