The techno savvy travelers of today want their hotels to also provide them with the same quality of technology they have at home and the work place.
They demand full amenities and instant services.
To cope with their ever increasing demands and cut throat competition, hotels need property management systems that deliver performance, scalability, and component integration.
Property Management System The PMS or property management system is the core of the hotel it is the focal point where all information from various parts of the hotel meet.
In fact it is the information hub for all secondary systems of the hotel.
The primary function of the PMS is to keep track of guests, keep track of room status- vacancy or occupied details of all sales and transactions.
But It is also used to improve customer services and provide interface with reservation systems and online bookings.
The PMS is also often referred to as a front office system acts as the main point of contact between the guests and the hotel management.
The PMS receives and provides information to all the parts of the hotel as per need.
It helps to manage all these information processing system and adds accuracy, speed, power to all parts of the hotel.
In fact it without a PMS it would not only be hard but impossible to manage even a small hotel, such is the necessity of a PMS.
A good PMS has five main branches: Administration In this all hotel functions are taken care of and is the right arm of the PMS.
You can create room categories, establish tax rates- both sales and occupancy taxes- and last but not the least; create employee accounts and specify clearance limits.

• Creation of room categories and features
• Set Rates by room categories and season
• Set season dates for multiple years
• Assign different clearance status'
• Add, edit and disable employees
• Establish form of payment
• Organize store inventory
• Set tax rates
• Room Bed Type (Dorm Bed, Twin, Double, Triple, Campsite)
• Bath & private or shared
• You can assigns rates to all existing room categories
• Create profit centers: Gift shops, restaurants, etc.
  
• You can add, edit and disable employee accounts/clearance, limiting access to system functionality by the user login information.
  
• You can create and assign local taxes to sale type
• You can list accepted forms of payment: cash, check, credit, visa etc.
  

The Front Desk In the front desk employees can login and access all functionality associated with day-to-day front desk operations, including; bookings & reservations, spa and group management.
They can access the status -available/reserved/checked-in/out/blocked-the user can also access information about that room including;

• guest's details
• reservation details
• new reservation assignment
• Create a new guest
• Create a reservation
• Assigns a guest to a specific room(s)
• Access report of guests scheduled to arrive/depart for a specific date
• Print check-in cards for all/selected guest for a specific date
• Check-in guests as they arrive
• Edit reservations past, present and future -change dates, rooms etc.
  
• Re-assign guests to a different room
• Add charges to the rooms including gift shop, spa and restaurant charges
• Check-out guests including form of payment(s) including checks, traveler's checks and credit cards.
  For non-cash payments a reference number is collected (check number, authorization code etc)
• Receive transaction data from a credit card swipe machine
• Manage the Work Shift
• Manage Spa details
• Make group reservations for two or more rooms reserved under one name.
  

Housekeeping This is an important part of the PMS and should be seamlessly integrated to the Front Desk at all times.
All communication - regarding rooms that need to be cleaned, inspected and/or repaired should flow through here.

• Systems should automatically assigns room status at the beginning of the day (dirty or inspect).
  
• Daily Housekeeping report of Staff access a printable report of daily check-ins, checkouts, occupancies, vacancies, and maintenance notes as well cleaning instructions should be available.
  
• A report or alert for Repair issues for the room with only unresolved repairs appearing on the daily housekeeping report.
  

Point of Sale Point of Sales or POS systems can integrate accounting, inventory management, hotel gift shops or restaurant/ bar billing and payroll modules.

• Sale total along with taxes is updated as each item is added or deleted from the sale.
  
• Payment information can either be entered to complete the transaction or assigned to a guest's room for payment at a later date.
  
• A transaction number is available for reference
• Staff is able to separate POS purchase from a reservation in order for the guest to pay for them separately
• Purchase details are stored and saved for future reference
• A detailed receipt is available for printout should that be requested

Online Reservations This reservation interface should allow Web site visitors to book online.
It has become the most used and vital module of any PMS system

• Guests can view rooms, pricing and room availability
• Receive a confirmation email
• Guests can book by room category
• Multiple rooms for multiple guests (groups) as a request for an extra bed (rollaway)