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A hotel that switches brands or becomes independent is faced with a host of issues related to its property-management system. Data transfer, tight deadlines, compatibility with electronic distribution systems and ownership of information are issues that become top priorities.
"A hotel that is going from a brand to an independent will encounter the most difficulties because you are on your own and stuck with a PMS removal deadline," said Bob Bennett, a hospitality technology consultant and member of the International Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame. "If you are going from one flag to another, the new flag is geared up to get its new franchisees up and running in a short period of time, so they will provide PMS installation and services."
The ownership of data can be a key issue.
"The biggest issue the property faces is whether it gets to keep the data or just the software," said Robin Layman, v.p. of the InterContinental Hotels Group project for Micros Systems. "With the majority of reflags, the hotel gets to keep its guest-history profile and registration-stay information. When hotels leave the Hilton [Hotels Corp.] system, they are not allowed to keep the data."
Hotel management has to decide if it wants to keep or change its forms, folios and registration cards. New interfaces are likely to be required between the new PMS and other hotel systems.
"Cendant [Corp.'s hotel group] does not require hotels leaving its system to give up its PMS," said Brian Primeau, v.p. of new business development for Multi-Systems. "The hotel has to repurchase the license and maintenance agreement because it was originally purchased as part of the license agreement with the flag."
Data transfer
Despite advancements in hotel technology, the enormous task of transferring data from one PMS to another often is done manually. Karl Frandsen, a hospitality technology professional, said automated data transfer seldom occurs.
"The vendor that provided the system that is being taken out has no impetus to work with the new vendor," Frandsen said. "The two vendors must share information to convert the data, and PMS companies are not excited about sharing their information. Data differs in format and field size, so it is not just a cut-and-paste operation."
Primeau said data transfer is easier to do from a Windows-based system than from older, legacy systems.
"The ability to extract data depends on the relationship between the hotel and the old PMS vendor, and/or where the data is stored, locally or at a central location," he said.
Data extraction and transfer rely largely on the export and reporting capabilities of the incumbent PMS, according to Andrew Sanders, director of sales and marketing for Ramesys Hospitality. Sanders said the company is asked often to bring across guest history of stays and guest details.
"Future reservations are the hardest thing to bring across because every PMS is different," he said. "Small- and medium-size hotels often will retype the information and use it as a training exercise for the new system."
Dan Wasser, v.p. of marketing for Visual One Systems, said the company converts data from PMSes at about half of the hotels it installs.
"Customers often choose to hand enter data into the new system to make sure they don't end up with a garbage-in/garbage-out situation," Wasser said.
Deadlines
Now matter how much time a hotel has to transfer to a new PMS, it's seldom enough. Frandsen said hotels usually get 30 to 60 days for the changeover.
"Thirty days is very difficult," he said. "It can be done in 60 days, but anybody going through the process would prefer 90 days."
Most hotels Micros works with get a 30-day notification when they're about to lose their PMS, Layman said. "Rarely is there enough time," she said. "You need to move extremely quickly. From a software installation point, we need 30-days notification. But getting the software up and running is not the biggest issue. Often there is a complete hardware change, either new or upgraded, such as a new processor or drive space. We need 30 days to do it, but the hotels require more time."
For example, the credit-card-processing file almost always changes when the PMS changes, Layman said. It usually requires 10 to 20 working days to have a new merchant file made up and tested, which is part of the PMS system that processes credit cards, she said.
Bennett agreed hardware issues can complicate and prolong installing new PMS software.
"In the best circumstances it would not be necessary for the hotel to change hardware when it is changing PMSes, and this is one reason to select a Web-based PMS," Bennett said. "With online Web-based training, staff members can start training over the Internet before the system is installed."
If hoteliers are faced with too little time to get a new PMS up and running, they should look into the option of licensing their old system back for a short period to give them more time to make the switch, Wasser said.
Online distribution
As online reservations continue to grow and get a bigger piece of the distribution pie, the relationship between a PMS and Internet booking becomes more important. A hotel that's becoming an independent has many PMS choices.
Bennett said it's important that hoteliers look first at their electronic distribution strategy then the PMS. He said if a hotelier buys a PMS from a traditional PMS vendor, he should make sure it works with the online distribution system.
"There are some great PMSes out there that don't integrate well with electronic distribution [Web-booking engines]," Bennett said. "Most tier one PMSes offer a booking system, but how does it integrate to various Web sites and the Global Distribution Systems? When a hotel is part of a flag, the chain worries about all this and makes sure it happens. When you are on your own, you have to worry about electronic distribution."
For more info ...
Company Circle No.
Hotel Information Systems 370
Inn-Client Server Systems 371
Micros Systems 372
Multi-Systems 373
Northwind 374
Pegasus Solutions 375
Ramesys Hospitality 376
SoftBrands Hospitality 377
Springer-Miller Systems 378
Visual One Systems 379
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