Hotel management systems are key tools to help hoteliers manage reservations, inventory, and billing while improving the overall guest experience.
But what if you’re just starting or are strapped on a budget?
Fortunately, there are free hotel management systems that provide functionality and features without costing a dime.
More good news? We’ve created a list of the 7 best free hotel management systems to meet your business needs without breaking your budget.
Let’s dive in!
How to Choose The Best Hotel Management System (HMS)?
Choosing the best hotel management system can depend on several factors, including the size of your hotel, your specific business needs, and your budget.
However, there are some key considerations to keep in mind when choosing a HMS.
- Features – The HMS covers channels, front desk, booking and rate management, reporting, etc., so look for one that offers the majority of the features you need.
- User Interface – A user-friendly interface is crucial so your staff can easily navigate the system and perform necessary tasks.
- Scalability – Make sure the system is scalable and flexible and can grow with your business.
- Integrations – Choose a system that integrates easily with other apps you use, such as booking engines and payment gateways.
- Customer Support – Consider the level of customer support, including availability, response time, and access to training resources.
Note: Open-source HMS vs. Free HMS
While both types of software are free, they differ in terms of their licensing and development models.
7 Best Free Hotel Management System To Try Today
Our list comprises free tools and tools with free trial options.
1. OTA SYNC
OTA SYNC is a cloud-based all-encompassing hotel management system to:
- Automate your reservation and booking processes,
- Manage your rooms and rates, and
- Streamline other hotel operations.
Furthermore, the Guest App attends to your guests’ needs and enhances their satisfaction by providing tailored recommendations, smooth check-ins, etc.
OTA SYNC has a robust Channel Manager, which connects you to over 100 channels, such as major OTAs, as well as popular payment and marketing platforms.
At the same time, it allows you to sync data across all the channels simultaneously.
The Channel Manager hosts a 2-way connection, minimizing the risk of double bookings.
Besides rich integration, OTA SYNC also provides open API and iCal links.
In addition to being cloud-based, it also has a mobile app, allowing you to access all the info easily and on the go.
Key Features
✨ The Booking Engine – Enhances guest experience with live availability and rates, upsells and cross-sells of relevant products and services, special offers, etc.
✨ Multi-property Dashboard – Enables you to manage, edit and overview multiple properties from a centralized dashboard.
✨ OTA Payments – Instantly automates process transactions in multiple currencies and through various online, in-store, or mobile channels.
✨ Plug and Play Revenue Booster – Lets you adjust and set dynamic pricing depending on seasonality, special dates, demand, etc.
✨ Multi-Property hub integration – Enables you to connect a customized booking engine to your website and increase the booking rates.
Regarding customization, you can personalize the platform to reflect your hotel’s unique brand with custom filters, content, maps, and promotions, etc.
Pricing
OTA SYNC offers 4 Premium Plans, starting from €55 if billed annually.
Each plan has a 14-day Free Trial, during which you can access all features and see the benefits they can bring.
2. KW Hotel
KW Hotel is a hotel management system to help you manage reservations, invoices, pricing policies, etc.
Furthermore, it provides direct synchronization with the POS system and solutions to enhance guest experience, such as:
- Digital registration cards,
- Online menus,
- Self-check-in kiosks, etc.
KW Hotel caters to all property sizes, but its desktop version is only suitable for Windows operating systems.
Key Features
✨ Channel Manager – Automatically manage availabilities, rates and reservations
✨ Booking Engine – Allows guests to make online reservations
✨ Mobile App – Allows you to manage reservations remotely.
✨ Dashboard module – Includes info such as a list of arrivals, departures, occupancies, and no-shows and displays it in one place.
✨ SMS Marketing – Lets you prepare different SMS criteria, adjust, and send automated text messages to your guests.
Pricing
KW Hotel has a free downloadable version, KWHotel Free, which you can access only from the computer you’ve downloaded to.
The free version allows you to perform basic front-desk operations: Customer base, Room base, Reservation calendar, Notes and reminders, and Dashboard.
KW Hotel doesn’t have Premium Plans, but bases its pricing on the property type, the number of workstations and rooms.
Furthermore, the basic package costs $20 and has a 100-dollar setup fee.
Other features and modules are only available as add-ons, where the majority have setup fees.
3. Nobeds
Nobeds is a hotel management system that offers tools to make the booking process more efficient, manage revenue, and automate hotel operations.
The tools comprise the Channel Manager, Direct Booking Engine, Availability Calendar, etc.
The software is cloud-based and compatible with Windows, Android, iOS, and all other operating systems.
Key Features
✨ Automated Booking Confirmation – Sends an automatic booking confirmation email to the guest.
✨ Property Management System – Offers various features to track rental rates, produce reports, and calculate expenses.
✨ Automated Invoice – Automatically generates invoices and includes customizable invoice templates, batch-processing tools, and e-invoicing features.
✨ Booking Engine – Manages all your bookings in one place, tracks data and analytics with built-in tools, does price comparisons, etc.
✨ Nobeds API – Allows you to connect Nobeds’ property management system to third-party solutions.
Pricing
Nobeds has 1 Free Plan with 1 booking engine, up to 3 channels, and 10 rooms.
Besides the Free Plan, there are 3 Premium Plans, starting at €10 per month.
4. HotelBee
HotelBee is a hotel management solution providing tools to optimize your operations, enhance guest experiences, and increase revenue.
Its core tools belong to 3 main groups: Management, Sales, and Analytics, with 8 subcategories.
Regarding integrations, HotelBee integrates with over 60 OTAs.
Key Features
✨ Reservations Calendar – Allows you to manage reservations, room availability, and rates all in one place.
✨ Day-to-day Operations – Covers tasks such as room allocation and assignment, housekeeping management, front desk operations, and inventory management.
✨ Booking Engine – Enables direct bookings, real-time inventory and rate updates.
✨ Channel Manager – Manages room inventory and rates across multiple online booking platforms.
✨ Analytics & Reporting – Help you track your business performance, identify trends and patterns, and provide various reports on occupancy rates, revenue generated, etc.
Pricing
HotelBee has 1 Free Plan offering Calendar management for up to 6 rooms and 100 reservations.
There are also 2 Premium Plans starting from $5 per room per month.
5. eZee Frontdesk
eZee Frontdesk is on-premise hotel management software that handles reservations, room operations, housekeeping, guest engagement, and other related tasks.
It consists of integrated modules spanning check-ins and check-outs, group management, night audit, travel agent management, guest history, ledger accounts, etc.
eZee Frontdesk caters to all property types.
Key Features
✨ Reservation Center – Provides tools to check rate and room availability, confirm bookings, cancellations, and no-shows, release reservation policy, etc.
✨ Front Desk Operations – Manage room allocation, configure extra charges, send notifications automatically, sync and update inventory, etc.
✨ Profile Management – Stores all the important information of your guests and partner companies and keeps records of all the activities.
✨ Rate Management – Allows you to define an unlimited number of rates, such as standard room rates, packages, seasons, etc., and to create custom rate plans.
✨ Revenue Management – Lets you create competitive rates based on your hotel’s occupancy level but also define special rates for your business partners.
Pricing
eZee Frontdesk offers a 30-day Free Trial with a preconfigured database, or you can include your own data on request.
Other pricing options are available upon request, and they depend on the number of rooms, modules, and interfaces.
6. Solidres
Solidres is an open-source online reservation system
Its features span 4 categories: Core Features, Commercial Features, Joomla Templates, and Payment Gateways.
Solidres also hosts additional features like translation, email catching, a restaurant management system, etc.
Key Features
✨ Availability Calendar – Allows you to see room availability in different color codes.
✨ Multiple payment options – Enable you to do transactions via PayPal, credit cards, and integrations with payment gateways like Cielo, CIMB, PostFinance, etc.
✨ Joomla Template Library – Offers multiple Joomla templates and WordPress themes to help you build a booking site.
✨ Flex Search – Suggests alternative dates if the desired ones are unavailable.
✨ Invoices – Allows you to generate, download, email, and preview invoices.
Pricing
Solidres has a Free Plan that includes some booking and web design tools and templates but no access to Channel Manager, reports and statistics, customer support, etc.
There are also 4 Premium Plans ranging from $89 to $499.
7. 1Day.io
1Day.io is a cloud-based PMS software that helps you with reservation management, guest check-ins and -outs, room assignments, etc.
It also integrates with some of the major OTAs and synchronizes availability and rates.
1Day.io caters to small and medium hotels.
Key Features
✨ Automation Tools – Automate various tasks such as calendar edits, availability, rates, etc.
✨ Customer Relationship Management – Comes with color-coded tags for guests and keeps track of their preferences, birthdays, issues, etc.
✨ Centralised Dashboard – Allows you to manage and view availability, rates, and restrictions, etc., in one place.
✨ Team Management – Provides tools to keep the whole team in sync via tags, notes, alerts, etc.
✨ Analytic Tools – Show key performance metrics, such as Occupancy Rates, Revenue per Room, etc., monitor add-on charges, track the best performing channels, etc.
Pricing
1Day.io has 1 Premium Plan, starting from $ 5 a month per room. The plan has a 30-day Free Trial.
If you simultaneously run different property types, the price is available upon request.
Why Should You Go for Free HMS?
If you’re just starting or have limited funds, free hotel management systems can be a great way to test the waters and see how compatible they are with your business goals.
🛑 However, forever-free HMSs tend to lack more advanced features that you’ll definitely need as your business scales.
🛑 Furthermore, you’ll also face limitations regarding the number of integrations, workspaces, users, etc.
Thus, a good starting point would be to go for more advanced solutions that have free trials with access to all features so you can see first-hand how they suit your needs.
And we have such a solution for you – OTA SYNC!
Why Should You Go for OTA SYNC?
OTA SYNC is an all-in-one hotel management solution offering a plethora of features to improve property management and automate and streamline hotel operations.
With OTA SYNC, you can:
🔥 Seamlessly onboard in a single day without needing external assistance.
🔥 Adjust prices based on pre-set limitations to maximize revenue in off-seasons.
🔥 Cater to every market with flexible tax and general settings.
🔥 Avoid over and double-booking by employing automatic updates and syncing options.
🔥 Smoothly run and manage multiple properties from a centralized place and without switching tabs.
🔥 Make informed decisions thanks to robust analytics and reporting tools that provide in-depth analysis divided by periods, channels, amounts, room type, revenue, etc.
Ready to test OTA SYNC?
Try OTA SYNC for free and transform the way you run your property.
Keep Learning:
What Are the Benefits of a Hotel Management System?
