Businesses in the hospitality industry must adapt to stay competitive and meet customer demands.
A powerful and efficient hotel POS system is essential to achieving this goal.
If you are considering investing in one or simply want to learn more about the features and benefits of using it, we hear you.
Read on to learn more about a hotel POS system and the ways it can automate your operations.
What is a Hotel POS System?
A Hotel POS System (Point of Sale System) is software that streamlines and manages transactions at hotels and other hospitality businesses, such as restaurants, cafes, bars, and gift shops.
It allows you to manage inventory, process guest orders, and track sales and revenue.
Moreover, it manages guest bookings, reservations, and other aspects of hotel operations.
For instance, if your guest booked some of your hotel’s services or amenities, the POS system will automatically add each purchase to the final bill.
Thus, the guest can pay for all charged services during check-out.
Additionally, a POS system can provide valuable insights about sales patterns and guest preferences, boosting your revenue.
8 Key Benefits of Hotel POS Systems
✨ Improved efficiency – Customers can quickly and easily place orders and your staff can process them more efficiently.
A result? Shorter wait times and an overall better customer experience.
✨ Accurate orders – Hotel POS systems help eliminate human error when entering orders, resulting in more accurate orders and happier customers.
✨ Inventory management – Helps you track inventory levels, monitor stock levels, and automate ordering processes to ensure that the restaurant or shop never runs out of popular items.
✨Reporting and analytics – Allow you to generate reports on sales, inventory, and labor costs, which can help you make informed decisions about staffing and pricing.
✨ Faster payments – Guests can easily pay for their orders using various payment methods, including credit and debit cards, mobile payments, and more.
✨ Increased security – POS systems can help prevent fraud and theft by tracking payments and monitoring cash flow.
✨ Real-time synchronization – Syncs information in real-time across multiple devices so that all staff can access the same data.
✨Upselling opportunities – Enables you to highlight additional products or services that guests may be interested in purchasing, leading to increased revenue and a better customer experience.
The Main Classification of POS Systems
Although there are multiple ways to divide and categorize POS systems, they all fall into two main categories: traditional systems, also known as legacy-based POS systems or on-premise systems, and cloud-based ones.
Traditional POS systems save data on a local server, require a considerable investment, and aren’t flexible enough to update with new features.
On the other hand, cloud-based systems use cloud technology to store and process data, and you can access them from anywhere with an internet connection.
Furthermore, they are more cost-effective since you don’t need to invest in hefty hardware.
5 Types of POS Systems Based on Functionalities
Depending on their functionality, POS systems can also fall into the following categories:
- Basic POS systems – Cater to small businesses and offer features such as inventory management, sales tracking, and basic reporting.
For example, they allow hotel managers to manage tables and keep track of which tables are occupied and for how long.
- Enterprise POS systems – Offer advanced reporting and analytics features and support multiple payment types and currencies, along with multi-lingual support.
If a hotel has multiple restaurants, bars, or other food and beverage outlets, it can use this POS type to manage them all from a single platform, including menu management, order processing, etc.
- Integrated POS systems – Provide integrations with other business software apps like accounting or CRM, offering more comprehensive insights into business operations.
For instance, if a guest orders a particular type of wine, the hotel can use that information to recommend similar wines in the future.
- Mobile POS systems – Allow transactions to take place on mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones.
Let’s say your guests are by the poolside and want a drink.
With mobile POS, they don’t have to go to a restaurant or bar because the staff can take orders and process payments on the spot.
- Self-service kiosks – Allow guests to place their own orders and pay for their purchases without the help of a cashier.
Furthermore, you can use them for guest check-ins and -outs, allowing guests to bypass the front desk and complete these processes independently.
You can also display them in high-traffic areas like hotel lobbies and show informational content such as maps, hotel amenities, or event schedules.
9 Must-Have Features of a Hotel POS System
Since POS systems come in many shapes and sizes, it’s important to check what features and functionalities you need in your hotel.
Besides basic functions, such as billing and invoicing, there are additional features you should pay attention to.
1. Easy Implementation and Use
The whole point of using a POS system is to automate specific tasks and processes. Therefore, your POS should be easy to implement so staff training doesn’t take too much time.
Furthermore, it should be intuitive and user-friendly, allowing your staff and guests to use it easily.
2. Inventory Management
A good POS system should allow you to track inventory levels for menu items and other products, making it easier to reorder and restock items when necessary.
This way, you’ll avoid running out of a product.
3. Payment Processing
POS should support a variety of payment methods, including credit and debit cards, mobile payments, and gift cards.
More advanced POS systems also allow you to manage and split bills.
This feature comes in handy when you have a group of guests eating together who want to split the bill or if two people share the room, but one of them checks out earlier and wants to pay only their share of the bill.
? ProTip:
OTA Payments is a fully integrated payment gateway that uses automation to instantly process transactions with a single click.
It connects to all major payment gateways, allowing you to accept guests’ online payments in multiple currencies and through various channels, including online, in-store, or mobile.
4. Security Measures
Considering that a POS deals with highly sensitive guest information, you should definitely pay attention to its security measures to avoid the risk of fraud, theft, etc.
Thus, check for its authentication possibilities, encryption, and regular software updates.
? ProTip:
OTA SYNC is PCI DSS and PSD2 compliant and protects your business against card payment fraud with 3D Secure authentication for all online transactions.
Furthermore, the 256-bit SSL encryption transmits all data safely, and additional tokenization options mean OTA SYNC doesn’t store your raw data.
5. Loyalty Programs
You should be able to combine your POS with loyalty programs to incentivize customer loyalty by offering rewards and discounts to repeat customers.
For example, you can offer late check-ins and -outs, a free extra night, a free hotel room upgrade, free room service, etc.
This way, you can create a customer-centric approach and prompt customers to spend more while fostering customer loyalty.
6. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Having a CRM feature enables you to store customer data and communicate with them via email or other messaging systems.
Furthermore, access to such data can boost and personalize the guest experience and make your marketing campaigns more tailored and, therefore, efficient.
? ProTip:
With its automated messaging feature, OTA SYNC enables you to send automatic after-booking, pre-arrival, post-departure, and happy birthday emails.
Moreover, you can use promotional and discount codes to say “thank you” or attract new guests with promotional offers.
7. Mobile-Ready POS
Mobile POS systems eliminate the need for a stationary terminal, allowing your staff to serve guests from anywhere in the hotel.
In addition, you can reduce the need for costly hardware.
? ProTip:
OTA SYNC comes with a handy mobile app that supports iOS and Android, enabling your staff and guests to do tasks, requests, and transactions on the go.
8. Reporting and Analytics
POS systems should be able to generate detailed reports on sales, inventory, and other key metrics to help you make informed decisions about operations and strategy.
9. Integrations
It’s essential that a hotel POS has integration options since that allows it to work with other systems to enhance functionality and streamline various hotel operations.
Thus, you can connect your POS to various accounting, CRM, and other platforms.
However, one of the most important integrations is the one with hotel property management systems (PMS) because it enables seamless integration of customer data and transactions.
? ProTip:
In addition to providing integrations with various OTAs, CRMs, automation software, etc., OTA SYNC also has integrations with:
- Multiple payment systems, such as Stripe, PayPal, FlutterWave, etc.
- POS systems, such as Octopos, eBar, Allegra, Aria, etc.
How Do a PMS and a POS differ?
A PMS and a POS are two different types of software in the hospitality industry.
While both systems are crucial to managing a hotel’s operations, they have different purposes and functions.
A PMS manages reservations, bookings, front desk operations, housekeeping, and accounting.
Thus, it serves as the core management system for hotels you use to manage guest data, room rates, housekeeping schedules, and more.
Moreover, it helps you improve customer service, increase operational efficiency, and manage accounting processes such as billing and revenue management.
A POS system, on the other hand, manages the transactions that occur in various hotel departments.
Typically, you’ll use a POS system in restaurants, bars, gift shops, and other areas where customers make purchases.
It allows your staff to process orders, manage inventory, and track payments.
Furthermore, it helps you streamline your hotel’s operations, improve order accuracy, and offer a better customer experience.
While PMS and POS systems have different functions, you can integrate them to share data and provide a more complete view of a hotel’s operations.
Bonus: 4 Top Hotel POS Systems
As a special treat, we’ll share the top 4 hotel POS systems, providing different functionalities and implementation:
1. OTA SYNC – An all-in-one cloud-based PMS centralizing everyday hotel operations, billing, and invoicing.
Although it isn’t a POS, it includes integrations with various POS systems, ERP solutions, and reporting tools to provide a comprehensive overview of the hotel’s performance.
2. Invu POS – A cloud-based system for hospitality and food service businesses, such as restaurants, cafes, and bars.
It provides features such as table management, inventory tracking, real-time reporting, customer management, and employee management.
3. Lightspeed – A cloud-based POS and e-commerce platform for retail and hospitality businesses.
It provides a complete business management solution, including inventory management, CRM, accounting, and analytics.
4. Square POS – A payment processing and mobile card reader system for small businesses.
It offers a range of features to help manage sales, inventory, and customer information.
Wrapping It Up
A hotel POS system is a crucial tool for businesses in the hospitality industry, allowing you to:
- Streamline operations,
- Manage inventory, and
- Enhance the customer experience.
When choosing a hotel POS system, make sure you consider your specific business needs, customer behavior, security, and necessary integration options.
And if you are still looking for a reliable solution, we suggest OTA SYNC. ?
How Does a Hotel POS System Combine with the OTA SYNC PMS?
OTA SYNC is an all-encompassing PMS solution that streamlines everyday operations and repetitive and mundane tasks.
Besides providing standard PMS features, such as Channel Manager and Booking Engine, to automate everyday operations and expand your reach, OTA SYNC enables you to connect to various POS systems and:
? Create invoices in 2 clicks with the system pulling all info automatically, so you just need to choose the status and insert additional services if necessary.
? Do Advanced Invoice Operations and split and merge by item, room, guest, amount, etc.
? Do Fiscalization and have automated communication with Government tax and digital fiscal machines.
? Get an overview of the Cash Register at the start and end of the day and see revenue, deposits, withdrawals, etc.
? Track all your expenses in the property so you know your actual net revenue.
? Access Premium features, such as SPA & Wellness management solution, which enable you to schedule appointments, manage clients, and allocate resources.
? Easily set up different taxes specific to different markets.
And so much more.
Enticed to try OTA SYNC?
Sign up for OTA SYNC for free today and leverage all the benefits of a robust POS and PMS integration.
Keep Learning:
7 Best Free Hotel Management Systems
What is a Hotel Revenue Management System and How Does it Work?
What is Property Management System in a Hotel – The Ultimate Guide
