A bustling resort foyer with friends queuing to test in is already a problem for entrance desk employees. Now, add a difficult-to-use property administration system (PMS) to the combination, inflicting confusion, slowing down processes, and pulling skilled employees away from serving friends to assist newer workers navigate advanced menus and screens.
In our current PMS Person Expertise Report, we explored precisely this challenge, surveying 500 resort workers throughout 5 nations about their experiences with PMS software program. The findings revealed that PMS consumer expertise (UX)—how intuitive, useful, and frustration-free a system is—straight impacts operational effectivity, worker retention, and visitor satisfaction.
In at present’s setting of labor shortages, rising operational prices, and traditionally excessive turnover, investing in a well-designed, user-friendly PMS isn’t simply useful; it’s important.
On this article, we break down what precisely PMS consumer expertise is and why PMS design issues for inns.
What’s PMS UX?
PMS UX refers to how resort employees really feel and carry out whereas interacting with the property administration system. It encompasses the system’s ease of use, or how rapidly and intuitively customers can full duties; performance, which means what the PMS can accomplish and the way effectively it operates; and the emotional response of customers, akin to whether or not they really feel assured or annoyed when navigating the system.
A well-designed PMS needs to be intuitive, environment friendly, and frustration-free.
Widespread PMS UX challenges
PMS software program typically falls into two classes: legacy and cloud-based.
Legacy programs have been initially designed for desktops and lack an intuitive consumer interface (UI)— the menus, buttons, and screens that customers work together with to finish duties. They’re normally wealthy with options and shortcuts, which will be helpful for knowledgeable customers however make the system extra advanced total.
Trendy cloud-based programs, however, supply higher usability and ease of adoption. They provide smooth, responsive interfaces, leading to quicker onboarding and a shorter studying curve. Whereas these programs could have fewer superior or specialised options in comparison with legacy PMS programs, they sometimes embrace all of the performance inns must function successfully.
Each programs, nevertheless can have UX challenges, listed here are a few of the most typical ones:
1. Steep studying curve
All software program requires some studying, however poor UX makes it a lot more durable. Advanced workflows, complicated navigation, and cluttered UIs will be irritating for brand spanking new hires, particularly youthful workers accustomed to intuitive apps.
When a PMS requires workers to memorize difficult workflows or navigate complicated interfaces, errors grow to be frequent, frustrations improve, and confidence in performing routine duties declines.
2. Lack of automation
Duties like visitor check-ins, reservation changes, or invoicing ought to ideally be streamlined or automated. Sadly, many programs nonetheless depend on a number of clicks, handbook knowledge entry, and repetitive workflows. This not solely slows down operations however will increase the danger of errors, resulting in visitor dissatisfaction.
3. Poor integration
If a PMS doesn’t talk effectively with different software program, it results in inefficiencies, duplicate knowledge, and extra handbook work. Poor interoperability causes frustration, wastes employees time, and complicates processes unnecessarily.
These widespread UX challenges have direct implications.
An excessive amount of time spent on coaching
In line with our report, 85% of workers obtain two weeks or much less of PMS coaching. Nonetheless, managers report that entrance desk employees typically want at the very least 4 months—typically as much as three years—to make use of the system confidently.
Which means entrance desk workers could also be coping with friends earlier than they’re absolutely proficient with the PMS, resulting in extra errors, slower efficiency because of hesitation, and a rising sense of frustration and inadequacy of their roles.
The issue is compounded by an absence of help from the PMS vendor, which makes skilled employees answerable for coaching newcomers. In truth, 73% of resort workers are educated in particular person by a supervisor or colleague. With fixed turnover, this cycle repeats year-round, pulling seasoned employees away from visitor service.
Decrease productiveness
Mixed with poor UI and lack of integration, these points negatively influence effectivity and visitor satisfaction. Time spent fixing errors, manually importing knowledge, or troubleshooting the PMS is time not spent taking good care of friends.
The influence of fine PMS UX on inns
A well-designed PMS can enhance productiveness, decrease errors, and free employees to deal with friends, however it additionally has broader implications throughout worker retention and enablement:
- Elevated retention: Amongst surveyed workers who had determined to depart their jobs, 38% stated their expertise with the PMS influenced their resolution. Lowering frustrations not solely improves satisfaction however equips employees with the talents wanted to speed up their profession development.
- Sooner hiring: A PMS with poor UX typically forces inns to deal with candidates with prior PMS expertise. With a extra intuitive system, the hiring standards are much less strict, widening the candidate pool and dashing up recruitment.
- Sooner onboarding: A well-designed PMS helps new hires grow to be assured extra rapidly, enhancing the onboarding course of.
These advantages are notably necessary as staffing shortages persist. The American Resort & Lodging Affiliation studies that inns stay 9.4% beneath 2019 staffing ranges and are coping with a 73% annual turnover fee—greater than twice the nationwide common. In Europe, the hospitality sector is lacking between 10% and 20% of its 2019 workforce, in keeping with HOTREC.
“A well-designed UI and UX enhances employees effectivity by decreasing the time required to carry out duties, minimizing errors, and finally enhancing worker satisfaction and decreasing worker turnover, thus decreasing resort enterprise bills,” famous Vanja Bogicevic, Ph.D. and Olena Ciftci, Ph.D., Medical Affiliate Professors at NYU SPS Jonathan M. Tisch Heart of Hospitality, who labored as consultants in our survey.
The place PMS UX design actually makes a distinction
Good PMS UX enhances key resort capabilities, together with:
Checking friends in & out
Typically the primary and most time-sensitive visitor interplay, this course of advantages from intuitive workflows that decrease clicks for room project, ID verification, cost assortment, and digital check-in, leading to smoother visitor arrivals.
Reservation administration
Workers must rapidly modify bookings whereas preserving availability correct throughout all channels. A great UX gives drag-and-drop performance for modifying reservations, real-time stock updates, and seamless integration with channel managers and reserving engines.
Housekeeping
Preserving room standing up to date and coordinating with different departments is important for clean housekeeping. A well-designed PMS features a mobile-friendly module for real-time standing updates, cross-departmental communication, process prioritization, and embedded checklists and SOPs.
Visitor profiles
Personalizing service requires fast entry to detailed visitor data. A well-designed PMS centralizes visitor preferences, reserving histories, and previous interactions, empowering entrance desk groups to anticipate visitor wants, ship distinctive experiences, and construct loyalty.
Group administration
Dealing with group bookings effectively reduces errors and improves visitor expertise. A specialised UX consists of modules for managing group check-ins, room blocks, invoicing, and group-specific reserving codes.
Reporting & analytics
Correct, actionable insights are very important for knowledgeable selections. A PMS with a powerful UX gives pre-configured, easy-to-understand studies and customizable dashboards, permitting managers to quickly establish traits, observe efficiency, and handle operational points proactively.
How Cloudbeds does PMS UX design
Cloudbeds prioritizes intuitive usability, streamlined workflows, seamless integration, and scalability in its PMS UX design—straight addressing the challenges inns face at present.
Our group of UX strategists and designers are devoted to making a scalable consumer expertise that permits hoteliers to be each environment friendly and efficient whereas empowering them to create pleasant experiences with their friends.
Our course of
We emphasize two core elements of product design:
- Person Expertise (UX): Guaranteeing performance.
- Person Interface (UI): Offering an expert, polished look.
Our aim is to not create only a minimal viable product however a “minimal lovable product” – one that isn’t solely useful but additionally dependable, usable, and gratifying.
To do that, our work is split into 4 key areas:
- Interplay design: Understanding how customers work together with merchandise and options.
-
Visible design:
Selecting colours, typography, images, iconography, and animations. - Content material design: Designing with phrases to infuse context and which means into each factor.
- Person analysis: Assessing context, learnability, effectivity, recall, error administration, and consumer delight.
Our design course of is guided by a number of key rules:
- A holistic method to problem-solving
- Making use of consumer analysis to uncover insights
- Embracing concepts from any supply
- Prototyping to achieve suggestions early and sometimes
- Prioritizing each near-term and long-term options
Via consumer analysis, interviews, and surveys, we establish widespread PMS design points confronted by resort workers and managers, then work to resolve them. Each facet of our platform is designed to allow worker success and assist properties develop their companies.
Case research: TTM Hospitality
TTM Hospitality’s expertise demonstrates how Cloudbeds’ human-centered design delivers measurable advantages throughout all vital resort operations.
Intuitive coaching & speedy onboarding
When TTM Hospitality acquired the Dew Duck Inn, co-founder Ryan Lloyd had solely 72 hours to launch the property. Because of Cloudbeds’ intuitive design, Ryan rapidly mastered the PMS with minimal formal coaching.
“Cloudbeds, and I say this to anybody who will hear, might be probably the most intuitive PMS that I’ve ever labored with. I’ve used some tremendous advanced programs that have been fully pointless—the UX was overbearing and required in depth coaching. With Cloudbeds, I used to be able to function inside days, considerably quicker than different programs.”
Empowered worker confidence
Cloudbeds’ easy, user-friendly interface allowed TTM Hospitality’s group to grow to be proficient rapidly, enabling them to confidently handle shifts. The group has been capable of keep environment friendly whereas minimizing overhead prices; with 2 administration workers and a small housekeeping group.
Seamless integration
Cloudbeds integrates seamlessly with important applied sciences utilized by TTM Hospitality, together with Operto for contactless visitor entry and Breezeway for housekeeping coordination. These integrations automate key operational processes, saving employees precious time and enabling the resort to ship contactless hospitality effectively.
In line with Ryan, this tech stack gives him peace of thoughts: “It permits me to have eyes on the property every day.”
Scalability
A great PMS doesn’t simply help at present’s wants however grows with your enterprise. Cloudbeds’ in depth companion ecosystem ensures that as operations develop, properties can add new instruments with out disruption. TTM has at present expanded its portfolio to 4 properties as a part of its technique of remodeling underutilized properties into trendy, technology-driven lodging.
Supporting sustainable progress
Resorts can’t afford to miss the function of PMS consumer expertise in shaping operational effectivity, worker satisfaction, and visitor interactions. A thoughtfully designed PMS empowers resort employees, accelerates onboarding, reduces expensive errors, and helps mitigate ongoing labor challenges.
As demonstrated by properties like TTM Hospitality (and plenty of others), prioritizing intuitive, scalable expertise helps sustainable progress.
About Cloudbeds
Cloudbeds is the main platform redefining the idea of PMS for the hospitality trade, serving tens of hundreds of properties in additional than 150 nations worldwide. Constructed from the bottom as much as be masterfully unified and scalable, the award-winning Cloudbeds Platform brings collectively built-in and built-in options that modernize resort operations & finance, distribution & advertising and marketing, visitor expertise, and income & analytics. Based in 2012, Cloudbeds has been named a prime PMS, Resort Administration System and Channel Supervisor (2021-2025) by Resort Tech Report, World’s Finest Resort PMS Options Supplier (2022) by World Journey Awards, and acknowledged in Deloitte’s Expertise Quick 500 in 2024.