NEW YORK— Hoteliers have come to view a property management system as the nerve center of their hotels, a 24/7 technology that keeps them in the loop across virtually all facets of their assets’ operations. Whether proprietary systems offered by franchisors or independent solutions from tech providers, PMSs have come to symbolize the control panel that can help determine a stronger ROI. According to Ron Jacobsen, vp at the Generation Companies, a major franchisee of Suburban Extended Stay Hotels, Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites, Suburban properties have been utilizing a PMS for several years via an ASP model. Consequently, the operating software is run from central servers, not in the hotel. “So we don’t have a resident software running on a server in the back office…therefore, the operating costs and the startup costs are typically a lot lower in an ASP model,” Jacobsen said. “That’s something Suburban has always found valuable due to the business model it has. Oftentimes, in a traditional model in a limited-service hotel, you have to pay $50,000 to $70,000 for a standalone server-based PMS, like our Candlewoods have right now. In this environment, you don’t have to purchase the software for your own site; you’re simply accessing the software via the Internet.” With Suburban’s acquisition by Choice Hotels International last fall, the brand is in the process of migrating to the franchisor’s proprietary ChoiceAdvantage. The web-based PMS is fully integrated with the franchisor’s central reservation system for rate synchronization and last room sell. “We are soon going to be beta-testing the system for the Suburban brand at our Wilmington, DE, property,” said Jacobsen. He added that the Candlewoods in Generation’s portfolio are poised to utilize Micros Opera Extended Stay PMS as part of a brand migration. (Several IHG products use a Micros platform, which Jacobsen said are characterized as interfacing “really well” with IHG’s proprietary Holidex reservations system. Chanhassen, MN-based AmericInn Lodging System has been installing the Micros OperaXpress PMS during the past two years and more than 50% of the chain has been converted, an initiative that is slated to be fully implemented by March 2007. The system, via its two-way interface, is allowing for enhanced yield management, more consistent voice and electronic distribution of room sales, an upgraded platform for delivering better service regarding electronic check-in, wrangling the 83,500-member INN-Pressive Club loyalty program and handling target marketing. AmericInn CEO Arnold Angeloni noted that those properties with the two-way interface are outperforming those without it in terms of reservations activity. The interface allows both the res center and the property to know how many rooms are available at any given time. “They’re performing even better than we hoped they would from the standpoint of return on investment,” said the CEO. Investor/operator Todd Chingo has had the system installed at the 94-room AmericInn in Ashland, WI, for little more than a year and said that the PMS has helped streamline his operations. “Especially where the Internet is concerned. Seventy percent of our reservations are coming through the Internet in one way or another. Being connected with that with a better system streamlines it and makes it a much easier process for everyone,” he said. One challenge he found was that the training and changeover occurred over a five-day period. “In my opinion, that wasn’t enough [time]. It actually all still came out smoothly, but we could have used a little more training time (with the Micros team) on it.” While Chingo couldn’t pin down his exact ROI, he said it was “positive.” Mike Evans, CFO of Orlando, FL-based Integra Resort Management, which has three condo-hotels and a Microtel, and Elite Island Resorts, with eight properties in the Caribbean, uses one of his IQWare PMS modules for a condominium hotel wherein an accou
