A bustling resort foyer with visitors queuing to test in is already a problem for entrance desk workers. Now, add a difficult-to-use property administration system (PMS) to the combo, inflicting confusion, slowing down processes, and pulling skilled workers away from serving visitors to assist newer staff navigate advanced menus and screens.
In our current PMS Person Expertise Report, we explored precisely this concern, surveying 500 resort staff throughout 5 nations about their experiences with PMS software program. The findings revealed that PMS consumer expertise (UX)—how intuitive, purposeful, and frustration-free a system is—immediately impacts operational effectivity, worker retention, and visitor satisfaction.
In at this time’s surroundings 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 motels.
What’s PMS UX?
PMS UX refers to how resort workers 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, that means what the PMS can accomplish and the way effectively it operates; and the emotional response of customers, corresponding to whether or not they really feel assured or annoyed when navigating the system.
A well-designed PMS ought to be intuitive, environment friendly, and frustration-free.
Frequent PMS UX challenges
PMS software program typically falls into two classes: legacy and cloud-based.
Legacy techniques had 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 often wealthy with options and shortcuts, which might be helpful for skilled customers however make the system extra advanced total.
Trendy cloud-based techniques, alternatively, supply higher usability and ease of adoption. They provide modern, responsive interfaces, leading to quicker onboarding and a shorter studying curve. Whereas these techniques might have fewer superior or specialised options in comparison with legacy PMS techniques, they sometimes embrace all of the performance motels must function successfully.
Each techniques, nevertheless can have UX challenges, listed below are a number 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 might be irritating for brand spanking new hires, particularly youthful staff accustomed to intuitive apps.
When a PMS requires staff to memorize sophisticated workflows or navigate complicated interfaces, errors change into frequent, frustrations enhance, 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 techniques nonetheless depend on a number of clicks, handbook information entry, and repetitive workflows. This not solely slows down operations however will increase the chance of errors, resulting in visitor dissatisfaction.
3. Poor integration
If a PMS doesn’t talk properly with different software program, it results in inefficiencies, duplicate information, and extra handbook work. Poor interoperability causes frustration, wastes workers 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 staff obtain two weeks or much less of PMS coaching. Nonetheless, managers report that entrance desk workers typically want not less than 4 months—generally as much as three years—to make use of the system confidently.
Which means entrance desk staff could also be coping with visitors earlier than they’re totally proficient with the PMS, resulting in extra errors, slower efficiency attributable to 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 workers accountable for coaching newcomers. Actually, 73% of resort staff are skilled in particular person by a supervisor or colleague. With fixed turnover, this cycle repeats year-round, pulling seasoned workers 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 information, or troubleshooting the PMS is time not spent caring for visitors.
The influence of fine PMS UX on motels
A well-designed PMS can increase productiveness, reduce errors, and free workers to deal with visitors, however it additionally has broader implications throughout worker retention and enablement:
- Elevated retention: Amongst surveyed staff who had determined to depart their jobs, 38% stated their expertise with the PMS influenced their determination. Decreasing frustrations not solely improves satisfaction however equips workers with the abilities wanted to speed up their profession development.
- Quicker hiring: A PMS with poor UX typically forces motels 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 rushing up recruitment.
- Quicker onboarding: A well-designed PMS helps new hires change into assured extra rapidly, enhancing the onboarding course of.
These advantages are notably necessary as staffing shortages persist. The American Resort & Lodging Affiliation studies that motels stay 9.4% under 2019 staffing ranges and are coping with a 73% annual turnover price—greater than twice the nationwide common. In Europe, the hospitality sector is lacking between 10% and 20% of its 2019 workforce, based on HOTREC.
“A well-designed UI and UX enhances workers effectivity by lowering the time required to carry out duties, minimizing errors, and in the end enhancing worker satisfaction and lowering worker turnover, thus lowering 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 visitors in & out
Typically the primary and most time-sensitive visitor interplay, this course of advantages from intuitive workflows that reduce clicks for room task, ID verification, cost assortment, and digital check-in, leading to smoother visitor arrivals.
Reservation administration
Employees must rapidly alter bookings whereas holding availability correct throughout all channels. A very good UX gives drag-and-drop performance for modifying reservations, real-time stock updates, and seamless integration with channel managers and reserving engines.
Housekeeping
Holding room standing up to date and coordinating with different departments is crucial for easy housekeeping. A well-designed PMS features a mobile-friendly module for real-time standing updates, cross-departmental communication, activity prioritization, and embedded checklists and SOPs.
Visitor profiles
Personalizing service requires fast entry to detailed visitor info. 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 contains 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 tendencies, monitor 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—immediately addressing the challenges motels face at this time.
Our crew of UX strategists and designers are devoted to making a scalable consumer expertise that allows hoteliers to be each environment friendly and efficient whereas empowering them to create pleasant experiences with their visitors.
Our course of
We emphasize two core points of product design:
- Person Expertise (UX): Guaranteeing performance.
- Person Interface (UI): Offering knowledgeable, polished look.
Our aim is to not create only a minimal viable product however a “minimal lovable product” – one that’s not solely purposeful but in addition dependable, usable, and pleasurable.
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, pictures, iconography, and animations. - Content material design: Designing with phrases to infuse context and that means into each aspect.
- 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 strategy to problem-solving
- Making use of consumer analysis to uncover insights
- Embracing concepts from any supply
- Prototyping to realize suggestions early and infrequently
- Prioritizing each near-term and long-term options
By means of consumer analysis, interviews, and surveys, we establish widespread PMS design points confronted by resort staff 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 essential resort operations.
Intuitive coaching & fast 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 pay attention, might be essentially the most intuitive PMS that I’ve ever labored with. I’ve used some tremendous advanced techniques that had been fully pointless—the UX was overbearing and required intensive coaching. With Cloudbeds, I used to be able to function inside days, considerably quicker than different techniques.”
Empowered worker confidence
Cloudbeds’ easy, user-friendly interface allowed TTM Hospitality’s crew to change into proficient rapidly, enabling them to confidently handle shifts. The crew has been capable of keep environment friendly whereas minimizing overhead prices; with 2 administration staff and a small housekeeping crew.
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 workers priceless 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 each day.”
Scalability
A very good PMS doesn’t simply help at this time’s wants however grows with your online business. Cloudbeds’ intensive accomplice 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 reworking underutilized properties into trendy, technology-driven lodging.
Supporting sustainable development
Lodges can not afford to miss the function of PMS consumer expertise in shaping operational effectivity, worker satisfaction, and visitor interactions. A thoughtfully designed PMS empowers resort workers, accelerates onboarding, reduces pricey errors, and helps mitigate ongoing labor challenges.
As demonstrated by properties like TTM Hospitality (and plenty of others), prioritizing intuitive, scalable expertise helps sustainable development.
About Cloudbeds
Cloudbeds is the main platform redefining the idea of PMS for the hospitality business, 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, visitor expertise, and income & analytics. Based in 2012, Cloudbeds has been named a high PMS, Resort Administration System and Channel Supervisor (2021-2025) by Resort Tech Report, World’s Greatest Resort PMS Options Supplier (2022) by World Journey Awards, and acknowledged in Deloitte’s Expertise Quick 500 in 2024.
