Property management system (PMS)

In the hotel industry, a property management system (PMS) is the central software a property runs on. It holds reservations and room inventory, handles check-in and check-out at the front desk, manages rates and room assignment, posts charges to guest folios, and produces billing and night audit reports. Most hotel PMSs also hold the housekeeping status of each room.

Example

A guest arrives at 15:00. The front-office manager finds the booking in the PMS, sees that room 412 is vacant and inspected, assigns it and checks the guest in. At check-out the PMS settles the folio and changes 412 to vacant dirty, which tells housekeeping it needs cleaning. Oracle OPERA, Cloudbeds and Mews are well-known hotel PMS products.

The real-estate meaning

Outside hospitality, “property management system” or “property management software” usually means tools for landlords and property managers: lease and tenant records, rent invoicing and collection, owner accounting and often maintenance requests. Same acronym, different job, so check the context before comparing products.

How a PMS differs from operations software

A hotel PMS is the system of record for bookings, rooms and money. It is not designed to coordinate the work that happens around those bookings: who is fixing the dripping tap in 207, whether the extra pillows reached 518, which guest requests are overdue. That work often ends up in phone calls, radios and chat groups. Room status codes are where the PMS and the operational teams meet.

Where TaskLoop fits

TaskLoop works alongside a PMS rather than replacing it. The PMS keeps running reservations and billing; TaskLoop runs operations: guest requests by room QR code, task assignment, staff updates, escalation and reports. See hotel management system.