10 benefits of thelobbyboy's property management software

A property management system has two jobs. It should take routine work off your team, and it should give you a clearer view of the business so you can earn more from it. Here are ten ways thelobbyboy does both.

1. Less routine work, fewer mistakes

thelobbyboy automates the jobs that eat into a shift. Confirmation emails send themselves, rates and availability sync on their own and the night audit posts room charges without anyone remembering to run it. Guest details are entered once and used everywhere, so there is less retyping and fewer errors. The time saved goes back to the guests.

2. Every department on the same page

The front desk, housekeeping and accounts work from the same record. Housekeepers update room status from their phones and add notes the desk can see, reception sees which rooms are ready before handing over a key, and your accountant reads the same numbers as the manager. Nobody has to chase anyone for an update.

3. Every channel from one calendar

Updating rooms and rates by hand on every booking site takes time and leaves room for mistakes, and those mistakes reach guests as overbookings. thelobbyboy has a channel manager built in. Rates, availability and restrictions stay in sync with Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia, Hostelworld and more than 50 other OTAs in real time. When a room sells on one channel it closes on the others, and every reservation lands in the calendar your team already works in.

4. Revenue decisions based on live data

Good revenue management needs accurate numbers and the tools to act on them. You can give a channel its own rate plan, set minimum stays, close dates to arrival and run promo codes for quiet periods. The reports show occupancy, ADR and RevPAR by booking source and room type, with the commission paid to each channel, so you can see which decisions are working.

5. Smoother check-in, check-out and billing

A slow arrival or a muddled bill is enough to lose a returning guest. In thelobbyboy, payment status is visible on the reservation, and the registration card prints with the guest's details and your house rules. Extras such as breakfast, drinks and minibar items, which housekeepers can log on the spot, post to one invoice. Deposits and card payments go through the payment gateway you choose, and the invoice reaches the guest by email at checkout.

6. A live view of the business

Owners and managers get a live dashboard of arrivals, departures, availability and pending payments, on a phone, tablet or laptop. You can check bookings, rates and performance whenever you need to, without waiting for the end of the month or calling the desk.

7. Less paper

Because thelobbyboy runs online, much of the paperwork goes with it. Invoices are emailed, housekeeping can run entirely on staff phones and reports export to PDF or CSV instead of filling a cabinet. That means less spent on stationery and storage, and less paper thrown away.

8. Everything in one place

Reservations, channels, payments, sales at reception, housekeeping and reports sit in one system behind one login. Your team stops switching between tools and copying information from one to another, and the work is organised the same way every day.

9. Better service for guests

thelobbyboy was designed for the people who work at reception, so everyday tasks such as checking availability or taking a payment are quick. You can send a guest a payment link, so they never have to read their card number down the phone, and with the Unified OTA Messaging add-on, messages from Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia appear on your calendar screen. Questions get answered faster, and concerns are dealt with before they grow.

10. An edge over the competition

When the administration looks after itself, management can spend its time on the guest experience instead of paperwork. Better processes behind the scenes lead to happier guests in front of them, and happy guests come back and recommend you.

thelobbyboy was built by a hotelier, around the problems of running a real front desk every day. That is why it focuses on the essentials a property needs, and leaves out what it does not.