universe of asteroids and smooth air, alike. It takes manpower; it also takes intelligence at its core. That intelligent kernel is the Property Management System or PMS, which streamlines and centralizes critical hotel operations, including reservations, guest check-in / out, room management and housekeeping, to name some functionality. It’ s no stretch to say a PMS runs the hotel: Who not among us has arrived at a hotel only to be told,“ I’ m sorry our system is down at the moment.” That’ s HAL taking a break.
There are myriad PMSs in the marketplace to choose from, each with its own distinction. It can be hard to decide on one and it’ s not always the best one, but the best( and right) one for a business. And when it comes to deciding on a PMS to employ, it’ s up to the company
operating the hotel to make the choice. Unsurprisingly, there are certain traits to consider. Remington Hospitality, one of the bigger third-party management companies in the U. S., looks for the same attributes within a PMS, regardless of the hotel brand, said Zach Cunningham, VP of analytics and business intelligence. He said that, typically, there are two types of PMSs on the market: a full suite PMS with multiple functionalities or another that is more barebones but offers interfaces with other systems.“ We tend to focus a bit more on the PMS that provides the enhanced connectivity pieces and the ability to access data, ideally through an open API,” he said.
Charlestowne Hotels, which mainly operates independent properties, takes a contrasting approach.“ We look for systems that offer scalability and flexibility to adapt
to different property sizes and types, as one size certainly doesn’ t fit all in our company,” said Max Spangler, VP of technology at the company. The tech matters, but it’ s when things go south that matters enormously to Matt Schwartz, CTO of Sage Hospitality, because, sometimes, things break down.“ The single-most-important factor when selecting a PMS platform is the vendor’ s commitment to a mutually beneficial partnership,” Schwartz said.“ It’ s all hugs and high fives when the PMS is operational; what distinguishes a partner from a vendor is the quality of the relationship when the PMS is not operational.”
It’ s through this prism that we highlight six PMSs we think offer quality, consistency and the ability to deliver exponential revenue growth. They go by many names, none of them HAL.
Mews
HQ: London |
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Find them @: mews. com |
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Mews was founded in 2012 by Richard Valtr, but it feels recently that the PMS outfit has burst on the scene. At this past HITEC, in Charlotte, the Mews crew was out in full force donning pink Mewsbranded jackets while traipsing through the tradeshow floor. The hotel industry has taken notice. The PMS has grown to more than 5,000 customers and counting globally. Though its connected hospitality cloud integrates with over 1,000 tech partners, simplicity remains at the heart of everything it does, said Mews CEO Matthijs Welle, himself a ubiquitous presence on LinkedIn, commenting on all things hospitality related.“ The guest should be at the heart of a modern PMS,” he said.“ By simplifying hotel operations, a |
PMS can remove friction and empower hoteliers to focus on guests.” Welle uses TikTok and Instagram as examples of what Mews is not looking to achieve.“ Their goal is to hold people’ s attention for as long as possible; we try to do the opposite; we want hotel employees to spend more time talking to guests and |
creating remarkable hospitality experiences; we’ re on a mission to achieve‘ zero screens’ to truly focus on the guest,” he said. In the meantime, Mews’ cloud-native PMS allows access to it from anywhere and on any device and its open APIs and unlimited integrations help hoteliers |
Matthijs Welle, CEO, Mews
build their ideal tech stack. It’ s also delving into AI with Smart Search, which allows staff to find reservations and other information using natural language or commands.“ We will see a trend where Large Language Models will allow us to truly understand guests better,” Welle said.
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May / June 2025 hotelsmag. com 63 |