The Complete Buyer's Guide to Hotel Management Software for Independent Properties ZA

The complete buyer’s guide to Hotel Management Software for independent properties

Independent Properties

New generation of travellers appreciate more authentic and original personalised experiences. This is the superpower of independent accommodation properties. There is no other property like yours. According to Travel and Leisure, the leading luxury travel magazine, “independent hotels tend to outshine chain hotels.”

RoomRaccoon set out to provide small and independent property owners with the tools they need to “run with the big dogs”. More specifically, our technology tackles the core limitations of any independent property, like poor online visibility, time-consuming front desk tasks, ineffective distribution, client dissatisfaction - all by providing hoteliers with three essential tools to turbocharge their business:

Independent hotels are not limited to chain rules and regulations. They can focus on what the guest wants as opposed to adhering to chain brand standards and bureaucracy. The freedom of independent hotels allows for unique opportunities to drive a far better return on investment and bottom line. The only thing holding them back? Costly hotel software that favours large hotel chains. Until now.

Property Management System

Channel Manager

The Powerful Trio

The biggest advantage of an all-in-one hotel management system is that you can leave your front desk and be confident about running your property on autopilot thanks to automation precision. Managing your online reservations without a property management system, booking engine and channel manager would actually cost you more in the time you waste processing bookings, and lost opportunities in capturing new guests.

RoomRaccoon’s PMS, Channel Manager, and Booking

Engine are built under the same roof and fully integrated with compatibility in mind. They work together seamlessly for quick and accurate data transfer.

Editable Checklist: features and tools

If you’re a decision maker currently in the process of choosing a solution for your property, use our comparison chart to score vendors against each other.

Here are the must-have features, customer experience tools, and revenue generating tools of modern hotel management systems.

A property or reservation management system acts as the control centre of your hotel.

It’s used to automate the daily operations of your property including processing reservations and sending invoices. A PMS enhances your property’s efficiency and frees your staff to focus on better guest experiences.

RoomRaccoon is the most complete PMS in the world. With built-in tools and features that go beyond front desk automation to maximise your revenue, you’ll never have to rely on third-party integrations again. This saves you time, costs and a lot of hassle.

Manage guest booking details

Can you edit all of the guests’ details associated with a reservation?

How many steps does it take to move a reservation to a different room?

Yes, you can also add notes, add-ons, and payments to a booking. Guest preferences will be sorted for returning customers.

Do you have to leave the calendar view dashboard to quickly find important details associated with a particular reservation?

RoomRaccoon’s modern calendar view dashboard allows you to drag-and-drop a reservation to another room type. Your changes are automatically updated across all booking channels including your own website.

Can you use access the calendar dashboard from a mobile device?

No, all reservations in RoomRaccoon are colorcoded, indicating a specific status. For example, if a reservation is checked-in it will appear green on the calendar. Otherwise you can simply hover over a reservation to see specific details.

Yes. As a cloud hotel management system, you and your staff can keep an eye on daily operations from a mobile device no matter where you are.

Manage guest check-in and check-out

Can you automate invoices?

Yes, the system automatically generates invoices for each reservation. Invoices can also be split by request.

Can invoices be customisable to match your branding?

Yes, you can add your logo and customise the theme.

Does the system recognise repeat bookers?

Yes, the system stores guests’ details and preferences to offer unique personalized experiences.

Can guests check-in online?

Do you have to manually input guest details during check-in?

Yes, you can send a pre-stay email with a link to an online check-in form. This is the perfect opportunity to upsell.

No, with RaccoonID you can digitally scan a guest’s ID document or passport and the information will auto-fill in the correct fields, saving your receptionist valuable time! This is also available for online check-in and allows guests to completely skip the front desk altogether.

Automate guest communications

Can emails be customised to match your branding?

Yes, you can add your logo and customise the theme.

Can you automate reservation confirmation and cancellation emails?

Yes, you can set-up confirmation and cancellation emails that displays the guests’ details, room details, payment details, and terms and conditions.

Can you automate a pre-stay email?

Yes, you can also include an online check-in link with your upsell inventory and the RaccoonID scanner.

Can you automate a post-stay email?

Yes, you can include a request for reviews, or a promotional code for later use.

Set-up room types and rates

Can you set-up different rates for external booking channels?

Yes, you can create a different rate plan for your external booking channels.

Do you have to set-up multiple rates for different channels?

Do you offer simplified revenue management for small and independent properties?

No, you can derive rates (add or subtract) from your main rates for external booking channels and the booking engine.

Do you have competitor price planning?

Can I sell my entire property?

Yes, RoomRaccoon has yield management that auto adjusts your prices based on occupancy rates and roomsell-probability. This simple yet powerful tool helps hoteliers generate the maximum amount of revenue.

Yes, with RaccoonRev you can include a CompSet for benchmarking purposes and to maintain a competitive edge. This function auto adjusts your rates based on competitor prices.

Yes, you can sell all your rooms with the parent-child feature that allows you to block off all the rooms at your property.

Integrated payment processing

Can you process deposits, payments and refunds instantly?

Yes. RoomRaccoon can fully integrate with Peach Payments, a reliable payment gateway that processes transactions at the click of a button.

Can you accept international payments?

Yes, you can process major international credit and debit cards from anywhere in the world.

Can you see an overview of all your payments?

Yes, all data is recorded, allowing you an instant snapshot of your financial reports including payments, preauthorizations, and refunds. Payouts can be viewed in your Peach Payments console.

How can you reduce the risk of chargebacks?

Peach Payments use 3D Secure to reduce the risk of fraud and guarantees that the cardholder can no longer claim a chargeback.

Reporting and insights

Do you have a daily management report where you can see for any given time period:

» Check-ins and check-outs

» Average unoccupied rooms

» Payment methods and payments due » Cancellations

» Pending check-ins / check-outs

Can you track essential metrics and compare your performance to previous months?

» RevPAR (revenue per available room)

» Average occupancy

» Average revenue generated from upselling

» Average length of stay

» Reservations per country

» Total revenue per room category

» Total unoccupied rooms

Yes, and you can export this data.

Can you see essential metrics for effective channel management like:

» Extranet / online direct / online third party tracking

» Number of bookings per channel

» Revenue per channel

» Competitor rates and availability (CompSET)

Yes, and you can export this data.

Yes, and you can export this data.

A Booking Engine captures and processes direct bookings, allowing for more commission-free bookings

Your property management system should integrate seamlessly with your website’s booking engine. This ensures that when guests book through your website, it’s immediately reflected in your reservations calendar.

RoomRaccoon’s Booking Engine is fully integrated with the PMS, allowing for instant rate and availability updates and inventory management.

4.1 Website style and layout 4.2 Booking Engine Functions

Website style and layout

Can the Booking Engine be customised to match your property’s branding?

Yes, you can add your logo and customise your theme. If you don’t have a website, you can choose from a variety of templates from the RoomRaccoon Website Builder.

Can you add room descriptions, images and add-ons?

Yes, you can include appealing room descriptions, and attach up to 25 images per room category. Add-ons are a great way to upsell inventory at your property.

Is there a clear, clickable call-to-action?

Yes, you can add an eye-catching call-to-action button in a color of your choice to convert visitors to bookers.

Booking Engine Functions

Can you create discount codes?

Yes, you can create pop-up discount codes that appear on your website to encourage more direct bookings.

Discount codes can also be send through post-stay emails to welcome back previous guests.

Is the booking engine mobile friendly?

Yes, RoomRaccoon’s booking engine is optimised for mobile bookers.

Can the booking engine support multiple currencies?

Yes, the booking engine has an integrated currency converter.

Can you track your booking engine performance through online marketing channels?

Yes, you can add tracking codes to track visitors on your website through Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel.

Booking Engine Functions

Is your inventory updated after you receive a direct booking?

Yes, RoomRaccoon’s booking engine works in sync with the channel manager and the property management system, so your calendar displays a real-time view of your inventory.

Can the Booking Engine integrate with Google Hotel Ads?

Yes, RoomRaccoon is a premium partner of Google Hotel Ads. The quick connection will allow you to advertise your booking engine on Google and compete directly with other booking channels.

Can I show negotiated rates to tour operators and travel agents on the booking engine?

Yes, you can give tour operators and travel agents a special code to book directly with you.

Automatically synchronize your availability & rates with all relevant booking channels

A Channel Manager is the important tool that allows a property to manage the different online distribution channels that they sell their inventory through - all from a single dashboard. Pooled inventory means that your new rates and availability is always synched to booking sites to ensure your inventory is always up to date and you are never overbooked. Your channel management software should integrate with your PMS for a single overview of inventory and bookings at any time. Poor connections can lead to slow updates which increases the likelihood of overbookings.

RoomRaccoon’s Channel Manager is attached to the PMS which means that whenever and wherever you get a booking from; be it through the booking engine, point-of-sale or a third-party booking site, your availability will be updated within 5 seconds. On top of that, RoomRaccoon’s Channel Manager connects to top-rated booking channels including Booking.com, Expedia and AirBnB.

Synch rates and availability across channels

How many steps does it take to update your rates and availability for a given time period?

RoomRaccoon’s channel manager synch with the yield and revenue management tools to perform continuous dynamic pricing updates on all your channels.

Do you charge extra to connect to booking channels?

No, RoomRaccoon has built-in connections to multiple booking channels that you can connect to at no extra cost. You manage your relationship with the channel and we facilitate the bookings.

Can you set up your taxes so that the correct rate is applied across all distribution channels?

Yes, you can set up multiple tax rates. You can also apply a tax exemption.

Can you add dynamic pricing last minute discounts to your online channels in order to increase your occupancy?

Yes, through yield management you can create a rule that automatically decreases your rates within a specific time frame when occupancy fall below a chosen percentage. This is a great way to maximise your occupancy through dynamic pricing. This tool can also be used the other way around to increase your rates when your property is in high demand, enabling you to generate maximum revenue.

Find an all-in-one solution

For small hotels with tight budgets and limited IT resources, an all-inone hotel management system is the way to go. This allows independent hoteliers to purchase and easily install everything from the property management system, channel manager, and the booking engine, all on a single platform.

Small hotels don’t need the added hassle of separately installing and using different systems to take care of the various functions of their business.

By using an all-in-one system you’re investing in the three technologies you need to elevate every aspect of your property. Your business. Your staff. Your guests.

All-in-one system Single-use solutions VS

Plug-and-play

One contract

Affordable all-in-one solution for small and independent accomodation properties

One powerful HMS, complemented with various apps and tools that can be integrated out of the box

Easy staff adoption to a central dashboard

A collection of proven tools, components, and systems that seamlessy work together

One support line

Time-consuming IPA integrations

Multiple contracts

Software is priced individually; booking engine, channel manager, PMS. This can be more costly

One platform assembled through multiple, disparate acquisitions, each with different underlying tech stack

Staff takes longer to adapt to different interfaces

Poor integration is the most prominent issue

Many support lines

Costs to consider

In the crowded world of property management software, you need to consider your specific needs and budget when choosing a solution for your property.

What cost do you have to keep in mind when shopping for the right technological solution for your property?

Here are the costs you need to consider:

Licensing cost: The cost of using the software will either be on an annual, monthly or commission-based subscription. Annual subscriptions are cheaper than paying 12 monthly subscriptions. However, a monthly subscription is better for budgeting, and will allow you to reinvest most of your revenue back into the property as you grow.

Set-up fees: Most property management system companies charge an initial set-up fee. The cost of implementing the software will either be charged as billable hours or as a once-off set-up fee that’s based on your property’s size.

Billable hours are preferred by tech-savvy hotel owners.

User-fees: Find out if your property management system will charge you per additional user that you add to your account. For example, if you want to give access to different receptionists to track their individual performance.

Additional connectivities: You might want to customise your property management system with complementary tools like an accounting software for more efficient financial reporting which will come at an additional cost.

Find out if your property management system can connect to third-party companies that you may already be using.

Additional training: The better you know how to use your property management system and the built-in features and tools, the more efficient you’ll run your business and the more revenue you’ll generate. Find out if your property management system company offers training programs and classes.

Pick the solution that is able to expand with your needs, especially in terms of flexibility and cost.

RoomRaccoon Winners 2021

We provide independent hotels with affordable tools to grow their business. In fact, our clients enjoy incredible return on investment and we award them for business excellence. The winners announced at Check-In Summit 2021 are:

Plantage Rococo Eco Hotel generated €14,000 in extra revenue in 2021 by using RaccoonUpsell

“I would definitely recommend RaccoonUpsell to others! We do sell a bottle of champagne every weekend, and the massages are always fully booked.”

Hotel owner - Anja de Rijk

Best RevPAR: Maris Apartments

Best Usage: Haven Lake Village

Best Upsell: Plantage Rococo Eco Hotel

Before you invest

Make sure the software company meets your needs and offers a flexible pricing plan. Some property management companies will enforce contracts, and structure their pricing based on a percentage of commission per booking, but it is difficult to grow with such a pricing model. On the other hand, systems like RoomRaccoon offers you the choice between a no contract, fixed monthly or contractual annual fee, which makes it easier for you to budget your expenses.

Before you invest, make sure to request a demo. You need to see how the system works from a first-person perspective. Most companies also have a trial period or offer free trials, so you can take the time to play around with the system to make sure that it is truly the easiest and most comprehensive solution for your small property. Additionally, it’s important that a dedicated support team or help centre with frequently asked questions is available in your language.

Trusted by 1500+ hotels worldwide

At RoomRaccoon we place customer experience and satisfaction at the heart of everything we do. That is why we are voted as the number one all-in-one hotel management software by industry experts and hoteliers from around the world.

"The integration and automation of the RoomRaccoon system - that reduces the need for manual intervention - is a revolution in hotel management software."

gestão do hostel."

Roland Ingenhousz

“Grazie a RoomRaccoon abbiamo molto più tempo con i nostri ospiti, meno computer e più tempo

"Training on RoomRaccoon is a breeze compared to some other systems. As a team we really understand the RoomRaccoon system."

Clouds Estate Boutique Hotel

"Ideal für kleine Häuser bietet RoomRaccoon eine tolle Lösung um wirklich Zeit zu sparen."

Madlen

Szabò

Hotel Mariposa

"RoomRaccoon is inmiddels gegroeid, dat het ook hotels de oplossing is. duidelijk en heel overzichtelijk."

"RoomRaccoon ha creado recientemente la función Con esta función, puedes todas las opciones de

Jason O’Two Hotel

Aimee

Mr. Neri Villa Rosa, Panzano

Claudia Hotel Gooiland

The all-in-one property management system for independent hotels, guesthouses, apartments, hostels and more.

Property management system

As the world’s most complete PMS, we do much more than automate your front desk tasks. Our built-in features and tools are designed to improve every aspect of your business.

Payments

Make it easy, fast, and secure for your guests to pay at any point in the customer journey; be it online or at the front desk.

Revenue

Channel manager

Be there when bookers come looking. We synch your rates and availability across your top booking channels.

Use our smart set-and-forget tools to generate more revenue when and where it matters most.

Booking engine

Process bookings on your website or social media channels in minutes and increase direct bookings by 40%. Zero commissions.

BOOK A DEMO

Insights and reports

Make informed, data-driven decisions when it comes to your sales strategy with valuable information at your fingertips.

RoomRaccoon is built by hoteliers for hoteliers