HFTP Blog
August 19, 2021

Research Finds Property Management Systems Remain Most Important Hotel Technology in 2021

Blog
Written by HFTP Publications

Written by:...Josiah Mackenzie

Since its first introduction in the late 1980s, the property management system (PMS) has played an increasingly central role in the operations of a hotel since then. We have seen a proliferation of innovation in hotel technology in recent years, leading some to question the value of the PMS relative to other solutions.

Yet, a new survey of hotel executives conducted in 2021 shows the PMS remains the single most important piece of hotel technology today. The study, conducted through phone and web survey during the second quarter of 2021, gathered sentiment from 56 COOs, CTOs, CIOs, and other senior operations and technology leaders in North America, Europe and Asia at hotel brands with between 10-500 properties.

Continue reading for some of the most important findings from this sentiment research survey. (Please note: this research was conducted independently of HFTP and shared by an outside industry contributor.)

Q: Do you consider the PMS to be the most important piece of hotel technology today?

For most respondents, the PMS is not only the most important piece of technology, but it also represents the largest software expenditure.

Q: Is the PMS your largest software budget item?

Given how many other solutions to serve hoteliers have emerged recently, some believe the importance of the PMS in the hotel technology stack will decrease over time. However, most of these hotel brand executives believe otherwise, saying they expect the PMS to retain or increase importance moving forward.

Q: How do you consider the importance of the PMS to change relative to other technologies in the hotel tech stack (CRM, RMS, etc.) over the next five years?

If the importance of property management systems is increasing, what do hoteliers want it to provide? Integrations were the clear priority among respondents.

Q: What is most important to you from a PMS?

Another interesting takeaway from this study is the number of hoteliers looking to change their property management system over the next year.

Q: How likely are you to change your PMS in the next year?

Approximately one in five respondents indicated they are likely to change providers in the next year — a surprisingly high number given the importance of this technology and how integrated it typically is with other systems.

Josiah Mackenzie is a hotel technology industry veteran and publisher of Show The Numbers, a research blog. View the complete 2021 Property Management System Survey here.

C-suite contribution guest contributor HFTP hospitality hotel leadership PMS property management system research sentiment survey technology