PMS Is Non-Negotiable (Your Operational Brain)
If you’re still writing reservations in a notebook or a basic spreadsheet, you are leaving money on the table. A good Property Management System (PMS) is the system of record for inventory, reservations, housekeeping, payments, and folios. It prevents double bookings, speeds ops, and makes revenue moves executable across channels.
- Must-haves: two-way OTAs sync, housekeeping app, payment collection, invoice/folio, audit trail.
- Nice-to-haves: built-in channel manager, basic reports, API access for BI.
Channel Manager (Distribution Control)
Whether built into your PMS or separate, the channel manager keeps rates, restrictions, and availability aligned across OTAs. It’s the plumbing for any pricing or LOS strategy.
- Two-way sync for prices, min-stay, close-to-arrival/close-to-departure.
- Mapping that doesn’t break when you add rate plans or room types.
- Fast push & conflict logs — if it isn’t reliable, your strategy never reaches the guest.
RMS: Pricing Intelligence with Guardrails
Tools like Wheelhouse, PriceLabs, Beyond help owners and revenue managers automate daily price moves within rules you set (floors/ceilings, day-of-week patterns, lead-time curves, event uplifts). They don’t replace strategy — they execute it consistently.
- Start with conservative rules; review weekly by pace (pickups vs. targets/LY).
- Use fenced offers (mobile/LOS/geo) instead of public discounting when behind pace.
- Protect peaks with min-stay; relax shoulders so conversion doesn’t die.
Event Intelligence: PredictHQ (Signal, Not Noise)
Not every event matters to your property. PredictHQ provides detailed event data (with latitude/longitude), so you can filter by distance radius and relevance. A 1,000-person event next door can beat a 20,000-person event across town. We use it to set lead-time uplift bands and to de-escalate if demand softens.
- Minor / Medium / Major event tiers with +% bands and start windows (e.g., 10–14d, 21–35d, 45–90d).
- Automate a weekly “event radar” check and nudge pricing rules accordingly.
Spreadsheets: Fast Analysis When There’s No BI
Spreadsheets are perfect for quick wins and stakeholder-friendly visuals. We use a simple schema to review past, present, and future:
- Dates, ADR, OCC, RevPAR, pickups (T-7/T-14), cancellations, channel mix.
- Conditional formatting for pace; small charts for trends.
- Email a snapshot every Monday to the team.
BI Stack: Looker Studio / Power BI + BigQuery
For properties with volume, we push PMS/OTA data into BigQuery (or your warehouse) and build dashboards in Looker Studio or Power BI. You get one source of truth and decision-ready views.
- Dashboards: Pace & Pickup, DoW performance, Channel profitability, Parity incidents, Promo ROI.
- Daily refresh; filters by segment/room type; export to PDF for owners.
Direct Booking Engine (OTAs Are Your Marketing, Your Site Is the Closer)
Booking.com and Expedia are the world’s biggest marketing machines. Use them to create demand — then convert direct with your own booking engine: clearer fees, better UX, and remarketing.
- Mobile-first pages, fast checkout, clear totals (no fee surprises).
- Payments & vouchers, abandoned-cart emails, basic CRM tags.
- UTM tracking and GA4 goals so you can attribute wins.
AI That Actually Helps (No Hype)
We use AI to speed up content and insight, not to guess prices blindly.
- Titles & descriptions: generate variants using a set formula (Hook • Type • Location), then A/B rotate.
- Review mining: summarize reviews into “what to highlight” and “what to clarify” for the listing.
- Ops replies: draft polite, on-brand replies for common guest questions and reviews.
- Analytics assist: explain anomalies in dashboards (“why did ADR dip last Wed?”) and suggest checks.
Guardrails: always human-review before publishing; keep promises realistic; log performance when testing AI copy.
Automation Glue (Zapier/Make/Apps Script)
Small automations compound: alerts, logs, and routine tasks that never get “forgotten.”
- Slack/Email alerts for parity incidents, event flags, or slow pace.
- Auto-append actions to a Google Sheet (date, user, change made) for accountability.
- Weekly PDFs of KPIs sent to owners at 09:00 every Monday.
Analytics & Site Health (Set Once, Keep Forever)
- GA4 + Tag Manager: track goals from your booking engine and contact forms.
- Page speed & images: compress, lazy-load, and use responsive sizes; it improves perceived quality and conversion.
- Consent & privacy: cookie banner and clear data policy (guest trust matters).
Your Minimal Viable Stack (Small Property)
- PMS with reliable channel manager
- RMS (conservative rules) + weekly pace review
- PredictHQ event checks (manual or alert)
- Google Sheet dashboard + Monday email
- Direct booking engine with GA4 tracking
Upgrade Path (Hotel / Multi-Unit)
- Warehouse (BigQuery) + Looker Studio/Power BI
- Automated parity/event alerts to Slack
- AI-assisted listing copy + reply templates with A/B logging