Buying a PMS: an ex-hotelier explains how to get it right
Most PMS purchases still start with a spreadsheet of features and a shortlist of vendors. That is exactly the wrong order, according to an ex-hotelier who now works at Mews and has written about it on Hospitality Net. His advice is blunt: begin with the operational pain, not the demo.
The second lesson is about people. Bring front desk, housekeeping, revenue and F&B into the process, because the PMS touches all of them and the ones who feel ignored are the ones who will quietly sabotage adoption. The third is the interesting one: treat the switch as a chance to redesign workflows, not to replicate the old ones in a new interface. That is where the real return sits.
My take: this is the most underrated part of hotel tech procurement. Hotels obsess over price per room and integration lists, and then spend two years fighting their own processes. If you are shopping for a PMS this year, start with a week of shadowing your team. The software choice gets much easier after that.
Quick questions
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