The use of the hotel automation system ensures the clarity of customer service, establishes control over the actions of the service personnel and reduces costs. Management of a boarding house, hotel or mini-hotel based on innovative technologies and special software is a way to achieve a new level of service provision and the key to the prosperity of your business.

The specifics of the activities of the personnel of boarding houses and hotels differs significantly from other sectors of the provision of various types of services, since in the hotel business you have to constantly interact with large amounts of information regarding room reservations, the number of days of stay, check-out time, etc., provide appropriate reporting, and monitor high level of service. Therefore, automated hotel systems are characterized by a wide level of distribution and implementation.

The main benefits of hotel automation

Hotel automation is capable of:

• combine information on the activities of all departments into a single information system;
• make booking and payment in any convenient way;
• keep track of the movement, consumption of hotel resources;
• to increase the speed of room fund management;
• minimize the time when checking in guests;
• enter the necessary accounting information into a single system;
• organize the logic of the work of the receptionist, maids, catering personnel;
• form an accounting price list of services provided, keep records of profits;
• restrict personnel access areas;
• increase the safety of work through the use of video surveillance and other systems.

Hotel automation, programs for which are available for use by each user, allows you to implement a set of tasks. Their implementation ensures a high level of work and quality service... In other words, hotel automation allows you to modernize the entire range of hotel services, increase the speed of information processing and the level of coordination of staff actions, while automation of manual labor reduces the likelihood of errors, which affects the quality of reporting. And for the management there is a rich layer of material for analyzing business processes.

Hotel Management Software: Key Features

Hotel automation software products belong to a group of special software systems called Property Management Systems - systems for managing elements of real estate. In addition to the HMS itself, they include software products for managing other objects (gyms, restaurants, bars), as well as programs for managing warehouse complexes, supermarkets, government agencies.

All offered HMS have a similar structure, consisting of several main modules:

• block of registration and service of guests;
• control and management services;
• interfaces to external systems.

Any automated hotel has its own set of executive units, but the standard set of functions is as follows:

1. Receptionist- an important module responsible for the registration and check-in of the guest in the room, and, accordingly, the calculation and check-out. The interface of this service is made in the form of an interactive plan of the settlement of the room fund ("chessboard"), which performs all tasks related to the settlement and customer service.
2. Reservation- a service that allows you to determine the availability or occupancy of rooms for a certain period, as well as to create and cancel a preliminary reservation.
3. Maid module- serves for planning the schedule of personnel on duty, cleaning rooms, forming a list of work performed (cleaning, changing towels, making toilet cosmetics, etc.). Typically, the module calculates the number of points received by personnel when performing work, and it also monitors the availability of minibars.
4. Administration- the service is intended for setting up the operation of the software product itself, changing prices, exchange rates, etc.
5. Accounting department- serves to transfer information for subsequent processing in accounting programs (as a rule, this is "1s"). But there are some hotel software products with "1s" capabilities.

Interaction with external systems

Automated hotel management is used in conjunction with many external systems that control the operation of equipment in the hotel and provide guests with a range of various services.

The equipment used in the conduct of the hotel business includes:

• Fiscal registrars for carrying out any financial transactions with payment and credit cards and cash that guests can use to pay.
• Access control systems - electronic locks of "offline" and "online" types are widely used. The latter send information about personnel access, unauthorized access attempts to the main program.
• Energy saving - one of the applications of the access system - the so-called energy-saving pocket, designed to store a key card, turn on electricity in the room. Certain automated systems can set the temperature regime in the room based on the presence / absence of residents, etc.
• Special systems with pay TV, which allow you to offer guests viewing TV channels, without advertising or "video on demand". This demo is provided by content providers and is only broadcast over the hotel's network.
• Online booking is a service through which the guest can choose and order a room on his own. This increases the level of confidence in the hotel and increases the flow of customers.
• Automation systems for bars and restaurants - organizes the automation of ordering and transfer for execution, inventory control and control of the movement of goods, protection from unscrupulous workers.

Important! Arrange guest services so that grocery bills are paid on check-out. For this, the system requests information about the guest, his account status, transmitting information about the services used.

Programs for hotels in the Russian market

• SmartHotel- the most powerful software for hotel management, operating on the 1c platform. This program performs any function required for hotel automation, including hotel headquarters and restaurant management.
• Fidelio Is a software that has been used in the Russian hotel business for over 30 years. The cost of installation is determined on an individual basis and mainly depends on the size of the hotel, the equipment of the hotel. It should also be noted that one of the most expensive software systems.
• Edelweiss Is a Russian development, the cost of which is determined by the number of jobs.
• 1C Hotel- the most inexpensive and simple solution, the price depends on the number of jobs.

Summing up

Of course, hotel automation is obligatory step for the growth and development of your own business. But before you start automating the business processes of your hotel, it is recommended to formulate the basic requirements and tasks for such a system. Usually, the choice is in favor of the system that is more consistent with the opportunities that are relevant for the hotel or hotel at the current stage of development.

Central automation system for a mini-hotel or hostel. Allows you to manage the room stock, simplify the procedure for booking and checking in a guest, taking into account his preferences, maintains statistics on the most important indicators for any hostel (ADR, RevPac, RevPar, Occupancy, etc.), provides data for accounting and management reporting, for making strategic decisions ... For hostels, a special configuration of the base is used, which allows working with beds and rooms (at a time) in the context of classic "nights", as well as hours.

Fiscal registrar interface

Allows to connect the hotel management system with the fiscal registrar for fiscalization of the amounts received from the Guest and held in the hotel management system.

Uploading data for accounting systems

Uploading data for subsequent processing by an accounting program. It is also possible to download payments from the 1C database to the accounts of counterparties in the hotel program.

Interface with electronic door lock system

If the hostel has a system of electronic door locks, then when it is connected to the hotel system, it will be possible to issue a key for the guest only if there is a reservation in the hotel management system and only for the dates / times specified in the system. Thus, the likelihood of issuing a key bypassing the system is reduced.

Interface with the online booking system

V modern world There are more and more guests booking rooms through various online sales channels, and in order to avoid manual processing of bookings, a connection with a channel manager that accumulates several sales channels is used. All reservations received through online sales channels are automatically entered into the system with a specific attribute.

Modern hostel program- a multifunctional solution that automates management, analysis of activities and the formation of hostel reporting. Convenience and practicality at an attractive price.

Today, hostels, as a budget accommodation option, have become widespread throughout the world. They are very popular with a wide variety of tourists, so the number of rooms in hostels is sold out very quickly. And in order to optimize all management processes for such an affordable hotel and automate room booking operations, it is recommended to use modern automated management systems. At the head of such a system is a special hostel program- multifunctional software that provides the user with access to all system tools and at the same time ease of management.

Benefits of implementing an automated system

Correctly selected and tuned hostel program will provide the following benefits:

• optimization of booking and room stock accounting processes;
• operational monitoring of occupancy;
• document management with guests;
• automated reporting, etc.

Possibilities of managing a hostel using software

The number of rooms in such budget hotels is divided into several categories according to the number of beds in the room and additional amenities. And different categories of rooms have different prices. Seasonality also affects the price of a place in a hostel - it can vary widely throughout the year.

And special hostel program will simplify pricing processes by automatically adjusting the prices offered to guests. Therefore, it is enough to fill in the program database once - and then it will take over all the work.

Also, such software may be able to synchronize data from its own database and information on the hostel's website. In this case, information about the change in the number of free beds will automatically change on the site. This will make it possible to dispense with the services of a webmaster.

Modern hostel automation software have ample opportunities to prepare the necessary documentation:

• automatically fill in the required forms;
• able to work in different languages;
• ensure the efficiency of documentation creation.

Also hostel programs offer a wide range of functionality for monitoring current activities, demand and all necessary performance indicators, for solving a variety of marketing tasks and, in general, automating the execution of almost all operations in the hostel.

Price

With such a wide functionality, professional hostel software will be quite affordable and will not require the purchase of complex and expensive equipment. The entire database can be placed on a dedicated server, and the user only needs a PC and Internet access. Thanks to this, programs for budget hotels are distinguished by a very favorable price.

Accounting in the hotel business is extremely important, because without it you can get to the situation that Overbooking will happen. This is a situation when a guest arrives to check in, who has paid, but there are not enough places for him, since you have sold too many rooms. To prevent this from happening, keep records and it is most convenient to do this using ExaHostel 4.67. This is a free, but at the same time professional utility. And if you are doing everything now, then you will be surprised how convenient operations can be.

ExaHostel - hostel program

• Get full control over the situation;
• Keep records of visitors and departures;
• Consider financial transactions;
• Arrange online booking;

We recommend using this particular software, as it does not require staff training. The interface is in Russian, but this is not the main thing. The main thing is that the developers specially made the software simple, literally 10 buttons, and everything is very nicely designed, and therefore intuitive. We also recommend not to switch to English, since in this version everything will become so incomprehensible that even a famous person will not be able to understand you. We also recommend installing the "Cashier" extension, which, despite the small weight of the distribution kit (4.5 MB), will completely replace the accountant.

A hostel is an analogue of an inexpensive hotel, where guests are offered a comfortable place to spend the night. The market for such establishments is actively developing, so novice entrepreneurs can invest in this particular business, having previously estimated all the risks and profitability of such a business.

Market analysis

To assess the prospects of opening a hostel in a particular region, it is worth considering the demand for such a service from potential clients, which are:

• students, youth (about 65% of all visitors);
• tourists and travelers who want to save money on overnight stays (the number of such clients grows by 2% every year);
• people who arrived in the city for work.

Additionally, it is worth analyzing the level of tourist traffic in the city and a map of large-scale interesting events that are to take place in the city. It can be various sporting events, concerts of popular artists, exhibitions, seasonal festivals, etc. At the same time, you need to take into account how many hostels are already open, what services they provide, and how you can outperform competitors.

Business registration

The type of registration depends on where you plan to open the hostel:

• In the apartment... In this case, you will need to register as (IE). This is a quick and affordable procedure.
• In non-residential premises(like a mini-hotel). In this case, you already need to register as (LLC). This procedure requires more paperwork and will cost a little more than registering an individual entrepreneur. He will tell you in more detail how an individual entrepreneur differs from an LLC, and what are their advantages and disadvantages.

When starting a business, a hostel can be assigned the following:

• 23 - activities of other places of residence;
• 23.5 - activities of other places of temporary residence that are not included in other groups;
• 20 - short-term accommodation activities.

It is also required to purchase a cash register and register it with the tax office. At the initial stage of doing business, it is recommended that novice entrepreneurs choose (STS), which assumes payment of 15% of the organization or 6% of the total cash turnover per year.

It is imperative to get a checking account in the bank to make it easier for customers to make payments and print.

GOST requirements for the hostel

To understand how to organize a hostel from scratch, you need to familiarize yourself with the regulatory framework. In 2015, GOST 56184-2014 "General requirements for hostels" was adopted, according to which a budget hotel establishment must be equipped according to the following rules:

• for one bed, you need to allocate at least 4 square meters. m .;
• the ceiling height of the room must be at least 2.5 m;
• beds should be at least 80x190 cm in size, and the distance between them should be from 75 cm;
• the room must be equipped with a fire extinguisher and a special log must be kept to ensure fire safety;
• for 15 seats, it is required to equip 1 shower cabin, and the bathroom must be located outside the living quarters;
• equip 1 toilet for 12 persons;
• equip 1 sink for 6 seats;
• provide guests with access to drinking water and a kettle;
• equip a room for communication of guests, for example, a living room;
• if there is a place to eat near the hostel, it is not necessary to equip a kitchen in the hostel itself;
• prescribe the rules of conduct for the staff and guests of the hostel, their rights, duties and responsibilities that will follow in case of their violation.

Additionally, you need to take into account clause 5.7.3 of GOST R 56184-2014, according to which it is impossible to equip basements and basements for a hostel.

To make it easier to understand the requirements of GOST, the following examples should be taken into account:

• A 10-bed hostel must be equipped with 1 bathroom, 1 shower and 2 sinks, and the sleeping area must be at least 50 sq. m.
• A hostel with 50 beds must have at least 6 rooms, each of which can accommodate 8 people. Requires 4 bathrooms. In addition to the rest room, it is worth equipping a snack room - a full dining room or a minibar. You will also need a utility room for storing bed linen, inventory, supplies, etc. It is worth equipping a household room in order to wash and dry clothes, linen, etc. in it.
• When opening a hostel with 100 beds, you need to choose a room in which you can build several blocks with separate bathrooms, a kitchen, a lounge, etc. In this case, you can buy out several apartments, which can then be re-planned into one mini-hotel. If things go well, it will be possible to expand or.

As for the location, it is recommended to rent a room for a hostel in the city center. In this case, one can proceed from the location of interesting tourist places, good transport interchange, the presence of metro and train stations nearby.

It should be noted that entrepreneurs open mini-hotels more often in apartments than in non-residential premises, since much less financial investment is required for their arrangement. As for the shortcomings, we can highlight possible conflict situations with neighbors. To avoid them, it is worth taking the discipline of both employees and guests of the hostel with all responsibility.

A specialist will tell you how to make the correct layout of the hostel in the video: