The demo lasted an hour. You saw menus with twenty options, a conference module, spa management, reports for three restaurants. At the end you asked the only thing you cared about: "When a Booking.com booking comes in, does Airbnb close by itself?" And the answer was "with an extra module".
Many hotel systems are built for large properties. A hotel with 20 or 40 rooms does not need two hundred settings. It needs the right ones, working from day one, at a price that makes sense. This list helps you compare systems with that in mind.
What a PMS is, in two lines
The hotel property management system (PMS) is where reservations, guests, rates and availability live. Everything else the hotel does digitally, from Booking.com to the myDATA receipt, starts or ends there. If the PMS is right, the rest fits. If it is not, someone at reception copies data from screen to screen.
The 10 things it must do
1. One calendar for every booking
Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia, phone, website: every booking on the same calendar, with the same guest card. If you open two programs and a notebook to see August, you do not have a PMS, you have three halves.
2. Move a stay with one drag
The most common move at reception is "we are changing rooms". It should be done by dragging the stay on the calendar, with availability updated everywhere.
3. A channel manager inside the system
When the last room sells, the date should close on every channel by itself. Ask whether the channel manager is part of the system or a separate subscription, and which channels it connects to. At Bookmatrix.com the connection runs through Channex, which lists 75 OTA channels (544 connections in total, channex.io/integrations).
4. A booking engine with no commission per booking
Guests who search for you by name should be able to book on your own website. Check whether the booking engine charges a percentage per booking or is part of the subscription.
5. A guest card with balance and payments
You open the reservation and see what has been paid, what is left, which documents were issued and which messages were exchanged. Without hunting on another screen.
6. Rates, seasons and restrictions from one place
Seasons, breakfast or half board, minimum stay, cancellation policies. You set them once and they go to every channel and to the booking engine. If you have to change the July rate in three places, one day you will forget one.
7. Documents from the reservation, straight to myDATA
Check-out, payment, receipt. The receipt should be issued from the reservation, with its amounts, and sent to myDATA on its own. B2B invoices need a ΥΠΑΗΕΣ provider: ask whether the system works with one and what it costs.
8. An app for housekeeping
The housekeeper should see on her phone which rooms check out today and mark a room as ready. Ask whether she needs an email and password or a simple PIN, and whether there is a charge per user. How we solved it is in the article "The cleaner has no email. She has a PIN.".
9. It works on a phone
At a small hotel the owner is not at reception all day. The calendar, the guest card and the documents must open on a phone, with nothing to install.
10. Reports that answer questions
Occupancy, income per channel, arrivals and departures for any period. Three reports you open every week are worth more than thirty you never open.
What a 10-60 room hotel does not need
These are not bad features. A small hotel rarely needs them, and often pays for them without using them.
- Many points of sale with separate accounting. If you have a bar and breakfast, you do not need a system for five restaurants.
- Conference and meeting-room management. Useful at a conference hotel, unnecessary at a 25-room seaside one.
- Procedures that need a night clerk. If the system "closes the day" only when someone presses a button at 2 a.m., ask whether it can happen automatically.
- Installation on your own server. A cloud system opens from anywhere and needs no computer maintenance.
- Days of training. If it takes a week of sessions to issue a receipt, your July seasonal hire will struggle too.
Five questions before you sign
- Who does the setup? You, with instructions, or the vendor, with your own rooms and rates?
- Are future bookings moved across? From your current system, from Excel or from the extranets, before you start.
- What does the price include? PMS, channel manager, booking engine: one subscription or three?
- How does a guest pay by card? Which providers connect, for example Stripe, JCC, epay or another provider, and whether the payment is recorded on the reservation by itself.
- What support do you get in August? Phone, in your language, from a person who knows your property?
How Bookmatrix.com answers this list
The PMS, the channel manager, the booking engine, the housekeeping app, the unified inbox, emails and automations are all in the base plan. We do the setup, usually within 48 hours, and move your future bookings before you start.
- Hotels up to 100 rooms: €810 per year. PRO, with AI agents and OTA messaging, €1,620 per year.
- Vacation rentals: from €180 per year for the first property.
- Setup: €100 one-time on every plan.
- myDATA: add-on at €90 per year, plus €150 one-time to set up the ΥΠΑΗΕΣ provider.
Prices are net of 24% VAT. The full breakdown is on the pricing page and in the article "How much does Bookmatrix.com cost?".
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a PMS and a channel manager?
The PMS is the calendar and the management of bookings. The channel manager carries availability and rates from the PMS to the channels and brings their bookings back. At Bookmatrix.com both are part of the same subscription.
Do I need a PMS with only 10 rooms?
If you sell on two or more channels, yes. The risk of a double booking does not depend on how many rooms you have, but on how many places hold your availability.
Can I try it before I pay?
Yes. There is a free 14-day demo with your own rooms, no card needed.
Want to see the list in practice? Start the free 14-day demo at bookmatrix.com/demo. Or tell us how many rooms you have at bookmatrix.com/form and we will call you on the next working day. You can also call us at +30 2351 151525.