It’s no secret that properties today rely on technology to deliver a memorable guest experience while driving operational efficiencies. Hotels starting from scratch , using a manual, legacy system or basic PMS, generally plan for six to nine months and resorts twelve to fifteen months. This includes bringing on other revenue-generating systems like a new resort automation PMS. Small to mid-sized hotels, resorts, and vacation rentals with existing properties can half those timelines. Here’s what that timeline might look like:
Understanding the Scope of Your Implementation
What no software vendor will ever admit (but we’re happy to) is that integrations are where the magic happens. A revenue management system on its own is a wonderful tool, but the rates it’s suggesting should inform the availability coming from your PMS. When that real-time availability changes based on the number of rooms you’ve sold to blocks you’ve loaded in your PMS, you’ll also need the RM to recalculate the rates. This dialogue between the two systems should be happening seamlessly in the background, with neither department having to remember to share the latest updates. It’s a beautiful symphony of technology, with your total revenue as the crescendo. Or think of your property as a car: gearing an engine to go fast is nice, but you won’t get far without wheels.
Begin by evaluating the systems you’re currently using. What are all the software tools you’re using today, including any manual methods and exports that are part of your process? What are your inevitable integrations versus what could be done post-implementation as part of phase two? Identify what you cannot live without, and go from there. Then, determine if you’re going to have a parallel system for a while or if you’re going for a hard cutover.
Phase One: Planning and Vendor Selection
Organizations are mediocre to good about budgeting their automation expenses. Most significantly, they underestimate the time and internal human resources required to complete an implementation. It’s not just the number of systems you’re connecting or replacing that impacts your timeline. A distressed or high-turnover property team will need plenty of IT hand-holding, whereas a team that has spent two months getting ready can approach the go-live date with confidence.
For most hotels, this is the hardest part. The CEO of a European resort company tells us, “We should have told ourselves we couldn’t afford the time and investment to do it properly”. Instead, they pitched themselves “over a cliff” from their outdated system long before a new one could be implemented. Resistance will be everywhere, from clamoring guests to hesitant front-line employees, from local-server-addicted property managers to risk-averse CIOs. Despite all the frustration, fear, and business disruption, there are too many good reasons to make the switch. Ask yourself a few questions: Isn’t it time to say goodbye to Y2K-era infrastructure? What’s your plan when your server crashes? Do you like rejecting promising distribution partnerships because your technology can’t handle rate integration?
Phase Two: Configuration and Data Migration
We’re now reaching an important stage in any onboarding: configuration. This is typically where your PMS implementation timeline starts to resemble a piece of elastic that’s been stretched in both directions. Realistically, you’ll need to allocate six to ten weeks to configure settings, such as room types and rate codes, as well as security roles and interfaces to channel managers, payment gateways, and OTAs (via your channel manager or GDS interface). These will also be the busiest weeks for your revenue management system. Remember, its algorithms require a certain amount of historical data to be able to produce meaningful forecasts.
Assuming everything looks good, here is an essential piece of advice you might come to appreciate: don’t let your finance team near the software until they’ve entered opening balances in the live system. We work with numbers, after all; it’s only natural that we want to recheck them, preferably not against the source data in your legacy system. Chances are you implemented interfaces for direct bank feeds and commission payments. Guess what? We need them to match as well as you do.
Phase Three: Training and User Acceptance
It’s not a one-day effort. Conduct role-specific training sessions over three to four weeks. For example, front-desk employees will need hands-on training in check-in flows, processing payments, and tracking guest requests. Housekeeping supervisors must be trained on updating room statuses and maintenance processes. Your revenue manager will need to be brought up to speed on the forecast tool, competitive set, and automated pricing. Most important: Record everything. New employees should have access to all your training materials.
How can you be sure your employees are ready for go-live? Well, prepare for it. That starts with a checklist of daily, weekly, and monthly activities to see if your team is trained and ready. If the tasks can’t be completed without calling the vendor for support, you need to revisit your training plan. I discovered this is true running a help desk. If the support needs of the team are less than anticipated, the implementation went smoothly. And the only way to get there is through rigorous and exhausting testing. (Yes, exhausting.)
Phase Four: Go-Live and Stabilization
Most properties go live on a Sunday or Monday to avoid weekend-rush complications. Plan the vendor’s support team to be on-site or on video for three business days. Expect hiccups. A payment gateway times out. A housekeeping report doesn’t generate. It’s probably a 48-hour-weekend for the old system in read-only mode to be sure.
Then the “run & maintain” phase begins. Most issues can be resolved by reprocessing transactions that fail, updating master data, or adjusting settings. Your support team will work from a list of common problems and solutions; they will rarely need to contact the vendor’s help desk. Fixing system failures is the vendor’s responsibility, but performance tuning and business consulting are on you. Your internal project team should be in coaching mode now, ready to explain essential concepts (and what happens if they are ignored) to your colleagues in other departments. You promised them robust pricing and forecasts; make sure they help you get the data and execute the plan.
Realistic End-to-End Timeline
From the euphoria of initial talks to the excitement of contract signature, through the grind of process design, relentless reality of beta-site operations, back to euphoria as the rollout team swarms in, go-live seems like it’s never going to arrive. Then suddenly, it’s right there, and you’re not ready! But, if you can imagine doing this in 26 weeks, you probably can. That’s the point. Most medium-size properties need 16 to 24 weeks. Big, intricate ones take upward of 30. If you can’t get to the finish line fast enough, the seething cauldron of post-launch activity will put fire in your hair and smoke in your eyes. Nothing demotivates the on-property staff like launching understaffed and getting scarce support. Au revoir, initial guest loyalty. Ciao, employee morale. Don’t muss the bed you just made. Give yourself time for holidays, for everybody to be off the system, because every season is somebody’s peak season, and because the law says vendors must be late.
An impeccably planned and executed Property Management System (PMS) implementation timeline can work wonders. Operations become smoother, through better reporting and more efficient work processes. Your guest satisfaction scores begin to climb, as you impress both guests and staff with your speedy efficiency. Not to mention all the potential revenue that you will now be able to take advantage of! But how do you ensure your PMS installation is a strategic initiative and not just a technical project.invoice-processing-time A technical project is one where you look at the three basic questions: What is the issue? What is the solution? What do we need to implement? A strategic initiative is where you take those questions and expand on them. What are the issues, the possible solutions and what do we need to implement to guarantee SUCCESS?
