The Best Hotel POS System and Software in South Africa

Hotels have evolved from clunky cash registers and legacy hotel point-of-sale (POS) systems that cluttered countertops to mobile point-of-sale systems like iPads, iPods and iPhones that enable you to take your sales anywhere.

They seamlessly connect to the rest of the business operations, such as the reservation or property management system.

What is a POS-PMS Integration?

A decade ago, businesses worked with multiple applications and systems; one for the back-of-the-house operation, one for the housekeeping services, one for the on-premise restaurant, one to manage room rates and availability, and more.

Today, data integrations can be established through cloud-based software that allows you to connect all your tools into one user-friendly platform.

The most popular and effective integration for accommodation businesses in South Africa is a mobile point-of-sale system (POS) and property management system (PMS).

First, let’s clarify the difference between a PMS and a POS system

A PMS is a must-have for properties like hotels and guesthouses, as it allows for complete management of reservations and inventory, housekeeping management, guest profiles, invoicing and check-ins/check-outs, and more.

“Can you charge it to my room”?

The Benefits of Using a PMS and Mobile POS at Your Property

1. Generate more revenue through upselling

Upselling is a powerful technique to increase the average order value (AOV) and the average revenue per room (RevPAR) at your accommodation. Just by increasing these metrics, you can increase revenue quickly and significantly.

What if an extra R50-R100 was added to all of your guests’ bills? How would that impact your bottom line? Not too shabby, right?

In the hospitality industry, guests don’t just want a great room, they want a great experience. They are willing to pay for added value, such as room service, or to have an unforgettable experience that makes their stay more memorable.

Before, waiters would have to take a customer’s order using a paper pad and pen and return to the fixed POS device to enter and send the order to the kitchen. Not only was this time-consuming, but resulted in lost upselling opportunities.

Now, restaurants are capitalising on tableside devices like iPads that quickly suggest alternative food items if the ordered item is out of stock and similarly suggest the perfect additional items to upsell to enhance the customers’ dining experience.

What about the accommodation side of your business? Check-in is the most opportune time to upsell, but guests expect self-service options with the increasing popularity of contactless services. With a PMS like RoomRaccoon, you can send guests pre-stay emails with mobile check-in forms that offer them a list of relevant add-ons. You can offer guests room upgrades, in-room amenities, and special packages during online check-in.

2. Accept more contactless payments on the go

The pandemic is only making non-cash payments even more popular. Consumers have flocked to tap-and-go credit and debit cards and mobile wallets like SnapScan, and Zapper as consumers demand a socially-distanced, contactless way to pay.

The convenience of accepting any form of payment no matter where your business takes you is an easy way to improve customer satisfaction at your property.

The combination of mobile POS systems and pocket-sized card machines like the ones from Yoco makes it easy to process transactions on the go without a paper trail – customer invoices can be sent via email or mobile number.

What about POS sales that are charged to the guest’s room?

With a mobile POS integration, restaurant sales can be charged to the guest’s reservation in the PMS. This way, they can conveniently settle one bill at check-out instead of paying multiple times during their stay.

Better yet, all sales and payments processed from TabletPOS to RoomRaccoon’s PMS will automatically reflect in your RoomRaccoon’s accounting centre to give you a complete overview of your revenue and performance metrics.

3. Improve your guest loyalty program

In the accommodation business, loyalty pays off. In fact, research shows that repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers.

Your PMS and POS system is directly tied to your inventory (supplies, rooms, products) and keep a record of your customer preferences, transaction history, contact information, and how much they have spent with you overall.

This is extremely valuable information that can be used to reach out to customers with special offers, package deals, incentives, and even loyalty and reward programs.

For example, you could build packages based on customer preferences. If you’ve identified that the most popular length of stay is two nights and your seafood platter is the most popular menu item, then you could create custom packages for customers based on that information:

Join us for a 2-nights stay and enjoy our famous seafood platter for two at half price!

4. Operate during load-shedding

Many hospitality businesses are still struggling to find the right solution to keep their doors open during load-shedding. Generators are costly, and UPS systems have short runtimes.

One of the biggest challenges that businesses face when load-shedding strikes are that customers have to pay for their food within 30-minutes otherwise, the servers will shut down. This is not a great way to run a business, it damages your reputation and costs you money.

Luckily, this can be a thing of the past with mobile POS solutions. “If you have a ‘loadshedded’ time period, your Ipad will stay up and running for 8-10 hours,” says Michael da Silva, founder of TabletPOS. “So every time you do a transaction, it updates the cloud and facilitates all your data in the cloud. You never have to do a backup again.”

5. Easy integration to grow your business

With TabletPOS and RoomRaccoon, you can run your front desk, restaurant, and bar all from a single system.

There is no doubt that technology has empowered the hospitality industry in South Africa to operate and be profitable despite the current economic crisis.

The digital transformation of hospitality has allowed businesses to increase their productivity with less staff, while at the same time providing better customer experiences.

Future-proof your business. Book a demo with our local team today and find out how your property can benefit from our PMS and POS integration.

“Can you charge it to my room”?